enough is enough

[whoohooohyeahdavid]

i just got off the phone with an agent that has no clue. in fact basically telling me to not defend myself. i'm a top rated seller with over 3,100 sells and 100% feedback. sounds pretty good right? it's meaningless. they even send you a message stating 'congratulations on being top-rated, we are now more likely to side with you during a case.' HA! we all have the ridiculous returns and the 30 day free return thing that's practically forced down your throat. i recently sold a funko pop to a gentleman, that's a nice way to put it. as you may know these things are pretty fragile and can crease just you taking it out of the package. this is all i sell so i get a lot of people who don't care about the box, take the pop out, put it on the shelf, smash the box and claim DAMAGE!!! i want some refund. i take 13 pictures of every item pre-during-after packing. it usually helps. but sometimes i forget i'm the seller and i'll lose a case just because. i point every single flaw i can find and put it in the description just to avoid this silliness, but tonight i had it. i sell a pop with a line on it, it's visible in pictures. as always i put it in the description. ok good. so he then takes a picture of the top of the box and says well this is a small bend, what can you do about it? you know he just wants a bone like $5 or something. well tonight i said enough is enough and i'm paying for it. i don't throw him a bone, i don't bite so to save face, um 'i want a return' a whole day later. it takes a day? gee if you're upset i'd want it taken care of right away. i have every single photo, logic, evidence in my favor including well ya know, seller protection from eBay. i call eBay and explain, he agrees with everything i say just to get me off the phone. he says accept the return. i said i will and then i will call back and say this constitutes buyer false returns. it's a term on eBay's site but i don't think it's ever been used. well i'm calling their bluff. this is ridiculous i say and when i receive the item back i will not issue a refund. i'll fight it. it's $13 item, which makes it worse, but it's the principle. he keeps talking me off the subject. i said you're not helping and i want you to look at the facts. he has one picture. note:me and my wife went around the house with the flash on and kept taking pictures of these pops. 50% of the time you can get a photo that looks like something horrible. just terrible. this guy and eBay is hosing me. i have 13 pictures backing up everything. i've been at this for 6 years and i take every single precaution i can. IT DOESN'T MATTER. YOU ARE THE SELLER. YOU LOSE. BUYER PROTECTION TRUMPS EVERYTHING ESPECIALLY SELLER PROTECTION (there is none). i've lost complete faith in eBay, their staff, policies, have to go to a bank just to use managed payments (does that mean you're making people pay me after an auction)? No! it's in the T.O.S. that i agree to pay 10% to ebay. how can i if you don't let me sell??? how bout put in the T.O.S. that buyer must attach a form of payment and if they don't pay in 6 days, too bad, money goes to the seller. watch how fast these clowns disappear. i got so sick of it, i went against myself and just offered the guy the $5 so this goes away. he won't take it. why should he? he can't lose. he's the buyer. he rules!

[andrew547]

TL;but I DR. Paragraphs would be great though.

So I COMPLETELY understand your feelings on the matter. I go there too, sometimes daily.

After banging my head against the proverbial wall for a while, my mind usually ends up wandering to things I can do to avoid similar pain in the future.

Unfortunately, this sometimes includes the notion of treating these things as the cost of doing business on ebay. 

It's unfortunate because it's not good for anyone, and particularly the seller, but you're only partially helpless - if that's a thing.

Where possible, price accordingly. I understand this isn't a good solution in many (or perhaps most) situations, but the ball is in ebay's court regarding efficiency. 

[yuzuha]

---

@lja440 wrote:

#1  Selling collectables SUCKS. I occasionally pick them up at auction . I always play up ANY damage to the boxes. And suggest that these are only for place holders or to be played with due to condition. No way do I try to sell it as MINT even if it is.

---

I do the same. What I've found works well is to have a great big note in my description saying something to the effect of "NOTE: this item has some scratches/dings/box wear consistent with having been on the shelf in a store for some time; please see the description and pictures for a full description of the exact flaws.  If you are looking for a collectible in perfect/mint condition, THIS IS NOT IT." That lets people know right off the bat that they should look elsewhere if they want something that is truly flawless, and the people who do choose to buy know exactly what they're going to be getting: something that isn't 100% perfect. There are plenty of people who take collectibles out of the packaging to display on shelves or in display cases, so it's not as if there's any shortage of buyers who want to buy ones that are less than perfect anyway.

Haven't had a single problem with my collectibles yet and I've sold Funko POPs with dinged boxes, limited edition plushes with bent tags, etc.

[strugglinlikeyou]

Is your return key malfunctioning?

I got halfway through your wall of wail and had enough. 

[city*satins]

They even send you a message stating 'congratulations on being top-rated, we are now more likely to side with you during a case.'

They do?  I never got one of those.

I don't care about your spelling but paragraph breaks would be really great, even if you just hit the ENTER key now and then at random intervals it would be a lot easier for me to read. Even better if you do a paragraph break when you take a breath.

I really wanted to read your post and I did, but it took me twice as long to read it because it was like a stream-of-consciousness thing.

I don't care if you write sell vs sale.  

I  post on Quora and get 10 emails a day suggesting that I put a semi-colon here, or spell out a number there, or hypenate something, or even venture a few rephrasings that show they didn't read for content but only for spelling and punctuation - and people get quite aggressive when you tell them that you're not competing for a Pulitzer Prize (or Pullet Surprise) and not to waste their energy.

But the paragraph breaks really do help.

[city*satins]

The best advice you've already received but I'll emphasize it - under-praise your item.  Don't treat your description like an exercise in marketing. The more you pronounce your item to be the best thing since high buckle boots, the more vulnerable you are to people who want to get it for free.

[mam98031]

---

@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

---

@andrew547 wrote:

---

@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Feedback does not count towards your seller metrics. 

---

Yes, but neg feedback is not costless to sellers.

PowerSeller  requirements:

• Have an eBay account in good standing that’s been active for at least 90 days.
• Follow all eBay policies.
• Maintain a positive feedback score of 98% or higher.

---

Being a PS is essentially meaningless now.

---

To my knowledge there is only ONE benefit of being PS.  And that is the delay on Negative FB.  A buyer can't leave it during the first 7 days after the purchase.  Other than that, I'm not aware of any benefit for being PS.