eBay Rant

[Melanie]

A couple of weeks ago I sold an item to a woman who purchased said item for her son's birthday, which happens to be today.

Clearly stated in my auction was that the item would be sent parcel post, which according to the USPS, it may take up to 10 business days to be delivered.

The buyer paid for the item on 12 Sept (Sat), and I mailed it out on 14 Sept (Mon). Buyer did not purchase insurance. I didn't offer tracking, and she didn't request it (maybe that was my mistake? :confused: ). On the 19th, buyer contacted me to see if I had mailed the package, and I relayed that I had. On the 22nd buyer again inquired, and at that point I told her that without tracking or insurance, I had no way of knowing what was going on, but that the 10 day period wasn't up yet.

Yesterday, the buyer placed a 'claim' on me via PayPal, and PayPal took the funds out of my account. I was livid! :mad: Again, 10 business days from the 14th would be either today or Monday (depending if you count the 14th as one of the days).

I submitted my postal receipt and my side of the story to PayPal to hopefully resolve this quickly. The buyer has yet to respond after I submitted everything yesterday. :rolleyes:

I absolutely understand her wanting to get the item to give to her son on his birthday, but am I wrong to wonder why she didn't plan accordingly in the first place and make sure her time period would be met? Am I looking at this wrong?

Okay, rant over. :D Sometimes I just wonder if it's worth it to sell on eBay.

[brownie]

It's hard for the buyer to say they didn't receive it if you have tracking on the package. You might consider having it for everything in the future (the buyer will be the one paying for it anyways.)

[Melanie]

It's hard for the buyer to say they didn't receive it if you have tracking on the package. You might consider having it for everything in the future (the buyer will be the one paying for it anyways.)

Believe me, I will purchase it for every package I send out from now on. Living out the country for the past 3 years and not being active on eBay, I honestly didn't even know tracking existed. :blush:

[Itchy]

I hate to ask or say this but if you do not have tracking you never really know if the package arrived at its destination.

I could have been that it did arrive and they just said that it didnt. That would mean that they got the item and their money as well.

I hope everthing turns out OK for you.

[SBETigg]

I completely understand the rant. How frustrating! She should have paid for expedited shipping or ordered it earlier. So much easier to blame you than to be accountable for herself.

In the future, though, for your own protection, you should probably automatically charge extra for and get the tracking. It's worth it. I agree- good move for you to go with the tracking. It's a shame, though, that you have to do it.

[thrillme]

I had a friend who went through quite a few struggles with buyers on Ebay.

Honestly for the most part I've gotten to where I don't like Ebay anymore. To many "commercial" sellers. It's lost the "little" people just selling their wares.

[Ian]

Mel, that is SO ODD ... I had the exact same thing happen to me.

You know what I did? I filed a non-paying bidder claim against the person with eBay. They immediately closed the PayPal case and I never heard from them again.

I think it was a scam. You should try it.

[BrerGnat]

That happened to me once too...

Luckily, the item DID finally arrive, although it was about 14 business days later. The USPS is experiencing staffing cuts these days too...

Paypal put the money back in my account a couple days after the buyer rec'd it. I guess the buyer told them the item DID arrive finally. I faxed a copy of the postal receipt to the buyer...I think that kept them hopeful that the item was in shipment.

I think your buyer was wrong to file the claim with Paypal so quickly. In my case, it had been 12 business days, so I understood. The way I understand it, Paypal does NOT refund the buyer. They "hold" the funds until the case is resolved. Hopefully, the item will show up and you will get your money back.

People really need to be more responsible. If she needed the item by today, she should have asked and paid for priority mail shipping!

And, after MY incident, I vowed to NEVER ship without purchasing the DELIVERY CONFIRMATION again! It's a small price to pay...

[laprana]

I completely understand your frustration! I've been selling on ebay since 2005, and they have really changed a lot of their policies to be majorly slanted in the buyer's favor, making it difficult for sellers lately.

Unfortunately, without any kind of tracking or delivery confirmation your only hope now is that your buyer is honest and will report it to PayPal when their package arrives. If not, PayPal will most likely refund their money (and not put the money back in your account) and they'll get to keep the item. A lose-lose situation for you.

I've decided that when I sell off the remaining items I have on hand, I'm done with ebay. It used to be a fun place to sell and make a little extra cash, but lately it has become a scamming buyer's heaven, and ebay is making it so that sellers have no recourse whatsoever. The frustration for me just isn't worth it anymore! :mad:

[Ian]

I completely understand your frustration! I've been selling on ebay since 2005, and they have really changed a lot of their policies to be majorly slanted in the buyer's favor, making it difficult for sellers lately.You said it!

A couple months back I got this survey from them asking me all these questions. Since I was "a valuable member of the eBay seller community" they were "looking for my feedback to help improve the selling experience on their site."

It was all these questions like, "Do you think eBay's policies favor A. the buyer B. the seller C. both equally" and "Would you like to see eBay offer more protections for buyer?" and stuff like that

I answered honestly and basically told them that I thought their policies were slanted way too far in favor of buyers and that, basically, all a buyer had to do was claim they never received an item and the seller was out of luck!

So what happens? Like a month later eBay updates their policies to make it even more favorable to buyers!!! :eek:

Much like you, I plan to drastically reduce the amount I sell on eBay. It's just not worth the headaches anymore.

[laprana]

You said it!

A couple months back I got this survey from them asking me all these questions. Since I was "a valuable member of the eBay seller community" they were "looking for my feedback to help improve the selling experience on their site."

It was all these questions like, "Do you think eBay's policies favor A. the buyer B. the seller C. both equally" and "Would you like to see eBay offer more protections for buyer?" and stuff like that

I answered honestly and basically told them that I thought their policies were slanted way too far in favor of buyers and that, basically, all a buyer had to do was claim they never received an item and the seller was out of luck!

So what happens? Like a month later eBay updates their policies to make it even more favorable to buyers!!! :eek:

Much like you, I plan to drastically reduce the amount I sell on eBay. It's just not worth the headaches anymore.

Yep! I got the same survey, and gave similar answers to it. My biggest beef at that time was that sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers for any reason whatsoever. Little did I know then that was the first of many changes ebay was going to make to tip the scales way in favor of the buyer.

I'm lucky that the majority of my buyers are good and don't cause problems, but anymore, it only takes one to really screw things up for you! There's so many hoops that sellers have to jump through now just to try to avoid negative feedback and claims from bad buyers. On the other hand, buyers can bid, win, and never pay and they don't even get so much as a slap on the wrist. :mad: Sorry! I'm starting to sound bitter! :blush:

[Ian]

My biggest beef at that time was that sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers for any reason whatsoever.Yeah, that's the most ridiculous part of the entire thing!

[JPL]

So what happens? Like a month later eBay updates their policies to make it even more favorable to buyers!!! :eek:


When did Disney buy Ebay did I miss that announcement:confused: Let me guess they said the sellers asked to pay more fees!




Much like you, I plan to drastically reduce the amount I sell on eBay. It's just not worth the headaches anymore.

I did the same a while back since with Paypal people they can pay on a Saturday night and have the item on Monday :rolleyes: Or that Ebay is your only job and you should be on call 24/7.

[Carol]

I'm sorry this happened, Mel. I hope it works out for you.

I think I'd omit the 10 business day offering from the auctions in the future as well when using regular mail.

I paid for 2 day shipping via Amazon last month and never got the item at all. Thankfully it had a tracking code on it and it appeared to be standing still at one of the check-in points. Amazon sent me new items and reinbursed me the extra shipping I had paid. They also handled the post office. I didn't have to do anything.

Unfortunately people cannot be trusted - nor can the mail service. Heck - our local post office now closes an hour midday for lunch and often takes Saturdays with the Monday holidays. :unsure:

[Melanie]

Well, they ruled against me. I'm so mad I could spit nails. :blowup:

The lady claims she's still never received the item. I asked her if she was going to send it back when she does receive it. ;)

[Carol]

That stinks, Mel. :unsure:

[faline]

Well, they ruled against me. I'm so mad I could spit nails. :blowup:

The lady claims she's still never received the item. I asked her if she was going to send it back when she does receive it. ;)

Sorry, Mel!

[BrerGnat]

That stinks! Sorry...

I would totally go see what other auctions she is bidding on, and then warn those sellers about her! :thedolls:

[Ian]

Not that it will do much, but add her to your blocked bidders list. It will make you feel better if nothing else.

Also, I'd write a scathing letter of complaint to eBay if I was you. And file a non-paying bidder complaint against her. At least try and get your fees back. It probably won't work, but it'll make her really mad. :thedolls:

I think I'm going to write eBay and ask if they're going to do anything to keep track of people who file claims like this. Because if they aren't, I'm pretty sure my days of selling on eBay are over.

[LauraleeH]

I sell on ebay, and as my only source of income at the moment, I know how frustrating it can be, and it's hard because I can't do anything about it! If I could get a real job somewhere, I'd stop selling in a heartbeat.
I also buy on ebay, and let me tell you, I am SO sick of getting ripped off. I'm fighting right now over DVD's that never got sent to me. This is the third time it has happened to me. The first two times, the sellers AND ebay/paypal refused to give me money back, even though the sellers never shipped in the first place. If I don't get my money back from the current situation, I will never buy on ebay again.

[MNNHFLTX]

I'm sorry for your aggravation, Mel. Paypal should not have docked your account when you have proof that you sent the package. And you know that odds are that the woman has the item in her posession and probably has for some time. :shake:

Based on your experience alone, mandatory tracking is the only way to go, I guess.

I haven't sold on eBay since they revised their feedback policies. I understand them wanting to get away from retaliatory feedback, but sellers should still be allowed to warn others of unscrupulous buyers.

I first started selling on ebay back in 1998 and miss the simplicity and honesty of the old system. In over 300 transactions, I only got burned once. In that instance a woman complained about the condition of the package when she received it, even though she chose not to buy insurance (and I prided myself on how securely I bound up and shipped my antique books). As a gesture of good will, I reimbursed her the price of the book, but stated a warning in all postings after that that I was not responsible for damage that occurred during shipping if insurance was declined. Never had another problem.

[Ian]

Here's a laugh ... I went to eBay's site last night to try and find some way to email them a complaint. After about 10 minutes of fiddling around trying to figure out how to do that, I gave up and just used the "Email Us a Suggestion" feature.

Which, it appears, does nothing but trigger an auto-response email in which they tell you how they are so busy they won't be able to respond to your email.

[Lakin]

Honestly for the most part I've gotten to where I don't like Ebay anymore. To many "commercial" sellers. It's lost the "little" people just selling their wares.

Same here. When I was, like, 7, I was able to roam eBay (not logged in, of course) and look at all of the unique items people were selling (like old Pez dispensers, Disneyana, and other things). Now, whenever I search things, it is just a bunch of big companies selling as much of a popular item as they can for as much as they possibly pull out. :(

[Melanie]

As a gesture of good will, I reimbursed her the price of the book, but stated a warning in all postings after that that I was not responsible for damage that occurred during shipping if insurance was declined. Never had another problem.

This reminded me of something. Just a few weeks ago when I was listing something (after this incident), I tried to put a similar warning in. eBay wouldn't let me! It has an automatic filter now for such wordage. Can you believe that? :mad:

And Ian, I've had similar problems trying to find even customer service 'contact us' links on both PayPal and eBay. They are well hidden.

I responded to PayPal asking for an explanation of policy on how the decision was made regarding my case. I got back a form letter basically stating - thank you for contacting us. Unbelievable!

[laprana]

This reminded me of something. Just a few weeks ago when I was listing something (after this incident), I tried to put a similar warning in. eBay wouldn't let me! It has an automatic filter now for such wordage. Can you believe that? :mad:

Yeah, ebay just started this new policy. A seller can no longer ask or require a buyer to purchase shipping insurance, and if there's any mention of it in the listing, ebay will pull it. So, sellers can either: 1) eat the cost of insuring the package; 2) not offer insurance at all; or 3) add the cost of the insurance into the shipping cost as a "handling fee." And we all know hoe much buyers love to pay for shipping, let alone extra shipping costs! I'm sorry, but to me this is ridiculous. Ebay's explanation is that all sellers are now responsible for getting the item into the buyer's hands in warp speed and in impecable condition, regardless of what USPS, UPS, or whoever the shipping service is, does to the package. I guess we're supposed to follow every package in the delivery trucks until they reach their destinations. Ebay just keeps getting worse for sellers with every new policy they create. :mad:

I'm sorry you had to go through so much trouble with the dispute and then with PayPal ruling against you. I know how frustrating it is! And you and Ian are right - ebay's and PayPal's customer service is worthless. I think they just have a room full of computers set up to do nothing but answer questions and complaints with pointless form letters. You're better of talking to a fire hydrant on the street corner.

[Ian]

Yeah all this has made my decision for me ... I'm officially done selling on eBay.

There are other options ... I'll take my business elsewhere.