Why does eBay bend over backwards to support buyers but won't defend its sellers with equal vigor?

[jennklaas]

I have been selling on eBay for over 15 years and i am continuely disappointed in how easily it is for buyers to scam reliable sellers.  Not only can they scam buyers, eBay helps them do it.

Any buyer can claim it didn't receive an item and sellers have to refund a buyer with no proof.  The seller has to pay for a pre-paid return label even before we know if the buyer who is in error.

When i want to contact someone at eBay about the situation, it is virtually impossible.  Why in the world are we paying all these fees when eBay can't give us the curtesy of being able to contact them directly?

[judybsa]

Returns represent 3.1% of my sales.  I refuse to spend more than 3.1% of my time messing with them.  Refund the money to unhappy customers and move on.  Use your time to list more inventory and make more sales.

[scentsplusmore]

because ebay gets there money one way or the other  were are you going to go  to sell if not here  bitter pill to swallow  but take big glass of water with it

[shepherd64z]

Call the live support. Also yeah I agree, seller's have no insurance. I could easily buy a video game or movie, watch or play it a few times and simply just make some claim and return it, or worse, scratch it and claim I got it delivered that way. I've seen it happen 60 days after the purchase. Which is ridiculous. Too many people seem to have buyers remorse after awhile. Which sucks, but unfortunatley it just happens and there's really not much you can do about it, except call or use the resolution center. Just be as descriptive as possible. The more details you provide, the harder it is to be scammed by a buyer when they claim your product is not what was described, etc., etc.,. Simple auctions with no details all ready to me seem suspicious. Not many want to buy something just to find out the seller hid imperfections in their photos, which also happens. When it comes to selling its not really up to you who buys it. 

All in all I agree with whomever said just move on from it, don't let one bad interaction stop you from selling, use the time instead to list more items and aim for better transactions in the future. I'm sure everyone here has had a bad/terrible/suspicious/rude/ FILL IN THE BLANK buyer. Just don't let it get to you.

[judybsa]

When sellers don't make sales, eBay doesn't make money.  There is a small listing fee, but eBay makes lots of its profit on final value fees.  When a transaction doesn't go well and the buyer is refunded, the seller gets a refund of the final value fees.  eBay makes most of its money when both buyers and sellers are happy with a successful transaction.  Sure you can go somewhere else on the internet, but your sales won't be as good.  Listing on eBay is like renting a store space at the mall vs. setting up a stand alongside some state highway in a small town in rural America.  At the mall the rent is higher, but your going to get more traffic and more sales.  Mall rental agreements are usually a flat fee plus a percentage of retail sales.  So it is in the best interest of the mall to bring in traffic.   Your sales go up and  thus your rent goes up.  Taking this analogy further, the mall management is not responsible to take sides when there is a dispute.  They just want everyone to be happy.  They want customers to keep coming to the mall.  They want the sellers to sell lots of stuff.  Ebay doesn't want to take sides.  They want to make sure everyone is happy so that they can continue to make money.

[rixstuff]

In the first case you provide the tracking number and the delivery confirmation info from the PO.  In the second you agree to the return provided you receive the item back.  Oddly most buyers DONT send it back they just keep it.  But if/when they do send it back you can always resell it and at least they dont get the item AND the refund.  That said most of the time when Ebay sides against a seller it is because the seller did not/refused to handle the return and Ebay had to step in to MAKE them deal with it.  Once the case is open, keep repeating over and over I will refund as soon as I get the item back.  If they dont send it back in time, then Ebay will close the case in your favor.

Yes they used to be all buyer side all the time but they have become much more even handed lately and are much more fair for the sellers.

[thatsallfolks]

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@jennklaas wrote:

Any buyer can claim it didn't receive an item and sellers have to refund a buyer with no proof.  The seller has to pay for a pre-paid return label even before we know if the buyer who is in error.

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And if one of my buyers opened an "Item Not Received" case, I'd upload the tracking number that showed proof of delivery, then I'd call eBay and they would immediately close the case in my favor.

[snowbirdinct]

Oddly enough I had a buyer contact me yesterday saying that the tracking number showed that the item was delivered to her mailbox on Friday but she never got it.  I politely wrote back and told her to call her post office to have them talk to the driver, etc etc.  But I have a feeling that this is going to come back as my fault and that I'll have to refund the buyer for her purchase price plus shipping, even though tracking shows it was delivered.  All in all buyer paid $15 total so it wasn't worth insuring but tracking says it was delivered.  I agree that ebay tends to side heavily with the buyer.  

I had a case last month where the USPS lost a package at the delivery end's postal center (or an employee stole it, who knows?), and despite having USPS search for the package, ebay said that it was ultimately my responsibility to ensure that the packaged arrived at the buyer's address.  They said that I had to think like a big-box store and provide customer service like them.  If Kohls shipped a package and Fedex lost it, Kohls would credit back the shipping, right?  Yes!  So even though I told ebay that I'm not a big-box, just a person selling stuff they said to suck it up and refund the money, so I did.  For that time it was $18 for a first class uninsured but TRACKED package.

In both cases the postal service is at fault but I'm the one who pays, and ebay is making me do that.  I have hundreds of items to list and am considering shipping items under 16oz via priority mail just so they are insured so I don't have to deal with this unjust **bleep** any longer.  I have yet to see where ebay has become more even keel with the seller as well as the buyer.

[ag4jc777]

As long as eBay keeps rolling in profits and have folks to keep backing them (like all the other previous posters who tell you to suck it up like eBay says), they will not change.

[johnrj1226]

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@snowbirdinct wrote:

Oddly enough I had a buyer contact me yesterday saying that the tracking number showed that the item was delivered to her mailbox on Friday but she never got it.  I politely wrote back and told her to call her post office to have them talk to the driver, etc etc.  But I have a feeling that this is going to come back as my fault and that I'll have to refund the buyer for her purchase price plus shipping, even though tracking shows it was delivered.  All in all buyer paid $15 total so it wasn't worth insuring but tracking says it was delivered.  I agree that ebay tends to side heavily with the buyer.  

I had a case last month where the USPS lost a package at the delivery end's postal center (or an employee stole it, who knows?), and despite having USPS search for the package, ebay said that it was ultimately my responsibility to ensure that the packaged arrived at the buyer's address.  They said that I had to think like a big-box store and provide customer service like them.  If Kohls shipped a package and Fedex lost it, Kohls would credit back the shipping, right?  Yes!  So even though I told ebay that I'm not a big-box, just a person selling stuff they said to suck it up and refund the money, so I did.  For that time it was $18 for a first class uninsured but TRACKED package.

In both cases the postal service is at fault but I'm the one who pays, and ebay is making me do that.  I have hundreds of items to list and am considering shipping items under 16oz via priority mail just so they are insured so I don't have to deal with this unjust **bleep** any longer.  I have yet to see where ebay has become more even keel with the seller as well as the buyer.

You  can  ship items  under 16 oz (like up to 15.99 oz.) via First Calss Package get tracking and pay extra for  insurance at less cost than Priority mail.

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[thatsallfolks]

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@snowbirdinct wrote:

Oddly enough I had a buyer contact me yesterday saying that the tracking number showed that the item was delivered to her mailbox on Friday but she never got it.  I politely wrote back and told her to call her post office to have them talk to the driver, etc etc.  But I have a feeling that this is going to come back as my fault and that I'll have to refund the buyer for her purchase price plus shipping, even though tracking shows it was delivered.  All in all buyer paid $15 total so it wasn't worth insuring but tracking says it was delivered.  I agree that ebay tends to side heavily with the buyer.  

I had a case last month where the USPS lost a package at the delivery end's postal center (or an employee stole it, who knows?), and despite having USPS search for the package, ebay said that it was ultimately my responsibility to ensure that the packaged arrived at the buyer's address.  They said that I had to think like a big-box store and provide customer service like them.  If Kohls shipped a package and Fedex lost it, Kohls would credit back the shipping, right?  Yes!  So even though I told ebay that I'm not a big-box, just a person selling stuff they said to suck it up and refund the money, so I did.  For that time it was $18 for a first class uninsured but TRACKED package.

.

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So in the first case, tracking proves that the item was delivered. If a case is opened, and if you respond to the case with the tracking #, it will be closed in your favor.

In the second case, you have no proof of delivery, so yes, you are responsible. There's nothing inconsistent or unfair about either of those decisions.

[bbearco]

Don't even bother with USPS insurance.  I have an insured package now that arrived with the item broken.  The buyer refuses to help with the claim because she would have to take the item to the Post Office for inspection. I file the claim she gets a letter IF they want to inspect the package.  None of it can be resolved in 3 business days.  So when the buyer files a dispute eBay will send her a label to return the package and guess what that VOIDS the insurance. So I have no choice but to give a refund before a dispute is filed because then I would have to pay shipping back to me and be out that much more money.  This buyer has a history of getting things broken and then leaving negative feedback for the seller.  I have learned that USPS insurance is a waste of time. I guess we can hope that there are some nice buyers out there that would cooperate with a claim.

[rixstuff]

I often tell of an irrate buyer who didnt get her package - or so she thought.  In the middle of the dispute, she noticed her little daughter WEARING the bracelet she supposedly never received.  The girl got the package and opened it without telling anybody.  I applaud the buyer for being honest enough to admit it was there and it proves that things go awry.  She quickly closed the case.

In the second case you note, you could file the dispute with the POST OFFICE because they had a an obligation to deliver your package that you can clearly show got into the PO system and got as far as X (whatever location it disappeared at).  File the claim and get the postage and teh cost of the item back since you had to refund.

Lastly, I dont upgrade to Priority Mail to get the insurance based on the weight but on the VALUE.  A 10 oz $3 t-shirt? No.  A 4 oz $50 bracelet, YES!!

[needleinahaystack714714]

eBay has always thought that only buyers are THEIR customers.  They have always failed to grasp the concept that buyers are sellers and sellers are buyers.  You tick one off and you probably ticked them both off.

[dawn24bear]

I am simply amazed as to how much total dishonesty, total lies, and scam attempts occur upon our site anymore. This statement pertains to both the dishonest sellers and dishonest buyers alike as they are all out there waiting for their chance to make a few bucks or score free merchandise! The horror stories come from both sides of the fence. I have found more & more that eBay Customer Support frankly just doesn't give a **bleep** about ANY of us anymore. Whether we are right or wrong in bad situations it just doesn't matter. It appears to be more of a CS decision of "which is the easiest road to follow to get these nagging people to just go away in the shortest time possible".

Democracy, or Dictatorship? Customer Support is teetering on that edge.

My latest situation was with Jessie from Customer Support. I was notified of an item return case " not as described not running pocket watch"  

I contacted Jessie in regards to see if it was appropriate to contact the buyer for a photo of the USPS package as it was covered under eBay Shipcover Insurance. Her reply was "I am going to contact them because I myself want to see the photos of the package and want to see the watch not running"

I asked her how can a buyer take a photo of a non running watch? The conversation became abrupt as I struck a nerve with her on that point. NEXT she TOLD ME the CASE was now being escalated and a final decision will be made in 48 to 72 hours.

?? 2 hours and 50 some minutes later I receive a message stating case was decided in the buyers favor, case closed without seller resolution, and a seller defect was now recorded.

The watch finally arrived back to me 5 DAYS LATER. Upon opening it i find the sweeping seconds hand was bent upwards contacting the hour hand & stopping the watch! NOW my Railroad Pocket Watch was not returned in the same condition as sent! Damaged!

(those buyers & others unfamiliar with pocket watches with swing out type cases,- to swing out the movement you must insert your fingernail in a tiny slit just below the seconds sweep dial hand and gently pry upward. Those unfamiliar with this case type frequently cause bent hands and broken pinions) 

I have 20 plus photos of the watch in running condition. I bought it on eBay from a watchmaker in excellent running condition. Watch spent 3 weeks on my bench as I was fine tuning the watch for excellent accuracy. Over 1000 to 1200 pocket watches sold around the world to date upon eBay!

EVIDENCE whether in black & white, photos, or right or wrong, or fully evident does not matter as they will not spend the time to look with eyes wide open. eBay CS turns their heads away as they do not wish to be bothered. 

I appealed, and contacted CS reps 3-4 times with a massive amount of "perfect running condition" evidence.

NEXT STEP FOR EBAY CUSTOMER SUPPORT- THEY BLOCKED ME FROM HAVING THE ABILITY TO CONTACT THEM THROUGH THE SELLER CS PAGE!! 

Check out my photo I took of the "eBay Telephone Contact Us Page" notification at lower left

"NOT ENABLED, CLOSED 24x7". 

-REALLY?? Well within normal business hours eBay. Must be a direct block for me..??

Watch was relisted & sold

I still take extreme pride in my honesty. As an old timer I am proud to be a Man of My Word.

Without that, what do you really have?

Thank you,

Brad-  dawn24bear