eBay

[Raphael]

For the benefit of those members of the Forum that sell on eBay, here's a new example of their bizarre, dysfunctional business practices. I was recently suspended for mentioning in a listing that layaway plans were available to prospective purchasers. eBay said this could lead to fraud and in the interests of protecting their customers such payment plans are not allowed. I can't find it in their rules, but nonetheless instead of just advising me of their new rule (after all, I've been offering layaways without reprimand for almost 15 years), they went ahead and canceled the listing and suspended me for 3 days.

Happy Holidays to all!

Raphael

[gemering]

Unbelievable!
ebay = incredible greed + absurdity.
(I'm a math professor)

[Dave]

Leave it to Ebay to arbitrarily and capriciously decide to change the rules (or make new ones up) and mistreat an
otherwise excellent seller. Your perfectly justified in your indignation.

Happy Holidays to you too!
Dave

[Phonofreak]

Wow, that's the stupidest thing that I ever heard of. A lot of us are on a budget. Most of my large purchases are layaway. I just paid off a late model Victor II, from a well known seller. I guess the secret is not to advertize layaway in your listing. If a potential buyer asks about a layaway, then let the buyer know. If I am interested in something, and I see that it will be expensive, I ask the sellers permission about a layaway. 99.99 % will do it. I pay a deposit, and pay off the item in a couple of months. It's a win-win situation. I'm so sorry that this happened to you, Raphael. Besides, you have your website for purchasers to look at and buy. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
Harvey Kravitz

[epigramophone]

Unbelievable!
ebay = incredible greed + absurdity.
(I'm a math professor)

Greed is alive and well on UK eBay.

As well as charging a final value fee, they are now taking a percentage of the postage cost! They earn the final value fee by advertising the item and overseeing the sale, but to charge a further fee on the postage cannot possibly be justified.

In the few years that I have been an occasional eBayer there has been an increasing tendency for eBay to side with the buyer right or wrong, but it is the seller who pays the fees.

[FloridaClay]

eBay has gotten so aggressively protective of buyers in recent years that it now treats sellers unfairly. Sellers are now deemed guilty unless proven innocent, and they do not want to hear proof of innocence. It seems that they have forgotten on which side their bread is buttered. Unfortunate to say the least. And punishing someone for violation of a secret rule is just the latest in a chain of insults to sellers.

Clay

[Raphael]

A few years ago, in the depths of the Great Recession, I decided to sell off some of my gold and silver coins. After 3 or 4 successful sales, eBay shut me down and completely locked down my account, including my clock, music box and phonograph listings. They told me they "suspected" fraud, as I had never sold coins before. It took me a month to straighten that mess out. I couldn't even answer incoming eBay messages.
Then, a few weeks ago, they cancelled several of my listings for expensive items, because I had mentioned that payment by check was also acceptable, as PayPal payments over $10,000 are usually difficult or impossible for a buyer to effect. Apparently, after 15 years on eBay, they still think I'm going to scam somebody.
Luckily for me, eBay represents only about 5% of my business, and for me it's just a cheap advertising venue. But I wonder how much more cavalier they can become before it simply becomes the domain of mass sellers and the little guy gives up.
Raphael

[Cody K]

I haven't bought anything on eBay for several years. For one thing, I dislike the greedy, ever-bloating fee structure that sellers are subject to, as well as the arbitrary enforcement of a byzantine system of rules such as Raphael is complaining of. These aren't issues that affect me as a buyer, but I prefer to deal fairly, in fair systems. As Clay says, eBay has forgotten the very source of the butter on their bread, without which they wouldn't have a worldwide monopoly on online auctions. Without reputable sellers, there'd be no customers, and robotically suspending a reputable seller like Raphael without so much as a warning is abusive to the point of absurdity. Reminds me of "Central Services" in the film Brazil.

I wish it were possible for someone to come up with a real challenge to eBay that could break the monopoly -- but I'm afraid that ship has long ago sailed.

[Hailey]

eBay = pain in the ass. Period.

[Valecnik]

I really don't see what's at all wrong with layaway plans offered by reputable sellers.

I was able to purchase some of my nicest machines only because a reputable seller was willing to accept payment over an extended period of time. Of course course eBay fears it might reduce the amount they are clipping the poor seller for.