The primary problem with ebay is not the buyers..

[michael_atw]

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]

---

@michael_atw wrote:

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.  

---

Well said, Michael!

[castlemagicmemories]

Just want to add that a return for refund does not place the burden of return shipping on the buyer.  The seller pays it.  A buyer can escalate the case to Ebay if the seller doesn't send a return label or is fighting the return.

Knowing that return shipping is on the seller should be an incentive to provide accurate listings.

[femmefan1946]

@michael_atw

In very recent times (last year or so), sellers have become beyond belligerent.  And they try to Colombo some conspiracy at every turn. 

So since January 20, 2017?

[awesome-altered-apparel]

I shop less and less on eBay due to poor sellers.

*nearly no description, I even saw one yesterday with just the title and photo, no description whatsoever.
*incredibly poor photos; too dark, too light, photo sideways. When eBay made it super easy to rotate photos and adjust dark/light there is no excuse.
*seller includes an obnoxious spiel; selling just for feedback, selling for hospital bill, warning if you ask questions, warning if you don't ask questions, warning that they will jolly-well send it in their own sweet time, warning you must pay extra if you want insurance (believe this against eBay TOA), blah, blah, blah!
*oh, back to photos; photographed on their rumpled bed, photographed on their rumpled soiled bed, photographed on their clearly filthy carpet, photographed with their cat/dog/child (thanks for the warning!), photographed outside with massive glare, photographed way-y-y too far away. 
*listed in wrong category. I just skipped over one yesterday that was a mens casual shirt listed in Womens tops. I often will politely message a seller to be helpful but this seller had 300+ fdbk so phooey.

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@michael_atw wrote:

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.  

No, I would absolutely believe you.  I have read too many threads by buyers that state their honest feedback, that violated no feedback rules, was removed to not believe you.  Buyers state they lose trust in Ebay since feedback is rigged.  Some say they won't buy here anymore.

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. 

I totally understand where you are coming from.  I think maybe they took exception to how strong your words were, just my thoughts.  

Perhaps:

Shipping cost incorrectly stated.  Seller would not honor.  Manipulation.

I've been emotionally manipulated as well.  I just haven't documented that in feedback. 

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.  

---

[michael_atw]

Add one to the afternoon orders received:

Seller with low feedback sold me a $2800 guitar.  I used to buy these with confidence I was protected.  Probably won't anymore.  

Anyways, the seller says, "I shipped".  The tracking # reveals nothing.  I think they may have printed one, then instead went with another.  Because I indeed received it today.  But going backward, I asked them to ship it protected with bubble wrap, peanuts, sturdy box.  Like.. normal?  They said, "I did".  Guess what?  No peanuts, no bubble wrap.. and no, no sturdy box!  And even moreso, guess what?  They sent not insured, no signature.

Anyways, it says "all original".  But a very expensive part of it is replaced.  So guess what? 

[castlemagicmemories]

Yes, that is against Ebay rules~sellers can't ask a buyer to pay for insurance.  They have the MBG.  Insurance is for the seller's protection.

[castlemagicmemories]

And I have had honest feedback left for a seller removed as well.  It did not violate any rules.  This seller stressed her 100% positive feedback; after that, I knew why it was 100%.

[castlemagicmemories]

And sales are down.  Imagine that.

[2015mhfashions]

You left Negative for a postage charge ? Surely you knew the postage cost of the item before you bought it, why did you think it's now negotiable after you paid ? you have to understand there is a lot more to postage then just the postage charge, approx 14% of what you paid in total goes straight to E Bay / Paypal fees, you also have to factor in packaging cost, ink, paper, tape, gas to deliver it for mailing, in my case that is a 25 mile round trip and most importantly a sellers time, processing and packaging an item and delivery to the post office for mailing with me is approx one hour, add minimum wage at the very least for one hour and the cost starts to mount,there is a lot more overall cost to consider than just what the mail service charges a seller, they are called overheads and every expense has to be factored in to the overall cost. 

[tesmom]

It has been the opposite with me. We buy a lot on here (my husband works on cars and motorcycles and finds a lot of cheap and/or hard to find items on eBay). We have had very little problems with sellers. Some, but not much.

However, I recently started selling (trying to clear some stuff out of the house). Out of 10 recent  sales, 1 was a non payer, 1 was clearly crazy and wouldn't stop writing me about an item until I sold it to her (I feared trouble with this person because she wanted to buy an item I felt was not what she described to me as what she really wanted. I figured I was in for negative feedback and complaining if I sold it to her) and 1 was complaining about a complete bargain she got...very unreasonable complaints, yet refused to send the stuff back for a refund.

Lets just say I have no intention of seling on here for long.

I don't believe this is a seller or buyer issue (though I have heard MANY people say eBay favors buyers and that angers  a lot of sellers and costs them money...causing them to be nasty and suspicious towards buyers or just quit selling). I feel this is a people problem. People are just truning into self absorbed, unreasonable jerks.

[michael_atw]

"You left Negative for a postage charge ? Surely you knew the postage cost of the item before you bought it, why did you think it's now negotiable after you paid ?"

I clearly stated why I left the neg.  

And no, I don't know the postage charge before I bought it.  The postage charge depends on the service, the packaging, the size, weight... none of those things I know ahead of time.  When I receive it, I then am able to evaluate if the charge was justified.  

They charged me $160 and it cost, I estimate, about $85 after packaging.  

If they would have sent it in a tank-sized box full of peanuts FedEx Express, I would see how they got to that number.  But as I stated before, that was not my reason for the neg.  The follow-up was the reason.  Otherwise, I would have left a + and a one-star for shipping cost. 

[michael_atw]

"People are just turning into self-absorbed, unreasonable jerks"

And that part is a societal crisis of epic proportions. 

[ted_200]

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.

After a full decade of tightening the screws on seller performance standards, forced "best practices", DSRs, Returns mandates, Free Shipping incentives, and Guardrail seller purges, all purportedly designed to improve the "buying experience"? 

To me, that suggests the problem might be with eBay, not eBay sellers... because when you keep saying you're going to improve things, and most people say things are actually worse, that is failure. 

[ted_200]

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

Yes.  Exactly.  eBay wouldn't know a good seller if it bit them on the rear end, and good sellers can sell anywhere.