18 years later, and starting to regret having stayed around this long at eBay

[busdriver4dashow]

I have been an active eBay member since 2005 and have 100% Positive Feedback for 3.8K items sold and have 61 followers. And of course, that means absolutely nothing to eBay, and especially when it’s coming from the lowest form of life known as the eBay seller.

Tired of automatic returns because a musical item was repurposed by the buyer and then an eBay auto-approved return because it did not fit (read wrong size) above his bar as an art piece or decoration. Tired of buyers trying to get a refund by claiming the item was in worse shape, but yet eBay didn’t see the newer item, the one I sold in the background of the pictures the buyer used to support his claim on the eBay website. Tired of people leaving me bad feedback (which is a bear to have removed) for items I did NOT sell them. Like the glass jar and I sold them, and they'll leave feedback for a belt?!

Now I have a buyer who bought a manufacturer sealed item, never opened, yet has pictures of his older item complete with dust and wear, and eBay sends me an email saying take it back, even though I feel its fraud. Very easy for eBay to say that when it is not their money. Yes, I have a name and ticket number from eBay saying that's how it's done. So, now everyone knows how to replace their worn-out items with a new exact item and return their old items for a full refund (thus getting an item free) all because eBay wants to streamline their revenue. I mean returns. 

Just blows me away that over 18 years, eBay is now about as helpful as a public utility or as helpful as a local government official when back just 8 years ago logging into eBay wasn’t so disconcerting or much less various eBay surprises awaiting you after logging in nowadays.

Also, could eBay actually hire people who use eBay? I have never dealt with ‘agents’ or ‘colleagues’ that have no actual working eBay experience trying to assist eBay members. Again, I have a name and ticket number from an eBay employee saying that's how it's done. As an eBay member, employee or executive how do you get up and go to work each day much less look in a mirror when blatant fraud is allowed?

[monster-deals]

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@dirk12955 wrote:

If I recall correctly,  All of the Pinks had experience on ebay as sellers.  Some were actual 

sellers currently engaged.   When you got into a discussion with them (Other than being given a time-out)

  the "Pink"  would know exactly what you were talking about.   Or could and would find out.

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More recently they were called blues and they often acted dismissively to us about our concerns.

Now almost all blues have abandoned the forums except for policy clarification and often don't clarify.

Think of nonsense speak like "this feature is working as intended" or "we urge you to continue to work with your buyer"

[dirk12955]

I guess Pink to Blue is progress. 

 More and more the ebay corporate philosophy is for the kids to work it

 out for themselves.   Just like a tired homeroom teacher that has to ride herd on 30 unruly 

10 year old's.  

 And when the kids fight,  the teacher has to step in and mediate the squabble and somebody 

walks away unhappy.

[debk255]

I also have been on ebay for 18 yrs and its really gone downhill.  ESPECIALLY the ebay  customer service (who's half baked idea was it to outsource their "help" to foreign third world countries?   Yes, its frustrating as H***.   In the course of selling here, I think I have encountered every single scam one could think of.  Used to be ebay pretty much always backed the seller.  Now its a toss up, depending on who reads the "dispute" you manage to type in 500 characters.    Right now I have some guy who a MONTH after they received the item, opened a dispute saying they didn't get it (we have confirmed delivery within 3 days of us shipping the item )   then they say it wasn't shipped to the correct address,  (we use ebay shipping which automatically imports their desired SHIP TO ADDRESS)  then they started howling about some type of shoes being wrong (I don't sell shoes, never have, never will)  Despite me filing complaints against the buyer and the confirmed delivery proof, I STILL, after 3 attempts cannot get ebay to close the dispute.   Come tomorrow, they will likely yank the funds from me & I'll have to fight to get them back.  THIS IS TYPICAL of their new help system.  It stinks! 

[debk255]

I have had a TON of trouble with that "late shipping" they like to hold against sellers too!  I have called about it numerous times, and each time their "help"  (using this term very sarcastically)  tells me there is nothing they can do about it!   

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

I inspect everything that goes out from here and wrap them all in tissue paper

Tissue paper ???? OMG please tell us your joking as that is some serious unprofessional wrapping that i have ever heard 

[chapeau-noir]

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@lawnmowerpartsstore2 wrote:

I inspect everything that goes out from here and wrap them all in tissue paper

Tissue paper ???? OMG please tell us your joking as that is some serious unprofessional wrapping that i have ever heard 

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Tissue paper is pretty commonly used to wrap items for protection and void fill before boxing or bagging them up for shipping.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Maybe they're confusing tissue paper with kleenex tissues or toilet tissue?

[toomuchstuffagain35]

@lawnmowerpartsstore2 

You better tell ebay then as they provide ebay branded tissue paper for sale.

[gloryglorygifts]

Well, for starters, I'm not selling lawn mower parts, I'm selling religious products. Tissue paper looks nicer than just cramming something into a box. It's not used for protection. It's for aesthetics. Bubble wrap or packing paper is used to cushion anything that needs to be cushioned. The item I mailed did NOT need bubble wrap. SMH

[gloryglorygifts]

He took the one phrase of that sentence out of context and jumped on it. Just forget about the other parts I mentioned, like I inspect everything and protect what needs protection.

[chapeau-noir]

Oh wait - I think Lawnmowerparts may have thought that you use the tissue paper for outer wrapping, which wouldn't be great.  But hey, I have seen packing jobs actually that bad so the idea that someone might do that is not completely far fetched.  I mean, someone once shipped me an 800-year-old manuscript page in a cheap first class bubble pack.

[inhawaii]

I think the "you agreed not to sue ebay" thing wouldn't have leg to stand on in court.

I think it's  there just a deterrent.

You can sue anybody for anything.

Whether or not you'll win is a different story.

Kind of like the sign in the parking lot that says "we are it responsible for theft or damage".

Yes, you are, and I can take sue you  if I want to.

Disclaimer:  I'm not a lawyer. I just play one on tv.

[dbfolks166mt]

     One of the figures I have always wished eBay would release in it's quarterly and annual reporting, or investor relations announcements, is the number of INR's, NAD's, returns and chargebacks that they received/processed. I build those risk factors into my pricing models but they are based on information I pull from national averages which often covers a pretty good range depending on the merchandise. As an example the average ecommerce return rate is 20-30%. 

     Since there is no historic information to look at, although eBay probably has it, as a seller I feel the percentages have increased disproportionately over the years. Like most I assume that most transactions on eBay, as well as the other sites I sell on, go off without a hitch but I have only my gut feeling to back that up. EBay will probably never make that information available for a couple of reasons. First it may scare off potential sellers but it may also shock their shareholders. In some cases those INR's, NAD's, returns, chargebacks..... would represent a decrease in their GMV which is not something they would want to acknowledge. 

     About the only move I have seen eBay make in an attempt to improve the sellers protection is with the introduction of the new EIS program. Although the transition has experienced some issues based on a few postings on this forum eBay and the EIS contractor appear to be standing behind those protections. 

[luckythewinner]

The disconnection of those transacting makes for a he said/she said environment and there is a solution to that. eBay has a merchant interface whereby sellers can get a merchant account and transact through their own card processor/merchant account provider.

eBay just spent five years creating Managed Payment in order to force all sellers to transact through eBay's payment processor. Why in the world would they undo all that?

[maxine*j]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

The disconnection of those transacting makes for a he said/she said environment and there is a solution to that. eBay has a merchant interface whereby sellers can get a merchant account and transact through their own card processor/merchant account provider.

eBay just spent five years creating Managed Payment in order to force all sellers to transact through eBay's payment processor. Why in the world would they undo all that?

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Not only that, but setting up an individual merchant account to accept credit cards is a lot more than just signing on a dotted line somewhere.  At the very least, one needs a business license, something may eBay sellers do not have.  No two banks and no two processors have exactly the same requirements, either.  And if a seller can do it, he will find that the fees can be pretty stiff based on his business history, turnover, etc.

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