15 Years on eBay and I am considering pulling the plug! I have great feedback...and like many of you, we take care of our customers, etc. This is long...sorry...
After 15 years I am having to relist items like crazy after being removed by eBay.
Here are some examples of the reasons that they were removed...
Civil War DVDs --- (3 reasons)
Reason #1: Not descriptive enough/confusing description. I called eBay for further explanation. The reason was In this listing I did not include the years 1861 to 1865 when using the phrase (AMERICAN CIVIL WAR). Okay...fine. And I added it and I had no issues for years.
Reason #2: Copyright Violation. Again, I phoned eBay. I explained that the listing was not in Copyright Violation. They asked me if I owned the material. I said, you mean the Retail packaged DVD's that are sealed and we buy in bulk from a wholesaler and then resale...originals...not copies. They said, "Yes." I asked them to please explain why I was violating any US copyright laws. Further, I stated..."that if you do an eBay search you will see many people sell the exact same DVD." He thought about it a minute...put me on hold. And came back and said, "The reason is this...The DVD lists several chapters and in your description, you list the chapters but you do not list Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc."
I said, "Sir if I put the listing back up and say, "Chapter 1: The South, Chapter 2: The North, Chapter 3 Generals of the Civil War, Chapter 4: Battle of the Civil War, Closing Monologue: Appomattox Court House ... then I would NOT be in a copyright violation?" He said, "No sir."
Okay...I added the chapters and they left me alone for years.
Now here is where it really gets interesting...as if it wasn't already!
Reason #3: Distribution of hate material! Includes hate material because the Confederate Battle Flag is on the packaging. This item has been up for sale for over 10 years. The DVD has a photo of General U.S. Grant and a Photo of General Robert E. Lee. At the top, it says Civil War and below the Photos the names of the generals. Behind them is a faint photo of the US Flag and a faint photo of the Confederate Battle Flag. As many of you know eBay has changed their policy...NO CONDERATE BATTLE FLAG and related items with its image, unless it was in a historical context. Even more recently, eBay has dropped the historically significant context. Fine. I disagree...but I do not own the site.
I called them...I asked them if I could sell a product that just had the American flag or no flag at all...just the same material since the DVD comes with a different cover. She said that she did not know that all of those decisions are made by another department. I said, "great...can you transfer them to me or escalate it to them and respond via email?" They said, "No, they do not respond via the telephone and some policies we do not share with customers." I said, "So I have to guess?" She said no, "I already told you to follow the policy listed on the site." I said, "I did but you still removed items but cannot tell me why mine were specifically removed, you just read and re-read the policy. And I told you I followed the policy to a T. Since eBay has made their confederate flag policy more strict...I will follow that...but you can't even tell me if I can list an item with the American Flag.
Then we moved on to Item 2 of the list of 10 items removed...
Syringes...Reason: No Items with Rx on them. The syringes I buy from a wholesaler. and I have sold these along with other medical supplies for nearly 15 years. The syringes DO NOT have a needle in them. Again, I asked her if she could specifically explain why my item was removed. She read word for word off of their site that no items that say Rx. I said, "So if the packaging did not say Rx and it was indeed an over the counter medical item...like the kind you can buy at Walmart or the drug store then I could list them." She said, "Yes as long as it did not say Rx on the package." I said, "if you look at the photos on my site that show 4 sides of the box (all but the bottom) Plus a picture of the syringe in the individual package and the picture of the syringe itself and nowhere on the there will you see Rx. You can look on the manufacturer's site as well as several retailers and you will not see Rx on their sites...in fact, the manufacturer's website says, "NO PRESCRIPTION NEEDED!" I asked if I could relist them and she told me no. I asked her to specifically tell me why I could not list them...again she read word for word their policy concerning medical items. I hung up and called back to get someone new. I got the same story…and again told that the group that makes the listing decisions is not available via phone and if I relist I will risk getting my account revoked.
I know the simple answer is to get new product. But these are two products from two different…COMPLETELY different categories and I have 8 more listings in 3 other categories and I get the same runaround. How can I sell…how can anybody sell if we do not have coherent listing policy? If the CS reps are all over the place when we call. I provide great customer service…just like I know most of you do…we sell great products…and we follow the rules the best we can…I am at a loss and I know it makes no never mind if a seller leaves…heck, I might even be a competitor. But if it can happen to me…a 15-year long power seller.
I had another incident with a “customer” about a month ago. Someone bought a movie from me. He had it about 4 months and contacted me and asked for a refund because he watched the movie 3 times and decided he didn’t like the movie and wanted his money back.
I responded and said, “It’s been 4…nearly 5 months if there is a problem with the movie, I would be happy to replace it for you. If you just don’t like the movie maybe I could give you another movie at a discount and ship it free." He never responded to those options. Another 3 weeks passes and he opened a case…he again said that he watched movie and he didn’t like it and wanted to return it for his money back. I responded and made the same offer to him. Nope…he wanted his money back. He escalated it to eBay. eBay decides in his favor!
I called eBay…they said the reason was that I offer a return policy. I said, “That’s true I do…for 14 days but only an exchange if the DVD has been opened.” It did not matter…the buyer dictates the terms…exchange or money back. I said, “It’s been over 5 months.” The eBay rep said, “That’s because you wouldn’t give him his money back when he first asked you.” “really”, I said, “when he asked it was already over 4 months.” It did not matter the refund would stand. But, in the future, if I am asked by a buyer to give them a refund I should call eBay and they would help me.”
"HELP ME?" What? How did they help me this time? BTW...he left me POSITIVE FEEDBACK....
I have no idea what is going on…but it would seem sellers are getting railroaded on eBay. Am I the only one? Thanks for reading this and giving me your opinion…I know that this is long! I am open...so if in my ramblings you see where I errored...please tell me...I tried to be clear and make it easy to follow...I hope I was able.
