The plaintiff from 58809 Neuenrade offered for sale on the ebay platform under his seller's name a Burmester 808 MK 3 fully equipped in best/new condition, less than 100 operating hours. The description stated: "The 808 MK3 will be delivered in its original packaging. The defendant from Neubiberg near Munich bought the item on 12.03.16 under his user name at a price of 7500 . The device was sent by the plaintiff to the defendant with the original packaging. The defendant gave the following negative evaluation on the evaluation portal about the purchase: No original packaging, therefore any shipping is more than a risk!!!. The plaintiff's rating was then lowered from 100 per cent to 97.1 per cent. The plaintiff repeatedly requested the defendant to withdraw the rating. The defendant refused to do so. The amplifier had been sent against his will. He had informed the plaintiff that he would pick up the goods personally or have them picked up by a forwarding agent. Nevertheless, the goods had been shipped by the plaintiff and not in Burmester's current box.
Can I have a rating deleted on eBay ?
The plaintiff brought an action before the Munich Local Court. The competent judge ordered the defendant to agree to the removal of the negative evaluation he had submitted on the form Request for Deletion of Evaluation submitted by eBay International AG.
Does the assessment have to be truthful ?
Within the framework of the purchase contract concluded between the parties, the defendant has the secondary obligation to submit a truthful evaluation in the eBay evaluation portal about the plaintiff and the transaction. Truthful ratings after an ebay auction are a central information tool of the internet platform ebay, as they provide other potential buyers with information about previous purchases and thus knowledge about the seller, who is otherwise not tangible and sometimes only appears as an arbitrary ebay member name. Reviews thus represent a kind of customer recommendation or warning. This results in a central interest of the seller on Ebay in an accurate evaluation. This is also reflected in § 6 para. 2 of Ebay's General Terms and Conditions. According to the ruling, there is an obligation to provide truthful information and factually accurate evaluations.
Incorrect ratings will be deleted
The defendant's assessment of no original packaging was incorrect and false, as it was in fact the original packaging. Furthermore, the defendant had agreed to the dispatch of the goods in the course of the email correspondence, as he had expressly asked to be informed of the consignment number.
According to the judgement, the plaintiff suffered damage and impairment of his rights by submitting the false evaluation. It is precisely the rating profile of an ebay seller that makes a significant contribution to whether and how many buyers bid and how much is ultimately paid as the purchase price.( ) If this profile is influenced by a negative rating, this in itself constitutes the damage.( ) The rating of a seller is the figurehead for his business. Negative ratings, however, lead to a buyer being put off by the first impression and preferring a seller with better ratings, according to the ruling.
Judgment of the Munich Local Court of 23.9.16, file number 142 C 12436 /16; The judgment is final.
Source: Press release of the Munich Local Court
GoldbergUllrich Attorneys at Law 2017
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist lawyer for information technology law
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
