I sell parts, though not car parts and yes it has been getting worse. I have had at least two in the last couple weeks. One return buyer kept some of the items I sent them (I kept $5 to cover it not a big deal I did reach out to them but they never replied) , one a couple days ago the buyer took the item apart ($100 item) and stole parts out of the item. This isn't normal, normally its items getting damaged and returned or buyers filing returns improperly. The buyer did respond today saying their handy man did it and apologized.
Had a buyer a few months ago buy a part, install it on one of their customers machines. Their customer came back almost 30 days later because they broke the touch screen button and the guy filed for a refund and I got stuck with no money and a broken item. Guy said all of this right in messaging. I called ebay to tell them and I was told not to do anything because the return was placed on hold and when it came back to call them. I did and was told it would take a few days to process as they were going to cover it. The next day the system automatically refunded them and I was out everything. Called back and was told sorry you shouldn't have refunded them its too late to do anything. Luckily the mark on my account was removed at least.
To hear they are removing your seller rights to partial refunds is very worrisome. Selling parts has to be one of if not the highest abused categories. Sometimes its because buyers are dishonest. Other times its because when they are repairing something they don't know what they are doing and either buy the wrong part, misdiagnose an issue, or damage an item because they don't know how to properly install or remove it.
I have invested a lot of time and money into growing my business on ebay the last couple years and when I read things like this it really has me thinking it was a horrible decision knowing they can shut me down because of abusive buyers. I hope I'm wrong.
