Why are 'Power sellers' apparently exempt from ebay rules?

[rwaldram]

I have recently had a very poor experience with a power seller that claims to be here in Australia, they marked the item as sent however almost 3 weeks later it still hadn't managed to find it's way "all the way" from NSW to SA. I contacted them about it and got the BS line 'it must've gone missing in the post, unfortunately our supplier is out of stock so we're unable to send a replacement'.

I check the listing and the seller had edited it, increasing the price by around $6 (it was a $19.95 power cable for an engle fridge, now over $25.00). I then looked at their feedback, not something i'd normally worry about for a power seller and that's when i realised the Power Sellers can apparently make their own rules. When i checked on thursday there were 364 negative comments left for this seller in 12 months, this has since grown to just under 400 with an additional 757 neutral comments in the past year also. Almost all of the negative comments are saying that this person has done the same thing as what they did to me, in a lot of cases, also increasing the price after claiming that they (or their supplier) was out of stock.

Two day's after being told that the could not get another one, the item has been re-listed, now for $25.00. I reported the seller, the email from them, the re-listed item... and nothing. Why does ebay turn a blind eye to this massive breach of countless policies (not sending items sold, not having the items in stock when selling them, using one listing to bump up the price (buy it now) of another...) but if we, the small sellers (ie: personal users) make a single stuff up, they're all over us?

[putney32]

as a buyer it is your responsibility to check the feedback of a seller, be they powerseller or not

do you understand that PS is only an indication of the quantity of sales a seller has, and that they comply with ebay's rules 98% of the time.

if you dont do your homework before you buy you cannot blame ebay, the informatio was there for you to read.

as a Powerseller myself, I can assure you there is no ''special'' rules for us.  All sellers on ebay aust. operate under the same set of rules.

it is quite common for a seller who sells a lot of an item to Up the Price when they are out of stock, and change the handling time to reflect this, so as not to loose their spot in Best Match Search, if it is only a temp. out of stock item

you see, if they end the listing, when it is only of their best selling items, they loose their spot in Best Match and have to start all over again.

if you have not received your item in good time, open a Paypal dispute, get your $$ back and buy elsewhere.

[*crikey*mate*]

yeah, it's horrible this happened to you.

and yes, should have read the feedback, but hindsight's a good thing, eh?

just to reassure you none of this has anything to do with them being awarded the title powerseller, it'll be their opercentages - ie might have 300 negs (or whatever) but 5000 positives, so tyhe overall statistics say they're doing a good job iykwim.

I'm a powerseller on 3 accounts - it means nothing other than I sold $1000 with 100 individual transactions within a 12 months period on eaCH ACCOUNT.

it's not the "accolade" protecting them.

If you choose to, report the seller for non performance, o-pen a case with PayPal, let your feedback communicate your experience in a factual manner, and eventually the cogs should align and the seller will come under the scrutiny of eBay.

Apparently they're concentrating on sellers atm and putting the screws in, so maybe this one will eventually come under review too.

Best of luck with it.

[zelly888]

$$$$$$$ for Ebay is the answer

[phorum_junkie*]

$$$$$$$ for Ebay is the answer

And what else would or should ebay be interested in? Their job is to make as much as they can in order to keep their shareholders happy.

Any buyer who purchases from a seller with over 300 negs and probably a lot of revised too is asking for trouble, ebay allow buyers to leave feedback for a reason and if new buyers ignore those who left the negs it is hardly ebay's fault.

[ajarnjenny]

opercentages 

Holy **bleep**, Crikey, is that a word and if it is what on earth does it mean?

Kind of half joking.

[*crikey*mate*]

opercentages

there ya go, fixed it

[rwaldram]

So, to quote, and query you putney32:
"it is quite common for a seller who sells a lot of an item to Up the Price when they are out of stock, and change the handling time to reflect this, so as not to loose their spot in Best Match Search, if it is only a temp. out of stock item"

So, what you're saying is, that it is ok and normal for Power Sellers to breach eBay policies, in particular, this one No Item Listing

For those people who cant open, or don't want to follow that link, on eBay's policy pages specifically aimed at Sellers, there is a section called No Item Listings, in the section of this policy relating to things that are not permitted you'll find "Listings that are out of stock but left active, often with a drastically increased price to prevent purchases"

[davewil1964]

So report them. Or read the feedback BEFORE you buy. Which is the purpose of feedback for sellers. it actually makes a difference for sellers, as opposed to the count that buyer feedback is.

The only 'advantage' I have found with being a powerseller is that buyers can't leave negative feedback until at least 7 days after the sale. I think. That's what I have read on the boards, but I've never had a neg, so I could be wrong.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

So report them. Or read the feedback BEFORE you buy. Which is the purpose of feedback for sellers. it actually makes a difference for sellers, as opposed to the count that buyer feedback is.

The only 'advantage' I have found with being a powerseller is that buyers can't leave negative feedback until at least 7 days after the sale. I think. That's what I have read on the boards, but I've never had a neg, so I could be wrong.

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I doubt such a travesty would ever occur!

*cheeky grin*

RUNS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>