Just My Thoughts

[dynamitedw]

I have been selling on EBay for quite a while now. I just don't understand how so many people have so many problems on here.  Follow the rules accept the changes and move on. Everything is pretty much cut and dry. Ebay will get their cut and if you follow the rules you will get yours.  

[silver_in_seattle_by_thecollector]

It can be the way to go in many cases however I have found too many item's I've purchased using that service that did not receive tracking scans upon delivery because its just in with the regular letter mail which doesn't get scanned. And so a dishonest individual could take advantage of such and claim INR and would likely win. Which is also why eBay says nothing over $20 of value to be sent under that service.

[allthingssurplus]

The trading cards you sell in general are high margin.  Your shipping cost are next to nothing.  Try selling commodities as we do, computer parts, where your Buyers are looking and demanding rock bottom prices.  We ship $50 to $1000 items all over the country and international that weigh a pound up to 100 lbs.  I don't think you would have the same feelings about what people post if you were paying FVF on say a $141.00 shipping cost like I paid today for a shipment going to Germany.  Not everyone sells in your same world.  I have looked at what people sell on the platform that have the same comments like yours.  Most to all are in things like trading cards or collectables and the like.  

Now the response I will likely get back is well maybe you should sell something else like trading cards that has no downside shipping costs.  That would be a bad answer.  Like most Seller that have been on the platform for a long time, me 23 years, have built a business before trading cards and Air Jordans were a thing.  In my case over those years I have amassed an inventory near $4mil.  So we are committed to this category.  The other response is just go and sell elsewhere.  We are on 4 other platforms, with eBay only 12% of our 2.4 mil in sales.

So all this being said, have some respect for those that came well before your and made this platform what it was.  Don't think we are children stomping our feet about change.  We are business people and are attempting to survive.  Hard to do when the rules changes at a drop of the hat and the only help you get from eBay is lip service.  

[5594shelleys]

Your post from 2020:

Sales have dropped off/come to a screaming hault since beginning of month & getting very worried.

[chapeau-noir]

Agree.  Most of the problems are due to ignorance about how the site works - there is no doubt that eBay is too complicated, really, but they're clear about their policies.

As for FRAUD - this can happen on ANY selling site - and unfortunately comes along with the territory of online sales.  The one thing eBay could do to combat that, and which most other actually busy sites do, is not tie a seller's item up for days chasing the buyer around for payment all for taking a simple offer.  That offer, once accepted, should be debited to the buyer's account and that's that.  Why eBay is so behind on this beats me.  But, again, they are clear about this in their policies.

Also, making rude remarks about what someone sells is no argument.

[rugerskick]

You can get banned from ebay being a veteran seller that as done nothing wrong.  Chris from Daily Refinement is the prime example.  Biggest cheerleader they had for ebay.

You can get banned if you miss a id verification phone call you don't know is coming, and the online people will not tell you why.

You can get banned if you sell any of a wide variety of personal items of value  but don't have receipts for.

You can get legitimate items removed because another party reports them.

You can get items removed because other sellers file a vero claim against your listing.

You can get a vero and not even know to avoid them because ebay doesn't have them listed.

You can get scammed  by buyers through no fault of your own and ebay won't help you or take your word.

Its really not quite as simple as the OP posted.  Sellers doing things right face problems here they didn't create.

[calicorecordsandcds]

The issues are not my issues they are Ebays issues and effect every seller including the ones with heads planted.

[coolections]

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@silver_in_seattle_by_thecollector wrote:

my items are not being shown the same with all the same search results, like a buyer in Maine for example using the identical search keywords and whatnot, they are very likely seeing a different mix of items as I am over here on the west coast not to mention a different group of sellers. 

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@silver_in_seattle_by_thecollector EVERYONE CAN SEE YOUR ITEMS. Nothing is hidden. What you do not realize is how Ebay's search works and how they show searchers items.  The default is called best match and it shows people items similar to what they normally search, so yes, the order will be different for different people If you want to come back and tell us what you think Ebay hides that you have listed, we will be glad to search it and prove to you that it is here on Ebay.

[soh.maryl]

If you have been reading the issues people post here, you may agree that there are sellers and buyers here who just jump off the cliff into the ocean before making sure they know how to swim.  A hefty percentage of the comments and requests for help are from posters who read nothing at all about buying or selling.  They can expect to have issues and to have no idea of what to do.

To me, at least, some of the ones that are hardest to understand are sellers who have been selling here for many years and apparently have read nothing about the final value fees.  So does that mean they have had no idea of how much it costs them to do business on eBay?

[paraquip]

Yes ebay rules are cut and dry for sellers.....you pay ebay or you dont sell.

That being said, it's different for buyers.   Ebay allows organized criminal activity to occur at the buyer level,  there are cut and dry metrics.

Scams are frequent the categories I sell in......it's just one of those things.

I've posted the metrics many time in my forum posts but will share a statistic that I calculated myself in looking at the data.     There is a 92% correlation between buyer scams (of all varieties) and the highest crime areas in the US.

I have the data, ebay has the data.

That being said the simple solution is to allow a seller not to sell into certain zipcodes.  Zipcode blocking

Instead ebay uses functionality like the "seller protection" program to protect sellers but only within their "Cut and dry" rules.  

Criminals know how to work the ebay system to scam it.

Here is an example....... I had a newly registered buyer purchase an item from me for $65 no sooner did the buyer receive the item that a credit card chargeback from outside the ebay system was initiated.    So one purchase, one feedback, one chargeback.  

Several months went by and the same buyer, purchased another item and the same thing happened. Now there were 2 sales, 2 feedbacks and 2 chargebacks separated by 90 days.

Logically, if there is a new registration, with a new chargeback for one item only......it's a scam....even if true that the card was truly stolen...why wouldn't ebay simply close the account? All the metrics line up.....but they let if happen a second time and guess what....account is still open.

There are many many examples of the ebay system is worked over by criminals.......their tactics are blatant and in an obvious pattern.....Ebay does nothing about this

HK

[5594shelleys]

'... selling on EBay for quite a while now."

2  1/2 years.   Hilarious.  

[farmalljr]

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@dynamitedw wrote:

Ebay envelope is insured up to 20 dollars if your item doesnt show delivered and a claim is filed you will receive your money back I leave feedback for those items once buyer leaves feedback that way i can tell if it was delivered even if it doesnt show delivered some buyers just dont leave feedback so I just let ride until 30 days and then archive it and consider it done. Dont sweat it if its out of your control.  I don't ship out of the country for the simple reason of more fees higher prices and to eliminate the problems you seem to have. Your rating will not go down if you are doing the right thing with Ebay Envelope.

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Like most, you totally missed what the poster said. It wasn't about not getting PAID for non scanned ESE, it was about the PERFORMANCE hit their account is taking because of it. Like most posters, you are overjoyed eBay would toss a few bucks your way, you can't see what is actually going on.

I just had this same discussion with another poster. I don't use ESE because it can give you performance dings, and eventually, you lose your account. The program is NOT supposed to give you ANY dings for non scans, but it does. eBay doesn't follow it's own policy, and it hurts sellers.  Read that again, eBay does NOT follow it's own policy. 

So people don't "understand" because they choose to be willfully ignorant to what is really going on. If it's hasn't happened to you, you think it's not happening. The above, is an example of this.  It's not "user error" when eBay will not follow it's policy. 

[farmalljr]

So why didn't you block the buyer after the FIRST chargeback? It's your only form of protection, it's up to YOU to use it. 

I get what you are getting at, but the second charge back would not have happened IF you used the tools availible to you...

[maxine*j]

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@dynamitedw wrote:

... I just don't understand how so many people have so many problems on here.  Follow the rules accept the changes and move on...

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A great many people get more emotional satisfaction from having problems than from solving them. They feel the most alive when they feel angry.  They want to be victims, because victims are important and attention is centered on victims.  Hysterics and histrionics are the order of the day for them.  Lots of emotional hypochondriacs out there. 

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[sakic92710]

So......there are 18 million active sellers.  97% do not have many problems.  This means ONLY 540,000 people do.  Good to know.  LOL

[sakic92710]

LOL!!   You just agreed with their comments about how only certain people see certain listings according to their search pattern.  Therefore, not everyone sees their items!  You can't have it both ways,  Too funny!