Topic: Die, Ebay, die!

[Najemikon]

As long-time members of this forum know, I have always defended Ebay. Every time someone says they wouldn't consider buying off such pirate infested web-waters, I jump up to say how much I've bought and sold without issue.

Well, so far as selling is concerned, they can get stuffed. I've had it with the money grabbing gits. They were supposed to be for the little guy to be able to sell his shit to other little guys, but now they're a corporate monster. Witness their recent policy changes for sellers:

Sellers are not allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers. So, what's the point? Apparently the threat of negative feedback discourages people from buying. No mention about negative feedback affecting sellers.

In fact, they are going overboard for the buyers. They claim their resolution centre will help both sides of a transaction resolve a dispute. In practice, if a buyer shouts "foul", Ebay will refund their money direct from your account without a second thought. Then they'll investigate, but invariably still favour the buyer. I haven't experienced this, but don't plan on giving them the chance.

Or how about this? When selling small items, such as DVDs, CDs, etc, you must offer free postage. HA! This is to make them competitive. Excuse me? Who's the bloody seller here? Surely if I list a DVD, my pricing structure will affect my sales? I must be misunderstanding the point.

Then there's Paypal. Was a great idea. I signed up early. But I do not appreciate being told it's the only option, which is on the horizon as they already do it in the US apparently. See, Ebay will take a fee from your final sale price (greater now you have to include P&P) and then Paypal will take a bite as well! Very clever, but pardon my French, they can piss off.

So, if I list a DVD with a target of £1.50, plus another £1.50 to cover recorded 1st class postage, I have to start at £3. No-one looks at £3 DVDs. Not when the wholesalers are flooding the site with 99p bargains. Anyway, say I sell it anyway. Ebay will take their cut, Paypal will take theirs and suddenly I'm looking at barely making a quid. And I still have to pack it and post it.

Then Mr. Buyer can say "this isn't as described, or it's damaged" and Ebay will even have my quid off me. 

Well, they can bollocks. I have a new friend and I was reminded of it when I just posted a link to tease Achim in another thread: PlayTrade. Find a DVD on www.play.com and click "sell". They show you how much they sell it for and how cheap the second hand ones are, so you can undercut. Then choose UK and/or Europe to post to and it's on. It's beautifully simple from start to finish. Fees are probably about the same as Ebay, but because you can price match, you list at a much higher starting price. And the great thing I just realised? I can sell Region 1! Ebay can't let you do that.

Yesterday I stuck some on and sold 3 the same night. One was Black Book. I bought it, from Play, for £4.99. Sold it last night for £5.49, minus fees, I made a "loss" of 19p! 

[richierich]

Glad it hasn't upset you Jon   

[Najemikon]

 

[Touti]

Well sorry to disappoint you John but I think eBay Canada beats eBay UK at screwing people.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/3788/280/

[Najemikon]

urgh... they need bringing down a peg or two. We have a famous long-running consumer rights program on the BBC called Watchdog, where they do take-no-prisoners interviews and they've had several tussles with Ebay. One lady almost went bankrupt because her business was online and in a kneejerk change in policy they removed all her listings and wouldn't allow her to relist. Another guy who dealt in cutlery struggled when they banned knives. Yet you could still import switch-blades from the US...

[goodguy]

Sellers are not allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers. So, what's the point? Apparently the threat of negative feedback discourages people from buying. No mention about negative feedback affecting sellers.

I will only comment on this one. Many sellers on EBay don't leave feedback once the buyer has paid. They wait until they have received positive feedback from the buyer. If the the buyer gives negative feedback, because he didn't get the item or soemthing was wrong with it, the seller retalitates with negative feedback. While I was never the victim of such procedure, I have seen it countless times while reviewing feedback histories.

Bottom line: The only reason to give negative feedback to a buyer is if he doesn't pay. But since the seller doesn't ship unless he got the payment, there is not much harm done in such a case.

[lyonsden5]

I agree with Matthias. It really fries me when sellers wait to give feedback until after you post yours. I paid my fee, usually immediately. I want my positive feedback.  You want positive feedback too then just send me the freggin item as described in a timely manner and we're good to go! 

I've really avoided eBay over the past year and a half or so. Not for any real reason other than I was spending WAY too much money.  I've sold a few things over the years (originally registered in November 1999  ) but typically I am a buyer. We've even tried the "make money on eBay" type thing... lot's of work for little reward.

I am sorry to hear you are getting soured to the process Jon. As you said you have always defended the site. It is still the best place I know of to find just about anything, as long as you can spot the difference between the good and the bad. Although with the new guidelines (or are they rules  ) more and more good sellers will be getting bad marks. Too bad.

[Najemikon]

Oh yeah, I'll still buy from them. After all, it's buyers they want. 

I know what you both mean about feedback as I've seen it happen. For what it's worth, I have feedback of around 388 and half those are sales. I always left feedback the instant I got paid. What more could a buyer do? Communication too, like a quick email, "thanks for your dosh", etc, because I was always aware of the fact that buyers are trusting you. They deserve an acknowledgement.

While the opposite is true, a blanket ban on negative feedback is a dreadful way of handling it and it's one small point in a lot that scream "anti-seller" to me.

[Jimmy]

Or how about this? When selling small items, such as DVDs, CDs, etc, you must offer free postage. HA!

It's because some sellers had abused the system. I don't know if it was the same on the UK branch, but here many dvd sellers put their dvd at a .25$ price and add an ammount between 20 and 30$ for the shipping. If this isn't abuse tell me what it is...

[Najemikon]

Or how about this? When selling small items, such as DVDs, CDs, etc, you must offer free postage. HA!

It's because some sellers had abused the system. I don't know if it was the same on the UK branch, but here many dvd sellers put their dvd at a .25$ price and add an ammount between 20 and 30$ for the shipping. If this isn't abuse tell me what it is...

No, I can't agree, simply because it's clearly stated in the next column. Loads of sellers take the piss, but you have to be pretty daft to bid on an example like that. Hong Kong sellers do it all the time. DVD for 0.01, shipping £18.99... 

Again there are far smarter ways of weeding these out than blanket policies that change the very culture of what Ebay was about.

[DJ Doena]

Or how about this? When selling small items, such as DVDs, CDs, etc, you must offer free postage. HA!

It's because some sellers had abused the system. I don't know if it was the same on the UK branch, but here many dvd sellers put their dvd at a .25$ price and add an ammount between 20 and 30$ for the shipping. If this isn't abuse tell me what it is...

No, I can't agree, simply because it's clearly stated in the next column.

For the users maybe, but eBay only takes fees for the purchase price, not the shipment. So if you "sell cheap" with a big shipment fee eBay won't get its share.

[Najemikon]

Or how about this? When selling small items, such as DVDs, CDs, etc, you must offer free postage. HA!

It's because some sellers had abused the system. I don't know if it was the same on the UK branch, but here many dvd sellers put their dvd at a .25$ price and add an ammount between 20 and 30$ for the shipping. If this isn't abuse tell me what it is...

No, I can't agree, simply because it's clearly stated in the next column.

For the users maybe, but eBay only takes fees for the purchase price, not the shipment. So if you "sell cheap" with a big shipment fee eBay won't get its share.

Exactly, which is why I agree it needed sorting, but by tarring everyone with the same brush, they've locked all the small sellers out. And I believe it is fundamentally unfair that Ebay should be able to get a percentage of a reasonable amount set aside to package and post the item.

[goodguy]

It seems that UK sellers can still charge a fee for international shipments.

[Najemikon]

It seems that UK sellers can still charge a fee for international shipments.

Yes, they can, and I noticed yesterday that quite a few have got round the local problem by making their "Free P&P" option dependant on the buyer collecting.

When you dig down into each element, there are good reasons for all, it's the sum of the parts I can't get by.

[lovemunkey187]

Well, they can bollocks. I have a new friend and I was reminded of it when I just posted a link to tease Achim in another thread: PlayTrade. Find a DVD on www.play.com and click "sell". They show you how much they sell it for and how cheap the second hand ones are, so you can undercut. Then choose UK and/or Europe to post to and it's on. It's beautifully simple from start to finish. Fees are probably about the same as Ebay, but because you can price match, you list at a much higher starting price. And the great thing I just realised? I can sell Region 1! Ebay can't let you do that.

It's good for dvd & cds but what about other stuff?

Any suggestions of other places to advertise (I've decided to sell 3 of my Sideshow Premium Formats and a couple of other statues)?