Is this true?

[stampingpaws]

eBay is a community that encourages open and honest communication among all its members.

Our community is guided by five fundamental values:

• We believe people are basically good.

• We believe everyone has something to contribute.

• We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people.

• We recognise and respect everyone as a unique individual.

• We encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.

eBay is firmly committed to these principles. And we believe that community members should also honour them—whether buying, selling, or chatting with eBay friends.

[lyndal1838]

It used to be when ebay first started but I would hazard a guess that there a lot of members out there now who would vehemently disagree with the good Pierre.

[harley_babes_hoard]

as Lyndal said it used to be before ebay lost their way

[lane-ends]

Thats the theory but official disrespect by Ebay itself has spread down the line.  The lack of respect and trust of the sellers for the site is now flowing onto to the buyers, who as a result are distrustful of the site as a whole., and deserting it.

In short the ideal has been corrupted from the top down.

There is a simmering anger which reacts babdly to patronizing plattitudes.

The result is everyone is finger pointing everyone else. It is bringing out the worst in people. as it does in any business the looks like its heading for the wall.

I know I knee jerk react in a way I never used to, and regret it later

[clarry100]

We definitley have our exit stragtegies in place now. We only hope we can grow those other selling venues before this one totally implodes.

Early indicators are looking good for us.

eBay sure does appear to be heading in that implosive direction. We are getting verbal feedback from some of our buyers and others who say that they no longer trust ebay to buy from and will actively look for alternatives these days. About 60% of our sales are from returning customers who have found they can trust us to do the right thing by them. Those we are gradually migrating to our other venues.

We rarely buy there any more but rather look to find the same product elsewhere. And usually find it at a better price too.

We have had trouble sifting thru the 1000's of Chinese sellers peddling junk to find the right things. And even some of those falsely list their items as being located in Australia but when you receive it 6-weeks later you find it covered in Chinese postmarks. Such a terrible place to try and buy now.

[springyzone]

The ebay managers would believe this is their goal, but as others have said, sometimes the ebay experience is not all it should be.

Evidence that ebay does see open communication as a goal is the very fact that they have community chat boards. Not every online buying site has that.

Ebay is (I believe) under siege to some extent & I believe a lot of the changes, even the bad changes, have come about in an effort to tighten up transactions, to make them safer, to cut out problems.

I've been on ebay now for about 15 years, I think it must be. When I first joined, there was 2 way feedback, yes, but money either got paid into a bank deposit or else maybe you could pick up an item. There was no paypal. 95% of transactions went well but there is absolutely no doubt that some sellers ripped off customers. I had a couple of bad experiences where a seller had good feedback, I paid but never received the goods & the seller didn't answer messages. Then you would see their bad feedback build up all of a sudden and they would be kicked off ebay. It didn't help though with the disappointment and the fact you were out of pocket.

It was basically a matter of trust on ebay. You paid and had to trust the seller would do the right thing-feedback was important in that respect but not infallible.

Ebay had to address that at some stage because the competition with other online websites has built up & customers expect to receive the goods if they pay.

I believe that is why paypal came into play and I think it is probably why they have this ebay money back guarantee etc, to reassure buyers.

Now that those things are in place though, I think the need for feedback comments is not as important as it once was.

Things are now weighted more towards buyers, so the seesaw isn't balanced.

I'm sure we will see other changes some time soon-automatic payment expected on buy it now, for instance, and a sale not completed till payment is made. That would cut out a lot of problem bidders who never pay and hold up transactions for days.

Nothing stays the same and ebay is changing a lot from what it used to be-a place where a lot of items were just from home sellers.

[unique_pre-driven]

Hi Clarry, yes I read your post the other day about trying down the road at bETsy as you called it. Lots of noise from them as of late. All quite good, but as with all these sites, they have their quiet times.

[mbselections00]

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@stampingpaws wrote:

eBay is a community that encourages open and honest communication among all its members.

Our community is guided by five fundamental values:

• We believe people are basically good.

• We believe everyone has something to contribute.

• We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people.

• We recognise and respect everyone as a unique individual.

• We encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.

eBay is firmly committed to these principles. And we believe that community members should also honour them—whether buying, selling, or chatting with eBay friends.

---

The values certainly remain true for me, and I think for most members (buyers, sellers & those who post on the boards) in that WE have remained committed to these principles - let' face it,  they are pretty simple & basic & are a great set of fundamental values that I have always applied to life in general not just eBay.

So, as mentioned by others, whilst I agree in part, I think eBay themselves are the ones who have thrown these values to the wind, as is clearly indicated by their own actions and treatment of members (particularly their blatant disrespect of Sellers)

[mbselections00]

. . . . . . . . .  I'm sure we will see other changes some time soon-automatic payment expected on buy it now, for instance, and a sale not completed till payment is made. That would cut out a lot of problem bidders who never pay and hold up transactions for days. . . . . . . . .

Don't like to say it springy, because I hate to disagree and I can see benefits, but I would absolutely hate to see this happen.  There are already so many problems with the cart and phone users being forced to pay as they buy which eliminates their ability to receive combined post by paying on one invoice.  It may work well for sellers who mainly sell 1 off type items or big ticket items, or those who are comfortable offering FREE Post, but I don't fall into any of those categories.  It would mean more of what I have to do now - ie constantly issue refunds for overpaid postage and/or message buyers asking what they would like as compensation.

Just my thoughts though, I'm sure there are many sellers who would love it, but they already have the option to stipulate instant payment, so I just hope we get a choice.  Perhaps the solution is to shorten the time before an UIDispute can be opened & likewise closed.  I actually give buyers 5 days to pay to encourage multiple buys and it has worked to my advantage on many occasions, but mine are low value items and also not usually one-offs, so I guess I can afford to wait.  I get very few Unpaids.  My situation is like many other sellers and at the same time, totally different to others - so I guess what I'm saying is, in this instance 'One size does not necessarily fit ALL'

[saarzi]

Just a note -  these values are directed toward the Ebay COMMUNITY - buyers and sellers and their friends, not the company itself.

This is how they want YOU to behave.  

Ebays values / vision for the COMPANY 'Ebay', and their employees, are HERE.

1 – DELIVER GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE (customers as in buyers, obviously)
2 – EMBRACE AND DRIVE CHANGE

3 – CREATE FUN, BE DIFFERENT

4 – BE ADVENTUROUS, OPEN-MINDED, CREATIVE

5 – PURSUE GROWTH AND LEARNING

6 – BUILD OPEN AND HONEST RELATIONSHIPS

7 – COMMUNICATE!

8 – POSITIVE TEAM

9 – FAMILY SPIRIT

10 – DO MORE STRESS LESS

11 – PASSION AND DETERMNATION

12 – BE HUMBLE

13 – BE RESPECTFUL AND GRATEFUL

Also, their mission statement -

Global Commerce Leadership
We provide a robust platform where merchants of all sizes can compete and win.

Mobile
We pioneer new ways for consumers to shop and pay from any connected device

Innovation
We drive technology advancements that will deliver the next generation of commerce

Consumer Experience
We empower consumers to buy and sell anything, anytime, anywhere"