eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

A customer who bought a $4 sticker from me. It's available in black or white. After he purchased it, he didn't leave a message about his colour choice. I then eBay messaged him twice in the space of two weeks because he didn't leave a mobile number. I sent the sticker that appear first on the my listing as that is the most logical thing to do but when he received the package, he left a negative feedback saying "it took 3 weeks".

 

So I contacted eBay about the situation. They gave me his mobile number and I contact him as per instructed by eBay but couldn't get to him so I left a SMS. Few days later, nothing happened so I called eBay again. This time the lady instructed me to leave a feedback on his page to "attract his attention" so he can contact me (because eBay thinks he would check eBay meessages if I did this?!). About a week later still nothing. I called eBay for the third time thinking I have done everything I could. Instead of helping me the woman from the "eBay Headquarters" put me on hold and then read me a snippet of  their feedback policies in a barely audible voice. I then told her I rather refund this $4 and get the negative feedback deleted than have a negative feedback that made my sales decline. For someone who has been quite patient with them, naturally I wanted to speak to the supervisor. The supervisor sounded like a more reasonable person and said he would call me back the following day before noon. I waited and nothing.

 

I just want to end this story by saying how I have lost faith in eBay. Their standard has dropped. They are trying to cut ever corner, from not having a "Colour Variation" function (which could have saved all this issue) to sending their eBay.com.au customer service centre offshore. Surely all that money you get from us sellers should be a good reason to help the us? I just opened an Etzy. So much better.      

Message 1 of 16
Latest reply
15 REPLIES 15

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

bloke47
Community Member
2 nd case scenario.
Been selling Collection items. Payment cash on collection.
My reasoning. Who would hand over cash for something not as described in the 'description' section?
Well I found one galah that did.
My, 52 year old female 5 foot nothing, partner met the buyer. He said he was happy with item, even bought a second one of the item.
All was great till yesterday when he leaves negative feedback without even contacting us about items.
So what does ebay do. Well they understand our problem but won't remove the negative. The first ever tarnish against us since we have been buying and selling here.

Ebay for all its hype does not offer a fair playing field for sellers. Which I thought would be against rules and regs for anyone trading in Australia.
Message 2 of 16
Latest reply

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

Good of you to go that far. I gave up on ebay long time on anything to do with selling. They just don't care as their focus is buyers. They know that as long as buyers are there, sellers will come (and go).

 

Take a simple thing as increasing font size on seller's postage labels. Sellers have been complaining about that here in the forums for weeks now with no action at all from ebay. Their chat rep told me that ebay is aware of the issue and are working on it. Are they? It probably requires 30 minutes of time from their tech guys, but why bother.

Message 3 of 16
Latest reply

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

I understand the issue, and also recognise that seller support from eBay is thin on the ground, but I thought I'd suggest a way to avoid this issue in the future. 

 

If the multi-variation format is not available in your category and your listing offers a choice, select a variation as the default that will be sent if no choice is made by the buyer within a certain amount of time, that way you won't have to chase after unresponsive customers and can avoid postage delays. Clearly note which variation is the default in your description, as well, so that you can have a point of reference should anyone take issue with it. 

 

I list this way sometimes even in categories where the variation format is available, if overall stock numbers are limited and I want to be able to provide the option to have all available quantity with all available customisations, which is unfortunately impossible with the variation format - so far, so good. 

Message 4 of 16
Latest reply

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

Hi - a little off topic, but not altogether.

 

Had that all-too-common experience dealing with ebay customer support very recently where I had reason to contact ebay repeatedly (via email) over an issue to do with the updating process of the seller dashboard.

 

With each response I got, I got a different (and, as it turns out, incorrect) response to my question.

 

By way of trying to reassure me, I was told that my rating on my seller dashboard was based on a 3 month range of trading activity (ie June to August). I pointed out to them that it actually said on my seller dashboard that my ratings were based on a 12 month range so which was it ?????

 

In between that and getting another response from them, I found this is their policy documentation:

 

"Sellers with 400 or more transactions over the past three months are evaluated based on the past three months, whereas sellers with fewer than 400 transactions are evaluated based on the past 12 months."

 

I have had 208 transactions in the last 12 months.

 

I suggested that customer support is NO USE TO ANYONE, Buyers or Sellers, if the customer support employees are so unfamiliar with ebays own policies and guidelines as to provide ebayers with inaccurate and in many cases incorrect information. I suggested  that they should 'up their act' unless of course a modicum of proper training for these employees would cut into their huge profits too much !!!!

 

All this as a way of saying that we are caused an awful lot of unnecessary grief by incompetence and lack of willingness on the part of ebay to properly support their members.

Message 5 of 16
Latest reply

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

Had a similar experience a couple of years ago. Listed a food van, someone bought without asking a single question. They drove 3 hours here to collect it and spent 2 hours here going over every square inch of it, with my husband pointing out absolutely everything he could that might be wrong with it. We have her multiple options to back out, but right or wrong she wanted it and wasn't leaving without it.

 

A few days later, got a very nasty email saying it was significantly not as described and that it wasn't registered (which was clearly stated in the ad, plus I sent multiple emails post sale to tell her about such, in case she had just looked at the photos. She denied seeing the emails).

 

Long story short, we ended up in court. 4 court visits later and the case was found in our favour. She also admitted in court that she had only looked at the photos and that she had in fact received the emails about the registration.

 

Turns out she has bipolar and when she goes off her meds, she buys stuff. Her husband had told her she could come and look at it, but wasn't to buy it until she had discussed it with him, despite the fact she had already hit the BIN button. HE instigated the SNAD case trying to force us to take it back. His reasons were, all the multitude of stuff she had bought in the past he could use, like the spa, the outdoor settings, the clothesline, the furniture etc etc, but HE had no use for this so was demanding his money back. 

 

It got very ugly and it cost us nearly as much in legal costs as what we got for the food van. Even though the courts said she had to pay our costs, there is no way of enforcing it. We have just finished paying those costs off. At least her debt collector husband didn't get his own way, which upset him greatly, because by his own admission, he always gets his own way, or else (yes, it was a threat from the Cicilian mafia!!).

 

I got my one and only negative for the experience.

Message 6 of 16
Latest reply

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

Fully agree with you. Few years ago it was good web page for selling and buying. Honestyly after that hack and last year you saw so many maintenence so many updates of policy. Honestly if you know all policies of ebay it's maybe book with 200 pages.

Same if you have a problem, i everytime called the eBay first negative feedback i received because of eBay was under maintenance and i was not able to delist the item. Still same message try it later. When i spoke with CS they told me buyer can leave me a negative feedback. They simple didn't cared that i sent them message that i'm not able to delist item...

The quality drop very down after the hack eBay CS do not care about any evidence that provide the sellers.

Here simple can scam you buyer what buy item for $1 in auction if you offer him full refund if he return the item and offer him that you will pay postage back to you eBay will tell you but buyer have right to left you negative feedback buyers should be abusive to you open the case on paypal when you reply that you need an evidence and pictures from buyer he do not send you any evidence to not return the item. Ebay response we can't do nothing. It's between of buyer and seller.

I sold here items in total value of $10000 and i got negative feedback for itemsold in total value of $17.

If buyer complain to you for example like a last case that he bought from me neon light RRP $145 for $1 + $30 freight. Ebay CS told me if that transaction was for me lost because of fees $5 (fee from postage and paypal fee) i should tell to buyer to cancel the transaction and do not sell it in that moment i will receive negative comment from buyer because i don't want sell the item to have a lost....

Another case some Indian buyer send me the offer for Genuine Sony Vaio battery made in Japan first time $30 then $40 i did accept his offer because i thought maybe it's a student and can't affort to buy a new one at Shop for $120. He send me a message when the battery arrived that is faulty. Ok if he said it's not working i offer him full return regarding that battery was 2 months old under warranty i asked him to return it. Shop where i bought it send me an email there is nothing wrong with battery they test the battery. After i called the eBay they told me buyer can give you negative feedback i offered them to send the evidence i resolved the problem buyer got money back for item and postage he paid. Ebay said as usual buyer can leave you a negative feedback it's his right.

2 weeks after i saw how he left negative feedback to Chinese seller where he bought same battery  3th party not genuine like i sold him before  again he left to the Chinese seller negative feedback. I spoke with that seller he simple asking for refund because his battery do not hold capacity 7 hours just 4 hours. On his feedback he left him negative with following text "Poor quality counterfeit battery, bad fit not charging. Return ship uneconomical"

 

That means buyer can lie on your feedback extort you and what do eBay for sellers what pay here fees simple nothing. You will hear the same song" Buyer have right to leave you a negative feedback. We can not investigate the case do not send us the evidence. WE do not own the items it's between buyer and seller. This feedback is not possible to remove it because it do not violate our policy. You won the case on paypal because the buyer do not return the item back and do not provide details, but it's related to paypal on ebay he have right to leave you negative feedback. Yes buyer can lie in your feedback but we are not able remove the feedback and investigate the detail. Yes you must pay you fees in time. I see that you have so many positives feedback for item you sold and with high value if i will be buyer i will choosed you like my seller, but we are sorry buyer can leave you negative feedback. Yes i see you refund his money but do not send the repport from shop because we are not here able to investigate what's the true. Buyer have everytime the truth and you must pay the fees....Thank you for choosing the ebay.... "

 

Message 7 of 16
Latest reply

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

Or like a some special after some experiences that buyer bought something but didn't paid the item. and 1 weeks after he told me that he want cancel the transaction. Or buyer bought the item and he called me that he can't afford it and i can sell it to someone else. I made my seller rulles and put it on the page about me if the payment is not made withiin 2 days the transaction is for me officialy cancelled and i will not force anybody to pay for the item.

 

I sold Nintendo in auction starting from $1 finished AU $32.42. I sent the invoice 3 minutes ago. Nothing no payment 24 hours i relist the item back. Message from buyer why i relist the item. I explained him that all buyer have 48 hours to pay the item if not the transaction is cancelled for me. No reply 5 days after he send me a message

"Excuse me???? But where in your listing does it say that???? I REALLY DO NOT SOMEONE TRYING TO RESELL AN ITEM THAT I HAVE PURCHASED!!!!

Please remove the relisted add immediately so I can pay for this otherwise I am taking further action with ebay about this
"

 

If you dont fix this I will be reporting this and leaving negative feedback as by the way you relisted it you have made it very clear that you were not happy to sell it for the price

 

My reply: 2 Days are gone, you had a chance to pay but it seems you are not intended to pay for item. And the price is not a problem i sent you invoice 3 minutes after the auction.

 

I spoke with ebay CS she told me to give him a chance and open the unpaid case if he really want to pay the transaction. But nothing happened no payment. unpaid case closed. Negative feedback remains.

 

Ebay support nothing he is buyer he is right to leave you negative and do not pay the item, extort you, do not pay the item in extended time That means if you try to fix the problem listen the CS they will not help you in final. This iem is relisted on another page for $32 like a bonus new buyer will receive the new screen cover.

 

As somebody said here but legitemately he has right to left you this feedback. Of course, he can buyer can do anything seller must just pay the fees and wasting the time and following ebay rules and shut up and be happy for any type of feedback 😄

Never ask CS for help wasting of time on phone to be connected to operator and you fix something, of course not you must know 200 pages of rules and if you do it like CS tell you bad luck... Never more...

 

 

 

 

Message 8 of 16
Latest reply

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

As far as I can comprehend , you gave your buyer just 2 days in which to pay for the item he won, when eBay themselves won't take any action until 8 days have elapsed (4 days to pay and another 4 days while the UPI is in effect) after which time if they've still not paid, your fees are refunded and the buyer receives a non-payment strike.

Having said that, and despite the fact that you clearly went about everything the wrong way, your buyer still didn't pay and the UPI was closed 4 days after it was taken out, so any feedback left for that transaction is null and void and should have been removed by eBay because as far as they're concerned, no transaction took place and your fees would also have been credited to your account.

Therefore under eBay's own T&Cs they should have removed the negative feedback which was left by your buyer, and if they've failed to do so, it is up to you to contact CS and request that it be removed immediately. That they've not yet done so suggests to me that you've not been in touch with CS and requested that the feedback be removed under their own terms & conditions, or if you have, you've not explained the situation satisfactorily (not surprising given that your messages can be extremely difficult to comprehend at the best of times).

I suggest that you contact CS again and explain the situation in words of one syllable and with a bit of luck they may just understand exactly what you're on about and will remove the negative feedback which the buyer should not have been able to leave in the first place.

Message 9 of 16
Latest reply

eBay doesn't help sellers. All they care about is money.

I had a problem with a buyer who complained about earrings she bought off me.  Her comment was that they looked bigger in the picture.  I have disclosed the size both in the product title and in the product description.  I got a negative feedback.  I messaged sBay about the issue and did not receive a reply from them.  There is no other way of contacting eBay seller support.  I will be quitting eBay once I sell the bulk of my products.  I pay a lot of eBay service and advertising fees, eBay should have the decency to offer me some support when needed.  Very Disappointing.

Message 10 of 16
Latest reply