Ebay is now allowing buyer to print their own return labels on their own and then ebay will bill you. They also need no permission to return anything, so "as-is" is pretty much a dead thing on ebay. Also, they now have permission (new tos) to take up to several thousand off your listed credit card or bank, and then send you to collections for the rest. Ebay seems to think it is amazon, but forget they are a marketplace for people's used stuff.
Wow. EBay has really started to be pretty terrible to dedicated sellers. I used to buy and sell alot more than I do now but after they took the ability to leave feedback as a seller it all started going down hill.
Being a Seller on ebay is pretty rough. eBay only cares about bulk sellers, so a lot of the stuff is Chinese junk now. Since ebay is really only worthwhile for high volume sellers a lot of the really neat unique stuff individuals (who are not stores) used to post for sale are gone. If you think eBay is bad though... wait till you see Paypal.
Both are the same shit. With PP's frequently changing TOS (and always to the worse for the majority of users), it's not surprising they are the same company. What amazes me is that no other online marketplace of competitive size has emerged yet.
Do EBay actually do anything good? Everytime i read something it's about them just making the service worse. As for paypal, well they came up with some wacky bull shit for Asian users the other week regarding refunds where they can actually charge you or something like that. I couldn't even be arsed reading it.
Ebay works on trust, and the fact that something like 97% of people are honest; it is their business model and seems to pretty much work. I've bought and sold a total of something like about 2500 items over the years, had a handful of occasions when people claim to not receive when they have, but that is not really different to shoplifters in a store, there are a minority of arseholes out there who want to spoil a party at their own perceived gain. Ebay and PayPal are expensive to use, but they are the de-facto choice, so selling elsewhere is fine but you're still better off as your audience is wider. Private sellers have less penalties involved, like you can refuse to allow returns as you're not a business seller, if it's in your listing as "no returns" and you're a private lister, then a buyer has to accept that as terms of their bidding in the first place. Unfortunately: Some buyers are liars and claim to not receive when they have, or if you send something recorded they claim you didn't send the right thing or an empty box (i've heard of such happenings), which means you're screwed as a seller as if you send untracked they can say they haven't received it, and if they sign for it, "I got a brick in a box" so they still con you; that means there is little point paying for tracking as if someone wants to screw you they can easily. Some sellers probably do send out inferior goods to what is listed, or not at all, so buyers need to have protection of course. Problem is you either tally to the buyer as default or seller as default, neither is the right decision; ebay sides with the buyer so they can look professional and good to the buyer; however at the detriment of sellers, who rely on the 97% of people who are honest, to be so. If that fails, people stop selling on ebay, then there is less to buy.
eBay is bullshit, there's so much fees going on it's frustrating. They changed the way you can list, with policies now it's harder to list than usual. It favors the buyers only really... If you're a powerseller it's pretty much a given you'll win any case.
I got this email a few days ago: "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This summer, seller performance standards are being updated to reward those sellers most responsible for keeping buyers on eBay. Starting with the regularly scheduled monthly seller evaluation on August 20, a new measurement, your transaction defect rate, will replace the current four detailed seller rating requirements used to evaluate your seller performance. Your defect rate is simply the percentage of your transactions over the most recent evaluation period with one or more of the top predictors that a buyer will leave eBay or purchase less, such as an opened eBay Money Back Guarantee case, a return because the item wasn't as described, or negative or neutral feedback. The good news for you: As of the last seller evaluation on February 20, your defect rate is projected to meet the new 5% maximum expected of eBay sellers when the new standards take effect on August 20. A low defect rate is important because it indicates that your buyers consistently receive the item they expect, when they expect it. Buyers won't see your defect rate, but in general, the lower your defect rate, the better your position in Best Match search results, so it's well worth the effort to lower it even more. I encourage you to get familiar with the new performance standards—especially the tips for maintaining a low defect rate." It looks like they are implementing a new feedback system. Anything new from ebay doesn't sound good to me. I have only been surprised by ebay once. I sold an as-is iphone and the buyer said it wasn't as described. I received the phone back in a very clearly altered state. Ebay refunded the buyer and me out of they're pocket. They suck for the most part but will help you once in a while. [/FONT]
And here it is, the weekly ebay rant ... just don't use ebay if you don't like it. Ebay's capital are it's buyers not it's sellers. Even though the seller pay them their income, the buyers are the honey pot and you the seller is the prey. Ebay's business plan is not to make you rich but to earn money for themselves and their shareholders. Therefore ebay will always be biased towards the buyer. Oh look who is doing it right ... ebay.
The return service has started sometime last year, and it is only true (afaik) if you have opt into eBay's hassle free return. They definitely favor high volume sellers and can be very hard to remain a top rated seller depending on the type of goods you are selling. Their top rated seller grace period was a nice addition though.
If you're a casual personal seller, it isn't relevant like it is for business users who use ebay as their revenue. 100% feedback is nice (I have that), but isn't important, after all some muppets will lie about not getting stuff, or i've heard will sometimes try to threaten you with reducing your price or whatever or they'll leave bad feedback - those idiots you either pamper to or "yeah, whatever, don't steal from me". Yes, they are expensive, I think it's something like about 17% fee for end listing, PayPal fees. Worst thing though is they make you agree to unreasonable terms if you want to sell outside your country - which is why I only sell to UK now, not prepared to agree to those terms.
Speaking as a buyer because of these restrictions we're seeing a high number of 100% or 99% transaction sellers because the item has to be working and shipped promptly. Compared to when ebay was first starting less fraudulent sellers are listing. Buyers are getting their goods that they pay for. Lets say I try Amazon because I feel they are treating sellers badly on ebay (I understand the policies suck for them on ebay). On Amazon your average satisfaction rate on a seller is like 95%. Why would I buy from some seller with a low percentage when I can go on ebay and get an item guaranteed from a high feedback seller? Unless theres another marketplace in the US for used goods its logical to stick with ebay.
Business is Business This is 2014 and nobody gives a shit unfortunately. Things are just getting worse year by year.
When I used to sell and ebay disallowed other forms of payment like money orders, it killed half my sales. Then the God dammed fees began pilling up with Paypal's fees and final value fees. Selling something for $20 with free ship equals you get $6 after all is said and done. I still buy off ebay occasionally when good deals can be made, but I try and stick to sites I can trust members on like here.
Well now people will simply begin blackmailing sellers. Hello, we bought 22 items, enough to bring your feedback below the minimum defect rate. Please pay $1500 USD to the above address in bitcoin or with a credit card or we will submit the fatal to your account feedback within 48 hours.
That would be fine, if there were any valid alternatives to eBay, which there aren't. There's Craigslist, but that's really only good for local stuff. So they basically have a monopoly in the online marketplace. That's why it matters that they keep making new idiotic policies. I'm not sure that the buyers are the only ones getting perks. Have you seen how much some stuff goes for on eBay? It's amazing that people buy it at all.
Sounds horrible, maybe ill stay at AG for buying my games and Dev consoles. (Taobao changed a bit aswell, so I dont know where to get my goodies and help onnest small sellers)
Looks like Yahoo Japan Auctions are the only ones that don't rape you in the ass no matter if you're the seller or buyer. There are fees but they're not so bad. We can also pay by whatever means we see fit.
