ebay bad side

[tobyahz1234]

i have been selling on ebay for 16 years and to many time i have realized theres not much protection for saler, if a buyer trys to scam you ebay will tell you to except the return then if you get a different item back they will do a investigation then favor the buyer and allow the buyer to scam you even if you are a good seller with good feedback 1 person with no feedback trying to scam you will mess up your good profile. then ebay will start charging you higher fees for having a problem like there fees aint allready high enough. ebay really needs to protect there sellers better and not treat them like oh well if i loose one we still have millions more salers to take advantage of.

[buyselljack2016]

Correct eBay favors the buyer in most instances.

I have had many "returns".

eBay has not increased my fee as a result of a return.

[chapeau-noir]

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@tobyahz1234 wrote:

i have been selling on ebay for 16 years and to many time i have realized theres not much protection for saler, if a buyer trys to scam you ebay will tell you to except the return then if you get a different item back they will do a investigation then favor the buyer and allow the buyer to scam you even if you are a good seller with good feedback 1 person with no feedback trying to scam you will mess up your good profile. then ebay will start charging you higher fees for having a problem like there fees aint allready high enough. ebay really needs to protect there sellers better and not treat them like oh well if i loose one we still have millions more salers to take advantage of.

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 A bad feedback doesn't cause a change in fees. And one bad buyer can't push a seller into a penalty charge - it takes a consistent bad seller record to do that. It's *one* area where eBay at least cuts us some slack, even though returns can be a hot mess.

But yeah, there are a lot more sellers where we came from. Welcome to CorpWorld!

[12345jamesstamps]

I always check the buyer's feedback....are they new?...what country?...have they purchased similar items before?...If it's a cheapie item I can take the loss....something expensive I usually check out the buyer "tooth and nail". I didn't lose one item last year....and most items were without tracking.

If a buyer is buyer something from you that you think the buyer can get where he lives...unless its a great super bargain...why would they be buying from you?

[rosachs]

I have been selling on eBay for over 25yrs and have found that eBay does offer some protections for sellers.  Returns are going to happen - period.  And in most cases, the return is covered by US Law, not eBay Policy.  eBay's policies are designed, basically, to keep sellers out of court for not following those laws.  They're called "consumer protection acts" and they are there because other people have scammed enough consumers that politicians thought it would make them look good to make some scams illegal (bait-n-switch, for example).

It's pretty hard to get a defect on a Return - you have to either ignore the customer or really not provide customer service to get a defect.  Yes, the customer can 'escalate' the Return to eBay, but if you've crossed all your t's and dotted all your i's, you may have to take back the product, but get eBay to foot the round-trip postage.  And if you want to appeal a decision, you best have your facts straight, pictures in your listing that prove you right, and a level of politeness not commonly seen online.

"Address the issue, not the emotion".  It's one of the hardest lessons for new sellers to learn, and some never do before they quit or are washed out.

And please... learn to use punctuation - it makes reading much easier and can help define your thoughts.  That's why I prefer my desktop computer for some things over my phone -- bigger screen and better keyboard, and after 50yrs, I can type faster on my keyboard than on my phone.  Even learned not to look at my hands while I'm doing it!!  My typing teacher would be so proud!! 🙂

-Bob.

[az93]

I think there are fewer sellers now. How many have to leave for ebay to understand that sellers are just as valuable to them as buyers?

[historic-hoarder]

i totally agree, im just getting started and have made 4 sales, have ZERO defects and have 100% positive feedback and also im an Above Average seller status given my short time frame on this platform. Unfortunatly ive already been restricted and they have requested silly things in order to get my account reinstated. I was never informed nor knew that we as seller must keep merchandise receipts for our listed items, luckily out of all the 25 they asked for i was able to submit all but 2 of them, along side these receipts ive sent over ive also sent over my ID front and back, and thought ok this isnt to bad i should be able to get this resolved within 24-48 hours. NOT!!! they are holding over $434 of mine which was available for payout prior to my restriction i just never cashed it out but now i cant. Even after succesfully submitting all their ridiculous requests..and since i couldnt two reciepts they just keep repeating their email to me requesting them, after numerous times ive explained i dont have those two, but going forward now that i know i have to keep them, when they reinstate my account any listing i make i will certainly make sure i keep the reciepts as i never this was a requirement. Instead of them being profesional and understanding, their reply was the same. Still requesting two reciepts ive stated i dont have. I have done nothing wrong, ive went above and beyond trying to get this resolved so i can get paid out for my item that was shipped on time with proper tracking, and they dont seem to care. ive never dealt with such foolishness and ignorance from such companies and this started 01/07/24 and we are on 01/21/24!!! they dont care if you have bills to pay or whatever the case maybe, they dont care that you submitted 23 out of the 25 reciepts they asked for along side the other documents they requested, they dont care that they tell you 24-48 hours this will be resolved everytime you reach you and it doesnt, they dont care that you cant reply to very first email of the restriction, and after doing some research online ive came to conclusion that this inability to respond to the very first email you have respond too is by design and made for the seller to fail. this whole process has been terrible and once i get my account back if i ever do, im cashing out and closing it down. I will never put time and effort and money into ebay again, they way they treat me and my case for no reason is uttly ridiculous and i cant wait for this to just be over with! I WANT MY MONEY AND MY ACCOUNT CLOSED, BECAREFUL AS AN EBAY SELLER. They might randomly surprise you for literally NO reason and make ridiculous requests and retrict your account becasue you sold a high dollar item with uploaded and updated tracking as well as on time delivery!

[farmalljr]

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@rosachs wrote:

I have been selling on eBay for over 25yrs and have found that eBay does offer some protections for sellers.  Returns are going to happen - period.  And in most cases, the return is covered by US Law, not eBay Policy.  eBay's policies are designed, basically, to keep sellers out of court for not following those laws.  They're called "consumer protection acts" and they are there because other people have scammed enough consumers that politicians thought it would make them look good to make some scams illegal (bait-n-switch, for example).

It's pretty hard to get a defect on a Return - you have to either ignore the customer or really not provide customer service to get a defect.  Yes, the customer can 'escalate' the Return to eBay, but if you've crossed all your t's and dotted all your i's, you may have to take back the product, but get eBay to foot the round-trip postage.  And if you want to appeal a decision, you best have your facts straight, pictures in your listing that prove you right, and a level of politeness not commonly seen online.

"Address the issue, not the emotion".  It's one of the hardest lessons for new sellers to learn, and some never do before they quit or are washed out.

And please... learn to use punctuation - it makes reading much easier and can help define your thoughts.  That's why I prefer my desktop computer for some things over my phone -- bigger screen and better keyboard, and after 50yrs, I can type faster on my keyboard than on my phone.  Even learned not to look at my hands while I'm doing it!!  My typing teacher would be so proud!! 🙂

-Bob.

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Really? When? I have filed more than once for the return credit. They have never paid it out to me, despite it being a very paltry amount. Which by the way would never cover round trip postage costs. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@az93 wrote:

I think there are fewer sellers now. How many have to leave for ebay to understand that sellers are just as valuable to them as buyers?

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The site could STILL stand to lose another 100,000,000. 

Clothing listings alone:

[chapeau-noir]

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@az93 wrote:

I think there are fewer sellers now. How many have to leave for ebay to understand that sellers are just as valuable to them as buyers?

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There have been an accelerating number of sellers in online marketplaces during and since the pandemic. One estimate I read was about 25% (which seems high). Not all of them will stay, of course, but despite sites like Selliva screaming that this is the all-time bestest thing to do in the world, the etailing space is clogged with sellers and stuff, leading to a sort of buyer fugue state where one because completely overwhelmed and just goes to the physical store. It's so easy to get started - look around at this site - almost 2 billion items and how much of them sell?

[maxine*j]

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@az93 wrote:

I think there are fewer sellers now. How many have to leave for ebay to understand that sellers are just as valuable to them as buyers?

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It would be nice if there were fewer sellers.  As a seller, that would mean less competition and clutter.  As a buyer, it would mean wading through junk listed by clueless sellers with poor attitudes.

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[maxine*j]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@az93 wrote:

... the etailing space is clogged with sellers and stuff...

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And Gresham's law comes into effect, predictably.

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[farmalljr]

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@maxine*j wrote:

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@az93 wrote:

I think there are fewer sellers now. How many have to leave for ebay to understand that sellers are just as valuable to them as buyers?

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It would be nice if there were fewer sellers.  As a seller, that would mean less competition and clutter.  As a buyer, it would mean wading through junk listed by clueless sellers with poor attitudes.

-

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There is one way eBay can solve part of the problem. Shut off 100% of traffic to any items that have been listed longer than X days without a sale. For example, of the multiple millions of clothing items listed, hw many actually sell and how many even get looked at? Not many sellers that are not guilty of having very stale inventory. One of eBay competitors only give traffic for a short time, and unless you lower the price, you just don't get any traffic. They do not reward seller to list it and forget it. eBay could build something in that after so long, you listing gets pulled down. Only way to relist is at a 10-25% lower price. 

It's not a perfect solution, but it discourages sellers from being ridiculous with pricing and listing and forgetting. One has to really ponder that with the billions of listings, how many even garner any interest from buyers? Like you said, wading through junk listings is a time suck. Makes you wonder if something were done to get rid of these listings clogging up the works, if it would bring more traffic to the website. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Consumer Protection Laws favor the buyer,

Ebay is not a substitute for a court. It cannot substitute its judgement for consumer rights. Whenever the concept of Seller Protection comes up, the solution to the problem is for Ebay to pay for the cost of a refund to the buyer, rather than the seller. This generally would lead to higher fees.

There are items that only a fool or a masochist would offer for sale online. I do not want to pay higher fees so other sellers can sell high-risk items on Ebay. I'd rather those items be banned, since there are so many sellers who offer them and get ripped off.

I will not list them because someone will feel insulted by the suggestion that they should not be selling their favorite item.

I have refrained from answering any thread on buyer fraud with the old refrain "what were you thinking" but sellers need to think before they list.

Return fraud in B&M retail has been a problem for many years, Stores track serial returners. There are services who track them for stores. The stores will refuse sales from serial returners who cross a threshold.

Many sellers aid and abet serial returners by not insisting the process is followed, so the bad buyer flies under the radar.

It stinks to lose money. Reading posts on this forum feeds seller paranoia, but a little paranoia is not a bad thing. Some sellers who post here about their problems were lambs ready for slaughter.

[mustardjo]

I agree.  Ebay's policies encourage fraudsters and thieves. ebay allows them to commit crimes and the criminals know it. I have been a seller on ebay for 18 years. And I can say about 99% of buyers I have dealt with have been honest. But the few dishonest bad ones can really mess you up. I just got a negative from a lying buyer over a $37 item. The first negative I have gotten in years. And it is a nasty, dishonest feedback.  Ebay really does need to do more to stop these types of buyers and protect honest sellers.