Ebay favors Buyers Not Sellers

[dawood]

I have been with eBay from the very beginning and they have gradually started favoring the buyer and not the seller. If you get a horrible buyer there is no way to leave a negative feedback. If the buyer says something is wrong with the item (whether there is or not) eBay favors them and you are forced to refund their money. If ebay continues on this road I believe they will lose more sellers. Also I can not find anyway to CALL eBay and talk to a real person, Is there???

[sn1pur]

I have a seller who says he did not get item.
I mailed it.
He did not request confirmation or insurance.
Now he hits me with a case.
Who's to say he never got the item.
I have perfect feedback.
I mailed the card.
If eBay makes me give him a refund I am done with eBay altogether.
I will pull every auction down and never use eBay again.
Any buyer can just say he I got ripped.
They suggest to keep shipping down.
Confirmation cost more money that the buyers shy away from when they see the shipping cost.
Or they don't request anything that will protect them.
Am I supposed to cut into my profit by shipping low then covering cost of insurance or confirmation.
Also I could not believe the no neg feedback rule for buyers.
EBay makes all their money from sellers....we list we pay the fees.
The buyer can say what they want and eBay sides with them.
It's ridiculous.

[karl*katz]

eBay Contact Information Page

http://www.ebayinc.com/contact

[jreic82]

Customer support has a call button and I agree TOTALLY!! And the new paypal policy is redic. I sold a brand new xbox 360 and it said payment processing....now you have to send the item and put in the tracking number for them to release your money and guess what....they guy then canceled his payment when he saw i had shipped it....I used to love using ebay to sell stuff now its just as bad as craigs list

[jreic82]

and to add what i said earlier i had no way to add neeative feedback and neither did anyone before me who was scammed. I saw he had 100% possitive feedback but after this hapened i looked at the comments and they were all negative saying this person never paid.....i am livid!!!

[oddstuff13]

And unfortunately eBay doesn't care because all that eBay is concerned with is GREED!

[clecj579]

same thing happend to me i suggest we do a class action lawsuit to get everyone's monies back from this unjust rules ebay has in place. if you have documentation or proof of mailing item then that should be enough to say the buyer is responsible for paying extra for insurance and tracking... if you have to start charging everyone for insurance let them know why.. cause of ebays f*cked up policies...

[spyndy]

The bottom line is that ebay takes the buyers word for it and never the sellers. If someone says they didn't receive something in the mail, we as sellers may have proof of shipment with some paperwork but what proof does the buyer have that they actually didn't receive it? NONE....so therefore ebay expects no proof from the buyer but if you don't have the right proof as a seller you are screwed, not only are you out an item, but also out all the money you sold it for and some buyer might be sitting at home laughing with your money in their acct. and your item in their hands that they got for FREE. It has happened more than once and more than twice to me as a seller. I always feel like I haven't been treated fairly and this is just one example...there are dozens more just like this. For some reason a buyer never lies in ebays eye and the seller is always at fault.....Yet, if we didn't sell in the first place what would ebay make their profits off of? I find this both hipocritical and at the same time not very smart to bite the hand that feeds them so to speak. Nobody seems to be happily selling on this venue anymore. It is sad as it used to seem like such a good thing. Ebay needs to find a better balance on how they treat both sellers and buyers, nobody can balance a profitable business from a one sided policy.

[no_repros_here]

I was on from the start too - I quit - ebay & Pay Pal helped a buyer rip me off - for the hundreth time! Ebay is part of the equal distribution of commie wealth party - they steal from us sellers and give it to the buyers along with our merchandise! then they keep their commision and charges - in the end you as a seller are screwed!

I quit with ebay - you can sell on line in a dozen places and for the same ammount - Plus - it is cheaper! and none of the ebay BS !!!

[spyndy]

This company needs new leadership. It was better when Meg Whitman was CEO. It seems things started going downhill at a rapid speed once new leadership was introduced. I honestly think they have lost the plot. If the current leaders making decisions to put these unrealistic policies in place for sellers had to sell on this venue for a year to makes ends meet....they might better understand all of their bad decisions and their mistakes but what do they care? They take their million dollar salaries and impose policies that they know nothing about and care nothing about. Most likely as long as they keep getting their millions a year, who cares??? I hope they enjoy it while it lasts because their lousy leadership will eventually lead to their demise. It always does. What goes around comes around. They may never go broke but they get real sick in the future and then wonder why.......

[no_repros_here]

 I was a top "power " seller too and after 13 years on ebay - they ripped me off for the last time . I quit this month - I am now located at an antique market store and will be listing on different sites - like Itsy and amazon & ebid ... etc...- Just checking ebays cafe and wanting to join a class action lawsuit for the money they stole from me over the years ( refunding buyers 100% and also letting the buyer keep my merchandise!) A den of crooks - ebay & Pay Pal are loaded with liberal commies - stealing from those of us who work and giving it to a bunch of lying crooks who claim they never got it - even when you can provide tracking numbers that prove they did! this happened to me so many times - and as a seller your proof is never checked out - they just spit on you - steal your money and your merchandise!! Watch out new sellers - this will happen to you sooner or later - but it WILL happen -

[justfuntoshop]

The new rules to retain the 20% discount as a Top Rated seller, in my opinion (which is right in this instance), is designed to increase the profitablility of eBay/Paypal.

It is so obvious it can't be missed even by a dunderhead.

Remember: eBay has already stated that 50% of all their sales are now coming from their Top-Rated Sellers (who are now getting the 20% Final Value Fee discount) and who normally contact eBay Customer Service when problems arise with a difficult or dishonest buyer.

(1) By requiring the 2 week no questions asked return policy to maintain the 20% final value fee discount, the problems with items not as described, or dealing with selfish or downright criminal buyers, falls directly back on the seller without getting any eBay service personnel involved in the loop!!  MASSIVE SAVINGS to eBay over the long haul as the current service provided in these instances will be radically cut-back (not needed anymore with the new return policy).  The problems are now 100% dumped on the Top Rated Sellers to fend for themselves by the seller provided 14 day no questions asked required policy....or lose their 20% discount.

(2) By making the 2-week "No Questions Asked" return policy an absolute requirement for Top-Rated Sellers to maintain that discount, eBay knows that many of those key sellers will not be willing to "buy-in" to such a one-sided ludicrous rule.  Think about it: Sellers will be required to accept returns of opened packages, sealed bottles, used, or partially used products....even if they were exactly as described in the auction and in PERFECT useable/functional original condition when shipped.  I realize how stupid this sounds, but eBay is not stupid...they know that in order to protect themselves, many Top-Rated sellers will not be willing to put themselves in such a vulnerable and untenable postion.  Result: they will opt out of this policy and lose their 20% final value fee discounts.  YEAH for eBay PROFITS!!!

Also, these sellers will then try to slightly increase their pricing to help offset the loss of this discount...RESULT: Even further increased Final Value fees for eBay!  WOW!!..eBay WINS AGAIN!  Go figure??? How did that happen??  All carefully planned by eBay operations and financial top managment.

Key items that eBay management has yet to address re. these upcoming changes:

(1) They should automatically block any feedback from any buyer returning a product if they expect Top-Rated Sellers to adopt the 14 day no questions asked return policy.  Let's see if they take that no-brainer logical step to protect their "Top-Rated" Sellers.  Don't anyone hold your breath....I want you all to live!

(2) They should modify the 14 day no questions asked return policy to state that this policy only applies if the item is returned to the seller in exactly the same condition it was received.  That way the seller can relist the item for resale.

How crazy would it be for a buyer to purchase a cosmetic item (eye color for instance), and then open it, use it for a while (up to 2 weeks) and then decide the color really doesn't suit them, then decide to take advantage of the 14 day no-questions-asked return policy.  Selfish buyer wins!  Professional and totally honest seller....LOSER!  Again don't go hanging out on a tree limb for this to happen either....I don't want you to get hurt form exposure and starvation after waiting out there for this eBay return policy modification to happen.  Go back into your warm home and have a nice meal, a nice drink and take a nap and dream that one day a miracle might just happen and the policy will change.

You never know....

That said, I certainly enjoy eBaying.  It's fun and I enjoy interacting with various buyers from all over the US and the world.  I don't plan to stop eBaying.  I just think their management has taken a self-serving step with very little regard to their Top-Rated Sellers this time.  It's still not too late for them to change these new rules....

Who knows?  They may still make a couple modifications to make this a more respectful and palatable change to their long-term profit buliders.  Sure sounds like eBay is focused on 2 pieces of their business (Profits and Buyers) while beginning to treat their tried and true, serious, proven, honest, Top-Rated Power Sellers as second class passengers on this voyage.   

I feel better now after writing this.

I hope you feel better after reading it too.

Remember! Don't go out on a limb holding your breath.........

[no_repros_here]

Last month when I had a basic ebay store - I was paying 16.00 a month plus .20 cents per item to run - I had free shipping and I paid all the lousy Pay Pal and ebay fees - I quit ebay when a couple of weeks ago they stole my money and gave it back to an Arab French professional crook - even though the post office tracked it to France ...  the crook got my stuff and my money and the shipping too! - Ebay ALAYS sides with buyers even when you can prove they got the merch!

Anyway - I joined an antique market in Michigan City Indiana - rent is $80.00 a month and comission is 6% ... I sold 4 pieces of jewelry that sat in my ebay store for MONTHS .... and I sold them for more money than I was asking ( about 20% more) ... I have sold many of the other little things under 9.99 that was not worth me putting in an ebay store because of high shipping costs and trouble packing - thoise things sold fast ! and the antique shop hires people to wrap your stuff for you and check people out - all you have to do is stick a price tag on your item and go home - they pay you 2 times a month!

   EBAY SUCKS! - try a antique store near a major highway -

I am going to try Amazon tomorrow and will let you know how that goes. So far I am ahead in sales ( I was an ebay bronze seller) Outside of ebay I am going to be a " silver " level status at this one antique store.

[artiquesltd]

I have also been on Ebay since almost the beginning. I recently sold a Horse Print to a lady and when she received it, she left me Neutral feedback saying that the Art Print was just a picture of a real horse. She left the feedback BEFORE she contacted me. I contacted her and told her that the Print was a Print of an Artist's painting and not of a real horse. I put that as a reply on the feedback. Now Ebay has taken my High Seller Rating away from me. I called Customer Support to ask why, and was told in no uncertain terms that that one neutral feedback rating was the reason my status as a High Seller was taken away. The "gentleman" I spoke to was so nasty and abusive I was taken aback. He said even though I had refunded the person's money and received the print back, the feedback had to stay and there was nothing I could do about it. Tough luck.To tell you the truth I was amazed at his reply to my question, like I didn't have a leg to stand on and was wasting his time calling Customer Support. When I asked to speak to someone else, he told me to hang up and call again so I would talk to someone else. Since 1997 it is the worse experience I've had on Ebay. I agree that Ebay takes much better care of the buyers than the sellers. Their thinking is that "there are always another seller out there ready to take our place".

[smntoys]

Ebay has forgotten where they came from, and who their customers actually are. USUALLY customers are considered the people who pay you that enable you a revenue stream. How many buyers pay Ebay? None. Ebay receives a commission when the buyer pays the seller. When you review these boards, you don't find a lot of happy sellers (other than the pro-Ebay plants). Most of us are trying other venues already, and it will only be a matter of time before the buyers start to follow the sellers. Then, even if Ebay matches the prices, improves customer service, drops the fees on shipping, and jumps off the "PayPal Hold Scam"...how many of us will come back?   The bridges are being burned as we speak. I can hear the echo now: "Where'd everybody go?"