@casbit33 wrote:
[...] They are well below the poverty line - like me and cannot afford a store either. these people also have mental health problems. now i will have to tell them that i cannot list their items any more. one has spoken of suicide, and this could tip him over the edge. I will have to have a medical team and an ambulance on stand by when i tell them. So i think i have a right to be disgruntled. You don't know other people's situation, but you certainly don't mind shooting them down.
Unfortunately, the reality is that eBay are a business and want to make money, and however their business model plays out in terms of small sellers, those issues won't affect eBay's corporate decisions, or the direction taken by eBay's Board of Directors, management team, executives...
That can sound hard. It can be devastating for small sellers. It has been devastating for sellers for years, as eBay's direction changed and some sellers found themselves booted off unceremoniously and given indefinite suspensions for things that are - frankly - ridiculous.
Every single time a policy change has come about which potentially or actually affected sellers negatively, there has been an outcry and a host of posts saying that this is the end of eBay and that it will make buyers leave in droves. This is probably why many long-time posters on the eBay Community Boards will regard such posts with scepticism. The sellers who remain are those who have somehow been able to roll with the punches. Some have changed product lines; some have instituted changes in the way they carry out their business on eBay; some have invested in building up their own web presence in addition to selling on eBay (to avoid all their eggs being in one basket).
The cold hard truth is that if you (and I mean "you" generically, as in any seller) rely entirely on eBay with policies and promotions and procedures as at a particular stage of eBay's existence, you are doing business in an unrealistic fashion. Things don't remain static, and further changes are coming. You have to be able to adapt! That means staying abreast of changes (always reading the Seller Updates and the ludicrously-named Health Reports, etc.) and being ready to change what you do if it's necessary.
Long-time eBayers know this and are pragmatic about it.
Then there's the issue of your discussing the mental health of those for whom you sell... There are several reasons why some long-time eBay members don't post a great many sympathising words of comfort when someone posts about being on a pension, being disabled, having mental health problems, being in poor health, etc. (It's got its own name, disheartening as that may seem - "pulling the disability card".)
- Sometimes (not always, but sometimes) mention of such things has been posted by people wanting special consideration on the basis of their health or age or other situation - as buyers wanting freebies or extra things, as sellers excusing not posting, as eBay members posting on the boards to excuse certain behaviours or expectations, and so on;
- Those posting about these issues may be doing so as though eBay must comply with their wants (and it would be lovely to see eBay truly caring about their members, but sadly that simply is not the case);
- Those posting about these issues seem largely to do so in the apparent assumption that the long-time posters here don't have their own health/disability/financial issues (about which those long-time posters are largely silent) - but the truth is that there are many posters here who have serious problems that cause immense difficulties for them. (I am not going to name names; they have their right to privacy.) These posters feel that private issues should for the most part remain private, and that those issues don't have a bearing on eBay's policies, and shouldn't prevent them from somehow managing to adapt when eBay's policies or procedures or promotions change.
- Sympathy on these eBay Community Boards may feel nice to receive. However, is that going to help with a policy change? (No.) I would tend to offer my own replies with a velvety soft syntax, but if my posts were only outpourings of "Oh no, that's so disgusting and horrible; how dare eBay behave like that; you have all my sympathy", my posts would be both long and useless. To survive on eBay, you honestly could do no better than to take in the advice and experience of the many long-time posters here, because they are survivors above all. They know that the start of survival on eBay is to know the policies back to front and inside out and upside down. Without that knowledge, you can't strategise. If the advice is given softly and sweetly, fine - but if it's given bluntly and without any sugar-coating, please take that too because the advice itself is what can save you.
- If there is a way forward, you have a much higher chance of discovering it through these boards than through talking to eBay CS reps, especially low-ranking and poorly-informed eBay CS reps.
Please don't misinterpret this post. I'm sympathetic, but that butters no parsnips. eBay aren't going to reinstate a promotion on the basis of your wanting it or needing it - wouldn't it be lovely if things worked that way? (But they don't...) If there are solutions to help you, the people here really are the best resource you have.
Best of luck.
