Sorry, couldn't help it.
Posted on 06/05/2008 6:02:11 PM PDT by hiho hiho
Some long-time eBay users are rebelling against policy changes at the on line auction company -- they've gone as far as loosely organizing an international boycott.
EBay trading rules have changed recently and many eBay sellers don't like them. They claim the new rules threat the small time sellers who built eBay into a multi-billion dollar company.
Around 47,000 people have signed an online pledge to boycott eBay until the company changes its new trading policies.
“Our collective belief as eBay users is that eBay wants to get rid of the small time sellers that built eBay, said Ann Smith from Northeast Portland.
For ten years Smith used eBay to buy and sell antiques. She says sellers are being treated unfairly with new rules favoring buyers to the point where scam artists are taking advantage of the situation.
Jason Cole has registered mail with a signature showing an eBay buyer received $400 worth of printer ink he bought from Cole. Even so, Paypal, eBay’s financial company, sided with the buyer because Cole didn't pay extra for an electronic signature.
Turns out, other sellers claimed the buyer ripped them off the same way.
Cole said, “He robbed me of this $400 and now I have to thank him, I have to refund him the money. He gets my product and Paypal gives him the money back.”
kgw.com Graphic
Another change: eBay sellers can no longer give negative feedback about buyers. EBay said it made the move to weed out bad sellers. Smith says the playing field is no longer equal and it’s opening the door to bad buyers.
Also new: when sellers get negative feedback they're now required to accept funds only through Paypal, which is owned by eBay.
“It’s like walking into Walmart and only being able to use Walmart’s credit card. E-bay needs to back off and level the playing field for sellers,” said Smith.
Until the rules change, many former eBayers say they'll use other auction sites to do business.
Last week eBay and Paypal officials said they were investigating the buyer who claimed he didn't receive his merchandise.
On Thursday they did not return calls from Newschannel 8 about the policy changes.
I used to sell a lot of antiques on ebay - but I don’t anymore. Every time they change a policy - it is against the seller. Ebay sucks.
I’m trying to find an alternative to ebay... Not to sure of ubid.com . Any suggestions????
I truly hate PAYPAL.
One incident made me go to other auction sites was when I contested a seller on Ebay who sold me a lemon laptop, and instead of making judgment...Paypal answered me back with a 30 page jpg copy of agreement when I registered for Paypal.
No explanation...just the 30 page agreement in jpg form. Unbelievable.
No wonder they’re called “You’d Better Pray Pal”.
Thank God my paypal account was tied to my credit card and my credit card company settled it for me.
Ebay and paypal stink. Buyers know all about how to scam sellers. If buyers pay with paypal, and if the seller ships without delivery confirmation, the buyer can claim they never received the item and paypal will always side with them and refund their payment from the seller’s account. And there is coordination among crook buyers. One week we had one buyer that claimed no delivery, then it exploded. We had to start sending everything with delivery confirmation.
Now, if a seller falls below 98% positive feedback rating, Paypal will hold your funds for 21 days before releasing it. Some buyers now try to blackmail sellers after an auction is over by stating that they will leave negative feedback if you don’y negotiate the price way down below your cost. Even neutral feedback contributes toward the negative feedback rating. And the seller can only leave positive feedback. I generally hate trial lawyers, but please send this to class action lawyers if you know a particularly ruthless one.
I would dearly love to see ebay lose their war on sellers.
There is an opportunity for competition.
If you go to the ebay partner forums you’ll see many people are upset with the changes at ebay.
I agree.. I also think there are scam bidders.. When I place a bid on a laptop, then all of the sudden it goes up at the last minute. To me something is up.. Same thing happens at ubid....
“Another change: eBay sellers can no longer give negative feedback about buyers. EBay said it made the move to weed out bad sellers. Smith says the playing field is no longer equal and it’s opening the door to bad buyers.”
For those of you who do not use ebay let me explain this change.
A lot of seller would retaliate against a buyer who left a negative. Even if the negative was earned.
Often I would leave a positive when the seller should have received a negative and left my comments in German so (those who speak German anyway) know how I really felt. Now I can tell the truth with out worry of back lash. It is sad that things had to come to this.
I gave up on ebay. They arbitrarily freeze people’s paypal accounts for months, collect the float, then release it giving no reason for the whole ordeal. A major rip off.
A friend of mine only buys on ebay. I need to direct my friend to all your comments.
“When I place a bid on a laptop, then all of the sudden it goes up at the last minute. To me something is up.. Same thing happens at ubid....”
In Myebay you can set it to bid for you in the last 60 seconds of an auction. I forget what that is called.
I just usually go in the last 60 seconds....that is called “sniping” and get the item.
Well, things must have changed at ebay and paypal in recent years. i used to buy lots of art on ebay. until i never received a purchase or evidence of delivery. ironically, ebay found for the seller. i couldn’t believe it, haven’t bought anything since.
Thanks for the tip...
I understand that in some categories (e.g. consumer electronics), you can’t list an item at all unless you accept PayPal in payment.
That really sucks.
“one click bid” that is what it is called! I went on ebay and found it. It is akin to letting the computer snip for you if you are not there.
“one click bid” that is what it is called! I went on ebay and found it. It is akin to letting the computer snipe for you if you are not there.
Every neg I ever got on Ebay was a retaliatory negative. Since I don't sell the only time I would give a negative is if I didn't get what I paid for and we couldn't resolve it. There was no reason for me to ever get a negative. That happened to so many people that Ebay changed the policy. Sellers may not like a lot of Ebay's policies but that change is one they earned.
We cancelled our ebay account a few months back. Our monthly listing fees went from $18 to $1800, for advertisin we never ordered!
They have no phone number or contact info, except their junior-high style chat module, which constantly disconnects. Very unprofessional.
It told them I’ll never pay this bill. We cancelled and got a new checking account. They can take a flying leap for all I care.
This article mentions this, but doesn't give a credible explanation of why they are doing this. I have heard rumors of some legal problems associated with eBay Live, but don't know the details.
I have also heard (from a licensed auctioneer) that auctioneers who do eBay Live auctions are required allow PayPal's tentacles into their bank accounts. They don't like that at all.
My other complaint are the fees. Ebay used to be reasonable but over the past couple of years, it has gotten too high for a small timer like me.
I look sometimes for pieces and parts for my old Jeeps and that is about it.
I never bid on an item until the last 5 seconds, 3 seconds if I really want it. I only bid on an item 1 time.
I received a counterfeit item once...for that I should have left a negative. It was a VHS tape. The dude was knocking them off and selling them... Of course this was NOT stated in the terms of sale....oh what a surprise.
by the way...they were Mystery Science Theatre 3000 tapes in case you buy that.
I was so angry. It was not worth me paying postage to send it back...I just left a positive but left a message in German stating that they were counterfeit.
Ebay is populated now by unlicensed e-business shippers. No address, no phone, and no one to handle any problems.
I try to only buy from small sellers, but got involved with one of these vapor companies. After 5 attempts to pay and get the item shipped, I gave up and gave the guy a well deserved negative.
I joined 6 months after they started, and sold several hundred items over the years. Haven’t sold anything in 2 years now, and don’t intend to make any purchases there anymore.
If I want something, google can usually find it, and without having to “win it” to buy it.
I am a powerseller on ebay but they are always trying to get us to give free shipping which I can’t do as I am a small business. It seems like they want us to give free shipping and recoop the cost by adding it to our selling price, which in turn gives ebay more money they wouldn’t get off the shipping. I wish someone like google would give them some major competition, they have it monopolized and are for the buyers not the sellers. We are not even allowed to give buyers negative feedback anymore—even if they don’t pay-but they can give it to us.
I used to sell a lot a few years ago. I have a pile of stuff in my basement I was intending to unload over the summer, but these latest developments have me wondering just how much hassle it will be. I’ll have to be judicious in what I put out there and see whether it’s still worth my time. Sigh.
Buy direct from Overstock.com. Or do some Googling for the product you're looking for. Chances are it's cheaper than Ebay, and the shipping is far less.
I had a similiar situation . Bought some snowboard bindings and the seller skipped with the money and I never got it back from paypal over $200 lost. I have been very cautious since.
Prior to the implementation of the "Buy it now" feature, that was the easiest way of getting the item I wanted without having to wait several days for an auction to end. I would search for items and look for auctions about to close in the next 30 minutes and determine if the current bids were substantially below the value of the item. If they were, I would make a bid. The easiest way of avoiding getting outbid is to bid what you think the item is worth.
I got burned by a bookseller who said he combined shipping. He combined the shipping alright, but he tacked on a $5 PER BOOK handling charge. I told him I would pay for the books, but not to ship them. He said that wouldn’t remove the handling charge. I couldn’t even leave the weasel the negative feedback he so richly deserved because of retaliation. I think he ordered the books I bought from Amazon, reshipped them to me and made up not only the price difference, but a damned good profit on the “handling.” I’ll never buy another in-print book on eBay again.
Vegsource is great too. Especially for Homeschool....very quick sell time.
Vegsource is great too. Especially for Homeschool....very quick sell time.
Vegsource is great too. Especially for Homeschool....very quick sell time.
I bought a pirated VHS tape. The ad did not say it was pirated, and I wouldn’t have bought it if I knew it was. Since eBay supposedly bans sale of pirated material, I assumed I’d be safe. Turned out all the seller’s tapes were pirated. I reported him to eBay, and eBay did not do anything—he was allowed to continued selling pirated VHS tapes. AND, he left me a retaliatory negative.
Now if eBay would purge the retaliatory negatives and neutrals and/or provide a means for those stung by those to get them removed... As it is I'm stung with an 89% favorable thanks to a liar who deliberately concealed major damage from an item both in picture and description. He skates.
I rarely bid before the last 10 to 20 seconds.
I much prefer the sites that extend the ending time whenever a bid is made within 2 minutes of the closing time such as LabX does.
Sorry to be the lone positive voice here. I use ebay regularly as a buyer and a seller. No problems at all, and I prefer Paypal when both buying and selling. I’ve got over 300 feedbacks, all positive. Man, I MUST be doing something wrong!!!!!
Sorry, couldn't help it.
I sell mostly hobby stuff and have had it with eBay’s unbalanced seller bias. Have not yet encountered an actual problem, but when it occurs I know the seller is going to steamroller me. So now I will sell in the classified section of hobby forums. The sales price won’t be as high in many cases but without any fees or aggravation, I will be ahead.
I have similar perfect positive feedbacks but am still getting out. You are asking for trouble.
So because you got burned, every single seller should be punished. I get screwed by BUYERS on a regular basis. No pays, fake claims to PayPal, etc.
I don’t advocate punishing all bidders to make up for it. If a seller CAN’T leave negative feedback, then the WHOLE feedback system is useless. Its fake-not real and can no longer be trusted.
It's fake and can't be trusted anyway. Square Trade is nothing but a scam to let bad sellers buy their way out of negative feedback. Powersellers get away with selling counterfeit items, ripping off customers and cheating because they are a major source of revenue. The only way to protest is to stop using it, I get most of my stuff now from Craigslist, there I can do my business face to face.
This is what happens when you put a woman in charge. Chaos..
I found these phone numbers on Google...
*****
You can use either one of the following eBay 800 numbers to contact eBay by phone:
1-800-322-9266
and 1-888-749-322.
http://www.ebayphonenumber.net/
*****
Auction Genius Course gives the same numbers:
1-800-322-9266
1-888-749-3229
If you want to use snail mail:
2145 Hamilton Avenue, # 350
San Jose, CA 95125
Their company hours are 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Pacific time.
http://www.auction-genius-course.com/auction/ebay-phone-number.shtml
*****
How about that, thanks! I never thought of just googling it, as any real business puts their number right on their own site.
I’ll give it a try later.
lol now you have to find a Freeper named Hamster.
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