One mom was caught off guard when a Facebook Marketplace buyer ghosted her after agreeing to buy an item. She had set everything up—location, time, the whole deal—but when the time came, the buyer failed to show up. After a few minutes of waiting, she shot off a message asking if everything was okay and if the buyer was still interested. The response? Crickets.
Feeling frustrated and a bit disrespected, she decided to send a follow-up message. It wasn’t too harsh; she simply expressed her disappointment. All she wanted was for the buyer to communicate. But instead of an apology or even a response, the buyer left her on read, leaving her feeling even more irritated. This wasn’t just a simple “no thanks”—it felt like a wasted effort on her part.
After some thought, the mom left a one-star review for the buyer, mentioning how rude it was to set up a meeting and then just ghost without any explanation. She felt justified; after all, it was about mutual respect in a transaction. However, the twist came a couple of days later when she noticed the buyer had returned the favor with a one-star review of her own, claiming that she was disrespectful for calling her out on wasting her time.
This left her in a tough spot. Her previously pristine five-star rating had plummeted to 4.3, and she couldn’t shake off the feeling of unfairness. She wasn’t the one who had flaked. “Was she wrong for leaving the review?” she pondered. That question lingered, along with the irritation that came with the outrage of the situation.
People had very different reactions to her story. Some chimed in with practical advice, saying that it might have been a better idea to block the buyer after leaving the review to prevent retaliation. Others pointed out the inherent risks of leaving a bad review, warning that some buyers might retaliate if they felt insulted or disrespected. “Didn’t you think they might come back at you?” one user questioned, suggesting that the mom should have expected some form of payback.
On the other hand, there were those who felt that the buyer’s behavior was inexcusable. Many understood the frustration of being ghosted after making plans. It’s inconvenient and downright rude, and they backed the mom for wanting to warn others about the buyer’s lack of communication. Some even encouraged her to stand her ground despite the impact on her rating. After all, a lack of accountability shouldn’t be rewarded.
In a world where online transactions have become a normal part of everyday life, the intricacies of reviews can feel like a minefield. Many users expressed their own experiences with problematic buyers or sellers, noting that the rating system often falls short of distinguishing who is genuinely in the wrong. “This whole rating thing seems pointless,” someone said, highlighting the confusion that can arise from differing perspectives. It raised the question—how are users supposed to navigate these choppy waters?
This unsettling experience forces a lofty question: how do people balance honesty with the fear of retaliation in today’s online marketplaces? Ghosting is frustrating enough, but having to contend with a bad review makes one wonder if the risks are worth the effort. Was leaving that one-star review the right call after all?
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