Scummy eBay practices
I am a seller with 100% positive feedback. I have sold thousands of dollars worth of items on this site without issue. I was floored after someone purchased a white swimsuit and returned it used and soiled stating it didn't come with buttons, even though pictures and details state nothing about buttons on the item. eBay allowed them to return and made me pay the refund. I appealed it and provided pictures of the soiled item that I received. EBay did provide me with a refund. Now a month later I am dealing with the same situation. A buyer purchased an item, used it and broke it, and states it was received in this condition. The pictures they posted showed signs of use, dirt stains, and was clearly used and broken from misuse. Was taken out of factory packaging as sold. Once again eBay immediately refunded the buyer from my account funds. I appealed the case, provided pics backing up my claim and was told I'd get a refund after speaking to one of their reps. No refund came. 4 calls and five weeks later I managed to get a supervisor on the phone. Once again told my story, advised to review their reps notes, my pics, and requested a refund. Supervisor told me that their reps were wrong advising me that I'd be refunded. States since I was issued one legitimate refund in past 12 months, I am no longer eligible. Seriously?! I've generated thousands of dollars for eBay and this is how they treat their sellers?! Beware! Find an alternate platform to sell your items. This is how they treat sellers funding their horrible platform. Moving my goods elsewhere. Scummy business practices!
2010byandsel100
·11 months agoI think ebay is a terrific place to sell. Where else could I monetize estate items and collectibles and vintage barbies? A garage sale?
The river has gated everything including most Mattel and Hallmark effectively eliminating small sellers who don’t buy new in bulk. And, if you don’t think they have return abuse, just read their forums.
I agree that certain categories are more prone to fraud especially clothing and electronics but thankfully those are not what I sell. Sure, I’ve had a few lousy buyers but for the most part, people buying collectibles want them for their collections.
I accept returns, refund, if warranted, block and then resell. And when I had a kooky buyer leave crazy, unwarranted feedback, ebay did remove it.
an-57470
·1 year agoHERES THE REALITY
Ebay would be dead and gone if it were not for all the people that have long hard thoughts of renting YOUR items for a month.. I say rent cause thast what it is ,, except basically YOU lose any money cause ebay will force you to pay for the items return... I cant think of ANY other place on the planet that does this to people..
If you think about this real hard... eventually the people on here buying things will be here mostly for renting aka returns.... scams...
mam98031
·1 year agoThat is so NOT true. If this was the issue, sellers simply would not be selling here. The vast majority of transactions go off without a hitch @Anonymous , otherwise sellers would not be able to make money and if they can't do that, they aren't going to sell here.
Returns from buyers such as you describe certainly do happen here as well as many other sites. They just are no where near the majority of buyers. Most are good honest people.
an-57470
·1 year agoYes it is true. EBay bases their business practices off of offering and enforcing the refund program they have. It has very little to do with the products people sell. If it was about the products then nobody would be buying anything over here because most of the stuff here is overpriced and just basically junk at this time. At one point things were at a decent bargain but now it's just out of control and really seriously ridiculous. People are placing buy it now items at horrendous prices. Like for example somebody posted that they have a regular box fan for sale for something like $350 when it's actually $15 at Walmart. Not only that the fan is used and full of dirt. And somebody decided they want to try and sell this for $350. Why would they do that? Cuz they can. Because eBay allows them to sell this garbage. And the only reason people come here is because there's a 98 to 99% chance that if they buy something on here they can easily get their money back.
This isn't something I'm making up.
Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me that eBay doesn't force the seller to not only issue a refund but also pay for the return shipping so that the buyer can send a box of rocks to the seller and still give the buyer a refund. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me I'm making this up because I can tell you right now if I could I'd feel this whole forum up with links all day long about people experiencing the same exact thing which I just described. And eBay's business policy is based on this one tactic alone. Offering an eBay refund no matter what!
This is in there policies and procedures. Everybody knows this. People argue about this all the time. And really the reality is that eBay isn't really favorable to more sellers they're more favorable towards buyers because they offer this refund policy. Obviously you're another paid eBay employee coming to eBay's defense trying to keep a base image looking pristine. I could tell you that image is faded. YouTube is filling up with videos about how people are getting scammed. It's unfortunate. But eBay could fix it if they want to. All they got to do is fix the things that people are complaining about. And what are they complaining about? It's real easy All you got to do is do a Google search.
As for making money on eBay. I'm not even going to talk about that subject because at this point it's just totally useless. EBay is now so desperate that they're trying to get people to pay extra to promote their items. It's a desperate attempt at trying to get a little bit of money. Because eBay and whoever created the new algorithms really mess things up.
But hey if you want to continue to do any business with eBay cool fine you're free to do that. All I'm saying is if I'm going to continue to do business on eBay they need a really really make a lot of changes. Will they make those changes? Nope I seriously doubt it. These people don't seem to ever learn.
bonjourami
·1 year ago"most of the stuff here is overpriced and just basically junk at this time. At one point things were at a decent bargain but now it's just out of control and really seriously ridiculous. People are placing buy it now items at horrendous prices. Like for example somebody posted that they have a regular box fan for sale for something like $350 when it's actually $15 at Walmart. Not only that the fan is used and full of dirt. And somebody decided they want to try and sell this for $350. Why would they do that? Cuz they can. Because eBay allows them to sell this garbage."
Was somebody forced to buy that $350 fan? Sellers can list their items at any price they want,because Ebay is simply a listing venue,with 19 million sellers, and almost two billion listings,you expect Ebay to vet every one of those sellers and listings? Actually, as was mentioned, most sales here go off without a hitch,and thats to Ebays credit.
But with your six month membership, and four sales, Im sure you already knew that!
mam98031
·1 year agoI did not say a thing about the process of a Request for REturn from a buyer. Not a peep. What I disagreed with was what you said about buyers "renting" stuff from sellers. While this does happen from time to time, I've been a victim of it myself. It is NOT the normal transaction. It never has been.
Besides these are buyers that don't actually pay any rent for using the product, typically the seller spends more money to have the item returned to them. So these types of buyers borrow the item without permission for a period of time.
Still, NOT the majority of transactions on the site. If it were, there would be no sellers here because they could not make any money. So just thinking about this logically tells you that you are incorrect.
As far as your opinion of the stuff being sold on the site. The beauty of being the buyer, you get to make your own decisions on what to buy, when to buy and IF you will buy.
You are a new seller with much to learn. Why not ask questions on how to improve your listings or questions on policies you may not understand completely. LEARN instead of pointing fingers. Do you think a No Return Policy means that buyers aren't allowed to return stuff? Do you think it protects you from that?
inhawaii
·1 year agoYes ebay and fedex are in cahoots scamming people with fake shipping overages.
It's amazing how many conspiracy theorists there are out there.
hern_801870
·1 year agoGood for you !
bgt_masters_of_tiki_d
·1 year agoI just had a buyer but a fairly large/heavy item from me 3 days ago. Got it yesterday and is returning it because he bought the same item from amazon and that one got there first. I am sitting on I believe 11 returns right now. I believe all of them are buyer's remorse. Its certainly gotten out of hand. A restocking fee or something needs to be looked into.
On a side note, I just got hit with 4 Fed Ex cost adjustments. Three of which are for address corrections (two to the same buyer different purchases) and total $50. I print the labels directly from ebay what on earth do I have to do with how someone entered their address and why am I held responsible for something out of my control?
spacecoastparts
·1 year agoThis is why I have stopped using FedEx (or any labels from eBay for that matter). There is a known issue (even call it a scam maybe) of bogus cost adjustments from FedEx labels ONLY purchased through eBay. Seems to happen in spurts, probably so you'll shrug off the first few, have a good run on low cost labels, then get hit up again in the future. It's well talked about by sellers.
gurlcat
·1 year agoBy whom, and how, is this "known"? By you, and because it didn't happen a couple of times you used FedEx outside eBay?
greatstuff80
·1 year agoYou'll find the same issues on other sites as well. I don't sell anything online I can't afford to lose the money on. It's sad, but it is the way things seem to be lately. 😞
nh_sales_lv
·1 year agoHad one today, Buyer Purchased a Kids Lunchbox for 29.95 free shipping. The Original retailer sells it for 29.95 + Shipping. The buyer stated that a Kids name was written inside the Lunchbox and she wants a 50% refund.
I gave her the 50% because i don't want to deal with her antics and just put her on my blocked list. Everyone and their Mother knows she wrote her own kids name inside the box. Some people are straight Degenerates and will use all sorts of Sneak to Cheat. Reminds me of JB & Kamala Harris.
A lot of people have this Disorder. I recommend Seroquel
mam98031
·1 year agoFrom how you describe what happened, you make it sound like you did not disclose that a name was written inside the lunchbox because you felt that everyone knows that. Is that correct?
rosemandolin
·1 year agoI just deleted all my listings for the exact same experience. Not a good place for sellers anymore.
mam98031
·1 year ago@rosemandolin
Because you had one bad transaction? Even the OP didn't do that, they are still selling.
The negative you got, if you had worked with your buyer and just allowed them to return the item, you likely would not have received the negative feedback. The pic the buyer supplied did show some damage. Would it have been such a hardship to allow the buyer to return the item and refund them?
rosemandolin
·1 year agoThis was actually a case of the buyer destroying the item because they changed their mind. This isnt the first time it's happened. Good luck.
mam98031
·1 year agoDo you have proof of that? @rosemandolin
rosemandolin
·1 year agoSure do and ebay finally cleared up the mess and took away the negative, it took a couple weeks with the whole ordeal. I deleted all my listings. They responded by giving me 5000000 listings for january, but the trust is over. I respectfully bow out at this point. I'm done.
mam98031
·1 year agoWhat kind of proof did you have?
Ebay gave a whole lot of seller a ridiculous amount of free listings sometime last year. Doubtful it was given to you in the hopes you'd forgive them some misstep with you.
albany_sellers
·1 year agoI feel that. I had a buyer purchase some brand new volleyball knee pads from me, extra small, then got mad that I sent extra small knee pads. They returned them opened and covered in blood, and eBay basically told me to get bent.
eBay only likes you for the fees you pay them. They will throw any seller under the bus for any reason to avoid actually supporting you when you need them. Been at it for 20 years on eBay and made them a ton of money? Too bad, they will throw you in the trash to save $20 right now, and not even consider the thousands you would have paid them later.
That is going to be the downfall of this company. They only care about the immediate short term and keeping the investors at bay for another quarter. Anything and everything else does not matter.
youn2240
·1 year agoPLEASE DONT GO I NEED YOU.
freshest_finds
OP1 year agoYou sure are witty youn2240.
lux.ra_14
·1 year agoAnd you will likely find out the same thing as many other discontented sellers -- that eBay still allows you to sell more items for more money than other platform.
ebeysince1998
·1 year agoI'm sorry that happened to you, I have had buyers steal from me too. I have stopped selling some products on ebay because the people that choose those items tend to not be trustworthy. I also try to limit what I sell on ebay and choose other platforms that I don't think I can mention here.
If this keeps happening to the same items maybe don't sell that on ebay or like you said, stop selling on ebay entirely, but if you do keep selling on ebay please remember ebay will likely always side with the buyer and take the money from your account without permission.
fern*wood
·1 year agoThere are some limited protections offered for faulty returns if you qualify by offering free returns or are a TRS with at least a 30 day return policy.
pickapaper
·1 year ago@freshest_finds wrote: Beware! Find an alternate platform to sell your items. This is how they treat sellers funding their horrible platform. Moving my goods elsewhere. Scummy business practices!
This board isn't a very good place to "warn" people about anything. There are 18 Million sellers on eBay and this board is only visited by a tiny fraction of those sellers so there is a ginormous number of sellers who will never see your post.
Obviously, even though you have been a successful seller in the past, you have become unhappy with this "horrible platform and its scummy business practices". Although that is your opinion, you think everyone who sees your "warning" should heed it? Sorry, that will not happen.
There are a lot of other selling platforms out there. Perhaps you will find one that better suits your needs, but I sincerely doubt it. All selling platforms have problems of some kind, some worse than others.
Whatever you decide, good luck to you.
jameshen1
·1 year agoIf you are moving to another platform, you better end your 183 listings ASAP.
psfhobbies
·1 year agoboils down to people being opportunists whether honest or crooks / thieves. People just need to realize its a type of stealing returning worn items or using and damaging. Started years ago at walmart people could return anything and get refund..then moved to the internet now we all got to deal with it. We got a fresh starting the 20th and we all need to do better to one another.
fbusoni
·1 year ago@psfhobbies
I hate to burst your bubble but January 21st 2025 will be identical to January 19th 2025.
That's because human beings -- in contrast to dung beetles, earthworms, and all manner of what we refer to as "lower life forms" -- need to BE TAUGHT to not harm other members of their own species.
@freshest_finds
Sorry this happened to you. This sort of dishonesty stings because it is so utterly contrary to what well-adjusted people regard as basic human decency.
It has not yet happened to me, but I know that one day it will because homo sapiens cannot help themselves.
All I can say is that if you have indeed sold thousands of dollars worth of merchandise on this dismal platform, then you can look at this latest loss in the context of great satisfaction at what I imagine to be your significant profits here over the years. regards
pickapaper
·1 year ago@psfhobbies wrote: Started years ago at walmart people could return anything and get refund..
Actually, "return dishonesty" goes back much further than that. Back in the late 60s, my husband worked in security at K-Mart. At that time, when K-Mart would get a return, they would refund and anything that got refunded got thrown away. It didn't take long before employees realized that a lot of those items that had been thrown away were coming back in the front door for refunds again because people were going through the dumpsters every night. So then, they started cutting tags out of clothing items. That still didn't work because people would say they themselves cut the tags out because they were itchy. Finally, it got down to the store having to totally destroy items before throwing them away, and it wasn't just clothing, it was everything they sold. (And back then, K-Mart sold TVs and appliances and a bit of furniture along with everything else.)
lux.ra_14
·1 year agoFat chance.
mam98031
·1 year agoAre you of the opinion that the next president will have an affect on the rules of Ebay? If so, how?
adamcartwright
·1 year ago@psfhobbies -- You're right. The stores with their liberal return policies have created monsters.
mam98031
·1 year agoReturn policies have NOTHING to do with a seller having a store or not. The return policies are available to all sellers with or without a store.
jg.mason
·1 year agoThanks for the laugh. Some of your posts bring a smile to my face.
chienoir
·1 year agoThe big box stores can afford to swallow their losses from unjustified and damaged returns. eBay is just as big, or is actually an even bigger business, worldwide. The problem is that we small sellers can't afford losses caused by unscrupulous buyers. But since eBay is so big, and is not dependent on small sellers, eBay is not interested in protecting us from underhanded buyers. The corporate attitude (and the attitude of some apologists commenting here) is that if we don't like it, we can go sell our stuff elsewhere. But due to its size, in effect eBay has a virtual monopoly in their having the largest venue ("reach") for marketing chattel.
So where does an elephant sit? Anywhere it wants to...
mam98031
·1 year agoI would disagree with you a bit on this. Small and casual sellers make up 80+ percent of their total 18+ million active sellers.
While returns are very annoying and sometimes costly, the vast majority of our sales go off without any problem at all, which is why we stay. We do make money overall.
If Ebay didn't have the MBG, then we would not get more buyers and would likely lose most of the ones that we currently have. Buyers need to feel safe when shopping here or they will just go somewhere else.
Now if you are getting a really high rate of returns. So much so you can't profit by selling here. Then of course you need to re-evaluate your approach to selling on the internet.
luckythewinner
·1 year agoNow a month later I am dealing with the same situation. A buyer purchased an item, used it and broke it, and states it was received in this condition. The pictures they posted showed signs of use, dirt stains, and was clearly used and broken from misuse.
On eBay, any buyer can steal or return any item by filing a fraudulent dispute. This has been true since 2008 when eBay introduced the Money Back Guarantee for buyers.
Let's say there was a second transaction almost identical to yours, with the same claim by the buyer and the same photos used as evidence by both sides. But the only difference in the second transaction is that the seller actually did send the dirty, broken item instead of the new one.
How would eBay know to rule correct FOR the seller in the first case, and AGAINST the seller in the second case? They couldn't, because eBay has no way of knowing what the seller shipped, what the buyer received, or who is telling the truth.
If eBay decided cases based on pictures provided by the seller, then unethical sellers would list pictures of a brand new Rolex and ship a cheap broken Timex instead, and win cases by sending the pictures of the Rolex.
It is not really a "scummy practice", it is just an unfortunate reality of an e-commerce site where the site does not observe first-hand what is sent and what is received. So it makes a decision based on what is in the site's best interests.
cityslickercreations2004
·1 year agoWell said.
fashunu4eeuh
·1 year agoAs a clothing seller, you might consider offering a more buyer-friendly return terms to better protect your account from bogus Not As Described claims. I assume that is why you are being forced to refund? On eBay, any unhappy buyer can invoke the Money Back Guarantee and force you to accept and pay for a return and refund. The buyer’s claim will supersede a seller’s word on eBay every time.
To compensate for this, it is best to anticipate a certain amount of retail shrinkage and write such losses into your business plan and as a possible offset on your income tax, etc.
Not cooperating with the buyer on a SNAD means an account defect is recorded against you each time if you do not willingly accept the Not As Described return (and follow the policy guidelines). This can seriously downgrade your status on eBay, including an increase in your Final Value fees and being charged a penalty when eBay bills you for unreimbursed seller fees on the forced refunds.
Sellers cannot fight Money Back Guarantee claims. The buyer-centric policy is meant to protect buyer interests at the expense of the seller. See the link below for the policy terms if you are unfamiliar with it and how it works here. This is a risk all sellers accept when using the eBay platform.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#:~:text=If%20the%20buyer%20receives%20the,seller%20doesn't%20offer%20returns.
mam98031
·1 year agoNot everything that you don't understand is Ebay's fault. You are hurting the health of your account by trying to fight these returns and ALLOWING Ebay to step in and make the decision.
What happens when you allow this is Ebay will rule for the Buyer, usually won't require them to return the item. you will be force to fully refund the buyer, you will NOT get your FVFs refunded and you get a Defect on your account. This is NOT a good plan. You need to STOP doing this. You need to learn the policies and how to work within them. You not knowing this isn't Ebay's fault, it is yours for not doing your homework.
This is part of the policy in the link below.
How to deduct from the buyer's refund when the item is returned in a different condition
If you qualify to deduct an amount from the buyer's refund:
Guidelines for how much to deduct from the refund
Here are some guidelines to help you determine how much to deduct from the buyer's refund.
Condition of return
Refund deduction guidance
No deductions
5%–10% deduction
15%–30% deduction
35%–50% deduction
Misuse of this protection
Sellers may only deduct an amount from the buyer's refund in order to recover lost value when an item is returned used, altered or damaged. Sellers may not use this protection to recoup market losses on items returned in the same condition or recoup return postage and/or restocking costs.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/handle-return-request-seller?id=4115#:
This is a long policy but you really need to know it as there is stuff for buyer rights and seller protections. Don't make light of this and just wing it. It can cause you to get too many Defects and get your selling account sanctioned.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210
albany_sellers
·1 year agoExactly. You need to allow yourself to get ripped off for only 50% whenever anyone feels like it, and be thankful for it.
mam98031
·1 year agoThat isn't what I said nor is that accurate in many cases. However I respect that this can be how it feels sometimes. Especially if the item comes back so damaged that you can't sell it for anything at all, it is just trash.
magikplp
·1 year agoDoing your homework is one thing, withholding information such as this is another. Some of us spoke to the reps on the phone, and they clearly don’t echo possibilities in protecting sellers. Honestly, wish you were the person(s) I spoke too but it didn’t happen.
gurlcat
·1 year agoThis is an old thread.
mam98031
·1 year ago@magikplp
What information is it that you feel I left out? Be specific please.
pickapaper
·1 year ago@magikplp wrote: "Doing your homework is one thing, withholding information such as this is another. Some of us spoke to the reps on the phone, and they clearly don’t echo possibilities in protecting sellers. Honestly, wish you were the person(s) I spoke too but it didn’t happen. "
@mam98031 wrote: What information is it that you feel I left out? Be specific please."
@mam98031
I think you misunderstood. I took this as magikplp was paying you a compliment. I think he meant that the phone reps did not give correct or complete information and were not helpful when calling. He wished you had been the person he talked to because he found your information to be very helpful.
714ricki
·1 year agoYou should see the returns other online sellers including the big box stores receive via online returns. The buyers definitely have been conditioned over the years to return things no questions asked regardless of condition. ðŸ™
broto_64
·1 year agoThe entitlement of it all, buyers will purchase a product knowing ahead of payment that the course of action is to try it out and return it because well, didn't like it... A type of buyers remorse that... The buyer knows they can return anything anytime for any and no reason so they buy for free simply to fulfill that obsession?
Sellers are to cover the cost of shipping both ways so these buyers can play show and tell with our products.
Sorry I'm of no help here.
lakefor94
·1 year ago@freshest_finds
I have heard the same over the years from sellers here on the boards that they give one courtesy refund back to the seller per year.
EBay expects sellers to eat some of these false Item Not As Described cases from what I have learned. I don't get enough of them to effect my bottom line, but I don't sell apparel.
Clothing can be a tough category for returns. Best of luck moving forward here or elsewhere. If the "elsewhere" uses a payment processor like eBay, the return rules are basically, the same.