SELLERS BEWARE!!! eBay/PayPal deception/rip off

[saustin75]

Firstly I'd like to begin with saying that my selling practices have not changed in the last year-doing exactly has I had successfully done to obtain Top Rated Seller status for.

Now with new policies, it has made my status decline & I'm fed up with loosing such large amounts of money to dishonesty, deception & greed.
Below I will highlight some areas sellers should be absolutely aware of now.

1/ With the new eBay moneyback guarantee it requires ALL ITEMS BE SENT WITH TRACKABLE POSTAGE....PERIOD, to receive seller protection.

If a seller does not send an item via a trackable means of postage, any & every buyer can open a request, even when they have received the item, to claim their money back. Even when the buyer has declined paying for the upgrade to trackable postage. eBay has opened itself up to abuse via dishonesty.

2/ Now I had always offered free postage with several options to upgrade that to a trackable form at the buyers expense, that typically buyers waive at checkout.
eBay receives a fee of that postage amount if a buyer does upgrade which is utterly wrong as eBay do not provide that service at all. eBay already receive a fee from the collection of those funds through PayPal.
Estimated delivery on items is misleading. Countless times I'm asked, 'said my item was to be here <such & such a date>. Australia Post policy states that a standard delivery item can take up to 10 business days. eBay should be following Australia Posts policy, not their atomatically generated 'estimate' which buyers mostly take as being a guarantee of delivery.

3/ Returns: A buyer can now open a returns request. The seller can accept the return. The buyer does not need to return it & can escalate it later to receive a full refund. Appealing this does not gain a result. Buyers do not need to provide tracking of the return.

4/ Below Average Seller status results in PayPal freezing available funds for up to 21 days. The Financial Ombudsman Service www.fos.org.au is eager to hear from all who have this issue.
Simply go to the website, click lodge a dispute (green button to the right), then lodge a dispute button again (green button bottom) & fill out the form.

The only way to increase your status & release funds quicker is to provide tracking numbers.
Funds are released when feedback is received, so PayPal have informed me.
Now a dispute process is already available, so the 'freeze' of funds is unwarranted.

5/ Every request opened becomes a defect on your seller status. ie, your positive rating declines.

6/ Negative or Nuetral feedback when unwarranted or unjustified even when you can prove it, will still not removed when reveiwed by eBay. Basically, as long as there is no profanity, contact information or threats, then a buyer can say whatever untruth they wish without having to worry eBay will reveiw their account.

I have maintained a 1 business day mailing out policy as I have done for over a year now.
Had my great service reflected in the excellent feedback I was receiving. (Yes you'd have those customers who are not satisfied with any solution to a problem & would leave negative or neutral feedback.)
Now since eBay have introduced new policies without prior warnings of the changes, my seller status has dropped to 'below average' even tho I have not changed a thing.
The new moneyback guarantee is to blame.
It has given free reign for all standard mail items sent to be refunded if the buyer opens a request.
Simple solution is to increase the prices, yeah. In theory. eBay is all about the lowest price gets the sale. Increase in my price means I wont get the sale. Bigger stores have better postage deals with Australia Post and therefore can sell cheaper.
The returns request has also been changed & can easily be manipulated. I've had several buyers ask for a return. I accept as I should. Item does not arrive, buyer escalates for review & I have to refund & the buyer keeps the item, no return tracking needed.

Recently I was in hospital for just over 3 weeks. Arranged for someone to maintain the processing of my daily sales. Messages & my PayPal account were not.

Upon coming home, I was fuming to find that both eBay & PayPal had been refunding my money. In PayPal 2 large $$$ trackable purchases marked 'delivered' had been refunded by PayPal because I had not responded to their requests for the tracking information. I appealed and gave the information they had requested. It was rejected as I had not provided the information in the time they had asked for it. in eBay was simply the requests to say the buyer had not received their item. Item packaged & sent. Even if there was an issue like Australia Post loosing an item or unsecure letter boxes, (which I have always replaced at my expense in the past when it occurred), the sharp increase in buyers saying their item has not arrived has to lie with dishonesty. & as the seller, I pay the price.
Yet again, dishonest buyers getting the approval to continue being dishonest without any consequence.

Sellers have no protection unless you spend the $$ to buy tracking.
In my case, I sell items that cost from $10-$30 typically. Cost to send is $1.40-$3.50. Where's the justification in buying postage of $7.20 per item to get tracking? Plus the rediculously high eBay fees on top of that, then PayPal fees. Makes selling the cheaper items (which sell so well), not profitable at all. When sellers in my genre of DVD/Blu ray don't make much on each item sold to begin with.
Australia Post have teamed up with eBay for postage options. Why Australia Post is not doing 'large letter parcel postage' pricing is detrimental to them. Oh, but that's right, Australia Post 'claim' standard mail is not making them money so they want to cut it. Initiatives to increase sales in the standard mail forum would be more beneficial.

Anyway, theres my warning & rant.
Anyone else have views of their own on this sunject?

[crazyplacecostumes]

I think Aussie Post want to push you to send as a parcel. 

Letters they are losing money. Parcels are profitable.

So between Aussie Post not providing tracking until you send as a parcel, or spend the equivilent, and eBay insisting on tracking to cover your butt, Aussie Post get more money and eBay will eventually have bugger all item of low value on here. 

They'll all happy. 

[harley_babes_hoard]

Just curious with your negs for non delivery and your reply is that tracking shows it has been received then that is an out and out lie by the buyer and you should be able to have those negs removed if tracking confirms your comment.

[i-love-my-sheep]

There was also a neg with a reply that the buyer never paid. That should get removed too.

[lyndal1838]

Australia Post needs to take some responsibility for foul ups in the tracking system.

On the 22nd December I paid for an item from a seller in country Victoria.  As I am in Sydney I really did not expect to receive it till the New Year.

It arrived on the 29th December. which I thought was excellent.   When I went to leave feedback I checked the tracking to see exactly when the seller had posted it.

The tracking showed that it was posted in the seller's location on the 22nd December, the day I paid.  BUT it was delivered to another address in Victoria on the 23rd December.   To this day, AP deems my parcel to have been delivered overnight in a different state to where I am.

If I was one of those buyers who checks the tracking on parcels every 5 minutes I would have been asking the seller a few question by the 24th December.   That was one AP foul up that could well have been a disaster for a seller.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

---

@am*3 wrote:

Ever posted a real car, plane or a house to a buyer?

Those items require pick up, physical inspection first, where buyer can inspect them before paying for it.

Excluding large items and others avail for pick up when buyer can inspect item before paying - Bank deposit for a buyer offers no buyer protection if seller is a scammer. That is why buyer must be given an option of a safe payment method as well. 

---

Ever posted a lounge to a buyer or a wardrobe to a buyer....or do you use a courier?....

do you think that just by chance any ebayer has used a courier tio deliver large items that could be inspected and  therefore the buyer had paypal buyer protectioon

The mode of delivery is irrelevant.

How does posting an item make the payment mode safer?

Why does ebay not require "safer' options for the singular trades that have the most monetary value.

How many car carriers tilt tray service links would you like me to put up?

http://www.andrewscarcarriers.com.au/

http://cartransport.automove.com.au/

Why did you write that cars require pick up??

What is the difference between requiring tracking if you use a courier to deliver ebay items not listed in the car bikes

and boats category as opposed to those listed in the car bikes and boats category?

like I said hypocritical replies are the only repliees as to why ebay does not require their self described "safer" options in the section of ebay that requires the most protection

[colic2bullsgirlore]

BTW.. just for the record ,, I have sold oodles of vehicles including cars bikes tractors quads you name it and in many cases

the buyers have not inspected the item but bought remotely and I have freighted the item to them.

It is something I would not personally do. A part of my bricks and mortar business offers vehicle pre purchase inspections

and appraisals for remote buyers and business is booming

it amazes me how people can be so trusting as to transfer 1000s of dollars into anothers bank account and wait for delivery

of their new toy.

[lizzy6107]

Wow, I could see that coming... don't know if it's been brought up here before, but interesting reading..

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/judge-rules-class-action-suit-against-ebay-and-paypal-may-procee...

[marigoldglass]

I sold a piece of jewellery to a new Ebayer in the Philippines. When I took it to Australia Post and asked for insurance on the package, they told me that they would not do that for the Philippines because of the "poor quality of their postal service".  I had no choice but just to send with trackable facility.  Buyer did not get the package and became quite rude and eventually demanded her money back. I gave her the tracking number and it came back as being 'Untrackable".  I took this matter back to Australia Post and they were able to find out that the package had left my area alright, left Brisbane safely for air despatch to the Philippines and then told me after that that they were not able to track further as the item had become 'Untrackable".  I informed Ebay that I had problems with this customer, explaining the situation and of course, the Customer Service number I called in Australia, was located in the Philippines - say no more - they did not help me very much. It all became very distressing when the purchaser got somewhat verbally abusive with her requests to get her bracelet and could not accept that I could do nothing further as I had done my part - honestly posted it, gave her all the details etc., etc.  She started to say I was a nasty woman and demanded that she got her bracelet she had paid for. She just could not understand that it was all out of my hands.  I continued politely to tell her that I could do nothing more about this.  I eventually got a red slash and a nasty comment on my feedback from this person. She called me rude and nasty, when in fact it was her that had that attitude.  I appreciated that she was frustrated she had paid for an item she did not receive but despite giving her all details that I had sent it, she took this action. Ebay will do nothing for me about this negative feedback which has given me a blot on an otherwise good feedback rating of over 12 years.  Their comment was that it was my duty to ensure the purchaser got her item safely.!! Apart from having got on the plane myself to take it, what more had they expected me to do. The frustration is that I did not heed advice about the postal service in the Philippines.!!!  It is an undeniable fact that Ebay NEVER supports the seller 

[auctions-sydney-australia]

If you read on the Paypal website about seller protection it clearly states as long as you send by one of the approved methods.

I sent an item by registered international post. This type of shipping is not trackable and i  had no OTHER choice as that country did not have a tracking system in place and did not axcept track and pack.

Paypal does not mention anywhere that a Tracking number is a must.

NOW EBAY IS TRYING TO TELL ME I NEED TO PROVE IT WAS DELIVERED WELL I'M SORRY EBAY BUT THATS NOT WHAT THE PAYPAL SELLER PROTECTION POLICY STATES.

Ohh yeah buyer was a brand spanking new member. Suss ha.

See the image attached its the latest.

[cq_tech]

Paypal will also accept as proof of shipping, a photograph of the letter or parcel which clearly shows the name and full postal address of the addressee as well as dated and cancelled or postmarked stamps or Australia Post's computer-generated "postage paid" sticker affixed to the article.

This clearly satisfies Paypal's "proof of shipping" as specified in their Terms and Conditions and has been verbally verified on a number of occasions by Paypal's own service representatives.

Ebay are yet to follow suit but given that under Australian Law, a postal article is deemed to have been delivered the moment it has been passed from the sender to the carrier, it matters little what eBay's Terms and Conditions state because nothing they say can abrogate Australian Law.