Have eBay's recent policy changes done more to erode buyer confidence than to address it?

[pennyforum14]

I have been an eBayer for 15 years, sold for nearly 10, then took a break from selling and only returned a year ago. 

I remember the time when, if a buyer had an issue, the very first thing they would do is contact the seller to see what they could do to fix it.  Since returning to selling on eBay, I am now finding that, not all the time, but all too often, buyers are jumping in and lodging disputes or just going straight to leaving negs, without even bothering to contact the seller to express their dissatisfaction and see what could be done.  Furthermore, they will often not respond to attempts to correct the problem, even when a seller offers a refund. 

I believe this behaviour has been instilled in some buyers by eBay's blatant promotion of the MBG and defect system.  It is far easier to push a button and request a refund through the system, than to write a message to the seller.  Okay, I can understand that part, but what's with the neg thing?  I have seen numerous posts in recent weeks and it has happened to me twice now, where the buyer just goes straight to negative feedback.  The first you know there is a problem is when you see the red dot.  I always contact the buyer, and ask what the problem is and offer a solution, which usually includes the offer of a refund, but on both occasions recently, there has been no response from the buyer.  Why would they not want to accept a refund?  And why are they so keen to jump to negs without contacting the seller first?  Is it because all eBay's so called "buyer safety" measures actually do more to erode buyer's confidence in sellers than to make them feel safer?

Open for discussion......

[thecatspjs]

From what I have seen on the boards I think the changes have eroded confidence of both buyers and sellers as well as sellers that are buyers.

The level of what paranoia about scamming buyers, defects and returns seems to me to be more apparent in the posts by a signficant number of  sellers who are now focused on not getting a defect, rather than taking responsibility for their own selling activity which might be improved by having clearer photos and descriptions.

Even the nature of the advice by some posters has changed, with a few (seemingly to me) very bitter regulars feeding angst and suspicion.

Just all seems to contribute a divide and tension between sellers and buyers that wasn't apparant at such levels on the boards before the introduction of MBG.

*sigh*

[bakeandfry]

Here is something for everyone, its a screen shot of mbg help and contact on phone app, oddly enough i found it in the selling section in help and contact.

[bakeandfry]

Forgot to add, there is no return this item button on the app.

[digital*ghost]

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@mbselections00 wrote:

Why not use TRS to show buyers something more like "we have amazing sellers, you probably won't experience a problem, but if you do, we know they'll look after you" *

*and if by some chance they don't, help is available

Absolutely brilliant idea, love it and it puts a refreshing, confidence boosting image across to the buyer as opposed to them seeing negative, what should be last resort measures, around an issue as they do at the moment - as you mentioned, everywhere you click these days, even when you go to leave Feedback (as a buyer) there are options like  - Return this Item -

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Thank you 🙂 eBay's current marketing strategies have never made much sense to me, I've never understood why they take active steps to minimise the number of sellers that they can call "top rated" or "premium". I mean, in some ways I can understand the "best of the best" promos, but eBay's comes across as 'best of what we've got', as they do little to nothing to instil confidence in their sellers as a whole, don't take serious policy breaches seriously at all from select sellers, and only single out a small percentage of sellers to put their stamp of approval on - some of which is based on following certain marketing strategies and additional services offered, not quality of service provided. 

[lane-ends]

They pushed this Premium seller service, which i bent over backwards to offer. Yet the other day i did a search for a skirt I had just listed. Best match brought it up as item 390 down the list. Guess how many sellers abobve me also had ebay prium service..ONE..Thats all no one else had it, most weren't even top rated..so whats the point?

So ebay dont even reward good service nor recommend it as best for the buyers.

This is why sellers are focusing on defects so thee selling doesn't get restricted as that is actually miore important than TRS

[davewil1964]

TRS is a requirement for premium seller, not the converse.

I don't have Premium for anything, but I'm still TRS.

[englishrosegardens]

You made some good points in your earlier post.

In regard to what you've said about not understanding ebay's marketing strategies, unlike you and I, they've never been interested in the long term, only in short term profits.  At least that appears to be the case, looking at their actions.  When you're ruled by greed it's probably impossible to look at the long term view but will do what ebay have done and kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.  Perhaps they think there are more geese to be had.  There are none running around my yard, nor have I seen any in ebay listings!