Question for DigitalGhost or PhorumJunkie.....

[5kazam]

.....as you both appear to know the ins and outs of eBays Site Map, T&C's, etc., can you please help me out here.

I am trying to close an eBay account.  There is no money owing, I've transferred all unsold listings elsewhere, so the ID has nothing there.

I ACTUALLY READ about closing an eBay account, and clicked on the little blue link 'Close your Account' > Request to Close your Account - which only took me to Customer Support.  <To help us connect you with the right Agent , blah, blah - and all the Selling options.  But there is nothing within those options about closing an account.

Is there something I'm missing, or do I actually have to contact CS to organize this?  I figured it'd be quicker to get an answer from one of you than have to ring CS!!

BTW, I understand that an account is not immediately closed, however, I do want to get the wheels in motion.

Your assistance to get me out of here will be greatly appreciated.

[5kazam]

Lou, I think it a case of each to their own, but this is MY summation of eBay for what it's worth.

I don't like the 'atmosphere' that is pervading eBay. 

I don't like the draconian approach taken against honest sellers for minor infractions of the 'rules'.  

I don't like the blind eye turned to scammers, shill bidders - let them go on their merry way, whilst everyone else gets drawn and quartered.

I don't like that eBay has given itself permission to steal sellers items and money.

...and let's not forget PayPal.  Whilst its 180 day policy doesn't affect Australia YET, it won't be long.

I am electing to not sell on eBay whilst my record here is 100% intact.

I choose to not have to watch my back, or sleep with one eye open waiting for the 'defects' to get me.

I have a preference to leave here voluntarily, rather than the eBay 'you're fired'.

I consider my decision to be an 'offensive' approach, rather than have to be continually on the 'defensive' - something I don't have the time or intestinal fortitude to put up with.

I won't close this ID for some time, as these boards will make for very interesting reading in the coming months.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I don't think you'll be the only one making that decision 5K. I've usually always had the 'whatever' attitude to policy changes, but this new 180 day one is really pushing the friendship. Most of my items can't be broken or worn once and then not wanted again, but who knows? Who knows how the buyers will think?

Will items now sit in the purchase history for 180 days if not manually archived, instead of 60? Will that "if you have a problem do something about it before such and such a date" appear leading up to the 180 day cut off whereby buyers might be prompted to try their luck at getting their money back?

I bought a few items a few weeks back to list, to try and draw attention to the items I already had, but I won''t be doing that again. Once this stuff is gone, I'll be heading out the door with you I'm afraid. I did actually think for awhile I might start buying stuff to resell, but I won't be doing that now. It's just not worth the risk.

I probably won't close my account down, but will probably close my selling account. Having a buying account might be useful. Occasionally there are things I can get on here that I can't buy locally in B&M. Sometimes I can buy it locally, but it's far cheaper to buy on here (like some car parts).

It would be interesting to get official numbers of people who actually stop selling come November. I believe eBay has made a noose for themselves.

[cmcoins2000]

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@i-love-my-sheep wrote:

It would be interesting to get official numbers of people who actually stop selling come November. I believe eBay has made a noose for themselves.

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Interestingly I had a look at QS yesterday.

Items for sale were approx 1,750,000

A couple of months ago they hovered around 1,000,000 - just under.

Think that will grow.

[5kazam]

Yes it would be interesting to get official numbers - which would be an impossibility, given that the majority of sellers don't come to these boards.

But I would put money on heaps and heaps of them quietly making contingency plans right now.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I'm just glad I have a regular job. I really feel for those where this is their full time job. They will be screwed monumentally and that's wrong. They've put their heart and soul into their business, only to be shafted like this.

It will be even harder for the older folk because so many will be seen as 'unemployable'. I know how hard it is to get a job when you're over 30 in this town, I'd imagine it being even harder in some other places. Everyone wants the youngsters because they're cheaper to pay. Then there's the issue of people having this as their job for many years, only to be rejected for regular jobs because they have no 'recent experience'.

[5kazam]

...I really feel for those where this is their full time job. They will be screwed monumentally and that's wrong. They've put their heart and soul into their business, only to be shafted like this....

Not only their heart and soul, but many have invested BIG $'s into their businesses.

[clarry100]

This is soooo "us" ...sheep...

I am over 60. I lost my job 18-months ago, luckily to redundancy, so we got some breathing space while we figured out what to do.

My wife is Chinese and smart at business so she decided she wanted to give ebay a try. She had been dabbling a bit for 2-years before my redundancy happened. But then she ramped it up.

It has been our mainstay (just!) since I was made redundant. I've been looking for work and cannot even land a voluntary job. Even they have "nothing going". As soon as they learn I'm over 60 interest wanes.

So we are concerned now that no matter how hard we try to be good sellers since this could be our livelihood, that we may just get squeezed out by the ebay regime.

We've been tinkering with getting our own web site running for 6-months now. So that will have to speed up and get running now we think.

At the moment we can still make something out of it so will keep on trying until we can no longer remain viable here or they suddenly DEFECT or REFUND us out of existence.

The selling restrictions we got the other day (refer other thread) for listing in the wrong category have worried us. Seems now that we may be treated badly simply because we are not one of the protected species. Many other O/S sellers get away with the very same thing we have been hammered for.

Certainly the shine of selling and making some kind of living on here is declining for us. We need an exit strategy, and that will have to be the web site.

I too, wonder how many other sellers are feeeling this way.

I just cannot understand why the ebay management folk would think that putting so much pressure on the sellers makes good business sense. From where I sit it looks crazy to do this. In time the shareholders will speak with their feet. But it may be too late then.

[cezm]

Unfortunately 720,000+ of those items are from one large bookseller. Smaller sellers have difficulty getting a look in ... and buyers are still scarce ...

[robinsonmarineparts]

My concern with the new 180 day return policy is,  technically the money you receive from buyers is not your's until you can be certain that there will be no claim (s) made against you.

Lets say your turn over is $20.000 p/m, thats 6 lots of $20.000 dollars you have tied up, mean time Ebay is still taking there cut of you $20.000 monthly turn over.

That's why we all need to start looking else where. imo.