Ebay Woes and hopes for a better year in 2023 (I know it is probably pointless)

[mrmopar]

I have been using ebay now for almost 25 years. A lot has changed over the years, but if you are like me, you are probably seeing it seemingly getting WORSE each year!

I want to take a moment to recognize and thank all of the great sellers (and buyers) that are on the platform, keeping things running smoothly. Not by name, but just in general. it's refreshing to bid on, win, pay and receive an item in 2 days just after Christmas. It helps a lot that the seller was in Oregon, but that could have gone the way of any number of transactions where I pay immediately and wait days and even a week or more for the seller to finally post tracking. That doesn't even mean the item is outbound either. it just means they finally paid for postage!

Slow shippers
Poor packagers
Listing/Transaction cancellers
Missing items not sent
Wrong items sent
Shipping gougers
Undisclosed damage

There may be a few more that are slipping my mind, but it seems the problems I face are increasing more and more and those are all seller induced. That doesn't include the sniping/bid retractions, obscene bidding wars, missed BIN/BO opportunities and other self-inflicted woes. It feels like the good transactions are getting harder and harder to find. That is an exaggeration to an extent, as I buy a lot and only a relatively small percentage of my transactions are tainted, but they are starting to be more often, more frustrating and more memorable.

I am going to share one of my latest woes shortly. It's a major consigner that I frequently used to defend, having newer really had any issues. Well, that changed this year and I may just self-block myself from a 2nd high volume consignment seller soon. Does it hurt them, no. It hurts my ability to get cards I want, if they are the only game at the time. My hobby dollars wouldn't dent their weekly sales numbers is my guess, but word of mouth can be powerful. Sadly, even with 1000s of negative feedback, these sellers just chug away like nothing is wrong. it finally takes a personal wronging to get us to act...maybe. Some collectors will take a lot of abuse to continue getting their fixes!!!

I know my tolerance for this crap is wearing very thin. I still enjoy the heck out of cards, but even that takes a hit when it becomes a hassle to buy. I see myself cruising faster towards the eventual liquidation of my goodies, but even that makes me sick to think about. 1. I really don't want to part with the best of my treasures, regardless of value. 2. The hassle of becoming a regular seller makes me want to vomit.

I hope that your experience has been better than mine, but reading posts on these sites and facebook, I know it's not a perfect world out there!

Happy collecting in 2023.

 

[OakAth]

I won a card at auction on Ebay a couple of weeks ago. The final purchase price with tax was only $5.03 and the original listing offered "free shipping". Within a minute of the auction ending I got an invoice from the seller adding $5.95 for shipping. I messaged him and referred him to his original listing and asked for an amended invoice. Crickets. Over the course of the next couple of days I messaged him three times asking for an amended invoice and he never responded. On day three he cancelled the transaction for non-payment and relisted it.

I could have still paid for the shipping that was added after the fact, it doesn't set me back, but it was principle. Also, I was not allowed to leave any feedback other than "positive" on his rating. I myself do have items for sale on Ebay.....I am not a huge seller but sell just enough to finance my buying side of the equation, so I am not well versed as a seller. Is this a seller loophole? Technically, if the seller does not like the final sales price of his listing, he can quickly send an invoice adding fees and if the buyer refuses to pay it the seller can ignore all communication, cancel, and relist thereby putting the blame on the buyer and avoiding any negative feedback because it was a buyer non-payment issue. Tried contacting Ebay about this situation but guess what.....there is no one to contact, just useless links on the site that do not apply to the immediate problem.

On a sidenote, I did purchase the relisted card and paid within seconds to seal the deal on my end. This time there was shipping fees in the listing....and I will be able to leave feedback. Out of all of my 1000's of purchases I have never left negative feedback even when they deserved it....first time for everything.

 

[mrmopar]

Not sure on cancelled listings. I feel like it does limit your feedback.

Negative means less now, but I always leave it when it is warranted. People need to at least see that they may have issues with a seller. Sadly, buyers can't get negative feedback anymore, which is a mixed blessing. Room for nefarious activity when a buyer can't be punished, but I was victim of plenty of retaliatory feedback from sellers after I left them richly deserved negatives. That was the thing to do by ***** sellers when someone left them negative, immediately retaliate on the buyer, who did nothing wrong but pay quickly and share the truth about poor seller activities!

 

[OakAth]

A little follow up to my above situation and askance of the community as to what would you do? I did leave the seller negative feedback (his first as a seller) and the first time I have ever done so, and he has responded. In his response he more or less states that he knew that his original listing mistakenly offered free shipping and that is why he canceled and relisted. I cannot get past the fact that he purposefully ignored all three of my attempts at contact. Also, if you look at his feedback as a buyer, he has a lot of non-pay and no response comments but of course they do not show up as negative because you cannot leave negative feedback on a buyer. I feel like I should not let this guy off the hook.

Here is his response, user name and all:

New message from: harpergems91hot (84 )

Hi I am very very sorry with the way you feel. I want to make things right.
Please let me know what would make you happy.
I appreciate your business.
I was wrong I made a mistake the first time i meant to put shipping I didn’t notice until it sold that the auction was listed with free shipping.

I would like for you to give me another chance I want to keep you as a customer.

If I refund you the shipping cost
Will that make you satisfied ?

Can you please Change the feedback to a positive and give me higher 5 star ratings across the board please.
I can request for you to change the feedback.
But most of all I want to make things right,
And I want for you the customer to be happy.

Once again I am very sorry.
Please forgive me. And please let’s come up a resolution together. Thank you,
Happy new year.

 

[BucCollector]

"If I refund you the shipping cost
Will that make you satisfied ?"

not the same as

I have refunded the shipping cost. If you are satisfied, please consider revising your feedback.

 

[OakAth]

"If I refund you the shipping cost
Will that make you satisfied ?"

not the same as

I have refunded the shipping cost. If you are satisfied, please consider revising your feedback.

A very astute observation.....you are correct.

 

[jaderock]

mrmorpar - you're never gonna liquidate.
--
As for OakAth - that's something you'll get from relatively new sellers. Personally, for the seller, that's a no win situation, but one that he got himself into. Therefore, for such a low priced item, the seller should've just mailed it via bubble mailer and ate the lost of the postage. In the end, it's not worth the neutral/negative feedback which stays on record for an entire year. And just like all big businesses/industries nowadays, everything is scored on metrics. Every mistake/error a seller does gets counted against. So a cancelled order, other than buyer request, is scored as a defect.
--
There are two sides to the ebay equation.

As a buyer, it is now easier to get items refunded than years past (decades past). Yes, I, too, get annoyed at slow shippers, bad packagers and incorrectly described listings? But in the end, items not as described, lost packages (or incomplete tracking) gets you a refund - seller has no say. Even buyers who state "purchased by mistake or found a better price" gets you a refund.

As an individual seller, it has gotten harder to sell each successive year. Metrics that are insanely hard to obtan/maintain. (I'm a Top Rated Seller, but if I mail an item out 1 day late, that negatively impacts me right away.) Now you have to fill in a ton of item specifics. Fees have increased year after year. Payouts take long since ebay manages payments now. Along with all the buyer antics that occur (non payers, scammers/fruadulent refunds, lowballers, etc)

In the end, it is definately better to be a buyer than a seller on ebay. And even with all it's problems on both ends, it's still the #1 place I buy from and sell at.

 

[mrmopar]

"If I refund you the shipping cost
Will that make you satisfied ?"

not the same as

I have refunded the shipping cost. If you are satisfied, please consider revising your feedback.

That is it right there. Make it right first and hope that the buyer treats you right from there.

Personally, I'd just move on and leave it as is. The lesson is hopefully one that will change him. Deleting the feedback just lets him do it again if that is the road he's headed on.

 

[OakAth]

My thoughts exactly, this guy is only "sorry" because he got dinged. The fact that he ignored all of my messages until he got the negative feedback at which point I got an immediate reply tells me all I need to know about the integrity of this seller. Hate to do it but I am not going to remove it.