I dont sell hardly anything on eBay and in fact like many of you I dont use it much other these days for a variety of reasons like I used to. But after now reading more of these community posts and going thru a recent experience I can say that eBay selling policies need to change to help protect sellers. I will not be selling after this experience anymore and thankfully nothing gravely important to me. After a recent post heres what I took away minimally below. I would strongly urge sellers to sell significantly HIGHER than what eBAY now charges on listings and honestly saw NO benefit except them profiting on fees.
IMO, If eBAY is to remain in business and grow, they need to think harder on keeping the sellers equally happy to ensure they are protected on returns and have complete control of their destiny. EBAY does not moderate or mitigate on your behalf in any reasonable lengths and forces sellers to do all the work so why impose on the sellers in the first place! Sellers should be able to list as they wish on terms that they are comfortable with without eBAY interfering. It’s a bait and switch if you ask me and falsely leaving the impression that sellers are in control when they are not with this eBAY buyers guarantee (which also BTW needs reforming). For example, buyers need to show strong evidence of damage, defects etc immediately with photos, videos or vendor support tickets for example to show good faith before being allowed to return.
1. Ebay makes a profit no matter what the outcome. They are not a “fudiciary” where they make $ when you do. If you take a loss (like I did) because of their return and shipping policies eBAY doesn’t take a hit. Sellers are forced to accept returns regardless of the buyers reason to return. This isnt Amazon!
2. The listing platform is all they stand behind but the activities are not something they govern even if they tell you they are monitoring it. The automated process of selling and return policies are enforced thru the application and sellers dont have any choice but to conform to what eBAY feels is fair which is essentially the buyer is always right … even if you state returns are not accepted you will take a loss on the return shipping alone. Oh btw, eBAYs app does nothing to help sellers separate out shipping costs on the sale that the buyer should be paying for if thats what your listing requires.
3. I had posted an item that had 2 units and eBAY treats it as ONE item. Selling a “package” deal of multiple units in one ITEM is not advised b/c eBAY doesn’t see it that way. You’re more likely to take a loss and probably scammed by buyers who take advantage of the situation. When a buyer wants to return a unit of that “item” posted, there is NO way to get that item back unless you pay for shipping or are forced to return the entire item consisting of however many units.
4. EBAY leaders and agents provide different guidance and at times the wrong answers. On my first call into my listing and after becoming aware of a buyer who wanted to return upon hours of receiving it, and refusing to accept advice to get the units in the item working, I was told not to worry and eBAY wont force me to process a return. Well it turned out that she (agent) was WRONG and was reminded of the eBay Buyers Guarantee. I also find that the leaders are not trained except to remind sellers of how the app should behave and pushes the onus on the seller vs understanding the potential abuse happening in black and white. Buyers are not forced to provide ANY EVIDENCE of items that are defective, broken, etc. even if you know it was shipped in working and undamaged order.
5. EBAY leaders are not leaders on many cases Ive seen alone this week on this sale alone. They often dont provide any meaningful guidance and do not provide consistent guidance whatsoever. Each leader I spoke to blamed the previous for false or wrong information and took no accountability. This is poor training and leadership at its core.
6. Another example of sellers gap: Any solid business for example shouldn’t be providing refunds to buyers automatically and closing the issue before the seller receiving the defective item. Did you know that eBAY closes the issue and considers it resolved BEFORE the seller receives the defective item? Unacceptable and shows the lack of accountability that eBAY encourages and introduces (knowingly and unknowingly)
I hope this feedback helps and reinforces what other sellers are seeing today. EBAY is not Amazon and is a haven of sellers and buyers who are governed by an application platform that hasn’t evolved with todays practices. This must change or I will be closing my account and find other means to sell safely and securely and should be in control of the business I choose to transact upon. Ebay should not have any control of that and imposing what they feel is appropriate unless its state or federal law governed. Would love to hear other sellers feedback!
Regards,
