Article: Ebay Accused of Failing Its Sellers

[vietcoinscollection]

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/may/21/ebay-accused-failing-sellers-buyers-manipulate-system-...

[747cable]

Thanks for sharing.  Maybe eBay will do something.  Sure hope so.

[tonycea]

The good old eBay iron clad money back guarantee has sunk the Titanic once again........

[postingid2017]

Yes, thank you for sharing - was a very interesting article.  However, I am not hopeful 😞

[llllady]

According to eBay, it will announce permanent policy changes in the autumn. “Learning from the experiences of the 50,000 UK and US sellers in the pilot, we have created a different returns experience, including putting obstacles in the way of suspected fraudsters to prevent refunds, or even blocking a buyer entirely when we suspect fraud before they’ve been refunded,” it says.

Has anyone heard anyone come to the boards and mentioning a pilot program (or the results thereof) as described by an eBay in the article?  I mean, where they all eBay employees or what?

[rei-npkrlma]

Wow...interesting - and scary.

"Readers related instances where a buyer falsely claimed to have been sent beetroot instead of a mobile phone, while another buyer stuffed an envelope with a used T-shirt instead of a £258 pair of trainers he claimed to be returning. Both were refunded under eBay’s 'money back guarantee'.

'There is something wrong,' eBay admitted last April. 'The system was built on the premise that most people are honest. It needs to be more intuitive.'"

It used to be that way - most people were honest - but you open things up to this "global" craze, give away "free internet" and free phones, and you're inviting every dishonest hack in the world, literally, to come diddle sellers.

[*eponymous*]

eBay is supposedly going to start giving sellers a carrot by allowing sellers who offer returns to deduct part of the payment (with a cap) if the item condition is not the same, or if a different item is returned.  However, the stick is that the buyer can still appeal to eBay if they're not happy with the partial refund.

This does not address sending a different item back, sending an item back that is now worthless due to buyer use/abuse, or an item whose value has been refuded; and eBay has weaseled out on explaining to sellers exactly what process will give sellers any more protection than they have now, which is absolutely none.  It also does not explain the appeal process when a buyer disputes the amount of the refund.  The process needs to be set out in black-and-white for all users to know what to expect!

At least, we know that media outlets contacting eBay on a seller's behalf can get results so...sellers, contact a media outlet when you get a faulty return and have your money forcibly taken from you, as well as the result to your ratings, for doing what eBay says you can do - ask eBay to step in when a buyer abuses you on a return!

Personlly, I'm pretty sure eBay waives its venue-only status by mediating between buyers and sellers in dispute cases, which would mean eBay itself can be held liable for its decisions...

Any further info on the new negotiated returns policy?  @Anonymous alan@ebay @Anonymous 

[pinkrose442savings2018]

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@vietcoinscollection wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/may/21/ebay-accused-failing-sellers-buyers-manipulate-system-...

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Thank you for sharing, very interesting article...glad to see eBay is addressing this...someone posted in August help in on it's way...

[newview]

Ebay is chasing away the GOOD buyers with their search engine that does anything but search ... loading pages & pages of pure unadulterated junk they "think" you might want, and NOT what you searched for, and their constant glitches that leave buyers with the niggling feeling they've stumbled upon some fly-by-night outfit that can't serve a proper web page and they go somewhere else to spend their money.

Ebay is is chasing away the GOOD sellers with their updates couched in glowing descriptions that in reality just harm sellers more, the lies by the so-called Customer Service Department that when examined closely are just "we'll tell you anything to get you off the phone", turning a blind eye to their own policies depending on what country you sell from, hidden policies that only pop-up to further harm a seller and their just-plain-don't-care attitude, when their actions speak so much louder than their words.

Eventually ... they'll be left with only the BAD BUYERS and the BAD SELLERS.

You reap what you sow.

[cell.buyer]

Once Devin gets rid of all the active content he will be able to serve a web page, then he is going to get rid of all the ads from the competition and start listening to sellers in a big way...........

[banana-posts]

ebay even ignored **bleep** threats to a seller until it became public.  How despicable can you get.

And I wouldn't trust any new programs they come up with. In the end, the sellers will be mauled as usual for the sake of ebay's pockets.

[megadestroyers]

"The process needs to be set out in black-and-white for all users to know what to expect!"

If only it were that simple!  I would have absolutely no confidence in the ebay tech writers, supported by their legal staff, to produce a clear and consise document whereby ebays feet could ever be held to the fire.  Drivel, contradictions, smoke and mirrors, deception, all go into making clarity purposely non-existent.  ebay "policy" has enough holes, cheese makers in Zurich sit up and take notice!  So much false sense of security about the MBG has been spread, mushrooms everywhere are rejoicing!  Cassini, not understandable by anyone, ebays version of "math" sprinkled all about.

Wishful thinking.  It is most likely (guaranteed!) that ebay will create much more discourse, all while maintaining their fence-straddling stance in appeasing both buyers and sellers.  Much like many other previous ebay attempts at addressing issues, the baby will be thrown out with the bath water.

Now.  Stay!

[cell.buyer]

eBay could automatically block buyers who are not qualified to buy on eBay based on IP addresses that are blacklisted hosts that criminal gangs are known to use, they do not have enough security experts on board to develop necessary software to stop criminal gangs running wild on eBay.

[megadestroyers]

"Once Devin gets rid of all the active content he will be able to serve a web page, then he is going to get rid of all the ads from the competition and start listening to sellers in a big way..........."

If only it was just ads from the competition........

Stay tuned.

[vintagecraze50]

It is a known fact that as internet sales have gone up significantly with retail store purchases declining that the threats of being scammed are quite higher than they used to be. It makes common sense now doesnt it? The more buyers you get the scammers increase exponentially as well. Ebay please do address this in the autumn with a WELL THOIUGHT OUT PLAN AND CHANGE THAT really protects sellers in the best possible way you can. Amen.