eBay

eocostello · ‎06-15-2023

I've run into an issue a few times in the last year, as a buyer: I have purchased an item from a seller, who then has a great deal of difficulty finding the item in their inventory (or, in at least one case, they've gone to their inventory to find that the item has been destroyed owing to poor storage). I've received refunds, so I've been made whole, but it is annoying to have to deal with sloppy inventory management by sellers. Is there any way to put in a tag on feedback to indicate "seller lost item in their inventory?" This might tell other buyers the seller has an issue with their inventory management.

hartungcards · ‎06-15-2023

Yes, it's called negative feedback. Select "negative" and then put "seller lost item in their inventory" in the comments field.

coolections · ‎06-15-2023

There is also a choice for you to leave a neutral feedback depending on how much you are hurt by having to buy from someone else instead. Just so you know Ebay takes out of stock very serious and it really hurts the seller so they do get punished by Ebay.

simba6 · ‎06-15-2023

It can happen if they don't inspect each item before listing. That can be a problem with a large inventory. However, sellers receive a very serious NPS defect for not shipping a sold item. Too many of those can get them suspended from selling for life. And eBay is not so stingy handing out those suspensions.

Some sellers do lie when an item sells for too low a price. eBay does try to crack down on that.

toomuchstuffagain35 · ‎06-15-2023

Yes, they do. Even when the OOS is caused by ebay's incompetence.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

luckythewinner · ‎06-15-2023

@eocostello wrote:
Is there any way to put in a tag on feedback to indicate "seller lost item in their inventory?" This might tell other buyers the seller has an issue with their inventory management.

You can give them a neutral or a negative feedback to indicate dissatisfaction.

For most sellers, canceling more than a handful of transactions for the reason 'out of stock' will put them into Below Standard status and on their way out the door.

However, many sellers lie when cancelling and choose the reason 'Buyer Requested' or 'Problem with Address' rather than 'Out of Stock' to try to avoid accumulating defects against their account.

tabcu51 · ‎06-15-2023

It all depends, some of these sellers are quite crafty in their messages they want the buyer to "ask" that the seller cancel the purchase, you know what that means: YUP! Transaction cancelled due to reason "Buyer asked!"

So what's the problem, you ask?
When the reason is "buyer asked" any feedback the buyer leaves will be scrubbed.

But did the buyer ask?

Well, the seller wrote the original message talking about their inventory problems and since the seller had no idea when the item would or could be found, would the buyer like to cancel?
So the buyer says, yeah I guess that would be fine.

BLAM, the seller escapes the defect they should've gotten!

Well, well, well...

And if the buyer says NO?

Then the seller simply waits, the buyer hopefully and eventually files an INR case, the seller issues the refund and also escapes the defect.

Of course if there are still sellers who didn't know this clever little trick, now I guess the cat's out of the bag.

But... How DO we in fact hold these sellers feet to the fire?

ckimodog · ‎06-15-2023

@eocostello

Sounds like it could be a drop shipper that may not know what they're doing...just my thoughts. I can understand your frustration. Lots of good sellers on eBay too. Sorry for your situation.