eBay

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

As both a buyer and a seller, my issues over the last few months as a seller have gone down while the issues I have as a buyer have exploded. I buy less, and less and less... and subsequently, sell less and less because I am mostly a reseller.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

You are not alone.

Buying issues have indeed exploded.

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

I wonder if ebay is losing good sellers to other venues while retaining bad ones. Oddly against what their intended goalset is.

I've always had problems as a seller but for the most part, in the past... when I had those issues, sellers were fair. In very recent times (last year or so), sellers have become beyond belligerent. And they try to Colombo some conspiracy at every turn. If you complain there is a missing part, they simply respond that you stole that part.

I mostly buy vintage musical instruments - I am sure a sector that is as full of problems as computers or cell phones. "Scamming" hasn't been a big issue for me (jk, just had a guy try to 'forget' to send me part of my order last week).

Lots of them now totally rely on, "I know nothing" attitudes with regards to what they sell.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

Michael,

You may have a point there as to losing good sellers with bad ones left. I can only say, if you have only had belligerent sellers for the last year or so, you have been blessed, and have done far better than many. I've had those issues for far longer than that. Been on here almost two decades, buy with tolerance and a grain of salt, settle for what I get when I can. MBG aside, there is a very real incidence of horrible customer service and true SNADs.

You have seen the every buyer is a scammer philosophy on here, I'm sure. You may have received many abusive messages from sellers over the course of a few days. You may have sent back a damaged item, only to have the seller insist you did not send back HIS item, when you actually did.

Some may use a I know nothing attitude because they may think that protects them against SNAD somehow. It may also account for minimalistic descriptions that don 't accurately portray the item and are a SNAD in the making. Lack of effort, maybe? Ther perils of listing on a phone? It could also be a blame everyone else for any issues attitude.

I think it helps when sellers acknowledge this problem as it give more credibility to what buyers say, and more and more sellers are acknowledging this problem.

This thread is by mostly SELLERS, with a long standing Ebay loyalty, who in some cases, stopped buying here due to their bad experiences.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Selling/I-m-beginning-to-see-what-buyers-contend-with/m-p/2785...

dilo-8873 · ‎09-06-2018

@michael_atw wrote:

As both a buyer and a seller, my issues over the last few months as a seller have gone down while the issues I have as a buyer have exploded. I buy less, and less and less... and subsequently, sell less and less because I am mostly a reseller.

Hello Michael,

I have mentioned this in another thread - many good sellers are leaving eBay because of the unfair selling policies - good buyers are leaving because of the bad sellers that remain. At some point, this will leave only bad sellers and bad buyers.

JMO

tamaralea · ‎09-06-2018

I think it may be getting worse because sellers are no longer kicked off eBay. Instead, they are charged an extra 4%. Half of what I buy here comes in "not as described." I end up keeping most of it, but it is frustrating.

dolldesigns4u · ‎09-06-2018

Why would you keep something that was "not as described". I immediately contact the buyer for a return and refund.

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

"Why would you keep something that was "not as described". I immediately contact the buyer for a return and refund."

Not asked of me to answer but I can with my perspective: I am a reseller like many others. This makes for very grey incidences where I buy items that come SNAD but the SNAD is minor. Even if I was keeping an item, this might not be a big deal. With clothes, when I buy, I often eat small issues with them.

If I had to break it down, I'd say 25% of what I buy is a SNAD but not substantial enough to warrant me returning. Usually I'll ask for a small partial refund or just state that it is not complete. 25% on top of that DOES warrant returns.

Like a poster above, I easily am dealing with 50% SNAD now.

For examples:

-I bought a postcard recently (a month or so ago). It was one supposedly of my hometown. It notated no where on the card that it was actually my hometown. It could have been anywhere.
-I bought some old papers of historical value. One of them was photocopied.

-Earlier this year, I bought a pair of jeans. The size was wrong. This person instantly gave a full refund (I would have returned if they wanted, they are of no use to me. I think I gave them to my friend).

-I bought a guitar a few weeks ago. I asked the seller what the shipping label cost was (they clearly overcharged me and I wanted to verify it for the purpose of rating). They responded with a lie which I could verify using FedEx website. When I called them out, they attempted to emotionally manipulate me (this is beyond common on eBay now). They lied multiple more times. I left them a neg. Guess what? It was removed. Kid you not. The neg would not have happened had they told the truth. They made a small issue into a very large one.

-I bought a guitar last week. It arrived yesterday. It was SNAD. The description was specific along with photos. There is a probability that I could have identified in the photos the SNAD but that's after the fact; I went off the seller. The seller accepted the return but never sent a label; then, yesterday and today begins to message me asking, "Is it still the same from when you received it?" Clearly they are implying I stole from them. It's a vintage guitar with old components; one of the components claimed to be original was replaced. Instead of the seller owning up (ironically, they did in the following messages when they explicitly claimed they knew nothing about guitars, I kid you not), they doubled-down after I responded as you would expect. They began to play the "manipulation game", 'lighten up', 'be civil', 'I never said you stole'. Yes you did. And I am sure they do it to goad you. That seller is still playing games as we speak. And yes, they once again made the issue far larger than it was. And no, it's not OK to accuse someone of criminal activity with no evidence.

-I had another one sell a bunch of old guitar parts, then withhold one of the parts stated to be included in the listing. When I asked where it was, they claimed "Sorry, I forgot to send it". When they sent it, it was SNAD. When confronted, they simultaneously claimed to know nothing but also to know what the part was (they were wrong). This was a couple weeks ago. They also claimed it was worth much more than the listing in total (which is clearly why they withheld it). When I asked for a fair partial refund, they refused and only claimed they would if I then sent that part back and in that case, they would only send part of what I fairly requested.

harleyman49-us · ‎09-06-2018

We would agree that many of the good sellers have left. We have always gone above and beyond to provide great service to our customers, but as our business has declined by 75% over the last year we have been forced to find other jobs and will also be leaving EBAY as soon as we sell through our current inventory. We would certainly agree that the majority of buyers are not scammers, but with no profits being made here it unfortunately only takes a few false SNAD claims to create a negative seller vs buyer atmosphere.

While we understand the importance of Buyer protection, we certainly believe that some kind of seller protection would go a long ways in creating a healthier environment here. We are sorry to hear anytime an honest buyer has a negative experience caused by a bad seller, hopefully the experience of buying and selling here improves.

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

Hello Michael,

I have mentioned this in another thread - many good sellers are leaving eBay because of the unfair selling policies - good buyers are leaving because of the bad sellers that remain. At some point, this will leave only bad sellers and bad buyers.

I see it from your perspective as well.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎09-06-2018

I buy my inventory here too although I don't sell on Ebay. If I complained and returned every time something came SNAD I'd have no time to run my business.

Fortunately I can resell with full disclosure and rarely lose money on an item, but sometimes it seems like I'm spinning my wheels here. Fortunately there are enough good buys to make up for it.

It's a lot like the sellers complaining about scammers when it turns out they only had one or two out of a hundred. If you're coming out way ahead you shouldn't be spending half your online time complaining about getting scammed. When you're dealing with humans you're never guaranteed perfection.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

@tamaralea wrote:
I think it may be getting worse because sellers are no longer kicked off eBay. Instead, they are charged an extra 4%. Half of what I buy here comes in "not as described." I end up keeping most of it, but it is frustrating.

I've had the same problem, but hit a new high when I ordered two things, two different sellers, and both came not as described. That's 100%.

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

What's funny is this part of that thread:

"Would have bought from those sellers if they had dozens of negs warning you about their poor CS abilities and selling skills?

This is what happens when people don't bother to neg sellers that really deserve it."

If I told you how many negs as a buyer I've had removed by eBay for no reason, you'd believe I was lying. Or that I was in the wrong all those times. I wouldn't blame you either - it's hard to find truth through an ethernet cable.

The aforementioned seller who lied to me about the shipping and then tried to emotionally manipulate me? Yep, that neg was removed. Maybe I broke some feedback policy but if I recall, all I said was, "lied about shipping cost and emotionally manipulated me". Maybe a "Beware" as well. And that was after trying my hardest to be civil and not go that far with it. But I was dragged that far.

What was weirder is that person had 12000 feedback or so with no negs. Maybe I was the only problem they ever had, lol. I think it was a woman.. and I mean this with no offense toward women but a truthful speculation: If you heard a nice, soft manipulative voice on the other end, would you be more apt to help them with their issues as a CSR than a gruffy man? Who knows.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

@dolldesigns4u wrote:
Why would you keep something that was "not as described". I immediately contact the buyer for a return and refund.

Because that can reflect on you as a buyer, sadly, and with the high incidence of true SNADs, you could find yourself restricted. I remember a post by a buyer some time back that had bought all her Christmas presents on Ebay and more than 50% of them came not as described. She filed cases on all of those, and she was thrown out of the MBG. She was bewildered when it wasn't her fault and said she would not be buying on Ebay. I actually had a higher percentage than that come SNAD during my heavy Christmas buying that year, but since I did not file a lot of cases, my MBG was safe. But I remember thinking that that could have been me, and how sad it was.

Sometimes you can live with it, but there are absolutely times where the line has been crossed, you just can't be expected to keep it. Then yes, absolutely ask for a return or a refund. That may be the best thing to do in all cases because it may be incentive to provide accurate listings. Just living with it doesn't accomplish anything of that nature, and you have actually shorted yourself as the item is not worth what you paid for it. All because you were a good guy.

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

Exactly. I fear every day and have for years, "this return request is the last one eBay will let me open because their system does not account for anything but numbers".

So the system breaks it down even more by literally slandering buyers who might be excellent.