First and foremost, as a seller for 10 years, find Ebay " Seller Protection " marketing hogwash ! There is nothing verified or investigated in a claim / case, just the word of the buyer is considered. As long as they claim " Not As Described ", even with a " No Returns Accepted " policy, you will be providing a refund and even paying return shipping, regardless. It is at the buyers discretion to be honest enough to actually send back the original item sent or a box of rocks. As soon as Ebay sees that the shipment has been delivered, refund is processed.
Ebay no longer use any messages / communications you may have trying to resolve matters on your own. These communications may include such things as admittance to remorse purchasing ( lack of knowledge of product / research for application ), opening, using and even offering to accept a partial refund just prior to opening case.
Appeal process is actually reiterating messages of the outcome of your case from one of many different CS Reps that haven't a clue what has already been discussed. The first line will start with how sorry they feel about the outcome, but they do understand your frustrations. The second paragraph in their response will insult your intelligence by telling you how to better run your business with projected loses, block buyers and / or report them. This doesn't pay the bills, nor does it do anything to help other sellers.
Now the important part, " Sellers were Buyers Too " ! I have decided that if Ebay's policy is " Customer always right " and it doesn't cost them a thing for fraudulent claims and refunds ( won't properly review ), then this buyer will make my purchases elsewhere. In their efforts for marketing to new buyers, they have lost one that has been here for years.
In most cases ( mine and very few ), buyers that abuse the policies account for less than a dozen purchases in a year ( check their feedback and purchase history when evaluating problems ), usually low cost items and minimal feedback scores. On the other hand, I used to make multiple purchases sometimes daily. Not anymore and that is lost revenue. Do the math, Ebay !
Conclusion / Suggestion:
1 ) Enforce my right to a " No Return " policy and allow me to handle my customers on a case by case basis. I had less issues with my customers and they have an option to buy elsewhere.
2 ) Investigate claims / cases more thoroughly, including communications between buyers and sellers prior to making hasty one-sided decisions.
3 ) Allow Sellers the " Right to Refuse service " / block buyers in buyer requirements with new restrictions based on their frequency of cases and / or returns. Also would like to be able to raise my minimum feedback scores. Let somebody else educate / train the new ones.
4 ) Ebay be more informative, proactive and transparent on their enforcement of the violations / violators. It is easy to see if reported buyer is still operating as usual. Just check activity in feedback or listed items.
5 ) If you are a buyer as well as a seller, use that purchasing power ( or lack of ) to insist on a level playing field and better service / policies from Ebay.
Thank you for your time,
