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!

[heakal-54]

That is just outrageous how they treat their Top Rated Sellers, truly horrible, they use the trump that is bad.

[whoohooohyeahdavid]

i hope the 1st half of your comments are true but the last one is funny

[lja440]

Your post is way too hard to read. Paragraphs please.

Anyway I did pick up that you sell some sort of collectable and are getting SNADS on the condition of the boxes. 

#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. Out nit pick those scammers, I find that I don't really lose all that much in bids (real buyers can zoom in on pictures) and I really get very few people fishing for partial refunds. When I do my pat answer is Return for full refund.

#2 Deversify. Even though I primarily sell records I also sell other media on the same ID. I have other ID's for other types of items, clothing, housewares, horse equipment and such. If one area gets hot with scammers I switch to other items. 

[lja440]

Oh and by the way, you have over 3100 sales not sells.

[whoohooohyeahdavid]

i love people that don't understand what a rant is. go out and kneel in your front yard. oh and by the way, it's diversity not deversity

[moondogblues]

oooo the grammar police are out here , as I would have been too. Please people either get a dictionary or go back in time and slap your english teacher, and don't diss me for the lower case e...keyboard on the fritz. Bought a new one (here today. 2nd ( not working either. Arghhhhh. Hate not being articulate enough.

And rants are ok, I've done a few here...

[lja440]

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@whoohooohyeahdavid wrote:

i love people that don't understand what a rant is. go out and kneel in your front yard. oh and by the way, it's diversity not deversity

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Yes it is. You are seeing my dyslexia (can't spell worth a fig, I don't have the ability to sound out words) and the powers that be at eBay has taken away the spell checker. 

You can rant, we all do from time to time. It helps to blow off some steam but it's hard to understand when it's all in a jumble.

[lja440]

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@moondogblues wrote:
oooo the grammar police are out here , as I would have been too. Please people either get a dictionary or go back in time and slap your english teacher, and don't diss me for the lower case e...keyboard on the fritz. Bought a new one (here today. 2nd ( not working either. Arghhhhh. Hate not being articulate enough.

And rants are ok, I've done a few here...

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My english teacher rocked but I was out of school before I was diagnosed with dyslexia and way before they had ways of teaching people with it. 

But things like "Making a sell" or "winning a bid" is just weird. I mean if you were talking you wouldn't say that so why type it? No you would say " Making a sale" Or "winning the bid"

[fashunu4eeuh]

Feedback does not count towards your seller metrics. 

”i take 13 pictures of every item pre-during-after packing...”

Such evidence doesn’t count in eBayland.  Ebay doesnt accept them as proof of anything because photos can be doctored.

In my experience, the wide majority of eBay users are honest. Giving them the benefit of the doubt while investigating a buyer’s concern helps the buyer-seller relationship and keeps the us -against-them attitude at a minimal level.

Sadly some buyers do not read the description and then are surprised by  a flaw. (In order to avoid this, i no longer list items not in perfect condition, unless they are very special in some way.) There is very little a seller can do to offset this problem. 

“...i have every single photo, logic, evidence in my favor including well ya know, seller protection from eBay.“

Photos of the item being boxed proves nothing in transit damage cases. It sounds like you might need to review your packing practices if you are getting multiple damage claims...you say right up front they are fragile. Just because you sent them in unmarred condition doesn’t mean they arrived that way.

As for seller protection, it is up to each seller to protect their own account and attend to their own best interests. Ebay watches out for the buyer’s interests on this platform.

”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...”

Well, eBay is not bluffing. This is how this will play out. You refuse to refund. The buyer asks eBay to step in. Ebay refunds them from your account. You get a defect on your account which can downgrade your standing on eBay. And your Final Value fees are not credited back to you on that transaction.

You are right. Buyer always wins. Knowing this upfront should help you navigate successfully thru the next one, should it happen again. Good luck.

[andrew547]

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Feedback does not count towards your seller metrics. 

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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.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@andrew547 wrote:

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@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.

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Being a PS is essentially meaningless now.

[andrew547]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

Being a PS is essentially meaningless now.

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[kensgiftshop]

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@whoohooohyeahdavid wrote:

i point every single flaw i can find and put it in the description just to avoid this silliness,

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Looking at a few of your items, you don't give much of a description.

One item, you see a spot on the foot and hand, but nothing in the description about it.

[mrdutch1001]

when my sales dropped by over 85% in 2017 and I lost the basic TRS status, that became the first step in the long road to giving up eBay as my main selling venue.  Although I miss the days of the plentiful sales and that 20% discount that came with my basic TRS status which had become a 10% discount, the disappointment of losing that TRS status was short-lived, as I learned to enjoy the freedom of not having to jump through all those hoops to maintain that TRS status. In the years that have followed with all the horrible changes that eBay has made, all the ridiculous policies, the lack of seller support and all the micro-managing and more, that has taken away any goodness that was left for being a seller here, I am happy to bid farewell to this site when my name is called to join MP or be gone....I'll be gone! The eBay of years ago which was King of the Hill and  the place to be, has become a horrible untrustworthy place and not a place that I want to be part of anymore. About 1-1/2 years ago I moved over 1200 listings to another venue and sales are doing reasonably well there now, so I'll focus on that site.