I’ve been on eBay since 1999. I used to buy/sell a ton, but slowed down because I found it wasn’t worth the hassle. I decided to get rid of some things recently and created a couple of auctions, one of which ensures I am done selling forever on eBay.
Listed a “grab bag” of used watches I had. These are all $300-$500 watches that I have that were in used condition. I took a group picture and one individual picture and accurately described them. Starting bid was $100 and someone bid them up to $305. I also donated 10% to charity.
Disclaimer: my eBay understanding dates back about a decade, so I’ve missed a few of these “enhancements” that are all completely unfavorable to the seller.
First issue: non-payment and no communication after sale after repeated attempts. Filed non-paying bidder report, which used to give you the option to immediately move on and re-list. Even after a week, I couldn’t find where I was supposed to click “re-list”. I had to wait for this deadbeat to scrape funds together. The only communication I received was an unapologetic note, basically telling me I’d get the funds when he clears up some financial issues. I responded, “okay, thanks” and continued to look for the “move on and sell to someone else” button, to no avail.
After I sold the watches, they spent a week in transit. About 5 days later, I got a refund request stating that the watches were “not as described” and nowhere near “ready to wear”. I never said that. They all had dead batteries and needed to be cleaned up. Looking at this guy’s feedback, he’s a flipper who buys lots and sells off the pieces. That’s fine, but I know he overpaid for my lot knowing that and he quickly learned that too. I told him the auction description was accurate, and the watches were all pictured. My inexperience selling comes into play here because I didn’t see a “say hell no” to a return button, so I offered a $1 partial refund with my explanation to basically deny the request. I didn’t see another way to close the request that didn’t involve honoring a refund. I had also offered free shipping on the item (MISTAKE) and didn’t want to be out shipping both ways to a guy I knew just had buyer’s remorse because he is broke.
He responded with a profanity-laced note accusing me of all sorts of things, again, demanding the refund. What part of “as-is, no returns” is unclear? I went to explore the refund options and hit “continue” to see what my options were now that the $1 partial refund was rejected. DO NOT HIT “CONTINUE”. Apparently in eBay’s world, “continue” means “submit”. Not surprised, given how quickly eBay appears to want to appease buyers. I inadvertently offered this guy a full refund. Super. I now have to pay for another return label.
Because I don’t keep money in my PayPal account, my account went negative $300 over a holiday. Mr. “took 8 days to pay” becomes the fastest return shipper in the world while PayPal crawls to withdraw money from my checking. eBay sends me multiple reminders to submit the refund. I click “submit” and get an error message. One morning I wake up to an email that says the buyer has asked eBay to step in and they will research and get back to me (3:10 AM). At 3:42 AM, my checking account is debited and the refund is processed. They move quickly for buyers, but made me wait this non-paying bidder out?
I also wanted to dispute the validity of his return, as it was his way of backing out of the auction. I disputed that he returned the items for an invalid reason. The response? “Thanks for reporting it. Please refund his money.”
Meanwhile, so much time has passed that the charitable withdrawal also hits. I can live with that, but they moved awfully fast on that too.
I inevitably receive negative feedback. I’m not placating a guy who attacked me for abiding by the terms of my auction. I cannot leave the buyer much-deserved negative feedback. Also, this one negative feedback drops me from 1000+ 100% positive rating over 20 years to 91% because apparently now feedback only dates back a year? No wonder everyone’s feedback is so high.
I can’t sell anything with a 91% rating and I’m not asking this jerk to remove his feedback after he attacked me (which I had to report as a “threat” since there was no other drop down in this idiotic UI to report a buyer.”
Sorry for the long story, but this is more of a cautionary tale for infrequent eBayers.
1. The 100% eBay guarantee will absolutely guarantee that the seller gets screwed.
2. I’m not sure if I would have been forced to refund the initial shipping fee had I not picked “free” to be nice, but I ate $10 outbound and $10 on the return.
3. Charity gets their money, which isn’t the end of the world, but that’s $30 for a 10% auction.
4. Zero recourse for the bidder who pulled this. I cannot leave him negative feedback.
5. I’m out $50 and I’m stuck with watches that I’m going to now sell on another platform...or keep.
I’m sure there are long-time sellers who will disagree because they deal in volume and are also well aware of the ever-changing policies at eBay. eBay knows that sellers will always come and agree to these unfavorable terms. eBay is no longer a place for the casual seller. It’s now a platform heavily biased in favor of the buyer and I will never sell on this site again.
I can’t leave negative feedback for a guy who calls me an “effing a-hole” and a myriad of other names for denying a return? Okay. Eff you, eBay.
