eBay

bmp_auto_salvage · ‎12-12-2018

Hello Everyone,

It saddens me to do this but as of yesterday I've made up my mind to no longer choose to sell on eBay full time. I have been doing so since I was 18 (almost 30 now) and it went from something which I truly loved to do and was excited about to completely dreading. I started with a small 5x5 storage unit where I would store my parts to a 1300 SQ FT warehouse with thousands of dollars in heavy duty shelving, a forklift, office, lift and more. My reason for leaving all this hard work behind stems from the lack of respect and protection in which they give us (the sellers) as well as the most greed filled, disgusting, policy yet, the additional 4% hit on final value fees for "high returns". I average about $15,000 in sales a month and between my "anchor" store and final value fees I believe eBay is paid quite well. Now, for reasons out of your control if a buyer opens a return and claims the item as "defective" even when it may not be we take that hit. I sell auto parts and it is a tough gig, buyers usually do not have a full understanding as to what it is they are buying or simply have a remorse return for a misdiagnosed part and unfortunately we take the hit. Just yesterday I sold an air bag (non deployed of course) and the buyer stated it "does not work" now, nothing short of the buyer installing the bag into the vehicle and driving it straight into a wall would this return make any sense. Very upset about this, I called eBay and explained the situation to a staff member, he completely agreed with me however stated that I "cannot have this defect removed" which then causes my return rate to go "up". I am sorry but a 3% return rate in no way shape or form should be considered "high" nor should a 3.50% be "very high" and subject me to an additional 4% final value fee. This whole comparing you to your "peers" is absolute garbage and just an excuse for them to pocket an extra $600 from me a month (on average ). I am disgusted with this and no longer going to invest my time into a company which treats its sellers so poorly. I have since switched all my items from same day handling to one day handling and have begun my new path into the real estate market. After completion of my course I already have a company ready to take me in (its always good to know people). From then on my handling time will be switched to 3 or 4 business days and as I build a new career for myself I will put eBay on the back burner and slowly transistion out of this market until a good chunk of my higher ticket items are sold here and then sell off the rest of my warehouse and supplies such as the racks, fork lifts, etc, in due time. It is something that truly pains me but I cannot take this blatant disrespect and abuse from eBay and the scammer buyers alike. I have put forth neraly 12 years of my life selling on here but I just cannot take it anymore. My stress levels are through the roof, everytime I get a return I get this pain in my gut and I have more grey hairs than a 30 year old should. At the end of the day I'm truly looking forward to this new route I am taking and one thing I'd like for eBay to remember is that they did this to themselves and I am sure more, now than ever sellers like myself are leaving this platform and either seeking new platforms or taking new career paths as well due to eBays greed and blatant disrespect to its foundation which helped make it what it is, the sellers.

ed8108 · ‎12-12-2018

Very well reasoned

Part time seems to be the way to go in future

bmp_auto_salvage · ‎12-12-2018

Thank you and sadly it is. I used to love selling on here, but it almost seems that with every single "seller update" eBay just is begging to implode. I do not know why they are doing this. They have to understand that they are not or will ever be in any way shape or form even close to rivaling "the river". They need to focus on what made them uniqe so long ago as opposed to punishing and gouging its sellers at every chance they get just to keep the dishonest buyers returning.

zamo-zuan · ‎12-12-2018

Completely understand. We sell auto parts as well, and it's a nightmare how often you must deal with buyers blatantly lying, and it's so stressful that you can have hard evidence, even having customers admit the truth is different from their claim, and there's absolutely no way to remove the defects.

castlemagicmemories · ‎12-12-2018

I understand and am sorry to see you go. You have to do what you think best. I wish you much success in your future endeavors.

the_fancy_fox · ‎12-12-2018

Instead of folding, why not expand to several other “elsewheres”? I know several owners of mid sized to large businesses that sell on multiple venues. By staying on one you are limiting yourself. Most have their own websites as well. Make a sale and promote it.

The Race is over
The Rats won.

goodluckselling · ‎12-12-2018

The extra FVF's are not for High ratings but for Very High ratings. If you are in this area there must be something your peers are doing better than you are?

You sell in an extreme category of Risk versus Reward. Auto parts are among the most popular categories on eBay which is rewarding in a lot of sales but because of the nature of your items it is also higher risk for returns as you have mentioned.

Other higher risk vs reward categories might be clothing and or shoes (fit issues), electronics parts, cell phones, etc. Each of them have there own unique issues that they deal with.

If your peers are able to maintain a lower service metric than you are this is a good sign that you might need to figure out what they are doing differently than you are. One possible solution is more communications to your buyers.

Maybe inside the package they receive instructions on how to install the part
maybe email with links on how to install the parts
shared contact info with a buyer so they can communicate directly with about there part

Your reply's to feedback also are less than professional and truly does show a high level of stress on your part, so your change is probably well deserved. I am not sure how well this area of your personality will go over in real estate sales but I do wish you luck.

Good Luck Selling!

redroofsurplus · ‎12-12-2018

AMEN TO THE OP ~~ I THINK MANY WILL FOLLOW

I ALSO HAVE HAD THE 4 PERCENT IMPOSED ITS LIKE A SMACK IN THE FACE TO THE HAND THAT FEEDS.....!

turquoisetulips · ‎12-12-2018

Just yesterday I sold an air bag (non deployed of course) and the buyer stated it "does not work" now, nothing short of the buyer installing the bag into the vehicle and driving it straight into a wall would this return make any sense. Very upset about this, I called eBay and explained the situation to a staff member, he completely agreed with me however stated that I "cannot have this defect removed" which then causes my return rate to go "up". I am sorry but a 3% return rate in no way shape or form should be considered "high" nor should a 3.50% be "very high" and subject me to an additional 4% final value fee. This whole comparing you to your "peers" is absolute garbage and just an excuse for them to pocket OP

Nonesense ! WHY couldn't e bay remove the defect ? That would have been my first question just to see what their answer might be ? However I think we all know why they can't , or I should say won't . I must agree its greedy ongoing policies as these that are causing some sellers to rethink their dedication here and its a shame . I wish you the best in your new business . Tulips

bmp_auto_salvage · ‎12-12-2018

I include a very detailed card on every sale stating that if there are any issues please contact me prior to to opening a return. It is taped directly to the part, the cards background is black in color with bright, bold yellow text. Next to the card I put a sticker saying "Please read this card before using your item" I have maybe 5% of the buyers who open returns contact me prior. The rest even sometimes take images of the product with the card and sticker still attached in their returns which I see as a major slap in the face.

I have been selling anything and everything for years and yes, my replies to show high levels of stress but it is beyond aggravating the lenghts I go to avoid returns and to still get them. Even for my electrical items I spray the connectors with electrical contact cleaner and scrub the pins with a brush to ensure proper contact.

And thank you for the good luck!

zamo-zuan · ‎12-12-2018

@goodluckselling wrote:
The extra FVF's are not for High ratings but for Very High ratings. If you are in this area there must be something your peers are doing better than you are?

You sell in an extreme category of Risk versus Reward. Auto parts are among the most popular categories on eBay which is rewarding in a lot of sales but because of the nature of your items it is also higher risk for returns as you have mentioned.

Other higher risk vs reward categories might be clothing and or shoes (fit issues), electronics parts, cell phones, etc. Each of them have there own unique issues that they deal with.

If your peers are able to maintain a lower service metric than you are this is a good sign that you might need to figure out what they are doing differently than you are. One possible solution is more communications to your buyers.
Maybe inside the package they receive instructions on how to install the part
maybe email with links on how to install the parts
shared contact info with a buyer so they can communicate directly with about there part
Your reply's to feedback also are less than professional and truly does show a high level of stress on your part, so your change is probably well deserved. I am not sure how well this area of your personality will go over in real estate sales but I do wish you luck.

Good Luck Selling!

The "Peer" calculation is not accurate. I've questioned about this with our partners, basically the "higher" your sales are, the worst the rate is going to hit you, because "peers" does not seem to be separated on sales tiers. It's not even separated by subcategory in Motors!

For example, Ignition Coils have a stated failure rate by MANUFACTURERS of 2%. This is a STRONG percentage for an ignition coil, and something they brag about in their marketing. And on eBay, usually the coils are in bundles of 8. Yet the sellers metrics in this category claim the average is under 1%???

Being in the Motors industry, it is extremely apparent that the sellers metrics system is completely flawed. Your "peers" are not really peers, and may not be selling the same parts as you at all, and someone who sells 1k/month can be compared to someone who sells 100k/month.

I would not complain about it if you actually were compared to people in the same category, and who were relatively around the same sales volume as you. But this is NOT how it is working.

castlemagicmemories · ‎12-12-2018

Sorry that has happened to you, but hopefully you will get out of that designation soon and your fees will go down.

redroofsurplus · ‎12-12-2018

castlemagicmemories
Re: The exit strategy has begun!
in reply to pulaskiliquidators61 12-12-2018 09:57:21 AM
castlemagicmemories

Sorry that has happened to you, but hopefully you will get out of that designation soon and your fees will go down.
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OH IM OUT OF THAT IT WAS SOMETIME BACK, THE POINT IT, IT WAS A GREEDY MOVE BY EBAY, MY NUMBERS WERE LOW THERE, A BIT OVER 2 PERCENT.. ITS INSANE

IT AMAZES ME JUST HOW MANY USERS HERE NEVER HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY IN THEIR DEFENSE, EVEN GETTING SCREWED VIRTUALLY DAILY THEY WILL DEFEND EBAY TILL THE END

goodluckselling · ‎12-12-2018

@bmp_auto_salvage wrote:
I include a very detailed card on every sale stating that if there are any issues please contact me prior to to opening a return. It is taped directly to the part, the cards background is black in color with bright, bold yellow text. Next to the card I put a sticker saying "Please read this card before using your item" I have maybe 5% of the buyers who open returns contact me prior. The rest even sometimes take images of the product with the card and sticker still attached in their returns which I see as a major slap in the face.

I have been selling anything and everything for years and yes, my replies to show high levels of stress but it is beyond aggravating the lenghts I go to avoid returns and to still get them. Even for my electrical items I spray the connectors with electrical contact cleaner and scrub the pins with a brush to ensure proper contact.

And thank you for the good luck!

I am not suggesting this for you but many cell phone sellers send with the item a return shipping label right in the initial package. It the buyer uses it for returns the seller is charged the label fee, if they do not then the seller is not charged for the return shipping label.

I do not know if this would work for your products or not but I thought I would mention this path some sellers use.

Good Luck Selling!