eBay

artphotodude · ‎02-23-2022

While Ebay has been a great access point for selling, this new issue cannot be ignored. I just had an item listed as NOT RUNNING: FOR PARTS OR REPAIR ONLY (with FREE SHIPPING) come up for a Buyer's Remorse return (by the buyer's own admission). Ebay is forcing me to accept it back. So after the current consignments are listed this week, I will not be selling anything more expensive than-about $20 here. This is BETRAYAL of seller trust. Moving all of my better items to Etsy from this point on.

Further, to cement this disdain, I will be closing my existing +2000 account and re-oping a new account for these puny items, so as not to allow this exploitative institution to benefit from my years of cooperation in buyer confidence.

espresso_warehouse · ‎02-23-2022

You aren't alone. It's all going down the toilet. I don't see how this is sustainable.

They need to get a handle on bad buyers. It's out of control. I hope they get it together soon.

house*of*paws · ‎02-23-2022

Hi @artphotodude

I'm sorry this happened, but you may have hurt your case by listing the Item Condition as 'Used' ... instead of as 'For parts or not working'. [I understand you put 'not working' in several places.]

'Used' items are described as being '... fully operational and functions as intended' ... so buyers are free to request refunds if the item isn't 'fully operational'.

I can understand your anger ... but closing your current account will only hurt you. It will have no effect on eBay at all. If you start selling with a new account ... you will be treated as a 'new seller' and have multiple restrictions on your account, including lengthy holds of funds.

espresso_warehouse · ‎02-23-2022

@house*of*paws wrote:
Hi @artphotodude

I'm sorry this happened, but you may have hurt your case by listing the Item Condition as 'Used' ... instead of as 'For parts or not working'. [I understand you put 'not working' in several places.]

'Used' items are described as being '... fully operational and functions as intended' ... so buyers are free to request refunds if the item isn't 'fully operational'.

I can understand your anger ... but closing your current account will only hurt you. It will have no effect on eBay at all. If you start selling with a new account ... you will be treated as a 'new seller' and have multiple restrictions on your account, including lengthy holds of funds.

Helpful pointers but at the end of the day things aren't going well here.

eBay needs to do more for sellers. Full stop. This current situation is not sustainable. Continuing to take 'personal responsibility' as a seller for eBay's systemic problems is having diminished returns.

Consensus after today seems to be ebay, the company, is worth about 275x it's yearly profits. Think about that.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-23/ebay-warns-investors-it-s-still-losing-customers-...

fab_finds4u · ‎02-23-2022

The SPECIFIC item condition you chose for the lot is pre-owned. That means used, and used has to function.

True you said parts / repair but eBay goes by the condition specifics if the description or title has information that conflicts with the condition specific you chose.

So yes, the buyer can return it even if you said for parts or repair. They can claim they can't be repaired.

glyph01 · ‎02-23-2022

What is your return policy? If you have a “no returns” policy on buyer’s remorse return requests, you can decline the return or accept a return but the buyer pays return shipping because they messed up.

You can always accept item back and resell it.

As one eBay volunteer here put it, “if you sold it once, you can sell it again”.

It’s a PITA, yes but these things happen on occasion. I had a buyer on a different platform order an item requesting a return because they thought the item contained something they wanted when it didn’t. It was a 3 item set, listed correctly too.

I thought and laughed to myself, “What’s that got to do with me? That’s a ‘you’ problem. Doesn’t mean the rest of it is bad.” 🤣 😂

Rather than deal with a return, I ultimately offered about a 50% refund of item price (basically sold item at cost) for buyer to keep it as my policy is usually all sales are final on these rather delicate items and they were so pleased with my suggestion (discount and not having to go out to the post office amidst the pandemic at the time), saying I was so rational that they left a glowing positive feedback before I even get a chance to process refund. lol Smh.

glyph01 · ‎02-23-2022

P.S. Also want to add that if you ask eBay for help, they can force you to do something you don’t want to do so it is best to familiarize yourself with what you can do in certain situations and accept doing them for more control and less stress.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/handle-return-request-seller?id=4115

albertabrightalberta · ‎02-23-2022

@artphotodude wrote:
While Ebay has been a great access point for selling, this new issue cannot be ignored. I just had an item listed as NOT RUNNING: FOR PARTS OR REPAIR ONLY (with FREE SHIPPING) come up for a Buyer's Remorse return (by the buyer's own admission). Ebay is forcing me to accept it back.

The reason ebay has overridden your "no returns" policy is because of your own error in listing the item. You listed the condition incorrectly so instead of a remorse return, it's a NAD dispute. So you must accept the return, pay return shipping and issue a full refund.

Instead of grousing, use this as a learning experience. You won't make the same mistake again.

albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you."

artphotodude · ‎02-23-2022

You might be right, but there is no option to list it as "Not Working" accept in text.

artphotodude · ‎02-23-2022

I'm definitely realizing that they are not here to help me, but since they were sitting on the money from the sale for over a week, it seemed (in view of OFFICIAL policy) to be prudent to request that they act on that policy - clearly this was really naive of stupid of me. Won't make that mistake again.

espresso_warehouse · ‎02-23-2022

@espresso_warehouse wrote:
@house*of*paws wrote:
Hi @artphotodude

I'm sorry this happened, but you may have hurt your case by listing the Item Condition as 'Used' ... instead of as 'For parts or not working'. [I understand you put 'not working' in several places.]

'Used' items are described as being '... fully operational and functions as intended' ... so buyers are free to request refunds if the item isn't 'fully operational'.

I can understand your anger ... but closing your current account will only hurt you. It will have no effect on eBay at all. If you start selling with a new account ... you will be treated as a 'new seller' and have multiple restrictions on your account, including lengthy holds of funds.
Helpful pointers but at the end of the day things aren't going well here.

eBay needs to do more for sellers. Full stop. This current situation is not sustainable. Continuing to take 'personal responsibility' as a seller for eBay's systemic problems is having diminished returns.

Consensus after today seems to be ebay, the company, is worth about 275x it's yearly profits. Think about that.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-23/ebay-warns-investors-it-s-still-losing-customers-...

2.75x

was a typo. Basically people...we need to stop making excuses and push them to fix their platform if we don't want to keep watching this circle the drain.

fab_finds4u · ‎02-24-2022

OMG! I just looked at the item condition by category policy and it's still messed up from the changes they made last year, and they still haven't corrected it. When eBay made the changes to the categories last year they removed parts or not working as an item condition that was always available as a specific condition in Watches, and instead they have added parts or not working to Health & Beauty! It should be a condition offered in Watches and why it is no longer offered I haven't a clue. Offering it watches makes way more sense than having parts or not working in Health & Beauty.

Can someone tag a blue and find out why parts or not working was added to H&B items and no longer available in Watches?

house*of*paws · ‎02-24-2022

Hi @fab_finds4u

I went to a listing for a watch ... and clicked on the link showing the available 'Item Conditions'. This is the page that opened up:

https://www.ebay.com/pages/help/sell/contextual/condition_1.html

The 'Parts or not working' option is the last one on the list. Are you saying that it is NOT available when you are actually listing the watch?

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-24-2022

It's still available as a category.

Jewelry & Watches > Watches, Parts & Accessories > Parts, Tools & Guides > Watches for Parts

albertabrightalberta · ‎02-24-2022

@artphotodude wrote:
You might be right, but there is no option to list it as "Not Working" accept in text.

Yes, there is.

For parts or not working: The item does not function as intended and is not fully operational. This includes items that are defective in ways that render them difficult to use, items that require service or repair, or items missing essential components. See the seller's listing for full details

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/item-conditions-category?id=47...

albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you."