eBay just put out a seller survey. TAKE IT!

[redline_auto_llc]

I received a survey from eBay this morning, asking questions about seller experiences. Many of the questions indicated that they are aware that there are dissatisfied sellers. This is an opportunity to express yourself. I don't know many eBay sellers that are overly satisfied after being on the platform for any significant amount of time or volume.

Something needs to change, and this is a good opportunity to express your desire to make that happen. I doubt this survey will accomplish much in the short-term, but if enough people express their dissatisfaction, it might be enough to get the ball rolling later on down the line.

Check your messages. If you have that survey, do yourself and all the other sellers a favor and take that survey honestly. Maybe one day we can actually get some seller protection back.

[buytodayshipnextday]

These should be the top sellers concerns not in a specific order.

STOP the ridiculous need to open unpaid cases. I've been selling for 19 years. That means that problem is at least that old, actually older since it's been ebay's "solution," since day one.

ebay's own buyer rules state when you bid it is a BINDING contract, yet buyers have more loopholes to NOT pay than there are items to buy. It's simple. You buy. You pay immediately.

Once you allow buyers a grace period even just 24 hours you'll only further enable them to not pay. Unless the seller offers a payment plan it's time for this to STOP!

STOP giving buyers 4 more days to decide if they want to pay after a case is opened.They haven't paid. You have to now "chase them down," to get paid, and there's nothing you can do. They have 4 more days to not pay. They don't have to respond to you or ebay. They can leave you hanging, your item unpaid & not a word or response. If you believe ebay takes this seriously you must be living in an ebay fantasy. Look at any buyer who's done this to you & they're still buying...& not paying.

STOP giving buyers a WEEK to decide if they want to cancel an order once a cancellation's opened.

The best part? If the buyer asks you to cancel & you do ebay still allows them 7 days to agree & if they don't answer & you sell it before the 7 day period ends ebay could rule in their favor.

STOP giving buyers 10 days to return an item. They already have 30 & in some cases 60 days. Once they file a return ebay graces them another 10 days. Once a return's opened & the buyer's sent a label they should have no more than 48 hours or risk losing the return.  Imagine having the item 60 days, on the 60th they file a return & can hold it for another 10!

STOP refunding buyers before sellers can.  If a buyer contacts ebay complaiing they have not received their refund when their item was returned, even it was returned that day, possibly minutes ago & before you as a seller can inspect the item, ebay refunds them.

STOP disbelieving sellers. If a buyer returns an item & it's missing pieces or the wrong item, basically a bait n' switch, & you complain, ebay will ask you to "work it out," with the buyer. Of course the buyer will deny any wrong doing & ebay's stance is...we have to believe they did what was asked. Therefore basically calling you the seller a liar, & unless you can really prove the buyer's lying & that's a tough one, you're out.

STOP allowing buyers to leave negative feedback at any time. A buyer could have an item a YEAR & leave you a negative. Yes, you can have that removed but once again it's an issue.

STOP buyers from living in a perfect world. Sorry but the customer is NOT always right. If a buyer's a scammer, pays late, has a high rate of return aka buyers remorse, etc... you should be able to leave them feedback stating such.

Imagine if you could delay shipment, ship the wrong item or one not as described & the buyer couldn't leave negative feedback. They'd be outraged.

STOP negating immediate payment due. Without question one of the dumbest ebay flaws. You have a BIN with immediate payment due upon purchase. You also have a best offer available. A buyer makes you an offer which you accept and ebay cancels the immediate payment option for the very item they would've paid for had they just hit the BIN button. ebay does this so the buyer has the option of bowing out!

When you allow buyers not  to pay when they can screw you & the system & when their "record," aka feedback is perfect you've got a preschool out of control where the kids run the class & the teachers just give them what they want.

[gracieallen01]

I'm afraid you are merely preaching to the choir. 

As long as ebay can cater to the buyer to further the idea that ebay is 'THE' place to shop, the buyer is going to get a 'pass' - non-paying bidder/buyer, returns, MBG, etc.  Just like ebay can not make a seller ship, ebay can not make a buyer pay.  Yes, there are supposed to be penalties, but there are plenty of sellers for ebay - and plenty of other places for buyers to shop.

Guess who wins.

[redline_auto_llc]

I fail to see how that means we shouldn't take these surveys seriously. If they're asking, they're aware of an issue. If they're aware of an issue, it's because it's hurting their bottom line. If it's hurting their bottom line, they're going to want to fix it. I've been on eBay for over a decade, and this is the first time I've seen one of these surveys that was worded in a way that that indicated they were even considering seller opinions.

[yuncreations]

didn't get it

[gracieallen01]

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@redline_auto_llc wrote:

I fail to see how that means we shouldn't take these surveys seriously. If they're asking, they're aware of an issue. If they're aware of an issue, it's because it's hurting their bottom line. If it's hurting their bottom line, they're going to want to fix it. I've been on eBay for over a decade, and this is the first time I've seen one of these surveys that was worded in a way that that indicated they were even considering seller opinions.

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Have you taken the surveys ebay has put out in the past?  If you have, it might benefit to compare 'then' questions to the 'solutions' that followed.

What you are reading into the intention of the survey is subjective, and may not be leading to the same end-point that ebay is attempting to accomplish with the information they wish to use from said survey.

You read it as them being aware of seller dissatisfaction - they may read it as, Well, they took this much without much trouble.  Let's see where we can push it from here".  Note, I am not saying that is how it is or will be interpreted.  However, a survey - nowadays - is frequently used as a method to facilitate getting from point 'A' to point 'C', with fewer problems from point 'B'.  Their idea of a fix may be completely the opposite of your idea of a fix.

[buytodayshipnextday]

ebays pop up window  when you make an offer on a buy it now."

"By clicking Submit offer, you are agreeing to and entering into a legally binding contract to purchase the item from the seller."

It's time to STOP enabling buyers bad behavior by allowing them to blow off the rules ebay mandates. Yes, ebay CAN make you ship an item. Don't repeatedly ship & they'll suspend you for days-months. There is NO REASON why buyers cannot be mandated to pay. Try NOT paying on any one of the other 1000's, yes, 1000's of online auctions on auctionzip you cannot bid on anything unless they have your card. once you win, you pay, your card is charged immediately. there are 1000's of auctions every week online thru auctionzip including other sites like maxsold, clearing house auctions, everything but the house,  you win. you pay. no excuses.

ebay can MAKE you pay the same way.

[redline_auto_llc]

@gracieallen01 you aren't wrong, but when they ask questions like "do you feel like the recent changes to the return policy have made a negative impact on your business", i hope that a majority response rate of "strongly agree" would at least make them think.

[redline_auto_llc]

@buytodayshipnextday I'm dealing with a 16 percent unpaid item rate. I strongly agree that something needs to change there, but I don't want it to be a situation where payment is automatically deducted from the buyer's account. That sounds like a recipe for undeserved negative feedback from people who can't distinguish between eBay and the actual sellers.

[3brothersdeals]

Partial Best offer solution.

Buyer hits 'accept,' a popup appears with a link to PayPal with a message something like this. "This acceptance will expire in 1 hour pending payment. You can cancel your acceptance now if you wish. Thank you for shopping on ebay."

When I listed here. I never used BO or auctions because of the payment crud. Not worth the waste of time and energy. ebay should have changed this years ago.

Honestly, the problems, negative attributes and bad will here have become so vast and accelerated into almost every single sector of this site that no survey is ever going to change that.

[gracieallen01]

ebays pop up window  when you make an offer on a buy it now."

"By clicking Submit offer, you are agreeing to and entering into a legally binding contract to purchase the item from the seller."

It's time to STOP enabling buyers bad behavior by allowing them to blow off the rules ebay mandates. Yes, ebay CAN make you ship an item.  Do you really think ebay would spend the money to enforce that policy?  Legal fees and court costs?  Do you think ebay is going to risk losing buyers over it?

Don't repeatedly ship & they'll suspend you for days-months. There is NO REASON why buyers cannot be mandated to pay. Try NOT paying on any one of the other 1000's, yes, 1000's of online auctions on auctionzip you cannot bid on anything unless they have your card. once you win, you pay, your card is charged immediately.  Auctions is not the primary source of ebay's income anymore.  ebay feels it can live off it's rep.  The other places are just that - Auctions - they are set up for their niche, while ebay is a Mall with a lot of general stores.

there are 1000's of auctions every week online thru auctionzip including other sites like maxsold, clearing house auctions, everything but the house,  you win. you pay. no excuses.

ebay can MAKE you pay the same way.  No, ebay can't MAKE you pay - as things stand - but, they could not let you play (but, they won't)

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[gracieallen01]

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@redline_auto_llc wrote:

@gracieallen01 you aren't wrong, but when they ask questions like "do you feel like the recent changes to the return policy have made a negative impact on your business", i hope that a majority response rate of "strongly agree" would at least make them think.

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One thing to keep in mind is that JD raised a lot of the ideas now in the works, and Wenig was a VP and student under JD for years (unless I have him mixed up with someone else).  The current CEO didn't come in 'new' - just promoted.  In my opinion, all the surveys are for is datamining and picking the useful parts out to further their current agenda.

I do agree that it would be nice IF ebay would consider the opinions of the seller, but eben when they had their focus groups and flew in sellers, their decisions were already made and in stone.

[gracieallen01]

Sorry, missed the proper highlighting:

"By clicking Submit offer, you are agreeing to and entering into a legally binding contract to purchase the item from the seller."

It's time to STOP enabling buyers bad behavior by allowing them to blow off the rules ebay mandates. Yes, ebay CAN make you ship an item.  Do you really think ebay would spend the money to enforce that policy?  Legal fees and court costs?  Do you think ebay is going to risk losing buyers over it?

(I hate it when that happens!)

[buytodayshipnextday]

here's the problem.

ebay was once "the," place to sell antiques & used stuff, but the majority of what is now sold on ebay is new/new old stock. 

search "biggest ebay sellers 2018." & you'll see what i mean & that trend only continues to grow.

buyers are less lkely to find fault with new but if you don't like it, if it doesn't "fit," or "work" for you just return it, no hassles that's now the industry standard.

the problem once again is with ebay. returns are too easily scammed. a buyer can complain with litte to no proof of an item being defective or not as described & not only do they get their money back. they don't have to return it.  or they can return the item missing parts or return a different item that was sold to them (bait n' switch is a HUGE ebay problem) & they're refunded. returns today are part of doing business. the part that makes them an issue is ebay. 

[siayan]

I find ebay surveys annoying. The purpose is not to get solutions but to make the taker feel invested. They also tabulate the results and end up with a 5, not any search for what the problems are. Standard business operations practiced throughout the industry.