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Loss of trust
I have been on EBay for almost the entire time they have been a website. I left a few years back when their customer support got so bad that I simply could not rely on anything any agent told me. The worst came when an agent would just put me on hold and never come back. When I heard EBay was building a new campus and hiring new agents...I came back. It was better for a while but now it has gotten almost as bad as before. I heard EBay recently laid off about 1,000 people...and now we are getting back to the good-old days when things were really bad. It seems that no one in CS feels free to make a decision on their own and thus they go "by-the-book" on every issue. One agent will tell me they agree with me and then another will override that and come back to square one. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Returns and Refund to buyers.
When EBay first started the "Money Back Guarantee", the point they stressed was that it wouldn't be that much of a problem. It wouldn't have been if EBay had stuck to the basics of "Not as Described" or "Doesn't Work". With just those stipulations, it might have been possible for the seller to reach an equable arrangement with a buyer. However, those basics have been expanded to include such things as "Just didn't like it", "Found a lower price" , or as one of my cases, the buyer simply implied that I had not mentioned a grommet in a piece of fabric she purchased. Despite the fact that the grommet was described, and the pictured clearly showed it, EBay sided with the buyer. Now I cannot get the negative feedback she left removed. I challenged the decision...but EBay still won't remove it and told me to "just accept the buyer's reasons". That negative will stay on my feedback for the next 18 months. EBay doesn't want to understand that, while it may seem a small detail to them...it does mean something to me.
Likewise, I had a buyer who wanted to return an item because she said it was dirty. Although all the pictures she provided were of the back side of the fabric she insisted on returning it. She refused to file a complaint with the carrier. She wanted to return it...so, I allowed it. The tracking she provided for the return showed that the package was returned to her by the post office due to an "insufficient address". I challenged the refund EBay issued to the buyer. One CS agent told me I was right and that she could see the item was returned to the sender (In this case...the buyer who was returning the fabric). She assured me, she would send up a request on my behalf. I was messaged that I would hear from someone within 24-48 hours. I got a response from EBay in about 20 minutes that told me that they stood by their original findings....and instructed me to "Ask my neighbors (I have a PO Box), Check with the post office (They also showed it had been returned to the sended) or, I could contact the buyer.
The end point of all this is...the CS at EBay has gotten back to stamp it as resolved and move on. I have spent the last three days trying to get my brain around all of the new rules and regulations that went into effect as of 5/1. I have been on the phone for at least 6 hours total...and have gotten three difference answers from three different agents...neither of which proved to be the right answer.
I am over it. At this point, I have no choice but to hang with EBay because I have too much time and resources invested in my store. My only recourse would be just close it down and try to get back up and viable on another site. EBay is still the best site for listing...but not so much if you are the victim of unscrupulous buyer who have learned how to work the system. When I am confronted with situations like those laid out above...I have asked that someone at EBay give me a call so I can talk with someone further up the chain of command who might not be under the same pressures as the "front-line" CS agents. No one ever has paid me the courtesy of calling me back....and no one ever will.
So...I just have to keep on keeping on. I see EBay indicates they are working on a better "Seller Experience" where sellers will at least, I hope, be on a more level field when it comes to dealing with buyers. The buyer is not always right. However, with the way EBay now allows buyer to rule the transactions...the seller is held responsible for both sides of the equation...held accountable for buyers who don't exercise buyer diligence, don't ask questions, don't look at pictures and who in some cases, at still willing to just flat out lie about what they did and didn't do.
I sincerely hope that EBay follow through with this plan and that we get to a level playing field where I am no longer afraid to put listing out there for fear of being held accountable for another unscrupulous buyer and EBay unwillingness to allow me to at least plead my case in hopes of being treated fairly.
Good luck to all you sellers out there.
