What to Do When a Buyer Leaves an Unfair Negative Review

What to Do When a Buyer Leaves an Unfair Negative Review

As a reseller, you pour time, effort, and care into sourcing, listing, and shipping your items. A glowing 5-star review makes it all worthwhile. But a sudden, unfair negative review can feel like a direct hit to your business and your morale. It’s a frustrating experience that every seller on platforms like Depop dreads.

An unexpected 1-star rating, especially one that feels retaliatory or untrue, can impact your shop’s visibility and trustworthiness. You might feel powerless, but you have options.

This guide will walk you through exactly what to do when you receive a bad review on Depop, from understanding the platform's policies to the concrete steps for disputing feedback. We will cover Depop's official stance, the realities sellers face, and how you can proactively protect and scale your business to minimize the impact of any single review.

The Real Impact of a Bad Review on Your Depop Shop

A negative review is more than just a number. It’s a public-facing mark on your profile that can have tangible consequences for your resale business. Buyers often scan reviews as a quick measure of a seller's reliability, and a string of negative feedback—or even one particularly harsh comment—can deter potential customers.

This can lead to slower sales and reduced visibility, as platform algorithms may favor sellers with higher average ratings. For resellers trying to grow their business full-time, this is a significant hurdle.

Beyond the numbers, there's the emotional toll. An unfair review can be disheartening, making you question your processes. When you know you’ve provided excellent service, a bad review that feels like retaliation can be incredibly stressful.

Understanding Depop's Official Feedback Policy

Before you act, it’s crucial to understand the rules. Depop has a specific Feedback Policy that outlines when a review can and cannot be removed. Knowing these rules is your first step in building a case.

Interestingly, while Depop’s policy states that false or retaliatory reviews can be removed, some sellers feel the platform fails to protect them. According to one reviewer, Depop refused to remove a false 1-star retaliatory review, ignoring its own policy in that specific instance.

This highlights a potential gap between official policy and its application, a frustration shared by some in the seller community.

What Depop Can and Cannot Remove

Depop's rules for feedback removal are specific. The most important rule to know is that Depop cannot remove any feedback of 3 stars or above unless it violates very specific terms, such as containing abusive language.

Here is a breakdown of the grounds for feedback removal:

Revenge Feedback

Depop can remove revenge feedback. This is one of the most common reasons sellers seek to dispute a review. Retaliation might occur after a buyer's unreasonable request was denied or after a dispute was settled in your favor.

The policy also includes feedback left "outside a reasonable timeframe following the transaction." This protects you from a buyer leaving a negative review months after a smooth sale.

Abusive or Derogatory Language

Depop has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. The platform can remove feedback that contains any abusive or derogatory language. This is a broad category that protects sellers from personal attacks.

The policy specifically lists homophobia, transphobia, sexism, race comments, privilege comments, body shaming, and poverty shaming as examples of removable content.

Untrue Feedback

Depop can also remove feedback that can be proven to be untrue at the time it was written. This is a critical but challenging category. The burden of proof lies entirely with you, the seller.

You must provide concrete evidence that the buyer’s statement is false. This could include screenshots of conversations, postal tracking information that contradicts a claim, or photos of the item that disprove a buyer's assertion about its condition.

How to Dispute a Review on Depop: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you've received an unfair review that you believe violates Depop's policy, don't just let it sit there. Follow these official steps to attempt a resolution.

Step 1: Contact the Buyer Directly

Depop’s official first step is for the two users to try and reach a resolution together. Before escalating to Depop, you should contact the buyer who left the feedback.

Approach the conversation calmly and professionally. Do not be accusatory. You could say something like, "Hi, I saw you left a 1-star review and I was sorry to see you had a negative experience. I want to make sure I understand what went wrong, as my goal is always to provide a great experience. Is there anything I can do to help resolve this?"

Sometimes, a simple, polite conversation can clear up a misunderstanding. The buyer may have made a mistake or may be willing to reconsider after a positive interaction.

Step 2: The Buyer Can Delete, Not Edit

It's important to know that a user who left feedback cannot edit it. This is a key part of Depop's system.

However, the user who left the feedback can delete it. If you reach a positive resolution and the buyer agrees the feedback was unfair, you can ask them to delete it. This is often the quickest and easiest way to remove a bad review.

Step 3: Escalate to Depop Support

If you cannot reach a resolution with the buyer, or if they are unresponsive, your next step is to contact Depop. The platform will review the feedback with you.

When you submit a request, you must be prepared. Depop requires you to send any proof that supports your claim for why the feedback should be removed.

Step 4: Gather and Submit Your Proof

This is the most critical part of the dispute process. Your case is only as strong as your evidence. Without proof, Depop is unlikely to act.

What counts as proof?

• For Untrue Claims: If a buyer claims an item never arrived, provide a screenshot of the tracking information showing it was delivered. If they claim an item was damaged, provide your original listing photos that show its condition.
• For Retaliatory Feedback: Screenshot the entire conversation with the buyer. This can show if they left the review immediately after you declined an unreasonable lowball offer or after a case was closed in your favor.
• For Abusive Language: The feedback itself is the evidence. Simply flag the review and state that it contains derogatory language that violates Depop's policy.

Organize your evidence clearly and concisely before submitting your ticket. The easier you make it for the support agent to understand your case, the better your chances of a successful outcome.

Scale Your Business and Minimize Risk with Reeva

Dealing with unfair reviews is a frustrating part of being a reseller. While you can't control every buyer's actions, you can control how you build and scale your business to be more resilient. The hours spent dealing with disputes are hours you're not sourcing, listing, or making sales. That's where we come in.

We designed our all-in-one platform to simplify selling, automate tedious tasks, and help you grow. By optimizing your business, you can build a strong sales history and a large base of positive reviews that will far outweigh the occasional negative one.

Many resellers have already found success and scaled their businesses with our help. TUFFNY, a reseller from New York, cut admin time by at least 30%, allowing more time to source products. FabFam in Washington doubled their listing amount while also reducing admin work by 30%. Growing your business is the best defense. A single bad review is less impactful when it's one of hundreds of positive ones.

Ready to spend less time on admin and more time on growth? Start your free trial of Reeva today and see how automation can transform your business.

Sell Smarter and Faster Across All Platforms

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Relying solely on Depop makes your business vulnerable. We make it easy to list your items everywhere with one click, publishing to multiple marketplaces like Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari without switching tabs.

This multi-platform approach not only reaches more buyers but also diversifies your risk. A bad review on one platform has less of an impact on your overall income stream.

Our platform also helps you create those listings faster than ever. Just upload your photos, and we will create complete listings with titles, descriptions, and prices. As FabFam said, "Reeva has cut my listing time by more than half. I can take photos, voice-to-text my details, and let Reeva handle the rest."

Save Time with Powerful Automation

Imagine getting back the hours you spend on repetitive tasks. Our platform automates the work that bogs you down, so you can focus on what matters.

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AlistairBP from Georgia considers our auto-delist feature something they "couldn't live without." Automation is your key to scaling efficiently.

Grow Your Business with Integrated Tools

As your business grows, so does the complexity. We provide the management tools you need to scale with ease. You can update and manage hundreds of listings in bulk and give team members access with multi-user account options.

Our platform also includes powerful business analytics and built-in accounting tools. You can connect your bank accounts to automatically record transactions, categorize income and expenses for tax time, and generate clear profit and loss reports. Say goodbye to spreadsheets. As one user said, "My bookkeeping is now all automated thanks to Reeva accounting."

Access Your Business Anytime, Anywhere

Your business doesn't stop when you step away from your computer. We allow you to manage your operations seamlessly on mobile, desktop, or tablet. You don't need a Chrome extension or to keep your laptop running for our tools to work.

AlistairBP noted how managing their entire business from their iPhone is "truly industry-leading." Before using our platform, they sold 3-5 items a week; now, they sell 10-15 items a day.

Another user, Lawyerposh, was surprised to discover that "you have a best-in-class cross-listing tool. I don’t believe any other company can currently upload an entire existing closet (e.g. from Poshmark) on a phone app with virtually no user input."

Our Pricing Plans

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Investing in your business tools is an investment in your growth. As Hiview Reloved from New York said, "It’s an added business expense but also one that I don’t think I’d ever do without again. It has made it easy to expand to eBay and Depop."

Conclusion: Take Control and Build a Resilient Resale Business

Receiving an unfair negative review on Depop is a common challenge for resellers, but it is one you can manage. By understanding Depop’s official feedback policies, you can determine if you have a case for removal. The process involves first contacting the buyer for a resolution and, if that fails, escalating the issue to Depop with clear and organized proof.

Remember that sellers have reported discrepancies between Depop's written policy and its enforcement, so a successful removal is not always guaranteed. This uncertainty underscores the importance of building a business that is strong enough to withstand occasional setbacks.

The ultimate strategy for protecting your business is proactive growth. By expanding to other platforms like Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari, you diversify your income and reduce the impact of an issue on any single marketplace. Automating your listings, delisting, and bookkeeping saves you countless hours that can be reinvested into sourcing and selling.

Our platform gives you the tools to do exactly that. We help you list faster, manage inventory seamlessly, and understand your finances with ease. Stop letting administrative tasks hold you back and start building a more resilient, scalable, and profitable resale business today.

Start your free 7-day trial of Reeva now and discover how thousands of resellers are saving time and accelerating their growth.