Ebay the Seller is your customer not thebuyer!

[rafte-17]

Ebay, the seller is your client not the buyer. You make considerable fees and profit off the seller not the buyer. It's the seller you have to keep happy, not the buyer and without sellers you would not a business! It is outrageous that one crooked buyer can leave a bad rating dropping me down 4 points when his feedback was completely unwarranted while my 100 great feedbacks don't count. I was toldby your own ebay rep in order to offset one unwarranted bad feedback I would have to sell over 20,000 good feedbacks to get back to my 100% rating because of your matrix. That makes no sense whatsoever and I don't care about your matrix but do care greatly about my reputation to be besmirched by one crooked buyer who you forced me to refund yet he has not even returned my item instead emailing me fake tracking numbers that show nothing was returned. Iyt is unacceptable that you allowed this crook to steal my item and ruin my rating. Sellers are the ones you're making money off, not the buyers and you seem to have all twisted around where we can't leave feedback on crooked buyers like this one.

Even thought my listing state I don't take returns Ebay forces us to take returnsat our expense then what is the point?

I sold an item to a very nasty buyer who claimed item was not as described. I wrote back confirming it exactly as described and it clearly states item is not returnable. He gave me a nasty unwarranted feddback stating I sold a toy peace pipe that was made of plaster and used to smoke weed and not to buy from me ruining my 100% satisfaction rate to 96%! I appealed to ebay to no end stating weighs almost 2 pounds so not plaster made of clay and obviously not a toy nor used for smoking weed and was told by ebay rep on phone to refund buyer and feedback would be removed. I refunded buyer with the provision that he had to return the item or the refund would be reversed. The feedback was not removed and now another ebay rep because I refunded the buyer was refunded the crooked buyer the case was closed!

The crooked buyer has now sent me 5 different tracking numbers from 2 different carriers USPS and UPS none of whom show anything was sent back to me and the ebay rep confirmed none of them are legit. So now this crook  now has my peace and a complete rsfund and ebay sent me ridiculous emails sayjng they have to honor "buyers experience" when this crook posted pics of tne item he received that prove my item was accurately described and photograped. 

[heckofagame]

However, without the buyers there are no sales from which to collect fees.

[1funkydude]

Please don’t read this with any kind of condescending tone. I promise you I’m trying to help you. 

There are inherent risks as an online merchant, which is what you are. There will always be a segment of the population who can’t be pleased or will commit fraud that hurts merchants. The smaller the seller, the more the pain. I get it. 

If you can set your anger and frustration aside and think logically this will make more sense. You are using the eBay platform and are subject to its terms, conditions and outcomes. As a merchant, this will not always be fair. Stop for a moment and consider the scale of eBay. How could any company go through the claims of fraud or other issues case by case? The amount of man hours required to do so renders that an unworkable solution. No company is going to do that. In light of this, a merchant has to learn to play the game in a way that protects themselves as much as they can, recognizing they will never be able to play it as they want. 

By not accepting returns you are already placing yourself in a vulnerable position. Where do you purchase from online that doesn’t accept returns? It’s a reality of e-commerce. Of course eBay will let you state you don’t take returns as they want as many sellers as possible on the platform. But you do so at your own risk. 

If you can’t accept there will be requests for returns and can’t handle the occasional bad buyer and negative feedback in then perhaps e-commerce is not for you. How you respond to what happens is more important than what happens because things are inevitably going to happen. Your response to the negative feedback is more problematic than the feedback itself. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Legally, the buyer has rights in a transaction which exceed the rights of the seller - for the purchase of items not purchased in person. The supersede the seller's return policy.

Feedback is clearly defined as a buyer's opinion of the transaction, and is largely irrelevant.

Ebay customer service reps may offer their opinions which may not be correct interpretations of Ebay policy, and are not binding on Ebay. The seller's ability to explain a situation or lack thereof may lead the CSR to incorrect opinions. An inarticulate seller is unlikely to get a correct response, just as he was unlikely to fail to read the applicable policies and procedures.

Not everyone has the skills to sell on Ebay, and no one will tell a seller when he is in over his head.

Buyers may not have the skills necessary to buy either, but buyers are protected to a greater extent.

Being a seller on an online marketplace has a lot in common with being a sharecropper. There is a long history of abuse of sharecroppers by their landlord.

[alcoforever]

In the future, do not refund until you get the item back.   

If you are selling mail order, you HAVE to take returns.   You cannot sell sight unseen and expect every buyer to accept the item.    Word  and pictures in a description can never fully describe an item and that is why some buyers may want to return the item.

[msha3839]

Unbelievable …you earn money because fellows like me buy something…in most cases you need us more than we need you…

[luckythewinner]

It's the seller you have to keep happy

I disagree - eBay has to keep buyers happy.

When eBay loses a buyer, they lose all the revenue from that buyer's purchases.

When eBay loses a seller, their buyers will generally buy a similar item from a similar seller for a similar price.

eBay does not have to worry unless enough sellers leave that it impacts the volume of merchandise on offer - and has never happened thus far.

[bonjourami]

" I refunded buyer  with the provision that he had to return the item or the refund would be reversed."

There are so many skewed facts in your post, I dont know where to start. I would just wish you good luck with your ongoing career here. I think you need it.

[5594shelleys]

I agree. And the unfair FB happens frequently without any assistance from customer service to investigate it. But you will not get an ounce of understanding on this forum. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@rafte-17 wrote:

I sold an item to a very nasty buyer who claimed item was not as described.  

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You failed to mention the dings and nicks, so it wasn't as described.

[epowerbargains]

Your response is spot on. I could not have said it better or agree more. You are very kind and constructive in your comments and efforts to assist the Original Poster (OP). Hopefully the OP will read your post and see the wisdom and experience. I agree that the feedback the OP left hurts future sales more than the original negative. Potential buyers might view that and back away fearing that the seller is shall we say difficult. There will be a point in time when almost all online sellers will get what they view to be an unfair, unwarranted feedback or return. Yes, it is frustrating - but how you respond speaks volumes - sometimes it's best to slow your roll and wait and respond carefully and professionally when you are calm or say nothing at all. I believe that listing all the reasons you are right, and the buyer is wrong generally backfires in the view of future buyers. Making a threat or promise of "reporting" a buyer is in my view counterproductive and best left out of feedback. Build in some room in pricing to cover these situations and that will take a bit of the sting out of the experience. Taking it personally is just a way to create stress for yourself. Sellers need to know eBays money back guarantee inside and out and accept that it swings in favor of buyers - if that is unacceptable then eBay will not be a good fit for you as a seller.  

[hartungcards]

You lost me at, "Ebay, the seller is your client not the buyer."

[1funkydude]

To what end? What would sympathy net? Is one better served complaining about that which they can’t change or looking at it from a business perspective and adapting as best they can? 

As to your statement that customer service won’t investigate, how do you propose accomplishing this? I’ve been on the management/financial/loss prevention side of corporate. How do you staff to handle each and every feedback with which a seller disagrees? Do you understand the volume you’re talking about? How do pay for that? What company does this with respect to feedback? People make emotional statements and insist unworkable solutions are the answer. A much more profitable answer both in terms of time and money is to adapt to the system and play it as best you can. It’s not going to change, it can’t. The business world, especially small business, is littered with failures who insist “it oughta be” a certain way.  Success is forged by adapting to the unchangeable. 

[pcobra93]

Well...technically, since the seller pays all the fees, they are the "client"....Not that I agree with everything said by the OP...but technically they have a point.

[epowerbargains]

You are very realistic. It's eBay's platform and they make the rules. Like it or not adaptation is the best way to manage and survive. If that is not possible then selling here will be simply a miserable experience.