eBay

jamesboutique · ‎02-05-2018

We have been on Ebay for over 28 years. Ebay has become all about the buyer. They say there is protection for the sellers, THERE IS NONE! All the protection goes to the buyers! We pay on average $1500 in fees. For what? Pictures and listings? We pay for our store. Ebay sucks now. We cannot even return feedback. UGGH!

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎02-07-2018

Back in the day buyers were ripped off right and left. They were hit with extortionist shipping after the fact. They were shipped things when sellers got around to it and sometimes not at all. There was little description and sometimes no pictures. If a buyer got ripped off there was no buyer protection. If the buyer complained they would get negged.

Yep, that business model would work now in this competitive environment for sure.

goodluckselling · ‎02-07-2018

I agree.

The point I am trying to make to the others is simply that eBay's job is to bring in buyers and get them to return again and again. They do this is dozens and dozens of different ways.

As a leader in ecommerce eBay needs to have policies that bring confidence to the user base and bring together 25 million different sellers who all view actions differently. We can not expect buyers to understand the different ways every seller operates. That is not a good example of buyer confidence when they can not easily shop and buy without a lot of worry.

If sellers are doing everything on the level they will not have many issues, with that said we all make mistakes and buyers are sometimes not the most honest, but these are not the norm but rare instances and yes it might be increased in certain categories and experience level of sellers.

Everything is a learning curve for us sellers, for buyers and for the marketplace as well. Things move and change very fast in this industry. It take a bit of trust on all parties including eBay to make a transaction happen successfully, and that trust is gained and expanded with each interaction from each user.

My advice is for sellers to understand selling anything anywhere albeit online or in person has issues that can happen. Humans are not perfect, ideas need room to grow and expand, actions need to be accountable, but none of that stops change and progress is a sure sign of change.

Good Luck Selling!

rktoyandhobby · ‎02-07-2018

I _wish_ I could rent a brick and mortar location for $1500. Add another zero and that'd be closer to reality.

va4vi · ‎02-07-2018

Where does eBay take the money from at the times that sellers feel are dishonest? As I said before - we not only have to protect ourselves from dishonest buyers. we have to protect ourselves from eBay. Times have indeed changed... but eBay does not want to change with them and tells it's sellers "live with it, we can't do anything about it". I propose they CAN but elect not to because it reduces their profits but the seller just has to "live with it".

emerald40 · ‎02-07-2018

wrote:
if there is no sellers then there woudnt be any buyer. sellers do all the grunt work here list the item and then ship it. and all a buyer has to do is open up a item doesnt match listing discription case and ebay sides with the buyer. so there is no protection for the sellers.

Are we talking a one of a kind item or same old same old.

If the latter one less seller, or two, or 10 is not going to make a difference because the buyer still has 50 more to buy from.

emerald40 · ‎02-07-2018

wrote:
Back in the day buyers were ripped off right and left. They were hit with extortionist shipping after the fact. They were shipped things when sellers got around to it and sometimes not at all. There was little description and sometimes no pictures. If a buyer got ripped off there was no buyer protection. If the buyer complained they would get negged.

Yep, that business model would work now in this competitive environment for sure.
_____________________________________________________

I started buying in 1999. And I was ripped off more than a few times.

No way would I continue to buy here 19 years later if ebay did not have my back.

Sellers would send you cr*p and if you dared complain they would leave you negative feedback calling you a psycho and warning other sellers not to sell to you.

va4vi · ‎02-07-2018

eBay obviously thinks this is wrong but the question is do they catch every one that does it? The answer is NO and guess what they think about the ones that got away with it? It is just part of doing business as a marketplace with 25 million sellers. There really is no other response as they have put into place policies and technology to stop it as much as possible.

You are ignoring the subject of the post. The post said that when eBay experienced seller activity that ate into it's profits unjustly they enacted changes to policy reduce it... and they will make more changes as they discover ways to catch more of them They did not just "live with it". They do all they can to REDUCE abuse of eBay. However, when the sellers are saying the abuse of them is rampant, their profits are suffering - eBay says "live with it, it's part of doing business". You did not apply that to yourselves. I repeat my original complaint - I did everything I could do to prevent an abusive buyer from being able to make a fraudulent claim, followed policy... and eBay gave my claim zero attention. They rubber stamp siding with buyers while claiming they have a dispute department that looks into the case. Many sellers are saying similar things. We are telling eBay that the buyer abuse has gotten worse and we can no longer "live with it". Sellers are not stupid and we realize some dishonesty will always happen. but just like eBay made changes to reduce abuse of seller going off-site, they should be doing this to prevent buyer abuse too.

va4vi · ‎02-07-2018

It appears that the business model of today may not be working either yet eBay seems unwilling to change and wants to just "live with it". Who is the static one now resisting change?

tunicaslot · ‎02-07-2018

wrote:
Tunicaslot: No, its not as easy as in the old days. But one has to add up the time and the effort put into selling here, total the rewards, and see if it makes economic sense. Working twice as hard for half the rewards simply does not cut it. Whatever the reason(s) for the decline in revenue, decline is unacceptable.

pap - I've said before - everyone has to do what's best for them. I considered selling on another site just because sales are down - but after discussing this with others in a resellers group - that venue is just as slow and they've experiecned more scams than they did on Ebay. So research before you make a move.

Again - there are so many more options for buyers - so everyone does have to do twice the work to make sales - that's everywhere tho - not just Ebay.

va4vi · ‎02-07-2018

So eBay made changes. Now when sellers are getting ripped off eBay says "its part of doing business - live with it". We are asking for change.

tunicaslot · ‎02-07-2018

wrote:
I believe MOST sellers are experiencing trouble with abuse of eBay's return policy and losing profit at a troubling rate. I also believe many 3rd party sites do not have the bad reputation that eBay has received for the way it exposes it's sellers to abuse. I have zero motivation to list anymore. At one time it was fun, exciting and profitable. Now it is a miserable experience with little reward. One scammer per 100 sales has become 2, 3 or 4. That is a huge profit and motivation depleter. At least donating the stuff we won't sell brings a good feeling whereas getting ripped off is downright depressing and maddening.

Better do a little more research - PM me and I can send you links to all the 3rd party forums talking about being scammed - I'll give you the name of resellers groups and you can read their posts about scams on FB - it is happening on every single 3rd party venue.

emerald40 · ‎02-07-2018

I have worked the return lines after Christmas in more than a few B&M stores.

And we were told, the buyer is right. Take it back. We took back stuff that might not have even been ours.

We live in a time where stores like LL Bean, Nordstrom's take anything back for any reason.

If ebay did not change, they would not be able to compete.

And yes it is unfair, but ebay does not see the product coming or going. They do not know who is telling the truth. So like in the stores I worked, we were told to give the benefit of the doubt to the buyer.

goodluckselling · ‎02-07-2018

wrote:
eBay obviously thinks this is wrong but the question is do they catch every one that does it? The answer is NO and guess what they think about the ones that got away with it? It is just part of doing business as a marketplace with 25 million sellers. There really is no other response as they have put into place policies and technology to stop it as much as possible.

You are ignoring the subject of the post. The post said that when eBay experienced seller activity that ate into it's profits unjustly they enacted changes to policy reduce it... and they will make more changes as they discover ways to catch more of them They did not just "live with it". They do all they can to REDUCE abuse of eBay. However, when the sellers are saying the abuse of them is rampant, their profits are suffering - eBay says "live with it, it's part of doing business". You did not apply that to yourselves. I repeat my original complaint - I did everything I could do to prevent an abusive buyer from being able to make a fraudulent claim, followed policy... and eBay gave my claim zero attention.

You mentioned the sellers which would indicate more than yourself, and that abuse is rampant and profits are suffering.

Most sellers will have a slightly different meaning for the words rampant abuse and eBay does monitor things and make changes based on how aggressive things become.

I believe you in your reporting about abuse you experienced, and all sellers have or will experience some kind of similar scenario, but based on your own words - and eBay gave my claim zero attention. One claim by a single seller does not in my opinion define itself as rampant. If eBay did not do anything for you perhaps there was nothing they could do based on all the events that they can see when they make a determination.

Have you reviewed the terms of use to see where eBay might have been following policy that both entities have agree to?

Good Luck Selling!

plumbingspecials · ‎02-07-2018

28 years (that's not possible) and you're just now figuring this stuff out?

va4vi · ‎02-07-2018

Scamming does happen. It's the response that "live with it" that irks. eBay makes changes to protect itself but fails to realize that they will need to make changes to protect sellers and buyers and try to protect against dishonesty as much as it can from either side. Sellers who are often also buyers will leave. We get the impression that eBay is doing NOTHING to try to detect and reduce buyer abuse. The response of "part of doing business" won't keep your sellers. We are saying it is getting worse and knowledge of how to abuse sellers is well know now and used more often.