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WHY ARE EBAY COMMUNITY ANSWERS VAGUE WHEN IT COMES TO ASKING ABOUT EBAY OFFICIAL POLICY
On several occasions, I have asked specific questions concerning Ebay policies concerning a variety of subjects.
I never get an answer from anybody that states policy or points to a printed policy. It's like going to Facebook and just getting opinions instead of real answers.
Why is this? Are the people that participate in the Ebay community paid to just help with content? Are they there to condition sellers to bend over and take one for the team every time? I'm sure that helps to make Ebay buyer-friendly, but rules are rules and surely those that answer questions in the community must know the actual policies? Do they?????????
I've not had any questions answered with a simple copy and paste of an Ebay policy. It's frustrating because most of the time, it seems I'm just getting opinions or people's "feelings" on a subject.
Selling merchandise falls under contract law, and surely Ebay's policies are geared towards rules that coincide with that.
Everyone's answer to every problem always seems to be to "refund". Well, **bleep** on that, because I'd be bankrupt right now if I did that every time.
kh-stanley1
·2 years agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
gloryglorygifts
·3 years agobuyscity702
·3 years agoI've had a listing removed that states in the policy that this specific item IS ALLOWED to be sold. After talking to them multiple times, I gave up. Selling it on another platform. They don't even know their own policies.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoJust curious: What was the item?
onthescrews
·3 years agoI’ll say what others have too much class to say.
You’ve posted here asking for help from volunteers, who have tried to help you. These people do this out of kindness. They’re nicer people than me, and they’ve been nice to you in this and your previous posts. Your response to their kindness is to accuse them of being paid off by eBay and crudely ask if they’re plants to condition you to “bend overâ€. After your accusation, your statement “I’m sure that helps…†was you being condescending. You stated those that answer questions should know the policies, and provide you with the policies you want rather than doing that work yourself. Do you understand how this looks? Are you so remarkably obtuse and self absorbed you don’t see the degree to which this exposes you?
So you don’t know how the message board works and who is answering questions. You don’t know the policy and want someone to babysit you and find the respective policy for you. When they tried to help you through what’s likely a situation that’s not 100% clearly defined in policy you decided to be an accusatory ass. You’re lucky any of them tried to help you at all after your initial post in this thread.
My suspicion, and I could be wrong, is you came here looking for someone to tell you it’s ok to keep the item and the money; no seller who’s decent enough to try to help you out of kindness on their free time is also going to tell you it’s ok to do so. These are honest folks, and they deserve a lot better than your snarky questions and accusations and snide commentary.
itscalledapostingid
·3 years agoIt's not the first time someone came to the community with this exact same local pickup scenario and hoped people would tell them it's ok to keep the item and the money. When that doesn't happen they disparage the community-at-large.
5150waffles
·2 years agoI'm in the same situation. Buyer is demanding me to ship a hood to a El Camino. It was listed $110 local pickup ONLY. I'll hold out. If he can't pick it up that's on him. Teach these low life entitled butt heads a lesson. I feel animosity toward people like this. Everyone else can waist their time being "ethical". I'm here to make money. My time is money.
partfinds
·3 years agoSome policies are non existent or policies are vague and only other sellers experinece can clarify. Policies don’t explain every circumstance. Good luck with written policies.
inhawaii
·3 years agoThat might be a first for me.
Someone complaining about the poor advice the receive on the boards.
I see regulars all the time looking up the specific policy and posting a link to it.
Aside from actually reading it to the OP, there's not a whole lot more we can do.
luckythewinner
·3 years agoI've not had any questions answered with a simple copy and paste of an Ebay policy.
Your last post ask for the "rules for local pickup".
People here generally give answers that assume you have done basic research such as going to the eBay Help & Contact link (at the top of every page on the eBay site) and searched for "Local Pickup".
If you have not done that, here is the page you would find if you did:
Offering Local Pickup
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/local-pickup?id=4181
Is that all you were looking for? Someone to do the work to search the help system for you?
itscalledapostingid
·3 years agoI always give specifics from ebay to back up my answers but here are two links to find anything you need to know:
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/default/ebays-rules-policies?id=4205
https://www.ebay.com/help/account/policies/az-index-policies?id=4649
coolections
·3 years agoIt sounds like you have a lot of assumptions about these boards. First off there are no employees, just sellers sharing their experiences. Secondly it sounds like you do not want to do any research and find the policy yourself and what others to do it for you. Post 11 gives the link so you can start doing your own research. If you have specific questions after that, many here can help you.
kensgiftshop
·3 years agoThe main policy you need to remember is the MBG.
It says the buyer gets the item they ordered or they get their money back.
house*of*paws
·3 years agoHi @casl-patr
I checked out your 3 questions you addressed to the Community this month:
I'm going to assume you're just having a bad day ... and really didn't mean to insult fellow eBayers who volunteer their time to answer questions for other members. Not only is your post rude ... it is mostly false.
I truly hope you work out whatever is bothering you ... as I'm sure you're a much nicer person than you've revealed yourself to be in your OP. 🙂
casl-patr
OP3 years agoLet me rephrase and simplify this a bit.
My frustration comes from vague policies I would suppose. That leads to vague answers to specific questions.
I'd prefer you didn't make this personal, because it's not. If you perceive it as rude, then I'm sorry for that, I don't think I was rude or making it personal. I get lots of vague answers. Each question garners several answers, and to be clear, many of them do not direct to policy. Some might have, but far more are kind of like facebook posts.
Now, perhaps that's because Ebay's policy is deliberately vague. That's kind of indicated in this thread, and that helps answer the question.
So, the question here was what happens if a buyer never picks up an item that was sold on local pick up?
There should be some sort of flow chart like. Buyer doesn't pick up-------> (asks for refund) (what's next)
Well, from what I can see, there is no clear answer from their policy, because it says in order to have seller protection, you have to have a scanned code from a pickup, etc. Well, if they don't show up, you aren't going to get a scanned code. That means there is no protection?
Buyer gets to buy your product, take it off the market place as you miss potential sales and then can, at their discretion, choose to ask for a refund because they didn't do their own due dilligence in picking it up? Seems crazy to me.
luckythewinner
·3 years agoIn your example, that would require eBay to know what arrangements you made with your buyer to pick it up and what your listing said you would do if it was not picked up.
If you did not give your buyer a deadline and did not detail what the rules for pickup were, then I would argue it was your listing that was vague.
1786davycrockett
·3 years agoThere have been two occasions for me as a seller when buyers have requested local pick-up & have pre-paid for the items -- and then never took the time to pick up the items which they had purchased.
On both occasions, I sent the buyers multiple emails reminding them that their pick-up schedules had elapsed, and to contact me to make new schedules. One buyer made several different scheduled pick-up dates, but never followed through, and eventually stopped responding to my requests. The other buyer simply dropped off the face of the earth, apparently, as they never replied to any of my emails.
In both situations, I could have requested that the buyers cancel the sale, at which time I could have refunded them. But in both cases I chose to wait out my buyers, in hopes that they might eventually find time to pick up their items. (I didn't have a lot of money invested in either item, by the way.). Eventually, after 6 months, I simply refunded each of them, and re-listed both items. (I waited 6 months in order to protect myself from any credit card chargebacks, by the way.)
Additionally -- I chose to refund my buyers after 6 months, rather than just pocketing the money which they had thrown my way, even though I suppose some sellers would differ with me on that issue. But, as I stated previously, I wasn't heavily invested in either item; had my investment been significantly higher, I would have had to have given some thought to not refunding; but that's a personal decision that each seller must make on their own.
Good luck.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoYour reply seems like an excellent idea to me, although, since the OP would prefer a written eBay policy, it may not appeal to him. Obviously, it would be wrong for the seller to have both the item and the money.
My take on this, as mentioned previously, is that the buyer has now realized that it's for parts only or that it's local pickup; however, it has been only two days since the sale and perhaps the buyer is trying to get his ducks in a row (line up a few people to help him with pick up).
5150waffles
·2 years agoDo you have to refund? I won't refund. Teach em a lesson.
kitschy*loot
·3 years ago@casl-patr How do you expect other sellers and buyers to give you an exact answer to a question if you yourself acknowledge that eBay itself is vague with specific and exact answers to many questions? People can only go on personal experience and whatever policy information supplied to the public by eBay when giving advice. Everyone who bothers to read are reading the same policies as you.
casl-patr
OP3 years agoMuch of the advice I seem to get are from buyers, who don't seem to have sold anything, and don't have anything listed for sale. That perplexes me. I don't have a ton of feedback, but I've sold a few thousand items on ebay, but I don't consider myself an expert.
I seem to find that everywhere. Everybody wants to talk incessantly about things, but sometimes they just don't know the answer. It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect and it's rampant everywhere.
fashunu4eeuh
·3 years agoI have been a seller on eBay for over 12 years. I use a posting ID to protect my selling account from the rare crazies who sometimes populate the board. I wish i did not have to do so, as it gives me less credibility, but i do what i can.
I agree with you on the DK effect. There are people of low intellectual ability overestimating their level of expertise. I sometimes encounter them in the forums—people who think they know enough to pass judgment on subjects of which they know little.
downunder-61
·3 years agoA lot of us have posting id's, so you have no idea on how much/little we have sold or purchased.
There is a well respected poster here who I admire very much who has a signature that states:
"I can explain to to you but I can't understand it for you"...........
never has that siggie been more apt than for this post, you are welcome BTW
monroe67
·3 years ago"Much of the advice I seem to get are from buyers, who don't seem to have sold anything, and don't have anything listed for sale."
I sell under a different eBay user ID for many of the reasons mentioned by other posters. I post and buy using this ID.
"That perplexes me."
. . . because you don't know it's perfectly legal and many times actually preferable to have multiple eBay user IDs. If I were selling things related to vehicle motors, like you are, I would probably use a different ID to list those than I would use for my 1970s sewing patterns.
"I don't have a ton of feedback, but I've sold a few thousand items on ebay, but I don't consider myself an expert."
eBay, or more accurately Khoros, has decided to label me a "Rockstar" but only for the posts I add to these community forums. (Fora?) I am nowhere close to a rock star in real life. Neither am I anywhere close to your 766 feedback, as either a buyer or a seller. What I have learned over at least 12-13 years is from regularly reading these community boards and from looking up what eBay's User Agreement says.
"I seem to find that everywhere. Everybody wants to talk incessantly about things, but sometimes they just don't know the answer. It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect and it's rampant everywhere."
One thing that seems to be rampant here, especially in this Selling community, is that when posters get answers they don't like, they tend to (try to) disparage the people who have tried to help them. It happens here literally All. The. Time.
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoThat's dammed arrogant.
luckythewinner
·3 years agoMany people here use posting IDs, in part to protect their accounts from sabotage by people who don't like their answers.
So your post about the Dunning-Kruger might be based on your ignorance rather than the truth.
Which might make your post an example of the very Dunning-Kruger effect that you are complaining about 🤣
soh.maryl
·3 years agoWhen you receive advice here from "buyers who don't seem to have sold anything, and don't have anything listed for sale", have you not considered the well-known fact that many eBayers have more than one eBay ID? For instance, you see 80 something FB for me as a buyer, but you have no idea of my seller ID or my feedback therein.
redmodelt
·3 years agoAlso, asking questions here in the community posts, that we are other buyers and sellers, not eBay employees, so some answers can be interpenetrations or opinion on what the rules are.
casl-patr
OP3 years agoAre there any perks to answering questions for yourself, other than maybe learning?
fashunu4eeuh
·3 years agoNo, there is no eBay benefit for participation in the forum. I do it because it gives me satisfaction to help a fellow user.
1tuna
·3 years agoI always tell sellers to refund. I consider myself a bit of an expert on returns
resistance is futile with most returns
compliance with returns will get you every where
if you stick around the boards long enough you will have a very good idea just how ebay operates
most of the regulars that post on here know the outcomes of many situations
the members here love to help others with situations and have had many opportunities to help guide someone to do the correct thing
@casl-patr
soh.maryl
·3 years agoIt does not involve a return. OP listed an engine block for parts only, had a buyer who paid. Sold on the 18th. Has heard no further from the buyer. Wanted to know what to do if buyer does not respond and does not pick up. Several of us have made logical suggestions like wait awhile, no contact, refund. OP wants a specific eBay policy quoted. Evidently there is not one. Occasionally common sense has to prevail. It would be wrong to keep his money and keep the item.
Suggested buyer might not have read the local pickup part, or possibly the for parts only part of the listing. Personally would continue to attempt contact since it's been only two days. After reasonable time, would cancel, refund and block.
Feel free to offer suggestions to OP.
Aren't local pickup items usually paid for when buyer comes to pick it up?
krazzykats
·3 years agoeBay Motors Launches New Purchase Protections for Auto Parts & Accessories
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoeBay Motors Launches New Purchase Protections for Auto Parts & Accessories
Good news so long as it's not Johnny Cash's Cadillac. ðŸ˜
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uErKI0zWgjg
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoHuh - often we get smacked around because we *quote* policy. "What are you, an ebay [mouthpiece, shill, employee]???" So this is a change.
casl-patr
OP3 years agoI'm not trying to smack anybody around at all . I'm mostly frustrated at Ebay's vague policy I guess, or the difficulty of finding a policy, if one exists. Ebay I am sure does that purposefully, and then they use us as a buffer between their vagueness and the end user of the vagueness. Takes heat off of them and leaves us to spin in circles.
In the case of my question concerning not picking up a local pickup item, the policy is very vague.
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoIt would have been wiser, then, to just say that rather than "Why is this? Are the people that participate in the Ebay community paid to just help with content?" We don't write the FAQ content, which is indeed sometimes vague and confusing, we can only try to help answer questions. And no, we don't get paid.
house*of*paws
·3 years agoYes, the OP says they are frustrated by eBay's 'vague policy' ... yet complains that we aren't quoting that policy. 😫
We do better than 'quote policy' ... although we do that as well. We tell OPs our (and others') experience with what eBay actually does ... despite what policy may say. Volunteers have had the benefit of reading multiple thousands of posts that tell us how eBay has handled various situations ... which often conflicts with written policy.
A recent example is how eBay apparently has started forcing sellers to accept returns on items listed as 'Not working; for parts only'. I don't know if the change is written somewhere ... but it's definitely happening. [Coincidentally, this is one of the issues the OP had asked about in one of their recent posts.]
dhbookds
·3 years agoDon't know what your specific question is.........but have you tried the Help files? Top of every page......go there, put in your question or keywords...... You may have to refine several times but those ARE Ebay answers........from Ebay itself........
evry1nositswindy
·3 years agohttps://www.ebay.com/help/home
Type in anything you want to know. All the policy is here. You will see more policies quoted if you ask a specific question on the Ask a Mentor board.
toysaver
·3 years agoThere is not always a right answer set in stone. This is the reason people go to court. Potato / Potatoe. Different people interpret things depending on their experiences, intellect and other criteria, it is the nature of life....
maxine*j
·3 years agoThe assumption is that you have already read the policy are are seeking other sellers' interpretations, opinions, experiences, or practical advice about that policy.
It would b a bit of an insult to assume that you are too dim to access eBay policy and just link to it or quote it to you.
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maxine*j
·3 years agomonroe67
·3 years agoThis is an interesting and important question.
I clicked on your name and saw the threads you started in this community forum. I remembered seeing them but I did not respond -- because I did not know the answers.
There are a couple of issues that come up occasionally here in this community forum to which I do choose to respond -- and my responses have been researched in eBay's User Agreement. I have been known to copy-and-paste info directly from the User Agreement into my response here in the community.
For your own confidence in trying to learn any "official policy", you may want to read through eBay's User Agreement for yourself. When you are using a desktop or laptop computer and you are in/on any eBay page, scroll down to the very bottom of the page. You will see a line of finer print starting with the copyright dates.
Read through to the right, and you will see the underlined words User Agreement. The underlining indicates a hyperlink. Click anywhere within those two words -- User Agreement -- and you will be taken directly to the User Agreement. It has several main topics, and each topic also has hyperlinks within it. Clicking on each of those links will give you even more info.
By The Way -- regular or even infrequent posters here are NOT PAID by eBay to do so !!!
stuff4divas
·3 years ago@casl-patr hey, i just sent u the local pick up policy link on your post
casl-patr
OP3 years agoThat's the first time I've been directed to a policy. Thanks for doing that. Ebay's policy there is vague, because they don't specifically address what happens if the buyer doesn't pick something up or even attempt to, or communicate, etc.
That should be a common occurrence, and one would think there would be rules governing that type of situation.
retro_entertainment_collectibles
·3 years agoBecause situations can vary. If someone doesn't pick something up they get an unpaid item strike. If they paid for it never picked it up, they get their money back. You never know, someone might have had a circumstance preventing them from communicating such as a car accident, who knows, baby born w/ issues. Trying make policies as a company with no custody of merchandise is pretty difficult.
On FB Marketplace I had no less than 14 people claiming they come to buy a John Deere Riding Mower, 15th was the charm and 14 times I waited at my old house waiting for them to show.
I recently sold a Playstation 4 w/ an unopened 3D headset on FB Marketplace and wanna talk about issues?
The PS/4 was basically "Free" in the transaction along with many many games on it. Literally ever 20 minutes for near two weeks just pop up windows:
"Can I just get the PS/4 for $50?"
"Will you jest sell one controller?"
On and on and one... Crazy!
That's not to mention the literal HORDES of people who can't/don't read where it says, "Cash Only" wanting pay me through outside services so they can basically steal it with a chargeback.
FINALLY I get a fella and his girl come over in a car that looked like it was hit by 10 others and I get paid cash.
One might think in person commerce be easier than this but sometimes it not that's for sure.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoThis is exactly why so many questions get answered with vague replies that lack a link or quote from actual published eBay policy: The available policy documents can be vague or even totally lacking.
About 3 years ago, eBay completely reformatted the policy pages and many were rewritten with a great loss of detail. So now board discussions are are left to reminisce: "Well, the policy page used to say X but it doesn't any more, so we don't know whether that's still the policy..." There's nothing but the memories of board members to help answer questions like, "Why did the 'Buy it now" option not disappear when the auction got a bid?" or "Which are the categories where the "Buy it now" option on an auction might remain even after the first bid is placed?"
maxine*j
·3 years agoYes, the policies went from detailed, specific, and clear to general, vague, and ambiguous, with a great deal of eraser language (such as "including but not limited to" and the like) added to cover a multitude of sins. Such also covers eBay's behind, no matter its actions, no matter how whimsical its bots' behavior or how nonsensical its automated systems' decisions.
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mtgraves7984
·3 years agoMany here can direct you to policy. What is your issue?
donsdetour
·3 years agoIf you are saying such about the boards: it is a user to user system.
Got a specific policy you want to know about??
Oh and some policy is vague...