RE PENSIONERS AND DISABILITIES OF eBAYERS
There are more than a few eBay members, both buyers and sellers, who are pensioners, have disabilities, or both.
Quite a few of the longtime regular eBay responders will come into that category.
A good proportion of these will be people whose personal circumstances made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to earn a living - except through eBay as sellers.
I am certain too that many longtime eBay members have been purchasing on eBay since it began, or shortly thereafter, or at least for some significant time, and for whom the great bargain nature of eBay was a lifesaver. There were genuinely bargains to be had, and a wonderful spirit of camaraderie as people bought and sold from each other. Both walked away from most deals feeling satisfied. The person selling very often was willing to sell items in good condition without seeking an exorbitant amount while the buyer would get items in good condition at considerably less than buying new would have cost them.
By and large, those days are gone. But the eBay members who have many years of experience on eBay have seen eBay's changes, its ever-altered policies, its shifting foci, the ways to do things, how to comply with policies and yet not be so onerously confined by them that eBay would cease to be worth using. There have been improvements - faster despatch times, sellers being very careful in describing faults - but oh lord! there have been losses.
During the years, people who were finding it tough have ripened in their years, and many will be pensioners in particular, accustomed to squeezing the very last drop of use from a penny (well, nowadays from a 5¢ coin).
When they hear newly-posting eBay members speak about being a pensioner and having a disability, they are receiving that through the filter of having heard many many others use those words as a special pleading. If they're sellers, they've heard it almost ever since they've been selling on eBay, from buyers who wanted a ridiculous discount on the basis of it, from buyers who refused to pay on the basis of it, who pretended they'd never received the item with all sorts of acrobatic disclaimers about being a pensioner (as though that could explain why 70% of their purchased items "never arrived"), and so on.
As buyers, they've probably heard it from sellers who used the "pensioner card" or "disability card" as a special pleading for their being ridiculously late in getting an item posted, in failing to post, in failing to package adequately, in failing to reply to urgent enquiries, etc.
Ergo, they've heard other buyers try to excuse poor behaviour, and other sellers try to excuse poor behaviour, on being a pensioner or being disabled. Now, I'm not speaking of those whose disabilities are so debilitating or of such a nature that buying or selling isn't something they can do adequately (in particular selling - where one has to list, pay fees, work out postage, package, and send, just as a basic quick overview).
The overwhelming history of hearing people on eBay refer to being a pensioner or disabled has engendered in long-time posters on the eBay boards a feeling that all too often being a pensioner/disabled person is being pulled out for special pleading.
Why is this an issue? Because I'd venture to suggest that quite a few long-term board posters could just as easily be saying, "I'm a pensioner too" or "I'm disabled too", and they feel that it's a level playing field in that regard. It doesn't cut any ice when it's offeredup here in explaining the problem.
I understand when someone on a limited and fixed income sells something on eBay and is cheated, they may want to include the information about their difficult financial system or difficult personal situation as causing an aggravation to the injury of being cheated.
I equally understand when someone in those same circumstances buys something on eBay and is cheated, they may want to include that information (usually about limited financial situation, mentioning about how they can't afford to lose the money), in order to express how they can't simply shrug off the loss.
While it's personally heartbreaking or at the very least upsetting for anyone to lose a considerable amount of money through a scam or con, the issue in law is that an individual has been cheated, not the personal or financial situation of the individual.
That all adds up to the inclusion of words such as "pensioner" and "disabled" being perceived as trigger words, a special pleading, when most of the time the remedy doesn't involve the person's personal situation. The remedy is usually a claim via eBay MBG, a PayPal claim, personally contacting eBay CS via "Have us call you" or personally contacting PayPal via phone, lodging a claim through FOS, or initiating a chargeback. I haven't calculated just how many times these steps have been posted, but I know that I - a comparative newcomer on these boards - have macros saved in my eBay forum account just so that I can post the same information over and over again to worried and upset eBay members who come here looking for help.
I personally don't mind anyone posting that they're a pensioner or disabled or both, for various reasons. I perfectly understand why for others it's "eyeroll" information. In a practical sense, it's unnecessary information for the purpose of getting help here.
I also perfectly understand how individuals can wish for a quite costly item whose purchase can only be funded by furious saving, depriving oneself of ordinary things for a considerable time, until finally the funds are there, ready for the purchase
There we are.
In summary, people don't need to mention that they are pensioners or have a disability or even that they can't absorb a loss - at least, not here. By all means use that and anything you can if you have to persuade eBay CS to reverse an unjust decision, but here on the boards, all that is needed is a veritable account of what has happened, with sufficient information for eBay members here to offer useful advice. Most of the time, a satisfactory solution can be found.
*thumbs up*
