@parachuter2006 wrote:
Here is how I would see a better protection system:
Items must be ready to ship right after they are listed.
No matter which shipping option or system is used a real proof of actually lodging the item must be presented.
A simple click to say you posted it is not enough to prevent fraud.
All items over a certain price limit must require tracking info and signature on delivery.
This is good for all involved!
Paypal is highly used throughout Ebay and the recommended payment option, so use it properly for crying out loud!
How hard can it be to check your databases for Paypal accounts linked to multiple Ebay ID's or linked to suspended or abandoned accounts?
Same for the need of providing a real and confirmed address for sellers.
Fake Paypal accounts, unregistered sim cards for their mobile phone numbers and only a P.O. used - this is a standard to promote fraud, so it has to improve!
Feedback must appear instantly and stay permantly without the option to render it private.
Feedback with no real info is no feedback at all, especially for the few negative feedbacks that make it through.
People give negative feedback for a good reason, so don't allow a seller to have it removed or reduced.
Postage must be done right after getting the money, within 2 working days as a limit.
If more time required then this must be made clear in the listing and during the checkout.
An option to report overseas shipping or greatly ignored posting times need to be added to the feedback system.
With all the ongoing and still increasing problems it might be best to just provide a dedicated button to activate a chat when leaving feedback.
This way all relevant info is right there to check and some real person can check where the computer failed to spot the problem in the system.
I read through (the vast majority of) your post, and I don't disagree with everything you've said.... But I do want to highlight why good, or even just ok, ideas can sound great in theory, but be awful in practice, especially when it's ebay who are implementing said ideas.
The problem with eBay implementing things to protect buyers, is that the worst offenders are never affected. Their policies are like a blind, untrained swordsman who's just standing in the middle of a crowd swinging indiscriminately- occasionally they might hit a "bad" seller, but they take a lot of good ones down as collateral damage. An example is the "did the item arrive by X date" question. A dodgy, or at least less scrupulous, seller will adjust their handling time to give themselves the maximum time allowable for the item to arrive, and / or upload a fake tracking number, making it so that the buyer doesn't even have access to the question and therefore hardly ever gets a 'no', while a seller who is doing their best to do the right thing by their buyers and meets all of their sales terms but is then let down by Aus Post one fateful week might have several buyers say "no", and boom - dodgy seller unaffected, honest seller loses Top Rated status and falls down the eBay search results rankings.
This kind of phenomenon is one of the things that has contributed to the flourishing of said dodgy sellers, and the loss of a bunch who were good and honourable, but just got unlucky, and i can almost guarantee you many of the suggestions you've put forward - which I understand are with the best of intentions - will have a similar effect. (eg I list some handcrafted, made to order items, and many items sent by large letter, ergo it's impossible for me to have all stock ready to ship, and my business would tank if I had to double the cost of postage for a few people's peace of mind).
Re: the no more disappearing neg feedback, and the statement "people leave negative feedback for a reason". Believe it or not, sometimes that reason is just because they are jerks, and / or made a mistake and think just blame the seller because it's easier. I agree that disappearing negative feedback, when provably warranted, has become a bit of an issue on ebay, but applying "no negs removed, ever" gives people in general far too much credit (let's not forget that whatever dodgy behaviours a seller exhibits, it's not because they are a seller, it's because they are a dodgy person, and as such it's not limited to those who sell).
Reasons I have received less than positive feedback as a seller:
- Buyer purchased an item of clothing listed as black, receives item of clothing, leaves me a neg akcnowledging it was black as described, but wanted a purple one
- Buyer purchases an item listed as two different materials, leaves neg because it's not all one material
- Countless occasions where buyer has purchased an item with sizing info made abundantly clear, including pictures showing item to scale, leaves bad FB because item is not the size they "imagined" (who imagines item details over reading them? People, I guess
) - Buyer makes false claim of non arrival, demanding a refund before even the first ETA has passed. I block them from buying from me again, they enlist their friends to buy from me via other accounts to leave me negs
Many other sellers have similar tales to tell, so this is another list that could go on. And on.
Re: electrical safety standards - Australian law dictates it is the importer's responsibility (whether they are a consumer, or intend to resell), to ensure items they purchase from OS meet local standards. eBay does actually have a policy in place that says sellers need to be aware of the laws of the countries they sell into, and not make anything available for sale to a country if it's prohibited, but guess what? They have a similar policy for buyers, in that buyers are not technically permitted to buy items that are prohibited in their country - how about we enforce that one, too. ๐
