eBay

ronusa-inc · ‎05-31-2017

Having been a Power Seller since 1999 I am totally appalled as the way we have been treated by eBay the past few days; and over the past several years as well. Having a perfect 100% feedback rating for the past several years; we had a customer who chose to post negative feedback; and then we contacted the buyer and he demanded that he keep the item and immediately refund him the total purchase price of nearly 300 bucks; and then he would agree to remove the negative feedback. All of these messages occurred through eBay message center and we have proof of this extortion in plain language against our company. We contacted eBay by phone on 2 occasions and both times eBay told us that we should comply with their demands. This is not the first time that eBay has treated our company like criminals over the past several years. After paying eBay hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission fees since 1999 we have decided to take our business elsewhere as their behaviour is totally unacceptable. So beware all of you Power Sellers that eBay does permit extortionists to practice their trade!

retrose1 · ‎06-01-2017

OP, surely you have been around long enough to realize that the special designations that ebay has are there only to make the user feel special after they have successfully jumped through moving hoops that they have no control over. It does not mean that you are special, it means that ebay knows that you are willing to jump through hoops.

Surely the reduction in trs discount was a wake up call about how ebay feels about the sellers who have earned special badges.

(*Bleep*)

cchpgc · ‎06-12-2017

I have been selling on ebay for 15 years and they have always protected the buyer. The seller pays the fees but ebay cares more about the buyers even when the sellers get SCREWED. I just had a non payer and ebay will not allow me to post negative feedback. That is crazy. So the next seller gets screwed by this buyer and no one is aware.

lifesciencesolutions · ‎07-09-2017

Why do you care about 1 negative feedback at all?

888eight · ‎07-09-2017

I totally agree with you; ebay is getting worst and worst in the way how tehy treat sellers. Maybe all the sellers should set a day as no listing day to send a message to ebay.

otterseller2017_5 · ‎07-28-2017

I agree with you. in my case , I sold a small electronic device, and then the buyer requested the item (new, in sealed bag) to be returned with a refund. when I received the item i took photos of the now opened item and it seemed used as opposed to its original new condition. And when I called Ebay, they simply continued rephrasing answers that lead to "well, they managed to succeed in exploiting the buyer protection , deal with it. but I commend you accepting the returning policy." Im starting to question just how many fake buyers out there like to take advantage of this buyer protection. And the protection feature Ebay claims, it's only using the money of the transaction, they don't have any form of insurance , and their "helping the buyer" options on their pages force you to accept returns. Not all of us a big stores, we just sell some items and that's it.

otterseller2017_5 · ‎07-28-2017

Ebay did force me to comply in my case. Even when I told them that the buyer returned me an already opened item. and the buyer cannot leave negative feedback

christopher0493 · ‎08-21-2017

That's not how extortion works.

That is called problem resolution.

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-21-2017

Exactly what I was thinking. Since seller contacted buyer after buyer posted feedback, buyer may have attached an impossible condition, give me the three hundred dollar item free, to make his point that he wanted the feedback to stand.

A professional response, such as, So sorry, item has been sent out immediately, would reassure potential buyers that they would have a good response. Buyer has last response, too, so buyer can explain, requested revision, said that to make feedback stand, which won't look pretty. Future buyers may look at this response and think, didn't ship on time, then blames buyer, back button.

OP, please don't feel posters are calling you a crook. It is common practice for histories, profiles, and feedback to be analyzed as well as the situation the OP is posting about. No offense is intended. It seems the item didn't go out when it should have; as previously mentioned, some people don't have a problem with that, some people do. You can choose a longer processing/handling time for future listings, but however many days you chose, that is when you need to ship or you get dinged for late shipment. A conciliatory response when buyer asked why item hasn't shipped may have appeased the buyer and avoided the negative feedback.

Anyway, seller seems to have reconsidered as this is August and he still has active listings.

OP. sorry this happened to you.

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-21-2017

@vintagecraze50 wrote:
Yes, it seems like the buyer was unhappy about some aspect of the sale, left the feedback, and then was contacted by the seller, perhaps for a feedback revision, then the buyer got even more upset and proposed the I'll change the feedback if you give the item for free. Hope I am reading into this correctly.

That's it.

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-21-2017

@cchpgc wrote:
I have been selling on ebay for 15 years and they have always protected the buyer. The seller pays the fees but ebay cares more about the buyers even when the sellers get SCREWED. I just had a non payer and ebay will not allow me to post negative feedback. That is crazy. So the next seller gets screwed by this buyer and no one is aware.

The next seller won't get anything from the buyer if they have their blocks set up to block buyers with two or more strikes in a year, for a year, if the buyer has one strike already, and the current seller files as well. If all the sellers that they didn't pay filed UPI, unpaid item disputes against the buyer, and had their blocks set up, buyer can no longer buy for a year. There really isn't anything a seller can do post sale if they had seen negative feedback, since many snipe. You can't cancel the sale without getting a defect and a few of those will jeopardize your selling privileges.

The seller just opens a UPI, unpaid item dispute, after 48 hrs. If buyer doesn't pay, close it in 96 hrs. This also get you back your fees, which alone is incentive for the seller to file. Closing the case due to non payment gives the buyer a strike and just two of them will stop the buyer from buying from the many sellers who have their blocks set up to block those with two or more strikes in a year, for a year. This is done automatically. Far more effective than negative feedback. And it is done discreetly. Negative feedback was driving buyers from the site.

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-21-2017

Another way to avoid non paying buyers is to list fixed price, immediate payment required. Buyer can then BIN, but needs to pay immediately to actually buy the item. Listing is then not taken down if buyer cannot pay immediately, and the item is still available to the serious buyer who will pay for it.

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-21-2017

@cchpgc wrote:
I have been selling on ebay for 15 years and they have always protected the buyer. The seller pays the fees but ebay cares more about the buyers even when the sellers get SCREWED. I just had a non payer and ebay will not allow me to post negative feedback. That is crazy. So the next seller gets screwed by this buyer and no one is aware.

Sorry this happened to you. I posted some ways you can avoid this.

Non payment is frustrating, but there are ways you can avoid it.

Just some thoughts.

new-republic-trader · ‎06-10-2019

I agree, sellers used to be able to give the buyer negative feedback if warranted, now sellers can't. Sellers need protection as well, I am currently dealing with one of the worst, manipulative customers I have ever had. eBay has been great helping me deal with the customer. Like others have said, always be polite and business like with the customer. So if a seller is having problems, contact eBay and document what is going on, I've called them 5 times about this transaction and they have been very helpful. Still, sellers need something that reviews the buyer, such as number of complaints, etc. It could be a buyer rating that sellers can reference to decide if they want to accept and offer or such. All and all, my customers have been great, I guess inevitably a monster will raise it's ugly head 😞