ebay doesn't protect sellers

[southernbell57]

Ebay doesn't care about there sellers! It's all about the buyers! If it wasn't for sellers ebay wouldn't be here! They always agree with buyers screw the sellers is what they policy should really say! You follow the rules and you think your protected but your not!

[gideon13]

Ebay has created a situation over time in which buyers basically have all the power and sellers are essentially powerless. And, Ebay keeps switching the rules of the game whenever they want to. There is a lack or respect and appreciation for sellers, and reading the threads here and elsewhere, more and more sellers are becoming unhappy with this state of affairs and with ebay as a whole. I've noticed SELL IT! sites and SWAP SHOP sites in every town and city on Facebook and lots of people seem to be selling lots of stuff that way. Perhaps that is part of the new coming competition for ebay auctions as ebay begins new money-making vntures such as their new 1-hour delivery service in major cities where you  can purchase a cell phone or charger or whatever at bestBuy and an ebay valet delivers it staright to your motel room door within an hour. I really believe that the overall corporate stategy at ebay is to squeeze the small sellers out and maybe do away with auction listings altogether eventually in favor of BIN listings and ebay store listings.

[gideon13]

See the 2 new topics with polls I posted in Front Porch and Soapbox.

[gideon13]

See the LETTER FROM JOHN DONAHOE thread over in Soapbox.

[janyray]

Feel the same way! So discouraging! I have 100% Positive feedback! My detailed ratings are above 4.8 and above out of 5 on my Profile! eBay just put my funds on hold for 21 days because I got low seller ratings according to them...so now I have this issue!

All the feedback that has been left for me has been "I love it", "Just as described", etc! But I have low ratings! I have described my items with condition, brand, size, flaws... um what more do the buyers want?

In terms of shipping...I have to buy my own materials, bubble wrap, ziplock backs, tape, paper ink... and eBay still wants us to ship cheaper because buyers are not happy? So if the item sells for .99 cents, I have to make nothing from selling the item?

Shipping time...I ship my items within 1 - 3 business days! I don't ship during the weekend, so that is why I put 3 days S&H days... So why aren't buyers penalize right away like we do? When they don't pay on time?! ...We have to wait 4 days to be able to second offer that item or re-list...otherwise we may get in trouble and the buyer may leave negative feedback if we do it before that.

Communication! I can't send and e-mail to every buyer...I have other things beside eBay. I answer questions withing 24 hours... It's not like I'm in the computer all the time!

I really wish eBay would balance out the way they care about their sellers and buyers. I'm a buyer as well so do see the other side of this mess.

I am so annoyed by all this, I'm seriously thinking about closing my store!

[koliver4485]

You've probably never sold before or you'd be singing a different tune. You may be honest and do the right thing, but there are many on here who aren't. Every time I sell things, I always have someone who come's in and bids on an item and doesn't pay, and some times the items get relatively high and I lose what I could have made on the 2nd place bid. If you think people accept 2nd chance bids often, you are sadly mistaken. Then there are the people who get perfectly good items, right on time, and they still claim there is something this that or the other and eBay gladly refunds them at seller's expense. Maybe you should look at it from both sides of the equation before making bold statements, bud.

[sitkakona]

I'm learning, the hard and expensive way. 

I took beautiful pictures and video to show how carefully I wrapped and packed the bracelet. Lots of measurements, weights, all photo'd and video'd. Sent priority, insured. Buyer told me how fantastic and sparkly and fine it was. Ten days later, 'item not as described,' sent back with broken expensive clasp.

Contacted EBay this morning -- too bad. Sellers take all the risk and Buyers have all the protection - yes, from an American probably in San Francisco after long phone hold and two transfers. I asked, 'what about all my photos and videos,' etc., she never complained about broken clasp." He said it really is too bad, with a chuckle even. I'm just..... doesnt' seem to matter anymore.

[redbud_farm]

in any venue the seller always has more risks, so you learn how to reduce it.

never but never depend on the venue for your protection. be proactive

[994john]

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@redbud_farm wrote:

in any venue the seller always has more risks, so you learn how to reduce it.

never but never depend on the venue for your protection. be proactive

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Dontcha' just feel like you're made a fool of when you don't notice that you're replying to a years old thread that was inserted into the discussion boards as a filler just to make it look active?

[taniya93465]

The machine needs oiling...it's an automated machine that decides the buyers right. Essentially that's what a human hired by eBay said. A buyer ordered an expensive pitcher and creamer. (bids went up to $203.50.) We carefully packaged the pieces in bubble wrap and taped them all together to prevent rattling...she advised us the creamer was not sent. We tore everything apart but in our hearts we sent everything. We asked her to check the weight on the package which she states is now heavier then the package says it is. (When we drop off at the post office every box is checked by weight.) we suggested she return what was received for a full refund. She did not want to return the pitcher and insisted we refund ~$170 for the missing creamer/vase.. ($33 for the pitcher) we again advised her to return the product. She refused escalating the case to eBay also sending us her justification for the amount so she can bid on a similar creamer/vase selling on eBay for over $700. Although eBay states they sided with the buyer in this dispute they sided with us and buyer was advised to return the product. We confirmed the return address via ebayer email. She returned the product to an old address. Fortunately an old neighbor was able to retrieve the package the box appeared sound but the contents although bubble wrapped were smashed. 2 days prior to our neighbor retrieving the box eBay had closed the case withdrawing $$$ from our Paypal account and apparently wiping their screens clean. No checking to see if the product was received by us or in what condition. A human, Nathan desk # 6.3.548, stated everything is automated. when eBay receives confirmation that the tracking # was delivered to its destination the machine (eBay) automatically refunds the $$ to the buyer. No follow-up. ding the seller. I spoke to a number of eBay reps basically telling me sorry for your luck. I reported the buyer on the site. The great machine within 3 minutes determed the case was closed and the dispute was denied. A call to ebay got me to Nathen who states an investigation will be made against the buyer but We're still out my $. eBay broke there own policy buy dipping into our account before confirming the product was returned in satisfactory condition and they seem totally unwilling to admit mishandling. We will be reporting the incident to the Internet crime unit. The one piece of advise from Nathen was to insure all packages as the buyer should have done so we, the sellers could recoup something. Has anyone else had this problem? She did not insure the package...is she responsible? Is the post office? I don't want to just move on and take the hit if I still believe eBay is not following there own policy. Policy states they will refund out of our account if we don't but they did not give us the opportunity. The buyer also continued to ask for the return postage to be paid by us. Cathy lepez

[peaceful-pleasures]

I completely agree! Sellers are held to random over the buyers feedback. Ebay must get a multitude of daily calls complaining about this policy of one sided ability to rate but do nothing about it. It does not matter how right the seller is, Ebay NEVER assists the seller, in my situation they kept creating dishonest excuses to side with the buyer despite how much in the wrong the buyer clearly was. The entire ordeal has completely deflated me due to Ebay discriminating against me. I was completely in the right and attacked by the seller due to my reluctance in giving a requested reduction in price after sale was made. I am so affected I cannot eat nor sleep. The ironic thing is Ebay are so money hungry yet care zero they lost me as a seller forever by being prejudicial against me, and allowing the buyer to leave malicious negative & unjust feedback purely out of spite. They even allowed the buyer to call me a "cow" in her feedback comments. So undeserved. 😞

[glorydayscollectibles]

As soon as there is a decent alternative to ebay. Im leaving immediately. keep your eyes on this new facebook selling platform

[anonymoose99]

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@glorydaysmemorabilia wrote:

As soon as there is a decent alternative to ebay. Im leaving immediately. keep your eyes on this new facebook selling platform

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With those DSR scores, you're probably leaving in August, regardless of whether there's a "decent alternative".

[redbud_farm]

dsr of 4.8-4.9 aren't bad even by ebay standards. but their fb might cause a problem only on ebay. few amazon sellers are in the 90's in feedback%. but they use a real system and real standards

[anonymoose99]

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@redbud_farm wrote:
dsr of 4.8-4.9 aren't bad even by ebay standards. but their fb might cause a problem only on ebay. few amazon sellers are in the 90's in feedback%. but they use a real system and real standards

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eBay dumped tens of thousands of sellers for having just one DSR at 4.7 or less, so 4.8 is on the edge. It also indicates the seller may have a significant # of defects, which might put them out of business after 8/20.

[pittcollectibles]

Totally agree, ebay made $3000 off of me the last 6+ months and won't get another dime from this point on. I recently had a item not as described claim filed against me. I sold a 8mm video player/editor and was told the stop button didn't work, once item was returned nothing worked. Could not insert tape, play or anything else. In order for Stop not to work machine would have to accept tape and play so I believe the buyer broke it. Ebay told me because I told buyer to place minimal value on return I was in Violation for asking him to commit customs fraud. Last time I took a return I ended up paying duty on the return of my own item so I figured to avoid that problem I would insure buyer places minimal value. I offered to make video showing machine didn't work and there is no way of knowing Stop button didn't work as the buyer claimed but ebay sided with buyer which I believe they do 99.9% of the time regardless. Hopefully the buyers can pay your bills because I for one will no longer be contributing. There are plenty of other means to sell without the headaches and lack of support ebay offers it's sellers. Just my two cents.