I am done with eBay after 24 years.

[cybsara]

The time has come where I have removed my listings and closed my shop. I had a buyer misuse returns, I had alerted eBay from day one she was. Received the return on the 8th (Sat), RECORDED me opening it on the 9th (Sunday), contacted eBay TUES the 11th, only to see the return complete on the 13th. Called CS again, they forwarded it to the care dept. I get a response in an hour, only to tell me I had to contact them within 2 business days and I didn't. Funny? I have the email in my inbox asking to rate "how did we do" on Feb 11th @ 3pm after I had called and spoke with Anna, who btw had a rooster crowing in the background. But they also suggested I have free returns on my listings as this will increase sales. UHHHHH, All my listings have this, including the one in question. (which just makes me feel like they are giving generic responses and not doing their job.)

The buyer returned the item damaged, put the earrings UNDER the cotton of the jewelry box, so they shifted around on the carboard, scratching the surface. One of the earrings was missing a battery. Both earrings were turned on to engage the led feature and the safety tabs were not included.

I reply back explaining that I did contact on the 11th and even rated my experience with the agent. Only for them to reply that I did not contact them.

I have pulled ALL my listings, I have closed my shop and will withdraw everything. I'm done. I've also rated them on BBB and filed a complaint about their service.

Ebay was never like this. I can't even say as a seller they are failing, they failed me as a buyer too. And in all my years, this is the 2nd time ever I have ever have a buyer misuse returns, but eBay is catering to their bad behavior as well. (Seller said it was XL, got it, the size was wrong, contacted seller, they said I should have asked for measurements prior to buying. -**bleep**?- Open return, seller closed it out. Call eBay and they said I should have called them as now there's nothing they could do. Huh? **bleep** if you ask me and I was out $150. (I don't know why it was bleeped. I didn't swear but maybe used acronyms?)

When I had expressed they would be charged a restock fee, as they had used the product, they became upset and said if I do, they would leave me a neg feedback, that is extortion, clear as day, and anytime I have encountered that, ebay pulled the review. This time? Nope. Leaving it but it won't count against me.

Also, this buyer has sold 400 items and doesn't have one review from a buyer, but you can see her feedback she left reviews for buyers.

Either way, I just hope it was worth it for them. I have 2K followers just on FB alone that I haven't made a post about this. My Dad and my oldest daughter will be pulling their shops as well. My following is growing on Bluesky, but am waiting till I hit 1K to make a post, which should be in a few days.

I imagine I am not the only seller they are mistreating and not doing their due diligence to research what has transpired on my account. eBay is on the fast track to crashing and burning. And if they are doing this to me, only a matter of time before it happens to you.

It makes me sad that this is how it ends after 24 years, but I simply can not support a company that is this terrible when it comes to support. (while this account says 16 years, I had another account I had used previously that was my buying turned into selling account, but created this one to keep them separate, but last several years I don't bother with the other account and solely use this one. Other account had at least 2k feedback. I will find that other account and pull it too.)

I'm also feeling I should reach out to my local news. As the BBB asked me if I am ok with being contacted by news media and I said Yes, this really needs to be brought attention to.

BYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[isaiah53-57]

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@cybsara wrote:

It makes me sad that this is how it ends after 24 years, but I simply can not support a company that is this terrible when it comes to support.
BYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

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Took you long enough - haha- Sorry for the sarcasm - Im sure you wish it had turned out differently as I'm sure all who have left here do.

We started selling about the same time as you - What moved us to put our exit strategy into place was the insanity of the site making us responsible for the destructive actions of THEIR unvetted buyers no matter the proof - In a sense promoting the actions of scammers by giving them no-questions-asked refunds (really what would be the point in questioning, considering the policies) and even allowing them to remain on the site scamming with impunity after untold complaints - Unbelievably, we ran into that EXACT situation - Thats when we realized we could no longer list expensive items here - And if we couldnt count on the revenue from expensive items, selling inexpensive items was to much work for the profit due to their insane fees...

For this reason and a front/back page grocery list of additional reasons - we put principle ahead of profit and moved on to bigger and better - Actually I should thank them for giving us reason to bail - Things couldn't have turned out better...

[onefootflippers]

So you are quitting years of success on ebay selling your own earrings over the return of one pair of damaged $38 blinky earrings that likely cost you very little to actually produce. It seems like the time you put into fighting the issue wasn't even worth what it cost you to produce the item in the first place.

You sold at least 51 pairs of those earrings and you are giving up over 1 of them going wrong.

Something like that happens to me a couple times a year. I am not going to throw away $80,000 a year in sales because I lose $50 along the way to some jerk out there.

[gurlcat]

So your first and only post here in the community after 24 years is to dump a bunch of bile on us fellow sellers rather than ask for help when you needed it, and you’re quitting because of one bad return? Do I have that right? What did we do to deserve your bitter post, when it’s too late to even do anything about it?  
I see you have already gotten one of the kind of replies you might have been hoping for, affirming your choice. Just so you know, that’s his favorite thing to do, lurk and watch for embittered sellers, for the chance to jump in and say “Yessss, yes, come to the dark side.”  
Well enjoy your retirement. Hope it’s everything you dreamed of!

[harborauction]

You have been on ebay for 24 years, 18 on this account, and state "this is the second time I have had a buyer misuse returns". That's an incredibly low number over 24 years and for that you're throwing it all away?

Seems a bit of an overreaction to me and you may want to rethink your decision after calming down

I've been on ebay  a couple more years than you and wish I could say I've only had a handfull of bum deals, but I can't. I just try not to let emotion get involved in my ebay dealings, it's just business and dealing with the general public is never 100% roses & unicorns

I don't hold much hope that you will get any action from BBB, local news, consumer advocates or anyone about a dispute over $35 earrings but you can try. Good Luck 

[simba6]

Throwing out the baby with the bath water.     Just add some to your prices to cover such loss.  Any form of retail sales will have it's loses.  Like five finger discount at B&M stores.  Just have to work it in as a cost of doing business.

[fern*wood]

You have a lot going on in that post with the frustration of a return on top of it all.   I've had a few myself that made me go for a long walk, but so far the good still outweighs the bad for me. 

Since you offered free returns, you did have some limited protections for a return not in the original condition and for bad feedback, if you handled the return yourself.   It sounds like you involved ebay, though, so that seldom will work in your favor.    Also, restocking fees are no longer permitted, but depending on the details you might have been able to keep a percentage of the refund.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[bonjourami]

Happy trails, tho I do think you are being overly dramatic after one bad transaction.

[oaklandmaryland]

Selling for almost 26 years and totally agree with you. Have been hurt by Ebay MANY times as a seller and buyer. A year ago I had 4 stores and now just 1 store which will end this  month. Almost always buy from Amazon. Ebay is swamped with sellers so could care less if they go. Customer Service is not needed as buyers are constantly told they can return anything and get their money returned by claiming NAD. Time for a long rest.

[cybsara]

That is my newer listing, as eBay made it impossible to edit the older listing that sold over 2k pairs. Which is another thing that bugs me, this is the only venue that doesn't allow you to edit listings to add variations.

The lack of support for a smaller item is proving that what could happen on a more expensive item and I do have higher value/collectible items I sell.

I have had a handful of friends leave before this, one of which I had just told her I'm done said it was about time.

I sell on Etsy and Amazon that make selling worth my time and offer support unmatched with eBay. 

[theteamsetguy]

@isaiah53-57 ,

Good for you that you found something better and I don’t mean it sarcastic way. But what I don’t understand is why are you even bothering to be here. You’ve obviously have moved on to greener pastures. 

Sorry things didn’t work out you. However, there are many sellers that are happy with eBay including myself. Is eBay perfect? No, but it is good enough for me. There are positives and negatives with most things in life. I’ve always been a half full kind of guy and would rather extenuate the positives instead dwelling on the negatives.

[cybsara]

I sell on Etsy and Amazon and eBay is not worth it sales wise. And this is the final straw. 

I'm sorry mostly everyone is missing the point, but ah well, you'll understand when it happens to you. This is only a cautionary tale, because what happens when it's a $500 item?

Best of luck. 😉 You're going to need it.

[theteamsetguy]

@onefootflippers ,

You couldn’t have said it better.

[stuff4divas]

@cybsara   didn't read your book, but thanx for letting us know ur thoughts, i guess 😕

BYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[cybsara]

Because I know how to research the message boards to look for my answer BEFORE posting. I have contributed endlessly to threads with MY input.

I have other venues I sell on, that outrank eBay and this is not worth my time.

Good luck though, I am only forewarning the level of support I received, for a $150 item and a $30 item.