Why does eBay treat sellers as if they're fools?

[antiqueautoparts]

 Why does eBay treat us like we're fools? Why do they consistently implement new rules and regulations which they state are to help their sellers' bottom lines? Those are rhetorical questions because I know the answers; it's because they can. They know they have a captive audience. They know most of us rely on eBay to pay our bills, including feeding our families. Therefore, their attitude is that we will just pay up because we have no alternatives.

 I know this one is old news, but when they came with the garbage that they had to start taking 10% of the shipping fee to combat final fee dodgers, I was, and remain, extremely perturbed by that. They have the most complex algorithms for everything, and they couldn't come up with one to weed out the very small percentage of sellers who were trying to dodge final value fees by making the item price very low and the shipping cost very high? Really? They just saw an opportunity and ran with it. It's disgusting! If you buy the reasoning behind their ludicrous explanation for charging a 10% fee on the shipping cost, then you certainly are a fool. EBay is run by disgustingly, greedy people who couldn't care less about eBay sellers, many of whom have been around since its early days and helped build the site. Sellers are disposable to eBay; they have no loyalty to them. 

  My final straw was when they started the "Managed Payments" **bleep** so that they could make millions or even billions of dollars more on our money (the float) sitting in their bank! PayPal was working just fine; I could make a deal with someone and receive my payment within minutes. Now they want to hold my money for some number of days and release it when they feel fit. Had I opted into that system then I would no longer be able to receive funds immediately. Their Managed Payments system precludes us from making quick deals to raise immediate funds because we have to wait days to receive the payments. No more putting something out there for a reduced price to get some money in your PayPal account right away. I don't know how many times I needed a quick hundred bucks and made deals to get it, literally within minutes of listing an item at a reduced price. Those days are over. Well, everything's over for me because I'm finally done. 

  It's been a long time since eBay has been any fun at all. In the last number of years all I would ever do was worry about who was going to open a case against me and how much money I was going to lose because of it. I constantly worried about losing my right to sell on eBay. I'm elated that I am moving on. I just wish many more sellers would do the same. Don't let them dictate whether or not you will be able to feed your family or have a roof over your head. Of course, some will advocate for eBay, but I couldn't care less. EBay is a tyrant which deserves no support. I always say that even the mighty can fall, and I hope they do.  In closing, I recommend that you find something else to do before eBay kicks you to the curb, because that time will come. I'm lucky in that I saw it coming and I had something else to fall back on. They should be working for us, but instead they treat us with disdain, notwithstanding the fact that their income is derived from the myriad fees we pay. I loathe no company more than I do eBay.

[cityslickercreations2004]

"I think it is a matter of time before another venue arises that truly will compete with eBay's position on the market. "

Right now that is Amazon, Walmart and Shopify. Personally, I expect Target to join the fray at some point.

 I enjoy selling on ebay but sometimes I felt like their market share was slipping.

[antiqueautoparts]

  No one threw a "fit." I stated facts. My rant was about lies, dception, and greed. Yes, we are all in it to make a profit. However, how much is enough? I constantly give repeat buyers good deals because I appreciate their business. What does eBay give me/us? They raise fees by creating new ways of charging us more, they threaten suspension or revocation of our accounts for minor issues (many of which we have no control over), they offer us little to no protection from buyers who return items for bogus reasons and/or make unsubstantiated claims which cause us to lose our rankings, shipping costs, and various other monies. That's not the way I would treat a valued customer, and in my book every customer is valued. 

  You can obviously support eBay all you like, but that doesn't change the facts of my initial post, nor does it lessen their culpability regarding the same. There's nothing here for me to argue with you about. I obviously spoke of my experience with them and my feelings regarding them as a company. As I mentioned, I'm done selling hereon and could not be happier about it. However, I did not want to leave without speaking my piece.

[antiqueautoparts]

This is off topic, but I'll bite anyway. I don't see how you could possibly be "scammed" by any seller on eBay nowadays. You are protected by eBay, PayPal, and your credit card company. I would put your chance of being scammed on eBay at near zero percent.  

[hutnfool2000]

YEA,, they JUST RECENTLY went ahead and TOOK money from my account to pay back a buyer who has NOT Got his package yet,, BUT.... the PACKAGE is STILL IN TRANSIT,, and MOVING!!  BUT they still just Go debit my account,, I did everything right like I have the last 20 years, BOXED UP  and SHIPPED ON TIME,, so then it's OUT OF MY HANDS,, I have done my part.. then it gets into the usps hands and they take there SWEET TIME shipping it, and that's MY FAULT!!!  so they DEBIT my account,,, UNBELIVEABLE!!!!

[ittybitnot]

Why does eBay treat sellers as if they're fools?

Historically speaking, no matter what miserable 'good news for sellers',  streamlining, simplifying, and enhancing that went on year after year, seller's still stayed.  Whether they stayed out of necessity or fear is unknown. 

Many are finding that the old "ebay is the only site with traffic/sales" to be untrue.  

[antiqueautoparts]

 I forgot to address your "financial issues" statement. Have you never heard of a company needing to raise quick cash? Have you never heard of someone wanting to make a quick sale because they needed the money to invest in something else or just needed to pay some bill or something else? Have you always had enough cash on hand to pay everything you needed to every time you needed to? I doubt it very much. My inventory is constantly changing. I often have to jump at inventory that becomes available even when I am low on cash. I have to make things happen when new opportunities arise.  I really shouldn't need to explain something so simple regarding business and cash flow. 

[luckythewinner]

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@bargainnation wrote:

Mercari will releases a seller's fund as soon as the buyer has received the item and "rated" the seller and the seller has "rated" the buyer which might be the same day or 1 or 2 days after the item is delivered.  If a buyer hasn't rated a seller three days after delivery confirmation then Mercari will release the funds to the seller anyway.

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Thanks for the correction. I said "and' when I meant 'or'.  But the larger point I was making was that Mercari does not provide "immediate" access to funds either. 

[hismodel]

The same happend to me, Ebay absolutelly ignored the fact that some goods was delivered even several months later, becasue oflockdown, but still in good conditions. No respect for that from ebay, and no option to defend.

[corvettestainless]

The shipping 'fees' could simply be looked at as 'that is the total selling price a customer is paying to get your item to their door'. They are not buying those pants for $15. They are paying $22 because that is what it cost them. 

Ebay could easily do the 'algo' you suggest but the 'bots' would then be ending listings and suspending sellers that are NOT doing that (see Xmas blow ups- $39 with $150 shipping cost due to size); they also could have just raised the fees 2, 3, 5% and leave shipping alone and STILL be under the River. 

Lastly, if you have $20,000 to start a business, use $15k in merch and always have a 25% ($5k) reserve for a vast myriad of reasons.

Business 101: you are being run 100% wrong if you find your business with no cash flow and all 'merch' tying up 100% of your cash. If you have to buy 20 pallets of motor oil to get that 'special deal' and be the 'lowest seller', but it takes all your cash and you don't have any more cash to buy brake pads until that oil sells, which could still take months, your out of business (see Auto Parts Club.. I mngd one of those all the way to liquidation so I know from what I speak)

[marie185antiques]

Thank you for your input.....my sentiments exactly....and I couldn't have said it better.

However, I wouldn't refer to them as 'fools', but desperate folks that need to generate some form of income in these trying times.  Consequently. they will adhere to e-bays outrageous rules and regulations for sellers, that will only get worse, no matter what.  I assimilate it to desperate times, desperate people, willing to work for below minimum wage.

It is a sad state of events for sellers.......a great scamming opportunity for e-bay enabled buyers.

This holiday season will be a great 'eye opener'.....good luck!

[marie185antiques]

'Profitable' is relevant to many people.  Is .10 on a dollar considered profitable?  Ask e-bay.....I think NOT!

[dhbookds]

Amount of profit is strictly up to the seller........choosing the items to buy......to list or not list those items...... 

[antiqueautoparts]

Well, once again, they do that because they know there is a very high probability that you will not leave their site out of necessity to sell hereon. I recently lost $110 on an item that was delayed, but eventually delivered. They refunded the buyer, but when the item was delivered and I asked for my money, the buyer did not respond and PayPal essentially said I was up the creek without a paddle. As a seller I have no recourse, but the buyer has either eBay, PayPal, and/or their credit card company on their side. That's a no-win situation for sellers. 

[antiqueautoparts]

"Amount of profit is strictly up to the seller........choosing the items to buy......to list or not list those items......"

 Really? Wow. I didn't know that about profit, my years of business dealings notwithstanding. Anyway, my original post did not speak of my profit nor my ability to make a profit hereon. I essentially asked, albeit rhetorically, How much profit does eBay need to make at the expense of their sellers? Why aren't sellers treated as valued members of this site? However, as I mentioned in my initial post, that was a rhetorical question because I know the answer, and stated the same therein. 

[ajl_ventures]

I have the same problem with USPS not scanning my on-time "pickup" packages into their system, creating a late shipment.  How I resolved this:  #1.  I contacted my local Post Master and spoke directly to her.  #2.  She informed me the letter carrier's job is to scan all pickups. The carrier told me their job is to pick up, not scan.  The supervisor said this is not true.  I kept a running list of unscanned packages. When I explained to her how my business profit was being "dinged" because of the carrier not doing their job, she reprimanded the carrier and the temps.  Now I'm known as the lady on Primrose by carriers and they complete their jobs now.  #2.  I keep an eye on "Late shipments" on Performance.  Since I ship within 1 business day, if it falls below 100%, I call eBay.  I have been fortunate to have eBay customer service remove the ding based on "out of my control" when CS can see the package was delivered in a timely manner.  The synergy between eBay and USPS's system does and will have glitches but you have to stay on top of what the computers are doing.  Most of the time, it's USPS's fault for not scanning into their system.