eBay have automated many of the processes, which means very little human intervention. That means lower ongoing costs and higher profits. I’m not going to pretend any sympathy for eBay occasionally having staff look in at a dispute, or for eBay’s “stepping in”… particularly when the cost of refunding a buyer falls ultimately upon the seller.
I DO think sellers need to be aware of the processes and how automated they are. OP, please do as gutterpunkz has commented; get onto the Help pages and read as many pages as you can, to make yourself thoroughly aware of the policies and their timeframes, implementations, etc. Post any questions on these boards if anything seems unclear.
For sellers who deliberately try to avoid resolving issues, a resolution fee might be another incentive for them to act correctly, but I’m worried that innocent sellers may be caught up in this rather than bad sellers. Presumably bad sellers will calculate whether this fee is offset by large profits selling damaged/fake/SNAD items to buyers and lulling along any who complain with the typical line of excuses… whereas the more inexperienced or naïve sellers won’t have those profit margins and will be caught out in disputes.
Bottom line: sellers need to protect themselves by knowing eBay T&Cs and policies and procedures inside out.
