eBay

themightyquinnbrassandwinds · ‎06-28-2019

I have been on eBay since 1997. That's right, 22 years. It was AuctionWeb when I joined.

I have gross yearly sales on eBay approaching $4 million.

I paid eBay over a quarter of a million dollars in 2018, which, by the way, was substantially more than I took home.

I have watched over the years as my FV fees have climbed from an average of about 3% to 7.15% for my category, and that is just because I have an anchor store. I've watched as the cap on items went from $100 to $250. I watched you reduce the Top Seller discount from 20% to 10%- a move which it took $40k a year out of my pocket. And all through it I have tried to hang on and grow my business.

The final straw came this week when I was informed I have 'Very High' rates of returns due to item not as described.

We all know this new and completely arbitrary standard is just a bullying tactic to get people to offer free returns. Well, I sell musical instruments, and I am absolutely not in the business of providing free rentals for a money and paying the shipping both ways. Even so, there is an awful lot of abuse, and people will list an instrument as defective if they don't like the way it plays, just to get a free return.

Over 3 months I had a total of 28 returns due to 'item not as described'. 18 of them were abusive. And these are not appealable.

But those 28 returns are enough to get me an additional 5% final value fees with no cap. This stands to literally add $20,000 PER MONTH to my eBay bill. Because of a few people who abused returns.

This is ridiculous, and it is also an existential threat to my business.

So I did what anyone n my position would do. I called my Personal Account Manager. He's on vacation without any information for who is covering for him. I called another contact who passed my request for a call to the person covering my account manager. She's 'really busy' and will call me next week.

She's too busy to call a $250k customer who is facing a threat to his business.

Ever since I got a Personal Account Manager (for the second time) 3 years ago, I have been telling eBay what I need them to do to expand my business. eBay has ignored me. eBay is no longer interested in creating partnerships with business and growing online sales-they have instead resorted to the tactic of increasing revenue by increasing fees.

I am leaving eBay after 22 years.

oaklandmaryland · ‎06-28-2019

What makes it worse is that Ebay counts all items never returned or were marked as not described by mistake and the buyer loves the item.

lastade* · ‎06-28-2019

I am so sorry that you have been treated so badly.

I really think that they can´t find competent help these days.

I have heard this from many of my friends that manage businesses. My sister had to hire twice the amount of people to place on the schedule just to have enough to cover the shift due to the amount that call in sick for the day. My daughter-in-law , a supervisor for a company, tells me that between calls her young group of customer service reps color in coloring books.

I hope Ebay will start listening to the sellers.

themightyquinnbrassandwinds · ‎06-28-2019

eBay has not listened to the sellers for literally about 10 years.

themightyquinnbrassandwinds · ‎06-28-2019

That's because they only care about being able to collect additional fees and somehow justify it.

themightyquinnbrassandwinds · ‎06-28-2019

DOES ANYONE FROM EBAY WANT TO REACH OUT TO THIS **bleep** OFF CUSTOMER????

ed8108 · ‎06-28-2019

@lastade* wrote:
My daughter-in-law , a supervisor for a company, tells me that between calls her young group of customer service reps color in coloring books.

I do believe it

They must be the more gifted & key employees that any company today will never want to lose.

ifyouloveit · ‎06-28-2019

The rest only want to sneak looks at their cell phones and post on social media. The cell phone abuse is getting rampant, even in medical offices. I had a receptionist at my doctors office answer the phone with, "Hello?" I said, "Is the office of so and so." She says yes. Silence. I tell her what I am calling for.

Something isn't clicking, I finally asked her straight out, "Are you on your cell phone right now?"

She said, not even sheepishly, "Yeah, I'm looking at a lunch menu."

I'm planning on telling her doctor she is not doing her job. This happens to me all the time, had a med student run into me while texting, I had on a neck brace and a knee brace and was hardly moving. He gave me a dirty look and kept texting.

These people are going to be taking care of me someday? Lord help us.

ed8108 · ‎06-28-2019

@themightyquinnbrassandwinds wrote:
eBay is no longer interested in creating partnerships with business and growing online sales-they have instead resorted to the tactic of increasing revenue by increasing fees.

This may be the result of a possible belief within management ebay is too big to fail

fashunu4eeuh · ‎06-28-2019

Very sorry to hear you are leaving, even tho i'm sure it was a sound business decision to do so.

It shouldn’t be this way, but having a No Return policy is practically the kiss of death on eBay. It is too risky. To adapt, and survive, one must either alter what they sell, or institute a buyer-friendly return policy. All in order to avoid fraudulent Not As Described cases. Such cases can drastically effect one’s standing on eBay, as you boldly illustrated.

You are a high volume, high dollar seller. As such, chances are significant that you will see your share of unavoidable buyer problems. That said, and with respect for your longevity and success on eBay over 22 years, i must admit that 28 cases in just 3 months time seems a lot. And 52 Feedback revisions also. It suggests there could be some other issues with your account not related to buyer fraud. Or were all the cases baseless and fraudulent?

"...We all know this new and completely arbitrary standard is just a bullying tactic to get people to offer free returns..."

Ebay is pushing for Free Returns, that is a fact. But I do not believe these seller metrics are an arbitrary standard. There are others on the platform that probably shouldn't be here, because bad sellers can drive away good buyers. There has to be some kind of standard, some kind of oversight, to weed out the poor performers. Unfortunately, it seems some have been caught in the dragnet that may not belong there. Knowing this, why were your cases "not appealable?" Current policy says a seller can appeal eBay's decision within 30 days after ruling on a case, link below. Were policies suspended or neglected when eBay was deciding your cases?

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/appealing-decision-seller?id=4369

reallynicestamps · ‎06-28-2019

I hope you have spent time during your decades with eBay building your own website and your customer list.

Before we retired we were, in addition to eBay, selling on ZoS (the American Philatelic Society sales site), delCampe Auctions (Italy), Bonanza, AZ, holding public auctions (that continues), sent out occasional price lists, had one of the largest stamp stores in North America, and had our own website. Fortunately, we had staff to handle the traffic.

We found eBay a useful income stream and an even more useful way to build our customer base. Philatelists are repeat customers, so I can't be certain our methods would work for you.

It might be useful, since you can't get hold of your Account Manager to tag one of the eBay staffers who occasionally drop in here.

femmefan1946 · ‎06-28-2019

@Anonymous

7606dennis · ‎06-29-2019

@ed8108 wrote:
@lastade* wrote:
My daughter-in-law , a supervisor for a company, tells me that between calls her young group of customer service reps color in coloring books.

I do believe it

They must be the more gifted & key employees that any company today will never want to lose.

Didn't ya just love coloring books when you were a kid? I did. Now I use mostly oils or acrylics.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

totoro470 · ‎06-29-2019

This is just the nature of how large corporations work, investors plug money into a company and they expect that money to grow. When a corporation gets as big as ebay, it can only "grow" so much before it finds it's easier to increase profits using other methods- this is where ads, promoted listings, GTC, increased fees, appealing to China, etc, comes into effect. No matter what happens to sellers, ebay is successful as long as their investors are making money. If you ever question the logic behind a decision, always assume it has something to do with quarterly profits.