Rampant corruption on eBay

[sheeneyman2]

I see that eBay is still holding 2 old non paying bidder strikes against me and it even blocks me from contacting the seller to explain. So a 100% positive rating with almost 10,000 transactions means nothing to them. And they've stood by and ignored me while a few bad sellers have shafted me. Guess it's all about money. Just like pandering to their sniper bidders: now, when an auction ends, instead of telling me "You won this auction," it says "We're still determining the winner. Please refresh the page." Or, after an auction runs down to zero, showing me as high bidder, it refreshes to show that someone else has won. Sure, why not sneak in a sniper after the fact? Money for buying the sniper bid points, and a higher bid amount means more percentage skimming; it's a win-win for them. I don't think eBay will be around in a year or so. Their greed coupled with the Government's wringing every dime they can out of sellers will kill it all.

[heckofagame]

Please tell us where you found rampant corruption. 

[kathiec]

Nonpayment strikes age off after 12 months. And it's not eBay holding them against you. Individual sellers set their preferences to block bidders with two or more strikes. As a seller you should know that.

You also should know how sniping works. Bids are accepted until the last second of a listing. Because it takes a bit for the servers to catch up, it may not be immediately reflected. But bids are never accepted after a listing ends, and the high bidder always wins no matter when the bid was placed. If you're beaten by a sniper it's because they were willing to pay more than you were.

As for sellers shafting you, surely you can't have been on eBay this long and not be aware of its Money Back Guarantee.

In the 25 years I've been here I've seen a constant stream of disgruntled members proclaiming that eBay "won't be around in a year or so". Yet here we are.

[stainlessenginecovers]

With the 30 day Money Back Guarantee, there is no reason to EVER get the 'shaft' from buyers. Unless you didn't follow something?

[wpt05 · Accepted solution]

@sheeneyman2 

Many sellers choose to block bidders who do not pay.  See the link below.  

Buyer Management | eBay

Block buyers who caused 2345 cancellations of unpaid purchases within 1612 month(s).

I am not sure how sellers have "shafted" you. 

Most policies are extremely buyer friendly.  

eBay Money Back Guarantee

For auctions, it is best not to wait until there are seconds left to bid.  Your phone app or computer may not be 100% accurate with the bid clock.  For that reason, it is best to bid the most you are willing to pay in about an hour from the end of the auction.  If you get outbid, then they will have overpaid.  Nobody can bid after the auction is over.  

If auctions are a source of frustration, try "buy it now" items instead.   

Hopefully your non-paying bidder strikes are close to 12 months old so you can get back to buying again.  

Good luck to you.  

[sheeneyman2]

Thank you, your reply was food for thought. As far as "shafting," I've had sellers close their auctions and withdraw the item because my winning bid didn't reach their target price (they had no Reserve). One listed an item for $1 opening bid, no reserve, and after I was the only bidder and won it he told me he would not sell the item for $1 but if I wanted to pay $100 he'd send it. My two strikes came from sellers who tripled the shipping fees after the auction closed and ignored repeated requests to adjust the shipping to what was quoted when the auction was active. When they cancelled the sale, eBay treated me like the bad guy and stood by the sellers. They're going after the wrong people, but I suspect it's to keep the money flowing from sales.

[downunder-61]

Pay for what you order - problem solved.

[soh.maryl]

Curious as to how a seller could triple the shipping fees after the auction closed?  

[wpt05]

@sheeneyman2 

When possible, pay for an auction item immediately after is over.  They will not be able to change it on the invoice.  

You can also report a seller here.  

Online Customer Service - Report an issue with a seller (ebay.com)

"The seller isn’t responding to you, or you need to ask eBay to step in and help"

@soh.maryl 

If the seller sends an invoice, they can change the shipping cost.  I noticed this the other day when I sent an invoice.  I was reducing shipping for a multiple item order, but as far as I can see it could have been increased.  I am not sure if this is a new option or not.  I don't remember there being a way to change shipping in the past, just way to subtract a discount.  

What steps should a buyer take, if this happens in the future?  

[woodland_gnome]

You can appeal the unpaid item strike if the seller changed the terms after you committed to buy (e.g. bid), e.g. by issuing an invoice with inflated shipping.   https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/resolving-issues-sellers/appealing-unpaid-cancellation-record?id=43...   I don't know what the deadline is to do so.

Be aware that in many cases the seller did not actually issue an invoice with inflated shipping but rather the problem was with the eBay display of the shipping charges somewhere other than the Shipping and Payments tab of the listing on the full website.  Never rely on any display other than that (not even the quote at the top of the listing under the price/current bid), as it sometimes calculates to the wrong location or is otherwise wrong.