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.

jason_incognito · ‎09-06-2018

One thing that really bugs me is how many listings, just by looking at the pictures I know it will be a SNAD.

the listing says the condition is excellent but I can see pieces missing.....

The number of listings I come across that are blatantly flaunting the rules. I just today saw one that insisted she was not responsible for anything, but if she did take a return there would be a 35% restocking fee in addition to the return shipping being on the buyer, oh and no refund of original shipping.....

Got a box of broken glass.... the response was along the line of "I'm so sorry, but you did not ask for insurance, so that is tough luck for you."

I got all my money back and after that sent them an email suggesting that they learn eBay's rules, because she was responsible. Even after eBay forcibly taking the money from her, she still believed she did nothing wrong.

I am very careful in buying off eBay, but it still happens.......

I don't recommend eBay to anybody.

"Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything" Colin Kaepernick the new face of NIKE

ted_200 · ‎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%.

That is not helpful either, and probably made worse due to the fact that half those kicked off weren't actually bad sellers. Now, good sellers who get charged another 4% will go somewhere else, and the bad ones can stick around.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

@ted_200 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.

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.

But, Ted, Ebay can only set the standards and enforce them. They can't guarantee any seller's compliance or performance. They can't make sure they put up accurate listings. They can't make sure they pack properly. They can't supervise communication so that a buyer isn't verbally abused. They can't make sure they don't cancel with buyer requested when the buyer never did. All they can do is evaluate performance and take appropriate steps as they deem necessary.

I think that means that it might be far worse had Ebay not started trying to establish criteria ten years ago, and that is indeed a scary thought! Ultimately, buyer's experiences are on each seller. Ebay can only help alleviate any issues through the MBG.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

@jason_incognito wrote:
One thing that really bugs me is how many listings, just by looking at the pictures I know it will be a SNAD.

the listing says the condition is excellent but I can see pieces missing.....

The number of listings I come across that are blatantly flaunting the rules. I just today saw one that insisted she was not responsible for anything, but if she did take a return there would be a 35% restocking fee in addition to the return shipping being on the buyer, oh and no refund of original shipping.....

Got a box of broken glass.... the response was along the line of "I'm so sorry, but you did not ask for insurance, so that is tough luck for you."

I got all my money back and after that sent them an email suggesting that they learn eBay's rules, because she was responsible. Even after eBay forcibly taking the money from her, she still believed she did nothing wrong.

I am very careful in buying off eBay, but it still happens.......

I don't recommend eBay to anybody.

MANY great points here, Jason!

Listing quality has really gone down. Minimalistic descriptions. Poor pictures or carefully staged to not show damage. Yes, buyers can ask questions but more than once I have been assured the item is fine, only to have it come with damage I had asked about. Then the seller says they didn't look. And that is my fault, how?

I've seen listings that state MINT, and the item looks like it was in a tug of war between two dogs, and the dogs won.

And yes, those who say they take returns but really DON'T, for ANY reason. Forget about a legitimate SNAD.

Ultimately, very sad buying experiences. I've seen listings like you state. Flagrant violations, no understanding or knowledge of policy. I don't know if you got the you're a scammer emails. So delightful and professional.

ted_200 · ‎09-06-2018

General reply to entire topic:

Two-way transparent feedback and "just a venue", for all of its issues, was better. There were still bad sellers, but they constituted a much smaller % of transactions, because most people would not buy from them. MBG just "leveled the playing field" for bad sellers.

I understand the concept of a "managed marketplace", but it's not working because this marketplace is poorly managed.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

saha_8051 · ‎09-06-2018

Up until 2 years ago I bought all of my inventory for resale on eBay. for whatever reason 2 years ago the sellers in the categories I usually shop started selling absolute junk. They would have beautiful photos and when the item arrived it was totally not as described

For example I bought what was supposed to be a beautiful Juliana cello brooch. What arrived was a banjo looking thing that definitely was not Juliana

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

@saha_8051 wrote:
Up until 2 years ago I bought all of my inventory for resale on eBay. for whatever reason 2 years ago the sellers in the categories I usually shop started selling absolute junk. They would have beautiful photos and when the item arrived it was totally not as described

For example I bought what was supposed to be a beautiful Juliana cello brooch. What arrived was a banjo looking thing that definitely was not Juliana

You, too, are blessed in you have only had these issues the last two years.

Many have had them for far longer than that.

yuzuha · ‎09-06-2018

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
But, Ted, Ebay can only set the standards and enforce them. They can't guarantee any seller's compliance or performance. They can't make sure they put up accurate listings. They can't make sure they pack properly. They can't supervise communication so that a buyer isn't verbally abused. They can't make sure they don't cancel with buyer requested when the buyer never did. All they can do is evaluate performance and take appropriate steps as they deem necessary.

I think that means that it might be far worse had Ebay not started trying to establish criteria ten years ago, and that is indeed a scary thought! Ultimately, buyer's experiences are on each seller. Ebay can only help alleviate any issues through the MBG.

And they can't give a seller the boot until multiple buyers have already had bad experiences. It won't matter one whit to that buyer if the seller gets kicked off eBay three weeks down the line, they've already had a negative experience that could possibly sour them on buying from eBay permanently.

ted_200 · ‎09-06-2018

But, Ted, Ebay can only set the standards and enforce them.

A lot of their current standards have no relationship to buyers' idea of a "good seller"... as an example, I don't blame slow postal service on good sellers (never mind normal postal service combined with over-optimistic delivery estimates, or even worse "Guaranteed Delivery" that the carrier themself doesn't guarantee).

Even in the wild west days of "just a venue", there may have been no "seller standards", but there were site policies, and eBay's failure to enforce those (most of which were sound) led to a lot of their "seller problem". The problem with the MBG solution to all this is that it creates a situation where BUYERS have no standards for seller quality (bad photos, no description, bad feedback), they don't care, they can get their money back, and all this does is allow bad sellers to continue to make sales. It doesn't make buyers any happier though when they receive a piece of garbage, and it's detrimental to the good sellers who did not make that sale.

As for the hostile seller problem, a lot of that is the result of the "managed marketplace" which allows buyers to abuse sellers and steal things. If you're even just a reasonably good seller, the number of those far exceeds actual seller fault/failure cases. Sellers get rung up so often now, many of them just react with an assumption the buyer is the problem every time. And a simple problem that would have been fixed easily 10 years ago (and given the seller another green dot)now turns into some punitive seller performance metric, which also causes hostile seller reactions.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

sugarpotpye · ‎09-06-2018

@michael_atw wrote:
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?

Fingers crossed for you that your guitar seller has a hold on their money and haven't been able to spend it yet so you won't have a hassle when returning the guitar.

Yesterday there was a thread posted from a seller who sold an expensive purse and the buyer filed for a return immediately after it was delivered.

The seller was honest on the board asking what to do because she had spent most of the money to pay bills right after the sale and didn't have the full funds to refund.

D

Sunshine is the worlds way of smiling back at you.

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

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.

It can be both.

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

Two-way transparent feedback and "just a venue", for all of its issues, was better.

Two way feedback would allow these manipulative sellers to bombard retaliation slander all day long. I have been manipulated by 10x more sellers as a buyer than buyers as a seller.

southern*sweet*tea · ‎09-06-2018

@saha_8051 wrote:
Up until 2 years ago I bought all of my inventory for resale on eBay. for whatever reason 2 years ago the sellers in the categories I usually shop started selling absolute junk. They would have beautiful photos and when the item arrived it was totally not as described

For example I bought what was supposed to be a beautiful Juliana cello brooch. What arrived was a banjo looking thing that definitely was not Juliana

Two years ago - that's when all my bad buying experiences started. A lot of sellers now feel it's acceptable to sell misdescribed garbage and then give you nine kinds of heck when you ask them about it. It's never been this bad in the 15 years I've been here.

In 2013 I spent almost $2889 here. (not a lot by some people's standards, but waaaay too much for mine lol)

In 2014 - $3020 In 2015 - $ 2728 In 2016 - $2287 In 2017 - $1142

This year so far - $357

(Yes, I looked up all these figures lol) The way things are going next year may be zero. And, unlike a lot of sellers, the amount I sell has nothing to do with the amount I buy.

Sellers can scream about bad buyers until the cows come home, but a lot of it is sellers' own making. Good sellers attract and keep good buyers. Bad sellers attract and keep bad buyers. Bad sellers also make good buyers leave, thus thinning the good buyer pool even more.

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell

michael_atw · ‎09-06-2018

I have sold nearly $2.7 million dollars in a decade and purchased probably bought $1.7 million or so.

You do to the math on what eBay would lose in the next decade. $200000 in selling fees, that's the start.

Granted, on the buying end, there would still be buyers. But my auction bids (most of my buys) jack prices up 20-30% higher than they would have ended up otherwise.