Seller Protection, and Customer Service do not exist on Ebay

[astanley42]

Today, I made my 3rd call to E bay customer service regarding a transaction in which I was defrauded by a customer. When placed on hold for the the twelfth time, by the fifth person, after an hour and 20 minutes, I got tired of the lies. I've been told that I won my appeal, and the $60 + would be refunded four times, but as of yet...I've receive $30.60.  You know, one to three days processing...Yeah, right. Only a second to take your money, but months to give it back.

I have since deleted all listings and for all intents and purposes closed my selling account. Sad, since I've been selling on E bay for 19 years.  

The moral of the story...watch your money.

[lakefor94]

I bet you easily sold over 2000 items over the years and packing up shop over a $60 transaction?

I hope you have better luck if you end up somewhere else.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Those 2 things don't exist anywhere else either. 

[m60driver]

Yes, Ebay seller protection is almost non-existent.  Yes, Ebay customer service is equally non-existent, especially on the phone (use Ebay for business on Facebook).  But although being exposed to fraud is common in the larger picture, for most sellers it is only an occasional nuisance that one has to bake into your gross profit margins just like B&M retailers must bake into their margins to account for shoplifting.  That being said, there are some categories more prone to fraud than others and if you are experiencing increased fraud then perhaps you should reconsider which categories you sell rather than abandoning the Ebay platform.

Sort of like back in the 1990s when there were all these fencing operations operating in open daylight advertising with big yellow signs that they bought Levis jeans.  Of course they also worked in cahoots with operating gangs of drug addicts that stole Levis from shops.  My response was to stop selling Levis jeans as it just wasn't worth the loss and aggravation. 

So welcome to retail

[rugerskick]

Ebay enables and encourages buyer fraud through its policies and lies to paying service customers (sellers).  Ebay also often violates its own policies when a situation should resolve in favor of the seller.  This is also another form of business fraud.

Business policies are not exempt from being illegal and fraudulent just because a business says, "thats our policy".  Enabling and encouraging fraud, and not only fraud, but interstate commerce fraud (ie RICO) could be a great class action lawsuit to develop.  Ebay has a well documented history of punitive policies towards sellers, not siding with sellers even when their own policies say they should, and outright lying to sellers, ie paying business clients, about fraudulent situations with buyers.  Its well documented customer service phone people give incorrect information to business clients needing real help with fraud cases, any other business doing this would have already been sued for fraud and breach of contract, not dealing in good faith with clients/partners, a systemic pattern of fraud enabled and encouraged by Ebay leadership who have done nothing to change any of it for years.

[cardguys]

I dont know packing it up after 19 years sounds drastic but to each there own and off course every one has a boiling point. Over the years there has been lots of change, you win some you lose some but for the most part everything more or less balances out in the end.  In todays marketplace its good to remember buyers and sellers cant exist without one another  but off course there some bad apples on both sides. Good luck on your next venture.