This may be the last time I post in these pages. I have often thought about giving eBay the middle finger salute and taking my business elsewhere, but like an abused spouse I just seem to keep coming back. Before I throw in the towel for good tho, I would like to explain my reasons to someone who, unlike the many helpdesk workers I have spoke to in the last month, may be willing to listen to me.
Perhaps my experience might strike a chord with some of you. If so, I'd like to hear from you.
I have been an ebay seller for over 10 years, turning over about $8000 a month. What started as a hobby has now become my primary income - all legit with the tax office too. Until recently I was considering expanding my business and possibly employing someone to assist with mundane chores such as data enrty and answering questions.
In the last month I have seen my seller performance drop to below average, lost my power seller status, and am now unable to list under my ebay store subscrition. All of this inspite of an excellent DSR and consistently high feedback.
The reason has to do with recent policy changes which make it impossible for me to invoice my buyers with the correct postage charges.
Over the last few months certain functions have been removed from the checkout postage. At varying times the 'request combined postage' option has disappeared from the checkout, as has the 'send revised invoice' feature from selling manager. Up until very recently the 'send invoice to buyer' was also removed from the bottom of email notifications. In some instances buyers report being required to make immediate payment through paypal, even tho this condition was not stipulated by me in the listing. And god help anyone using a phone app that wishes to make multiple purchases. There seems ot be no choice but to pay multiple lots of postage and then complain about being overcharged..
This is where it starts to unravel. These changes all seem to have come since eBay decided it was fair to charge sellers a pecentage of the shipping fee, even tho this is a cost, which must be carried by the buyer or the seller, not a profit to which ebay would be rightly entitled to its fair share. I wouldn't be so cynical as to suggest that ebay are playing this to their advantage by making it harder for sellers to offer combined shipping, but I'll admit that the thought has crossed my mind.
Under current policy, a seller who initiates a paypal refund where there is no dispute incurrs a 'defect' on the transaction. The same thing happens if you cancel a transaction specifying out of stock as a reason. (The second option - buyer has requested a refund or changed his their mind is often confusiing to buyers who must agree to the cancellation in order for the seller to recoup their fees.)
In recent months I have had a couple of large sales where the buyer has overpaid and requested a refund, or, seeing the excessive total in the checkout has elected to pay by 'other'. In these instances the only option for me is to refund the payment in total or cancel the sale. To comply with ebay policy as best I can I tried relisting combined orders under the title PRIVATE SALE and included the correct price and fixed postage price in the listing. That seemed to work, the buyers paid the correct shipping and ebay collected the appropriate fee.
As a result of this my April performance evaluation put me below standard. I can't relist items as they expire or create any new listings, and the sudden drop-off in sales indicates that my items fallen to the bottom of the search results. I have contacted customer support on an almost daily basis and sent numerous emails. I am yet to speak to the same representative twice, and the responses I get to my emails, at least the ones written in a version of english that's recognisable, indicate that the they havent read, or understood the question.
On the odd occasion where I've felt like I've made some progress, I've then received different advice from the next rep. For instance I was told that once my seller evaluation returned an above avarage result I could request a higher selling limit. Nuh-uh. My last evaluation puts me at 'above standard' and when I spoke to trust and safety I was told I need to wait another 30 days. "Before we can increase your selling limit, we need to make sure that you are consistent giving excellent products and services to your buyers."
For the sake of ever loving f###. I have been consistently giving excellent service to my buyers for over 10 years with many repeat customers. If eBay simply dont want my money I guess thats an outcome I'd just have to deal with. But when they cant be bothered, or are incapable of dealing with a problem that goes a little off-script, it is just plain frustrating. Even more fristrating is this is a problem THEY CREATED.
Presently I have a leaking roof, my car rego is due and it doesn't look like I'll be able to make my mortgage payment this month.
I guess this was bound to happen, so my advice to anyone with inititative and a sensible business idea considering opening an ebay store is just dont bother. Unless you are dop-shipping cheap plastic gizmo's out of a factory in southern China, its just not worth the agony.
Thanks for listening to my story. If anyone from eBay is employed to moderate these forums, and suffficiently connected within the larger business to bring my complaint to the attention of someone who doesn't work in a call centre, I'd like to hear from you also.
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