eBay reporting options suck

[r4vi]

I take issue with eBay's options for reporting.

I report a fair number of items every month.  I do this due to listing violations such as offering a vehicle for sale and "reserve the right to end this auction as it is for sale elsewhere" - which is a direct violation of the seller agreement.

I bought an item which did not come in the configuration listed in the item description.  How the hell do I report this?  How do I make eBay aware of the inaccuracy and misleading nature of the item description?

Do eBay care in the least?

I find a lot of problems with items where I KNOW the information provide is contradictory, misleading or fraudulent.  If I report them, I have no chance to leave a comment as to WHY they are such, I have to leave it up to the eBay "investigation team" to make a deliberation without them having the knowledge that I have.

I'm expected to pick from a few dropdown lists, and then leave it up to eBay.  Which invariably results in NOTHING happening.

I reported an engine I saw listed as "will bolt into a Pajero with no modifications or changes" - it was a Mitsubishi motor, but to fit it to a Pajero would require a LOT of changes, including a custom made sump.  I contacted the seller and they ignored me, so I reported it to eBay.  But they don't know the seller is incorrect, and they didn't contact me to find out why I listed it.  End result?  The seller sold his engine, probably to a Pajero owner, who just bought a motor that will cost them a small fortune to adapt to fit.

I won a BA Falcon XR6 Turbo in an eBay auction for $10000.  The seller straight afterwards contacted me and told me he wanted $14000 or I couldn't have it.  It ended up that we talked on the phone and he told me he sold it and so "sucked in" and "you are in another state so you can't touch me".  I reported him, tried to take the seller to task through eBay, and they did NOTHING, including allowing the person to continue on eBay with no penalty.  I'm actually glad as I found out the car was two halves of two cars stuck together to do a dodgy to get past the writeoff register but that's not the point.

I see dodgy stuff all the time.  I see people ripped off and try to get fair recompense after the fact, where eBay should have been able to stop it occurring in the first place.

It's very frustrating.  I go out of my way to be the best community member I can be, including looking out for other people by trying to do something about the liars and charlatans.  But at the end of the day, a lot of sellers on eBay think they can hide behind anonymity, or demanding you pay their PayPal fees, or lying, or even physical threats.  And eBay do NOTHING about these people.  At least in my experience.

I have basic rights under Australian statutory law.  Whether you are a professional seller or someone selling something for the first time, how about treating people with respect and giving them those rights?

"Oh the item is faulty - send it back and we will send you a replacement, but you have to pay return postage" - guess what?  Fair Trading say this is BS.  But it happens THOUSANDS of times a day.

Listen here matie - if you send me an item that is not fit for purpose, is not as described, or has a manufacturing fault, it is YOUR responsibility.  I DO NOT CARE if you paying for return postage and sending out a new one wipes out your profit.  That's NOT my problem.

If it's damaged in transit, it is YOUR responsibility to take it up with the courier/postal service, not mine.  YOU paid the company to courier it/post it, not me.  Therefore YOU have the contract with that service provider, not me.  YOU get the money back for yourself, and YOU refund me or take the item back and take it up with the courier.

I honestly DO NOT CARE if your "policy" is this that or the other.  That's a business/operational decision and is not backed by law.

If I'm being a prat of a buyer and not giving you your fair share, or being painful, well then I'm being a prat.  But I'm not.  You resolve the issue and I'll be happy.  You tell the truth and I'll be happy.  You take responsibilty and I'll be happy.  If I'm wrong, I will admit it and openly apologise.

I'm sick and tired of the blatant lies, fraud, misrepresentation, inappropriate terms, extortion, fraud, deliberate flaunting of responsibilities and breaches of seller terms.  Right now I could confidently assert that more than 20% of all items listed and/or sold on eBay AU breach one OR MORE terms of eBay.

[davewil1964]

If you don't like it, don't bid.

It might pay to remember that a lot of sellers (buyers too) probably don't consider themselves members of a community - they consider themselves sellers (or buyers) on a platform called eBay. A lot of the bigger sellers have as much as possible automated and wouldn't consider spending any more time than necessary maintaining their listings. Especially if they are relying on high volume low margin sales.

Part of the problem is undoubtedly eBay providing member boards. This tends to give people the impression that eBay is more than just an online marketplace. Which is all it really is. With a population of more than some countries and all the different types that inhabit groups of that size, so hardly a community, except for the small subsets who use the boards regularly.

How high are you prepared to go in fees for eBay to scrutinise every one of the many million listings here? 99%? 75%? 50%? I doubt it would be much less. Imo, it IS logistically impossible, and caveat emptor. Yippee ki yay.

[r4vi]

And that reply is a perfect example of the problem.

Gotta love capitalism - excuse me, I need to go throw up.

What are you doing on this forum if you think it's "part of the problem" - seriously?

[davewil1964]

I don't have a problem. I was attempting to give you an objective view of the place, but as it obviously doesn't fit your paradigm, feel free to reject what I wrote without thinking about what was written.

That is part of the problem, too. People who have their own ideas about how the place should be run and who won't countenance any dissenting views.

If you want to change eBay, buy enough shares to have a voice in management.

[2106greencat]

Except that "most decent sellers will offer to do this" - I guess this means there aren't many DECENT sellers on eBay.

r4vi - stop nit picking. I said most decent sellers will offer to do this and in no way was that even remotely suggesting there are not many decent sellers on eBay - this was your take on it

I guess this means there aren't many DECENT sellers on eBay.

If you seriously don't believe eBay is the place to find decent sellers, then instead of continually harping on about it here, you should purchase elsewhere. JMO :8}

[***super_nova***]

If it's logistically impossible to do anything about it, if it just CAN'T be policed, well fine - then let's just accept it's a free for all, wild west style.

eBay is trying to do the right thing to protect sellers & buyers, but it will never be perfect or foolproof, nothing ever is. Can you see that they cannot act just on report of one person?  Then it would be really like wild west, with people reporting their competitors.  Tell me, how do you imagine a person somewhere half way across the world could decided if an item is really what the seller says it is?  Unless you want eBay staff accompanied by experts, knocking on people's doors and examining each item.

If item is not as described, it can be sent back, and all pick up items such as cars, you can walk away if you inspect them and decide that it is not as described.  It is not any different than buying from local papers.  Buying such things as secondhand engines will always be problematic; remember when my student daughter bought a reconditioned engine for her car, and it lasted exactly 32 days (it had 1 month warranty) and the guy would not even talk to us.  😞

[phorum_junkie*]

Except that "most decent sellers will offer to do this" - I guess this means there aren't many DECENT sellers on eBay.

Not at all, it just means you have not purchased from the decent sellers. There are a lot of us who will pay return postage if we want an item returned and it is faulty.

I mostly sell clothes and if it is something like a split seam on a new item or a stain I missed on a second hand one I will ask for a photo, if one is provided then if I think I can repair it and sell it for more than the cost of return postage I send them a satchel to return it in, if I don't think it is worth the cost of return I just refund and tell them to keep it.

It is very difficult for ebay to act as judge and jury if something is reported as being fake or not as described unless it is something as obvious as apples being advertised as oranges. They do not have access to the item and cannot have an expert on hand for every single one of the many thousands of categories and sub-categories. Think of a listing more like a classified in the local paper.

Manufacturers can get listings removed in a nano second if they are in the VERO program so, other than cars, contact the manufacturer if you see fakes, if they can't be bothered to do anything about it then how can you expect ebay to?

With cars it is no different to buying one out of the paper or seeing it for sale on the roadside, you get it checked out and make sure all is as it should be before you pay for it and you take it away. 

[*crikey*mate*]

I take issue with sellers (usually private) stating that even though you have already bid on an item, that they can pull the item because they took an offer from someone else.

Unfortunately, the law says that an item can be withdrawn from sale at any time before acceptance occurs. The contract is not formed until the Acceptance occurs. (I think eBay says they can withdraw items up until 12 hours before end of auction - but I'm not positive on that bit)

The advertisement or actual auction is an Invitation to treat.

Your bid is the offer

The seller has the right to either accept or reject your offer.\

Acceptance must be communicated

In an auction, acceptance occurs at/ is communicated by the fall of the hammer, or in the case of electronic auctions, when the clock expires.

By withdrawing an item from sale before the end of the auction - the seller has rejected your offer, which he is legally allowed to do.

[*crikey*mate*]

"I bought an item which did not come in the configuration listed in the item description.  How the hell do I report this?  How do I make eBay aware of the inaccuracy and misleading nature of the item description?"

Don't you just go to the resolution centre and open up an "item not as described" claim?

[*crikey*mate*]

Do eBay care in the least?

NO.

"Oh the item is faulty - send it back and we will send you a replacement, but you have to pay return postage" - guess what?  Fair Trading say this is BS.  But it happens THOUSANDS of times a day.

Listen here matie - if you send me an item that is not fit for purpose, is not as described, or has a manufacturing fault, it is YOUR responsibility.  I DO NOT CARE if you paying for return postage and sending out a new one wipes out your profit.  That's NOT my problem.

I understand where you are coming from, but if you buy an item from a B&M store and get it home only to find it faulty etc - do you charge them for your petrol that it cost you to go back to the store to exchange it?

Where does Fair Trading say this is BS?

 YOU paid the company to courier it/post it, not me.

Actually - it's the buyer who pays for the postage/delivery - the seller is just acting as an agent on your behalf.

[*crikey*mate*]

If you don't like it, don't bid.

It might pay to remember that a lot of sellers (buyers too) probably don't consider themselves members of a community - they consider themselves sellers (or buyers) on a platform called eBay. A lot of the bigger sellers have as much as possible automated and wouldn't consider spending any more time than necessary maintaining their listings. Especially if they are relying on high volume low margin sales.

Part of the problem is undoubtedly eBay providing member boards. This tends to give people the impression that eBay is more than just an online marketplace. Which is all it really is. With a population of more than some countries and all the different types that inhabit groups of that size, so hardly a community, except for the small subsets who use the boards regularly.

How high are you prepared to go in fees for eBay to scrutinise every one of the many million listings here? 99%? 75%? 50%? I doubt it would be much less. Imo, it IS logistically impossible, and caveat emptor. Yippee ki yay.

At the end of the day - eBay is basically a cyber shopping centre and eBay are the centre managers.

They provide a "shopping centre" from which you can rent/lease a space to sell your stuff.

They have some overarching rules so that all lessees can exist in harmony with an end goal of making it into a "shopping centre" that people (buyers) want to visit - cos business says that the more buyers a shopping centre attracts, the more sellers/shop owners there are who want to open a shop there - and thus the more they can charge for the service of providing the seller with a place to sell. (I'm pretty sure that you will find that the places with cheaper fees have less traffic)

eBay is a business - their business is to supply a platform from which a person can sell their products - their goal is to make money - the majority of people enter into a business situation with that goal.

(Can't remember why I quoted you Dave, but my response was for the OP - but it seems I'm pretty much saying what you did LOL)

*blushes*