MBG Use

[soh.maryl]

Just for laughs, am considering keeping a record of how many questions or problems here could have been resolved by the poster if the MBG had been read prior to beginning to buy or sell here.  

Yes, am aware that it's a pet peeve of mine and that I post about it maybe way too much.  But am I the only one who can't figure why a seller with, for instance, 2386 FB as a seller has no idea how it works? Or a buyer who receives an item that's markedly NAD will lament that his seller states "no returns".

Feel free to hit me with your best shot.  Is this just a relative of people who do not read the instructions on things until they run into an issue?  

[cityslickercreations2004]

Perhaps we should start a 60 day pool to guess the number of questions. (Mods, I am joking.)

Perhaps every new seller should have to acknowledge they have read the MBG before they can list their first item. I know the box can be checked without reading the policy but their isn't much more  ebay can do.

How can you sell and not at least have a clue? Good question.

Regarding buyers, I think there needs to be a prominent MBG link on the listings.  Perhaps on the "Breathe easy. Returns accepted" area. Again, you can't make people read it but you can make it easy to find.

[12345jamesstamps]

I had to return something...a 'first' after so many years a few months ago.

I ordered 3X4 plastic bags(100) and got a bird's nest by mistake from the seller.

It was 11 bucks and thought should I blow it off and do nothing?

Seller on 3 day sent a return label.

I had to re-package it and tape it and go down to the post office and ask someone how to use the kiosk machine to get a return label...yea...I felt stupid and thought all this work for 11 bucks backs...and maybe just complaining here would make me feel better than re-shipping it.

But I did return it...I never returned anything before...and there is a time frame to return something.

[bonanza125]

Yeah most transaction go smoothly but there are times where buyers and sellers run into issues as you are aware. I think it's a select few that don't know what rights they have when something goes wrong which is why they come here so many people can tell them how things work. Now sometimes folks don't listen but it happens. The ones that really shock me is when someone waits 4 months or more before they start questioning in this community how to get a refund. 

[lakefor94]

@soh.maryl wrote:"Yes, am aware that it's a pet peeve of mine"

Would have never dawned on me;)

[roccotacodad54]

   Well you can lead a horse to water.....

   It does make one wonder how many thirsty horses just can't figure out where the water is while standing in it...................... 

[mudshark61369]

@soh.maryl ,

If you want to take the time to do that, I say go for it!  At the very least the numbers could be given to some of the Mentors to pass on to the Blues.  Though like many suggestions passed on to them, their response would probably be. "We'll pass this  on to the appropriate team for consideration" and that will be the last we hear about it. 

  However, it's my belief that if even ebay were to take some steps to highlight the MBG like moving the info up to just under the Item price and putting twinkling stars around the MBG info link on a listing page to increase its visibility, it wouldn't make much of a difference.  

[tinsoldierunderground]

My slant is the buyers seemingly are the most clueless - maybe an MBG pop up as soon as they hit the pay now button.  There's a thread going on right now with an over 20yr member ranting because 'the seller doesn't accept returns', and they received something other than what was pictured in the listing. 

[kibble-net]

I find it amusing that there are so many complaints about how ebay is too friendly to buyers, but at the same time, most of those buyers don't even know about the MBG.

[soh.maryl]

Thank you for your take on this.  My theory is that there is a significant lack of comprehension combined with an eagerness to make a purchase.  There are probably as many sellers who believe that "no returns" protects them against buyers who received defective items as there are buyers who have no idea what to do, but are willing to wait months to take action.  

[mamacassidy]

Ebay has lots of pages with lots of all their policies. And it's no surprise to me that most people don't go through and read all of those policies before buying or selling. I think a lot of people skip the instructions and go to the "I'll just figure it out" stage with ebay (as well as with many other things in life).

However, in this day and age, with the technology we all have at our fingertips, it is surprising to me how many people don't just Google the information. There have been many times on these boards where someone asks a question and I've Googled "ebay feedback policy" and it immediately brought up the page I needed. I mean, it took less than 10 seconds to find the exact policy info they were looking for.

(I know you can't find everything on Google, and I've definitely asked questions about policy on these boards, so I get there are exceptions.) 

[soh.maryl]

Not disagreeing with your premise; however, the MBG isn't lots of pages and is easily understood.  This is kind of my own private campaign to make things easier for eBayers to handle problems when they arise and, hopefully, to keep them from waiting months to resolve their issues.  Knowledge of the MBG can, in fact, keep some of us from losing money on a transaction. 

[soh.maryl]

Respectfully, from just what's posted here, I think it's more than a select few.