I've read through most of this depressing topic.
I've previous left Ebay because of their blunt prejudice against sellers. I'm close to leaving against.
But this amazed me, why on earth do they give an option for "No Refunds" if you are not allow to enact it?
The current notification goes even further, they say, you'll be charged for return postage. Even though you clearly stated No Returns. In my case, I was selling electronic parts, and chose a No Returns because of previous frauds, as many of you have experienced.
Ebay claim not to be the market but increasingly they are treating us like no contract workers and clearly favoring "the buyers' experience", as its the buyers who bring in the money.
They want "the buyers experience" to be a universal one, as if it was a store.
It is a store, a store in which we sellers pay to work in and we sellers have to pay for any of the buyers' frauds or inulgences.
It is very clear to me that word is out among the scammer elements of the mass market how easy it is to scam Ebay sellers. I suppose they see it in the same way at how easy it is to scam or shoplift at a big store, seeing us as "just people who work there and don't care".
They don't see us as original people, just scraping by, turning our time into some extra money. They just see the "big company front" and how easy it is to shoplift.
In the old days, may be 40 or 50 years ago, mail companies used to sell items out without payment "on approval" and society was still honest and decent enough to pay or return them. It is still like that in Japan (or may be I should not say otherwise the scammers will move there?).
The removal of 'Seller Feedback' was a big part of the reason I quit the last time. It makes the system completely onesided. They tie our arms behind our back with no chance to defend ourselves.
The strange thing I have experienced is that the worst cases of feedback abuse tends to come from the smallest or smaller value items. I have had it was items hardly worth selling but that I have only sold because they would be useful for a collector.
You can spend years building up a 100% record, and then sme a*hole comes along and trashes in a huff for a few dollars.
I know I am wasting my breath mouthing off here. Experience has told me that we are wasting our breath trying to talk reason to the great Ivory Tower.
But it would be better if Feedback was equated on an auction value basis rather than a $4 item be worth as much as a $4,000 item. That is, if you've sold $50,000 and one $5 item goes sour, it only counts as 1/10,000th rather than 1.
So, to summarize,
a buyer steals your item,
Ebay reaches in and grabs your money and you cannot stop them from doing so,
the buyer then threatens your hard earned 100% feeback,
you refuse but Ebay gives the money to them anyway and let's them damage you, and then
they damage your seller level.
All for $5.
That just makes Ebay the enforcer for street muggers, off whom they take their 10%. It's coercive Mob mentality.
I wonder if posts here go against you too?
Ebay says,
Note that if you accept a return, you'll be charged for return postage. Starting on that day, the buyer could ask us to step in and help by opening a case - this can affect your seller level.
The funds for this transaction will be unavailable until this return has been closed. You can also use these funds to issue a refund. You must issue a refund within 6 days of the item being delivered.
You can ask us to step in and help if there's a problem with the buyer's request.
