@paulbeepaul wrote:
I like respectful buyers, who read the descriptions and treat the seller like a decent human being. But a significant minority of buyers are quite the opposite.
I don't like ebay's policy towards sellers, who by default are regarded as being in the wrong, whereas buyers are regarded as being in the right. It has become increasingly difficult recently to appeal against bad actions by buyers, for instance buying a good item from the seller and returning their own faulty item for a full refund. I'm not saying that all buyers are like this, of course they are not, but enough to cause real problems for sellers.
I hope this clarifies things.
You CHOOSE to sell here. As much as some buyers may be not so great, most are fine. It's a game of numbers. You either choose to participate and make sales, dealing with the occasional problem buyer, or you don't. You either choose to accept the rules of the platform, or you don't.
I hate to burst sellers little bubbles, but it's not just buyers who stink, it's sellers too. Everywhere, including online, the norm of "customer service" is the jerk yelling "get off my lawn!". Small mom and pop store, or a large corporate store, customer service does not exist anymore. People are rude, obnoxious and self involved. From the cashier to the store owner, people/customers are treated like adversaries.
Someone with good customer service skills does not start out complaining that the "idiot" buyer didn't read the description. Someone who cares about their business and does not see buyers are the adversary, does not start off knocking down and blaming buyers. They know not all buyers are unicorns and rainbows and know there are some situations where it's not ideal. But they push through it because most sales go on just fine and only a few have hiccups. Happy buyers make repeat buyers. Treating everyone good despite there being a few bad ones is what in part, makes a business successful. Treating people like crooks leads to no one wanting to deal with you if there are alternatives. Hating on the platform because you don't like the rules does not change the rules.
Everyone is great at complaining. You live in a free market, so if you don't like it, create your own platform with your own rules. Otherwise, it's just senseless whining and complaining. No one is forced to sell here. Nothing is stopping anyone from creating their own platform if they think everything stinks and it should be better.
