I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH, THANK YOU AND GOOD BYE!

[prettywoman-2012]

O.K., so this is IT. I am not going to list here anything else in the future - regardless of how many FREE listings eBay prefers to throw my way! Seriously considering not even relisting the ones already listed here, though I may give them some time to run out on their own.

I absolutely HAD it. Three times in a row - with weeks apart - a buyer claimed false reasons for returning an item, in order to get FREE shipping, by leaving me no chance to refuse the return shipping cost! eBay does NOTHING to protect the sellers against these kinds of atrocities. The buyer can open a case of return with literally ANY invented reason. eBay does not ask the buyer to provide a photo, or otherwise explain the reason, making it now even harder for sellers by extending the return times. JEWELRY HAS A 14 DAYS RETURN,  per eBay's own statement. My listings of jewelry have a 14 days return, also. Not 21, not 30. eBay nonchalantly announced to change this, for absolutely NO logical reason, because so many people being currently at home, the return time-frame could actually be shorter, but definitely not longer! 

30 days gives buyer plenty of opportunity to have a change of heart and mind, and simply return the item claiming non-existent "Item not as described," or even worse, DAMAGE the item and then claim that it was damaged already when sent by the seller. 

I describe my items correctly, and for the most part, provide 10-12 pictures for each. I accept returns with NO questions asked, but I am not going to pay for any more dishonest buyers to claim non-existent reasons for return. Strange to note, With hundreds upon hundreds of sales elsewhere: I did not have a SINGLE return on my other selling sites, for years! Not because I do not accept returns. My feedback on other sites is also 100% with NO returns, ever.

Add to the picture eBay's continued harassment for giving them all kinds of private information and being charged a tax of 12.5% on the tax portion of the sales come July - I am out. 

You are losing MASSES of honest, experienced and knowledgeable sellers - many of whom are much higher volume sellers than my little business - because you provide the most horrible customer service to your sellers, eBay! 

I think I have seen enough. Totally FURIOUS about people stealing my money that I work VERY hard to earn, and will no longer expose myself to this kind of abuse. 

I regret that I have EVER returned to this site, to be truthful. The way you are treating your sellers is ABYSMAL. The only entity making money here is YOU eBay - and your preferred few. 

Good luck to all sellers. Looks like some of you will need it...

PW

[maddocks]

My Etsy sales are starting to outperform my eBay ones. By next year, maybe I'll have enough too... I've been on eBay since darned near the beginning, but it is like the death of one-thousand cuts - every year things get just a bit worse than before. Still making a profit... but not what it ought to be 😕

[rdjsystemservices]

I am really sorry that you have gotten to this point. I understand how you are feeling. I think a lot of us do.
I have noticed though, on eBay, that it's not so much WHO you are selling to; but what you are selling.

Some categories are FULL of fraud and scammers. For example: Jewelry (especially fine jewelry), electronics (I used to sell only in electronics for YEARS but that is no longer possible for me on this particular platform), name brand expensive purses and clothes. I think you get the point. 

If you want to continue using eBay try to shift your idea of what can be safely sold here. Other sites have a different approach to returns and such so selling items like jewelry and electronics are not a problem. It's , in my opinion, a matter of fitting the right products with the right platform.

But I get it if you are frustrated. It can get tough. But this is just a little food for thought.

[mam98031]

---

@dtech.consulting wrote:

Dear Pretty Woman,

I feel your pain, really I do.  Not more than a couple of weeks ago, I received my initiation into the ebay buyer fraud routine.  I've been a member for 2 decades... no problems, until now.  And after reading into the posts I'm finally seeing how things really are.  The pattern appears pretty consistent, sellers are getting screwed left and right.  I wish you luck. 

We need to organize and get a class action suit started.

---

@dtech.consulting 

What is "initiation into the ebay buyer fraud routine"?  I've never heard of this.  What is it?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

He's saying that after two decades of apparently smooth transactions, he encountered what he believes is his first case of a buyer defrauding him in some way.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@picknparley wrote:

Advertising isn't going to fix the problems here on ebay.  

The buyer policies continue to drive away good sellers. 

The new ebay is/will be the new dollar store of the internet.  Everything coming from China.

China sellers don't mind the high FVFs, etc.  They can ship for next to nothing and overall their costs to sell here are less than for US or Canada sellers. 

It's kind of a shame to take an American company and just throw it away to another country. 

Gee, that sorta of sounds like a left wing tactic. That would explain a few things here.

---

Sigh.

[dtech.consulting]

Hi there,

So sorry... I was being extremely facetious and thought I'd take it out on ebay since I was scammed due to a buyer to destroyed my item, only to return it to me AND get a full refund.  

[prettywoman-2012]

---

@rdjsystemservices wrote:

I am really sorry that you have gotten to this point. I understand how you are feeling. I think a lot of us do.
I have noticed though, on eBay, that it's not so much WHO you are selling to; but what you are selling.

Some categories are FULL of fraud and scammers. For example: Jewelry (especially fine jewelry), electronics (I used to sell only in electronics for YEARS but that is no longer possible for me on this particular platform), name brand expensive purses and clothes. I think you get the point. 

If you want to continue using eBay try to shift your idea of what can be safely sold here. Other sites have a different approach to returns and such so selling items like jewelry and electronics are not a problem. It's , in my opinion, a matter of fitting the right products with the right platform.

But I get it if you are frustrated. It can get tough. But this is just a little food for thought.

---

Thank you for your kind comments, and thanks everyone else. I will certainly miss many of you when I will no longer be here. It is still a bit out there, as I mentioned, I will not list new stuff but will probably let the existing listings run their course. I appreciate all who have a good understanding of how we all have been had and used.

You know who you are. 

I will, at this point, not respond to cheerleaders as I am afraid my reply would not be - pretty. 

But to you, specifically, I want to thank for providing insight into some future possible changes. The problem is, I already have a HUGE inventory which I am no longer inclined to list on this platform, many beautiful, new with tag clothing items and tons of other things along the categories you see in my listings. 

My own site building is coming along nicely and my original worries that I would need to deal with the tax collection are also gone now, as they do collect taxes from the buyers, just like here. 

Yesterday I flipped out because it was the worst day in 22+ years of online selling. I just do not understand why some people take particular pleasure in deceitful behaviors, well-knowing that their actions may rob the seller. One either has to be extremely mean to do this, or have some other issues. 

Interestingly, this type of buyer behavior is not exhibited elsewhere. Probably, because there buyers are not enabled to cheat. I love most of my buyers and they will find me elsewhere. I ship same or next day, put a little gift with every order and describe my items to the best of my knowledge. If I make a mistake, I do not mind admitting to it, either. As mentioned, I accept returns for any reason, if the buyer pays for it. But outright fraud is an entirely different matter, and not found anywhere else per my own and my friends' observations. 

I hear it often, "Well, eBay cannot see the item in its physical presence, so it has to make a decision whom to believe." This is hogwash and cheerleader speak. If eBay is undecided about a case, then at least the programmers should add an option inside the open return case for the seller to request of the buyer some pictures to be uploaded. This option currently does not exist. If the claim is that the item does not fit - which should not even be possible to open a case on, if the seller provides exact measurements - then a photo with a measuring tape e.g., shoulder to shoulder measurement, or if it is a bracelet, the length measurement is not too much asked to be provided by the buyer, I think?

If the buyer does not comply with such request then the return may still be approved but NOT ON THE SELLER'S DIME. 

It is really so simple! 

Similar to the false reasoning that eBay started to charge 10% final value fee on the shipping portion of the buyer's payment was necessary because many sellers overcharged for shipping, the above argument is also shady. Those who swallow this explanation about charging FVF on shipping always use half-truths, and unfortunately, many people do not think about those deeper. While it is correct to say that some sellers overcharged on shipping, keeping the item price close to null for the reason of trying to cheat eBay out of the FVF of the item price, what is ALSO true - but never gets mentioned by the same people - is that 

1. Many sellers still grossly overcharge on shipping, as of today

2. If eBay really just wanted to punish the sellers who charged exorbitant shipping to buyers, it is possible to do so without penalizing 99% of the other sellers who do not engage in such practices. ALL EBAY WOULD HAVE TO DO WOULD BE TO MANDATE CALCULATED SHIPPING FOR ALL LISTINGS. 

But nope, that did not happen. Why? Because eBay wanted the $$$$. Simple. 

Now they will do the same thing with the tax portion of the payment. I say, charging for the payment processing part of the entire buyer payment is O.K., that is what businesses have been doing forever. In restaurants, if your bill is 65.00 plus taxes, they take your card and charge the processing fee on the entire amount (the food plus taxes). What eBay says it will do is, though, not only charge for the payment processing, but also take an additional 12.5% out of the tax portion of buyer payments, which is money THAT THE SELLER NEVER RECEIVES, it is not an income! That is outrageous and it is not even legal. Not to mention, eBay, Etsy and AZ get handsomely rewarded for collecting taxes and I mean by a HUGE amount of the tax they collect being exempt of delivered to the recipient states. 

This kind of a money grab is what most sellers find unacceptable. 

I am the most peaceful being on most days, a happy person with healthy laughter and positive thinking. But yesterday I just reached the point where I can no longer take the shenanigans that seem to permeate the seller experience on this site. 

Thanks again, good luck

BB

[bbravo65]

...your eyes are wide opened when in reality half of this nation people eyes were wide...shut...!!!

[mam98031]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
He's saying that after two decades of apparently smooth transactions, he encountered what he believes is his first case of a buyer defrauding him in some way.

---

Thank you.  My bad.  My brain read "initiation" as invitation.  I have no excuse for that, it is just what happened.  My fault entirely.

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

@dtech.consulting 

[mam98031]

If eBay really just wanted to punish the sellers who charged exorbitant shipping to buyers, it is possible to do so without penalizing 99% of the other sellers who do not engage in such practices. ALL EBAY WOULD HAVE TO DO WOULD BE TO MANDATE CALCULATED SHIPPING FOR ALL LISTINGS. 

But nope, that did not happen. Why? Because eBay wanted the $$$$. Simple. 

Charging FVFs on shipping is a thing that most if not all similar sites do and have done for quite a few years.  It isn't going to change here and not likely to change on other sites either.

What is it that you think mandating calculated shipping will do against sellers that overcharge for shipping?  Calculated shipping can be manipulated in a seller's favor too.  Easily manipulated.  Simply increase the weight of the package.  Ebay can't police that unless Ebay has knowledge of how you package, the weights of all your packing materials as well as the weight of the product you have sold.  

Calculated shipping won't solve the issue you would like it to solve.

[prettywoman-2012]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

"You are losing MASSES of honest, experienced and knowledgeable sellers..."

I am confident that you are correct that Ebay is and will lose some sellers because they don't want to go into MP.  Ebay has even said they know they will lose some sellers.  But "masses" is a real overstatement.  That doesn't mean that there won't be many leaving, because I'm certain there will be some.  But just as sellers leave, more sellers come.  In the long run Ebay will be just fine.  And that is the rub about a large business like them.  

I wish you well where ever you end up.  And good luck with your own website, that is a lot of work just trying to drive traffic to your site, not to mention how much that may cost you.  But I do hope it all works out for you.

---

With Google ads now being FREE to all online merchants, and social media galore, I do not think you need to worry about my "advertising costs." We squirrels are not only smart, but also quite industrious. 

But thanks anyways. Good luck to you, too - perhaps you will need it more than I do.

PW😎

[mam98031]

Now they will do the same thing with the tax portion of the payment. I say, charging for the payment processing part of the entire buyer payment is O.K., that is what businesses have been doing forever. In restaurants, if your bill is 65.00 plus taxes, they take your card and charge the processing fee on the entire amount (the food plus taxes). What eBay says it will do is, though, not only charge for the payment processing, but also take an additional 12.5% out of the tax portion of buyer payments, which is money THAT THE SELLER NEVER RECEIVES, it is not an income! That is outrageous and it is not even legal. Not to mention, eBay, Etsy and AZ get handsomely rewarded for collecting taxes and I mean by a HUGE amount of the tax they collect being exempt of delivered to the recipient states. 

This kind of a money grab is what most sellers find unacceptable. 

I am the most peaceful being on most days, a happy person with healthy laughter and positive thinking. But yesterday I just reached the point where I can no longer take the shenanigans that seem to permeate the seller experience on this site. 

I'm with you on this point, with a little different viewpoint.  But the basic concept I agree with.  I do not believe Ebay should be charging a FVF on sales tax.  I don't however know if it is "illegal".  I've seen some posters claim this but when asked what law or laws is Ebay breaking they don't reply or just get upset that I asked.  So specifically what law or laws is Ebay breaking by doing this?

In an effort to lessen the pain us sellers are feeling by going to Simplified Fees, Ebay REDUCED the FVF on the product and shipping while adding the FVF on the sales tax.  That reduction will help to soften the blow for the OVERALL fees a seller will likely pay in a months time.  Simply looking at a transaction or two does not give you an accurate view of the impact of this change on your selling fees.  

For example.  I mostly sell in categories in which my Simplified fees will the 11.50%.  Currently I pay 9.15 on the product and shipping and 2.9% PP processing fee on the total amt received to include sales tax. 

So 9.15 + 2.9 = 12.05 %  So 12.05 - 11.50 = 0.55% overall savings on fees.  

I know, I initially was mad as heck about this change and I too felt it was going to be a huge fee increase.  But it really isn't.  It isn't a savings either as Ebay has said, but at least it is not a huge increase either.  It is more neutral but the actual numbers will differ a bit from seller to seller.  I'm tracking and comparing my May and June sales to see how it differs in reality.  So far with the exception of international sales it is pretty neutral.  But more time will reveal the truth for me.  As I need to look at a longer period of time than just the current month.

As to sales tax.  I've posted this on a couple of threads.  Here is my opinion of things that need to be considered.

1.  The sales tax is NOT "on behalf of sellers" but on behalf of the states and their MFLs.  It is highly likely that without MFLs the majority of sellers on Ebay would NOT even qualify to collect and remit taxes in the 38 states that have passed MFLs.  

2.  States that have MFLs are paying Ebay to do this process via a discount on what they remit if they follow the rules for that particular state.  This discount is meant to compensate Ebay for the costs involved in this process.

3.  When SCOTUS passed this law which enabled states to start creating these MFLs, part of the law was that the process could NOT be overly burdensome to a business.  It would be ridiculous to think that any Facilitator would be required by a state to collect and remit sales tax on the scale a site the size of Ebay would have to do without any compensation at all.  This process does and will continue to cost Ebay real money for as long as these laws are in place.  To NOT compensate them seems to me would have been overly burdensome not to mention fundamentally unfair.

4.  But really, who with any knowledge at all to this process would think that Ebay would be doing this for almost 2 years entirely at their own expense without coming back to the sellers long ago for funding of the process?

[maddocks]

This... I moved nearly everything to calculated shipping last year and this has not only saved me lots of aggravation but it's saved me from my habit of under-calculating the weight, and often paying extra for packages out of pocket.

[mam98031]

---

@maddocks wrote:
This... I moved nearly everything to calculated shipping last year and this has not only saved me lots of aggravation but it's saved me from my habit of under-calculating the weight, and often paying extra for packages out of pocket.

---

@maddocks 

Yes that is absolutely a benefit of using calculated shipping.  But FVFs are still due on whatever you charge for shipping and calculated shipping isn't a tool in which Ebay could use to stop charging FVF on shipping as a previous poster felt it might.

[cynthealee2]

Complete aside.... I still can't read MFL's without it becoming something completely else in my head 😄