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.
