Some buyers are using eBay's new "Buyer Protection" Policy to scam sellers and ~ Guess What ~ eBay is doing absolutely nothing to protect its' sellers. Yesterday, I began to blog about my frustrations with eBay, as I ponder on making a decision to close my eBay store. I have successful websites , so the eBay store is not a necessity for me, but I have decided to not do anything rash at this moment. I am also considering not accepting paypal as a payment method, since eBay and paypal simply take your money out of your account if any buyer that used paypal for their purchase files a claim about your product, even if the claim is untruthful or unfair and the buyer simply is experiencing buyer's remorse. The seller NEVER, EVER wins. At least if you are ever unfortunate enough to have a credit card chargeback, the credit card company does look fairly at all the data they receive. I have only had two of those in my career as a businesswoman, and it was because the people both forgot they made the purchase.
This small percentage of buyers (for me, I would guess it is around 10%), are nasty bullies looking to get your stuff for free. This has always been the case on eBay. But, at least before the new policies basically taking away all sellers rights came into play, a seller could have some control via fair negative or neutral feedback on their half of the experience. Now, these very same eBay bullies have discovered that all they have to do is "file a case" on eBay, and they can keep your stuff and get a refund too! Now how is that for the United States of eBay!! I never, ever sell any of my expensive items on eBay for this reason. I have encountered some "bad debt" over this Holiday season as a result of those 10% of eBay bullies, but luckily it never amounts to alot of money. I feel sorry for any unsuspecting seller who tries to sell anything expensive on eBay ~ you might as well leave the merchandise in your driveway and see if a thief walks off with it ~ your odds are about the same (depending on where you live I suppose).
As mentioned in my previous blog, we sell Engraved, Personalized products. Once the item is engraved for you, it is yours. We go to GREAT lengths to describe our products to avoid any issues, and our products are top notch quality so I do not have any concerns about a customer getting anything substandard. That never stops these people from making all sorts of untrue claims.
So, the example I will give you today is of this man from California who purchased an engraved jewelry box with an engraved glass top. I sell lots of these on eBay and customers just love the box. This man started sending me nasty, threatening emails through eBay initially stating if I gave him a discount he would keep the box, then when I refused, he began demanding a refund, insulting my merchandise, and telling me the top was plastic (it's glass, by the way) - he used unmentionable nasty terms in his emails. It was quite apparent that he thought he had me hostage and that I would give him a discount to avoid negative feedback. I reported the emails to eBay's safe zone, and got some stupid, lame email from them. His emails continued because, of course, they did nothing about it. Of course, paypal gave him his money back, including shipping. Again, a return policy has absolutely NO MERIT on eBay, so I don't know why we have it. Of course, he left me negative feedback and I just have this Blog to give mine. I guess a smarter seller would have realized that she WAS a hostage and given him the discount - then at least I would not have lost ALL my money. ;)
So, to wrap up, I will just watch and wait at this point. Most of eBay's buyers are great ~ but as the percentage of, what I think are, outright thieves become more savvy on eBay, I will definately reevaluate. My advise ~ do not sell anything of value on eBay!! You COULD be a sitting duck for losing your product and your money.....doesn't matter if you are right or wrong ~ as a seller on eBay you will never win.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
eBay Treats Sellers Unfairly
In 2008, eBay instituted a policy that included prohibiting sellers from leaving buyers negatives and neutrals, among other biased policies including eBay unilaterally refunding customers without the sellers consent. The feedback policy makes buying and selling on eBay an uneven playing field. We sell in a variety of forums. EBay is the only one of our forums that we have been seriously considering closing the door to because it has become increasingly difficult to operate en eBay business. I decided, that before closing the doors to my eBay store, I would use this Blog as a forum to begin venting my frustrations and reassess my decisions after awhile. The Blog would be a mile long if I vented all my frustrations in one post, so I will use each Blog post to address my issues.
In this post, let's look at the impact the feedback policy change has made to me as a seller.
I sell online Personalized Products via websites and have owned a store front, so I am lucky to have the perspective of selling in lots of different forums and can make informed comparisons. EBay definitely has a small, yet unique set of buyers that don't seem to find their way to the websites as easily. I can tell you that 90% of the customers I make transactions with on eBay are top notch, lovely people. The other 10% are what can only be described as, well, less than lovely. Those 10% find the eBay anonymity a forum to bully, harass, insult, and threaten. They attempt to get free merchandise by threatening to leave negative feedback because they have come to learn that there is NOTHING a seller can do about it. Now that sellers cannot leave any honest feedback about their half of the transaction, those crazy buyers can just do whatever they want. In addition, these people have discovered that all they have to do is file a "case" with eBay stating they did not like the product. They do not even have to return it and eBay will refund them their money, including shipping costs. The seller has nothing to say about it, and there is not even a way to appeal it. It is assumed by eBay that the buyer is right and you, the seller, are wrong. Our products are personalized, and our return policy is quite clear. But eBay does not seem to care about that. I am unclear why eBay asks sellers to include return policies because they do not respect or follow them.
We offer personalized products, as I mentioned. We are always happy to take back any item we have made a mistake on. We go to great lengths to describe our products, including dimensions, etc. I don't think it is unreasonable for a customer to take the time to get sized for a ring before ordering online, or to measure their wrist. Apparently some customers do not think they have any responsibility in this matter. I will give you just a couple of examples from this Holiday Season:
1) A man purchased a personalized ring in a size 4 for his pinkie. He emailed me through eBay multiple, multiple times with frivolous questions. I think, honestly, he was lonely and eBay was his way to relate. It was a little weird, but I went out of my way to help him with his questions. I even special ordered a size 4 ring for him - the ring only came in sizes 5-9. This cost me $$, and my profit on the sale was only $8, but I thought, what the heck, it's Christmas. He left me neutral feedback because the ring only fit his left hand pinkie. HELLO....This is my fault, why?? It was personalized, yet he expected me to take it back. This same man, one month later, told me the ring was not real sterling silver so he wanted his money back. Guess he was going to get a refund one way or another, huh? The ring ABSOLUTELY is sterling silver, yet eBay refunded him, just because they could. He did not have to return the ring (even though it was of no use to me, it was just the principal). I had no say in the matter, they just TOOK the money out of my paypal account. He got the ring and my money.....AND left one last "in your face" email on eBay basically to let me know he got me ~ Perfect, thanks eBay.
2) A lady purchased a 7" monogrammed bracelet (the most common size for women). Her wrist was too big for the bracelet (she should have ordered an 8" ~ it was available, but it was not what she ordered). She expected me to take the 7" bracelet that SHE ordered in return and send her an 8", for free. I offered her a discount on an 8", but Noooo. Now what am I to do with a bracelet with her initials on it? Her comment was "Well, you made your money". HELLO.... She left negative feedback.
I have so many stories, but will end here for today. Get my frustration? EBay, you make your money from Sellers too.....did you forget that without us, no one would be buying anything? At least be fair - not asking for anything more than that. You get a percentage of everything we sell, a good percentage I might add. You get fees for us having a store on eBay, you make LOTS of money from sellers, yet you treat us like second class citizens. We cannot even give any honest feedback about our side of the transaction any longer. Free enterprise is not free enterprise on eBay - it is not even a democracy - it is a state of communism.
Okay, so I have some of this off my chest - and it does feel better....more to come.
In this post, let's look at the impact the feedback policy change has made to me as a seller.
I sell online Personalized Products via websites and have owned a store front, so I am lucky to have the perspective of selling in lots of different forums and can make informed comparisons. EBay definitely has a small, yet unique set of buyers that don't seem to find their way to the websites as easily. I can tell you that 90% of the customers I make transactions with on eBay are top notch, lovely people. The other 10% are what can only be described as, well, less than lovely. Those 10% find the eBay anonymity a forum to bully, harass, insult, and threaten. They attempt to get free merchandise by threatening to leave negative feedback because they have come to learn that there is NOTHING a seller can do about it. Now that sellers cannot leave any honest feedback about their half of the transaction, those crazy buyers can just do whatever they want. In addition, these people have discovered that all they have to do is file a "case" with eBay stating they did not like the product. They do not even have to return it and eBay will refund them their money, including shipping costs. The seller has nothing to say about it, and there is not even a way to appeal it. It is assumed by eBay that the buyer is right and you, the seller, are wrong. Our products are personalized, and our return policy is quite clear. But eBay does not seem to care about that. I am unclear why eBay asks sellers to include return policies because they do not respect or follow them.
We offer personalized products, as I mentioned. We are always happy to take back any item we have made a mistake on. We go to great lengths to describe our products, including dimensions, etc. I don't think it is unreasonable for a customer to take the time to get sized for a ring before ordering online, or to measure their wrist. Apparently some customers do not think they have any responsibility in this matter. I will give you just a couple of examples from this Holiday Season:
1) A man purchased a personalized ring in a size 4 for his pinkie. He emailed me through eBay multiple, multiple times with frivolous questions. I think, honestly, he was lonely and eBay was his way to relate. It was a little weird, but I went out of my way to help him with his questions. I even special ordered a size 4 ring for him - the ring only came in sizes 5-9. This cost me $$, and my profit on the sale was only $8, but I thought, what the heck, it's Christmas. He left me neutral feedback because the ring only fit his left hand pinkie. HELLO....This is my fault, why?? It was personalized, yet he expected me to take it back. This same man, one month later, told me the ring was not real sterling silver so he wanted his money back. Guess he was going to get a refund one way or another, huh? The ring ABSOLUTELY is sterling silver, yet eBay refunded him, just because they could. He did not have to return the ring (even though it was of no use to me, it was just the principal). I had no say in the matter, they just TOOK the money out of my paypal account. He got the ring and my money.....AND left one last "in your face" email on eBay basically to let me know he got me ~ Perfect, thanks eBay.
2) A lady purchased a 7" monogrammed bracelet (the most common size for women). Her wrist was too big for the bracelet (she should have ordered an 8" ~ it was available, but it was not what she ordered). She expected me to take the 7" bracelet that SHE ordered in return and send her an 8", for free. I offered her a discount on an 8", but Noooo. Now what am I to do with a bracelet with her initials on it? Her comment was "Well, you made your money". HELLO.... She left negative feedback.
I have so many stories, but will end here for today. Get my frustration? EBay, you make your money from Sellers too.....did you forget that without us, no one would be buying anything? At least be fair - not asking for anything more than that. You get a percentage of everything we sell, a good percentage I might add. You get fees for us having a store on eBay, you make LOTS of money from sellers, yet you treat us like second class citizens. We cannot even give any honest feedback about our side of the transaction any longer. Free enterprise is not free enterprise on eBay - it is not even a democracy - it is a state of communism.
Okay, so I have some of this off my chest - and it does feel better....more to come.
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