Ebay bidder: zmah0321 BEWARE!!!!!

[Starkton]

There is one possibility which could protect both the seller and buyer, but involves a further cost: escrow
http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/escrow.html

Do you have any experience with this service?

[FloridaClay]

While I have used eBay for a long time, with many successful purchasess and sales, I am growing more and more concerned as eBay seems to be growing more unfriendly toward sellers by the day.

Clay

[Steve]

as eBay seems to be growing more unfriendly toward sellers by the day.

It is just that. I can't see where they're coming from though as surely you can't have buyers if there are no sellers left!

[Calle]

While I have used eBay for a long time, with many successful purchasess and sales, I am growing more and more concerned as eBay seems to be growing more unfriendly toward sellers by the day.

And DON'T forget that they are making money from the sellers; fees are rising and possibilities are limited...
I think it's not fair that buyers can do nearly everything and sellers are restricted; why can only a buyer leave a negative feedback and not also the seller ?

[FloridaClay]

And DON'T forget that they are making money from the sellers; fees are rising and possibilities are limited...I think it's not fair that buyers can do nearly everything and sellers are restricted; why can only a buyer leave a negative feedback and not also the seller ?

Yes, doing away with a seller's ability to leave a negative feedback was an early step in the downhill slide. And now recently they have begun charging the big seller's fee on SHIPPING COSTS, not just selling price.

Clay

[Swing Band Heaven]

With so many dissatisfied sellers there would seen to be a gap in the market for an alternative online selling platform. Im not aware of any at the moment though - otherwise I would check it out. Trouble is ebay has pretty much cornered the market with no obvious competition. Perhaps this is why they feel they can treat their sellers like crap and get away with it.

[antique1973]

With so many dissatisfied sellers there would seen to be a gap in the market for an alternative online selling platform. Im not aware of any at the moment though - otherwise I would check it out. Trouble is ebay has pretty much cornered the market with no obvious competition. Perhaps this is why they feel they can treat their sellers like crap and get away with it.

Exactly. I tried to leave a truthful comment under a "positive" rating for the fraudster and Ebay shut
my whole account down just for that. I wanted to warn others at least. Now I am battling Ebay over a bogus
final value fee charged based on the unpaid fraudulent buyer. They lied to me on the phone and
said they will credit my account and that was over a week ago. Fortunately I got the rest of my orders out
in the mail for my legit customers and detached my bank from Paypal in time before a catastrophic
loss. I took that "auto pay" function off too so they can't pilfer my account while I am not looking.
If there is ever a seller class-action on Ebay I am all for it.

[Steve]

Please count me in on that class-action! I HATE Ebay now with a passion and somewhat stupifyingly they keep sending me questionnaires asking me what I think of them and 'How are we doing?' My answers are completely truthful and honest - I tell them that as far as I'm concerned, they are doing cr*p and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I tell them that i do not support fraud, whilst Ebay does, I tell them I am unable to speak to a single person who knows what they are talking about and rate them 1 out of 10. I'd give Ebay '0' if I could.

The 'funny' thing is that I usually get a response saying that someone will telephone me to discuss my answers and feedback. And yet, how many times do you all reckon I've been called? With no less than FOUR questionnaires completed by me now, the telephone hasn't rung once. Oh I am so shocked!

Feeble is a word I would use to describe their so-called 'Customer Support Team'.

Regarding the issue raised about feedback I would also lend my voice to the rallying call for Ebay to ditch the one-sided feedback mechanism. It is unhelpful, misleading and open to serious abuse.

This idiot left me bad feedback and then called ME a 'con artist' in her response to my defence (reply) to her feedback comment. Again, Ebay is unfair towards sellers here because this ***** can leave me all the replies she wants and yet I am only allowed to reply once to her nastiness!


And then when I asked Ebay to remove her inappropriate comments, guess what? I had to fill out another form which asked the BUYER, not Ebay, if she would reconsider her comment and remove them! How stupid is that? Of course, the con artist buyer said no and her negative comments which are damaging to my Ebay selling reputation are allowed to stay there threatening my account indefinitely,.

[Shane]

Someday, someone is going to invent a site that looks like ebay, performs like ebay, but without all the garbage that ebay pulls. If the site can get a foothold, people will flock there, and ebay will be a thing of the past. The hard part is another site actually being able to get a foothold. The key to ebay's success is that the sellers want to be where the buyers are, and the buyers want to be where the sellers are. If everybody would just go somewhere else, changes would happen. I remember back in 1998 when ebay used to be very cheap to use.

(BTW, I'm posting this as someone who makes half his income off ebay...)

[tarheeltinkerer]

Having joined ebay in early 1999, I too remember the "good old days" when you didn't have to deal with mounds of red tape and it was easy to sell an item. Now it really is a nightmare to sell, and a lot of the items are just Chinese made crap. I still buy monthly on ebay to add to my various collections, but more and more I am gravitating to Craigslist, or just visiting flea markets and antique malls more and more. When I have to sell items, I try to use forums such as this one. At least then it is easier to work with the buyer and avoid tons of emails and other issues.