eBay Noise: '5 days straight and not 1 sale', Sellers rant (goes viral)

Examiner ^ | July 9, 11:17 AM | Monique Stout

[granite]

On April 5th, 2010, just 6 days after eBay implemented another round of changes -- click here to see the official announcement --  eBay seller zenartinc posted the following topic in eBay's Seller Central Discussion Forum: "5 DAYS STRAIGHT, NOT 1 SALES. SELLING FOR 10 YRS.WHAT THE IS GOING ON HERE!".  It has now been over 3 months and it is by far still the hottest topic on the forum.

As of today, there are over 5,600 replies in response to to the original post (click here to read entire thread), the majority of which are complaints from sellers about the lack of sales on eBay.  To be fair, the replies are not from 5600 unique sellers, but there is something to be said for any forum topic that stays in the forefront for that amount of time.  

Apparently, eBay sellers who have posted in the thread have a laundry list of complaints:

• Lack of visibility.  Sellers' two biggest complaints are that their listings are either buried by listings from eBay China (whose sellers pay no fees and consequently flood the site with unlimited listings of the same items), or what sellers suspect are "rolling blackouts" on eBay's servers. 
• No clear definition of how the "Best Match" algorithm works.  "Best Match"  doesn't seem to work for either sellers or buyers.  Buyers often get a hodge-podge of listings when searching -- try searching for "iPod 30gb".  Everything from an iPod to iPod parts shows up on the first page. Sellers have no idea what is necessary to achieve high placement in best match.
• Heavy-handed buyer favoritism which has allowed buyer scams to dramatically increase.  I won't elaborate on some of the scams sellers have complained about since I don't want to inadvertently provide tips and tricks.
• Seriously flawed feedback system.  While other sites have one-sided feedback systems, this is something that does not work for eBay.  Sites such as Amazon are true "store" sites: you place your item in a shopping cart and you pay.  Until you pay for that item, it remains available in the sellers store.  Simple.  eBay allows buyers to "Buy It Now" without requiring immediate payment (unless the seller actively selects that option when listing the product).  Using "Buy It Now" effectively ends the listing, but until the buyer actually pays for it, the product is in limbo: the seller can't re-list it and sell it to another buyer until the first buyer either pays up, or the seller files and successfully closes and UID (Unpaid Item Dispute -- a process that takes a minimum of 8 days to complete).  Without the dual-sided feedback system, sellers have no way to warn other sellers of "deadbeats".  To add insult to injury, once a buyer has "bought" an item, they are free to leave feedback whether or not they have paid for the product.  Granted, eBay allows you to have negative feedback removed if it is determined that the buyer never actually paid for the item, but it is not automatic (as it should be) and you will have to get customer service on the phone to get it done.  You'll recoup your final values on the sale, but guess what?  You'll have to pay to list it again.
• Other complaints:  Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) (anonymity doesn't help identify problems, causing difficulty in taking corrective measures), disproportionately preferential treatment for high-volume sellers, canned responses from customer service, and inability to request check, wire transfer or money order payments except in select categories (eBay lists PayPal as the "preferred" method of payment, not surprising since they own PayPal).

Whatever is going on, someone in management forgot that most of eBay's small-medium sellers are also buyers:  alienate one and you have alienated the other, which explains the continued growth of Amazon and the rapid growth of eBay-alternative sites such as eCrater, Etsy, and Bonanzle.

Back in 2007, eBay CEO John Donohoe said: "We had to create a vision of the future so people could let go of a very successful past."*   If the current customer dissatisfaction is any indication, management has performed admirably.

* Quoted taken from www.leggmason.com, full speech is available here.

[wally_bert]

Sometimes it is very hard to beat Ebay in used tech. Part of my job is to list used but good tech or denoted with problems if someone wants it for parts. I can make a deal on some nice DVCams and disk arrays lol...

Seriously I expect to be shut down or scaled back to straight break/fix. I was told when this started a few months ago by the head guy I was designed to fail on purpose, I figured I would do the best I could with what I was given which wasn’t a hell of a lot.

[wally_bert]

Sometimes it is very hard to beat Ebay in used tech. Part of my job is to list used but good tech or denoted with problems if someone wants it for parts. I can make a deal on some nice DVCams and disk arrays lol...

Seriously I expect to be shut down or scaled back to straight break/fix. I was told when this started a few months ago by the head guy I was designed to fail on purpose, I figured I would do the best I could with what I was given which wasn’t a hell of a lot.

[Stars&StripesNE]

E-Bays feed back system allows blatant lies and NO seller protection

100% true!! Often the buyer holds the seller hostage to frivolous but costly, demands.

I am looking for another venue to hawk my wares.

[BlazingArizona]

I’ve never had much luck with eBay. When I buy something, it’s often a scam. When I sell something, it always goes for 99 cents.

[wally_bert]

I have a reserve listing on an old Jeep that I haven’t touched in ages and some priorities in life have changed over time. People have certainly found it and ask. However there is a reserve on it because I just won’t turn it loose. I also didn’t put my cell number in the ad because I know I would be under seige by everybody and their brother with stupid questions, attempts to talk me into something, or wanting me to give it away due to age. I have given it out to people who acutally request it. It has a day or two to go.

[wally_bert]

I rarely use Ebay any more. Craigslist has done OK for me. I am selling some very nice higher end jewelery for someone who doesn’t want to be named. I listed three of them a few days ago and one is sold. I also have them up at Upillar which I haven’t had any success with.

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

Paypal refunds before a shipment can possibly arrive, negative feedback on unpaid purchases, 18 days to go through the dispute resolution to get such negative feedbacks removed. In a few hours, I could get several of the biggest US sellers on eBay locked out for at least a week, and repeat the process over and over again, and there's nothing a seller can do to stop me.

My mother said this, too. She said she has known of sellers that have delivered an item, the buyer disputes it or says the item was never delivered, and Paypal takes the money out of their account.

So, a seller loses their item AND the payment.

[Neidermeyer]

I have been selling on eBay since 1998 , I had one userid blacklisted by a demonstrably wrong VERO complaint in 2000 killing a $50,000/yr gross $20,000 net sideline on me .. I continued to use eBay for buying and selling until the one-sided feedback came in ,, mostly buying ... I had 2 scammers steal from me with eBays and PayPals help in the last month ... I know what I’m doing and I’m done with them.

[wally_bert]

Their Blackthorn software is horrid and there is very little documentation out there when it develops an error code.

[Neidermeyer]

Paypal refunds before a shipment can possibly arrive
********************************************************
They got me for a few hundred on that ,, 30 minutes after I sent a “your item has shipped” e:mail the buyer reported a case of “identity theft” to PayPal and got a full refund from me throwing my account into a negative balance ... the item was being shipped to their verified address...

[LostInBayport]

She said she has known of sellers that have delivered an item, the buyer disputes it or says the item was never delivered, and Paypal takes the money out of their account.

A coworker told me a similar thing happened to a friend of hers recently. This sounds like widespread scam activity to me...the "buyers" get the product, a refund from Paypal and probably create a new user ID the next day to rip somebody else off. Paypal is to blame for enabling this, because they should issue no refund until proof of non-delivery is provided to them (i.e., a UPS, FedEx or USPS acknowledgement of 'package lost').

[kingu]

I had 2 scammers steal from me with eBays and PayPals help in the last month ... I know what I’m doing and I’m done with them.

Same problems, much bigger scale. Even found out today that there's a person aiming to have the account shut down for satisfying more than 99% of the customers, because some retroactively decide to change the terms of sale and get rather whiny when there's no interest in accepting their blackmail.

If I could find an honest competitor for open bidding that had enough of a base to support it, I'd start driving a percentage of auctions to the alternative, and increase it based upon sale through.

[historyrepeatz]

Selling jewelry on Craigslist? Hmmm.. In-person transactions with strangers can be risky. Recently, a guy selling a diamond ring was murdered via a Craigslist transaction. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20004553-504083.html

[wally_bert]

I have a few conditions for an inperson and this one isn’t. Paypal, cashier’s check, or personal checks all to be held for a few days.

For a local sale, it would have to be in a bank lobby or possibly a police station with an ID that I have seen some people advertise. There is no way I would just let anyone just walk in for a show at home.

The world is full of stupid people and criminals. I try my best to avoid both.

[historyrepeatz]

Seems many Freepers don’t know the ins and outs of Ebay. Sheesh! You have to do things RIGHT! Regarding the “I never got my item” scam, all the seller needs to do is send his/her item with Confirmation receipt.. Costs a dollar at the post office. or.. Registered or Certified mail. There’s NO WAY the buyer can dispute never getting their item. The sender/seller has PROOF that the item reached its destination.

[LostInBayport]

I don’t do the ebay thing myself, but I did suggest the same thing to my coworker...I pointed out that if they try to scam you after that, it is mail fraud!

[rottndog]

Have you tried saving your search criteria as a ‘saved search’?

I do that with sellers...I find a seller I like, and set the search criteria, do the search, and then bookmark that page. I do that to search ‘recently listed’, and I save the bookmark as ‘xxxxseller recently listed’.

Haven’t done that with searches though...don’t know if it will work.

[Pilated]

I would never ever never consider buying OR selling on ebay or any other listing site. I just don’t trust any of the Moe, Larrys or Curlys who use them.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

I’m not sure what the right answer to that issue is.

The way it was before, a buyer could win an item, pay for it quickly, and receive it only to find that it was misrepresented. If the buyer left negative feedback, the seller could retaliate by leaving negative feedback for the buyer, though the buyer didn’t deserve it.

This allowed a lot of unscrupulous sellers to pass under the radar because buyers didn’t want their feedback rating ruined.

All I can say is that if a seller receives an unfair negative, at least they can leave a counter-response. I ignore negatives if there aren’t too many and if the seller provides a reasonable explanation.

[Cheetahcat]

“Paypal refunds before a shipment can possibly arrive, negative feedback on unpaid purchases, 18 days to go through the dispute resolution to get such negative feedbacks removed.

In a few hours, I could get several of the biggest US sellers on eBay locked out for at least a week, and repeat the process over and over again, and there’s nothing a seller can do to stop me.

It is really a shame, as a whole lot of people depend upon eBay for their income and with each change, they make it harder and harder just to keep your head above water.”

usually they say a court order is needed to remove negative feedback,a lot of people work hard to keep the rating up and threats and abuse go unheard it is based on buyers “Feelings”.