Why I'm just about through with eBay

[tbob]

I put some items on eBay, mostly to clear out some space in the attic, things like DVDs, books, comics, etc. and have done pretty well selling them at decent prices. I've never had any problems with card collectors and my feedback is over 7600 with 100%. Today I receive notice that someone who bought a Murphy Brown DVD for $4.99 opened up a case on eBay because they hadn't received their item yet. Never mind the item sold on 12-10 and I mailed it on 12-11, never mind that I immediately left positive feedback for them. Never mind that the shipping was free. Never mind that it's been a whole week and they haven't received the item yet. Never mind that it's the holidays and mail is always slow. They opened up a frigging case on eBay and whined about it. Ebay sends the usual threat that they might just refund the sale. Ebay has become so buyer-friendly and antagonistic toward sellers (from taking away the seller's ability to leave negative feedback for non-complying buyers to creating a presumption that sellers are worthless POS who are in it only to defraud buyers) that it makes me sick. I've about had it with eBay as I know many here have.
I'm sorry for the rant, but if you can't post your sentiments among friends, to whom can you post. And yes, there is tracking on the package and it shows it is in transit. I'm just bummed at the idiocy of some people in this culture of instant gratification and me-first mentality. Bah-humbug.
To the rest of you, Happy Holidays!

[deucetwins]

Murphy Brown? Really? Buyer must have a thing for Candice Bergen.

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by tbob

I put some items on eBay, mostly to clear out some space in the attic, things like DVDs, books, comics, etc. and have done pretty well selling them at decent prices. I've never had any problems with card collectors and my feedback is over 7600 with 100%. Today I receive notice that someone who bought a Murphy Brown DVD for $4.99 opened up a case on eBay because they hadn't received their item yet. Never mind the item sold on 12-10 and I mailed it on 12-11, never mind that I immediately left positive feedback for them. Never mind that the shipping was free. Never mind that it's been a whole week and they haven't received the item yet. Never mind that it's the holidays and mail is always slow. They opened up a frigging case on eBay and whined about it. Ebay sends the usual threat that they might just refund the sale. Ebay has become so buyer-friendly and antagonistic toward sellers (from taking away the seller's ability to leave negative feedback for non-complying buyers to creating a presumption that sellers are worthless POS who are in it only to defraud buyers) that it makes me sick. I've about had it with eBay as I know many here have.
I'm sorry for the rant, but if you can't post your sentiments among friends, to whom can you post. And yes, there is tracking on the package and it shows it is in transit. I'm just bummed at the idiocy of some people in this culture of instant gratification and me-first mentality. Bah-humbug.
To the rest of you, Happy Holidays!

Couldn't agree more. We had an idiot leave negative feedback after they bid on an item when they were told not to bid as we do not ship internationally and no money exchanged hands. Ebay had all the emails and they still allowed the negative even with all the evidence of us telling this person not to bid as we do not ship outside of the United States. EBay clearly sides with buyers and they do not care who they piss off. As a consequence of this transaction, i no longer leave positive feedback unless feedback is left for me or i delay leaving feedback for at least 2 weeks.

[slidekellyslide]

Ebay automatically opens up a case now, the buyer may have just been inquiring as to where the package was, but I feel your pain Bob...yesterday I had a customer ask me where his tracking number was only hours after he paid for his item. Ebay's insistence that sellers get items out in one day or same day is causing buyers to have very little patience. Just wait until Amazon deploys their little flying droids...customers will expect to have their items in hand same day.

[h2oya311]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Ebay automatically opens up a case now, the buyer may have just been inquiring as to where the package was, but I feel your pain Bob...yesterday I had a customer ask me where his tracking number was only hours after he paid for his item. Ebay's insistence that sellers get items out in one day or same day is causing buyers to have very little patience. Just wait until Amazon deploys their little flying droids...customers will expect to have their items in hand same day.

+1

I once accidentally opened a case when trying to simply ask the seller for a refund on a <$50 card. I felt bad but didn't even know that eBay had opened a case. I simply clicked the "contact seller" button (or "ask seller a question" button) and once sent, eBay stated that a case had been opened. It all worked out in the end for both of us.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

+1

I once accidentally opened a case when trying to simply ask the seller for a refund on a <$50 card. I felt bad but didn't even know that eBay had opened a case. I simply clicked the "contact seller" button (or "ask seller a question" button) and once sent, eBay stated that a case had been opened. It all worked out in the end for both of us.

Yep...buyers are completely unaware that a case is going to be opened by simply asking a question.

[jdeptula]

Really? Asking a question opens a case with the seller? I'll have to be careful to not do that again.

Is it safe to assume that e-bay only does that for closed auctions? ie) if I ask a seller for a picture of the back before bidding, for instance, would that open up a case as well. I doesn't make sense to me that it would, but, then agin, this whole thinkg doesn't make sense to me.

Thanks,
Joe

[Bocabirdman]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Yep...buyers are completely unaware that a case is going to be opened by simply asking a question.

If you click the "other" radio button on the Contact the Seller page, you can communicate without a case being opened.

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

+1

I once accidentally opened a case when trying to simply ask the seller for a refund on a <$50 card. I felt bad but didn't even know that eBay had opened a case. I simply clicked the "contact seller" button (or "ask seller a question" button) and once sent, eBay stated that a case had been opened. It all worked out in the end for both of us.

I had this happen to me a couple of times (accidentally open a case). I usually wait a week after the expected delivery date, then ask the seller to check his records. I think both times I hit "I haven't received my item yet" after hitting "contact seller"

I feel like if you hit "other" instead of "I haven't received my item yet" it doesn't automatically open a case.

[Clydewally]

I have accidentally opened a case by asking where an item was. I have not been able to figure out a way to ask about it without opening a case.
The good news is that the matters seems to have been resolved (in one case an item never reached me and ebay refunded my money without charging the buyer as he had done everything right and this was a UPS problem) and, as I understand it, the opening of a case that is resolved does not cause any lasting stain on buyer or seller's feedback.
Is that true? I have only been a buyer on ebay.

[CW]

Originally Posted by tbob

I'm just bummed at the idiocy of some people in this culture of instant gratification and me-first mentality. Bah-humbug.
To the rest of you, Happy Holidays!

And the sad thing is it's only going to get worse.

I feel your pain, man.

Happy Holidays to you as well!

[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by tbob

I put some items on eBay, mostly to clear out some space in the attic, things like DVDs, books, comics, etc. and have done pretty well selling them at decent prices. I've never had any problems with card collectors and my feedback is over 7600 with 100%. Today I receive notice that someone who bought a Murphy Brown DVD for $4.99 opened up a case on eBay because they hadn't received their item yet. Never mind the item sold on 12-10 and I mailed it on 12-11, never mind that I immediately left positive feedback for them. Never mind that the shipping was free. Never mind that it's been a whole week and they haven't received the item yet. Never mind that it's the holidays and mail is always slow. They opened up a frigging case on eBay and whined about it. Ebay sends the usual threat that they might just refund the sale. Ebay has become so buyer-friendly and antagonistic toward sellers (from taking away the seller's ability to leave negative feedback for non-complying buyers to creating a presumption that sellers are worthless POS who are in it only to defraud buyers) that it makes me sick. I've about had it with eBay as I know many here have.
I'm sorry for the rant, but if you can't post your sentiments among friends, to whom can you post. And yes, there is tracking on the package and it shows it is in transit. I'm just bummed at the idiocy of some people in this culture of instant gratification and me-first mentality. Bah-humbug.
To the rest of you, Happy Holidays!

Don't blame ebay, blame the buyer.

Joe

[bnorth]

Wife won an item on eBay today and now they want to cancel the transaction saying there was an error in the listing.LOL The truth is the item went super cheap and they do not want to sell it for the ending price.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Wife won an item on eBay today and now they want to cancel the transaction saying there was an error in the listing.LOL The truth is the item went super cheap and they do not want to sell it for the ending price.

Try reporting them as a non-performing seller. It worked for me when a seller cancelled a sale claiming the cards were sold Friday and they "didn't have time" to cancel the auction until after it ended late Monday. The person I emailed at ebay said it helped that they put that in an email through Ebays system. They got some sort of ban, but an odd one where all their current stuff was allowed to finish before they were shut down.

They're probably back under some other name, but at least there was some inconvenience to them.

Steve B

[Sean]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Wife won an item on eBay today and now they want to cancel the transaction saying there was an error in the listing.LOL The truth is the item went super cheap and they do not want to sell it for the ending price.

I had the same experience about 5 years ago. I won a '65 Mantle for $380. This card in the same grade had sold for $525 the week before. After the auction the seller claimed that the card "had been listed in error" and was no longer available.
I left negative feedback for the seller (Kruk Cards), but since they sell hundreds of cards per week, I didn't bother complaining to eBay. I just settled for never buying from them again.

[EvilKing00]

Originally Posted by tbob

I put some items on eBay, mostly to clear out some space in the attic, things like DVDs, books, comics, etc. and have done pretty well selling them at decent prices. I've never had any problems with card collectors and my feedback is over 7600 with 100%. Today I receive notice that someone who bought a Murphy Brown DVD for $4.99 opened up a case on eBay because they hadn't received their item yet. Never mind the item sold on 12-10 and I mailed it on 12-11, never mind that I immediately left positive feedback for them. Never mind that the shipping was free. Never mind that it's been a whole week and they haven't received the item yet. Never mind that it's the holidays and mail is always slow. They opened up a frigging case on eBay and whined about it. Ebay sends the usual threat that they might just refund the sale. Ebay has become so buyer-friendly and antagonistic toward sellers (from taking away the seller's ability to leave negative feedback for non-complying buyers to creating a presumption that sellers are worthless POS who are in it only to defraud buyers) that it makes me sick. I've about had it with eBay as I know many here have.
I'm sorry for the rant, but if you can't post your sentiments among friends, to whom can you post. And yes, there is tracking on the package and it shows it is in transit. I'm just bummed at the idiocy of some people in this culture of instant gratification and me-first mentality. Bah-humbug.
To the rest of you, Happy Holidays!

Agree selling on ebay is a crap shoot

[Runscott]

Yep. The system is set up for sellers who are willing to go one of two routes:

• high-volume fixed-price auctions
• high-volume straight auctions with shill accounts and/or customers who shill their own auctions.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Yep. The system is set up for sellers who are willing to go one of two routes:

• high-volume fixed-price auctions
• high-volume straight auctions with shill accounts and/or customers who shill their own auctions.

Currently, this route works only if the seller is a high volume seller because he is able to turn his inventory at an aggressive rate and offers items at higher price points. Otherwise the fees associated with maintaining a high volume/low inventory turn ebay store (5 cents per listings/month) will make it a less than profitable venture.

As mentioned in other posts, ebay is constantly changing its MO to improve it's own profitability. The announcements for these policy changes typically occur early each year....each year I wait for the announcement so I can begin the decision making process on how to adjust my ebay store's offerings to best influence my own profitability.

I have tried another on-line e-commerce venue(Volusion) for selling. The cost associated with this other e-commerce site is significantly lower than ebay(the cost for Volusion was 10% of what I typically pay ebay monthly), however, the traffic to this site was non existent compared to ebay. Of course, if I were to have reinvested the money saved from ebay into marketing my Volusion site, my traffic would have likely have been better.

IMO, with the large number of these other on-line e-commerce venues now available at significantly lower costs than ebay, ebay will be forced to react to these competitors lower rates by lowering their costs associated with maintaining an inventory. For some sellers, ebay has already reacted by offering 25k free fixed priced listings/month for Sept-Dec of this year. It will be interesting to see if eBay's 2014's changes will reflect this year's trend to be more competitive with the other e-commerce site's rates.