Question Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers? in Member To Member Support DO NOT DELETE

Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

mikeontinternet — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:02:07 GMT

I am fed up of 'dodgy' sellers on ebay who try to get away with certain 'tricks'. Yes of course they are obliged to give you a refund etc but at the end of the day it's the hassle and the inconvenience of sending something back that's either inferior or not even the item in the listing! And I'm sorry but in my experience, whilst they may be 'UK based' it is invariably sellers who I will tactfully describe as 'not from these shores'. In 90% of cases I would say that is the case. I have no problem with foreign sellers in fact I buy a lot from the far east and my experience with them has been first class.

Here is a recent example (but I have lots if them). I ordered a pestle and mortar (fixed price item) costing around £8.50 with about £4 postage. I ordered that one rather than others because it had a nice 'fancy' pestle and the mortar was a nice shape. But when it arrived I was horrified to see that it was not the one I ordered, the colour was the same but that was where the similarity ended. The pestle was the usual baseball bat shape and the mortar was rather clumpy. To make matters worse it was cracked! I wrote to the seller telling him that I was none too happy, as this was not the one I ordered, to see what he had to say. I usually do that before opening a case because there are a lot of genuine sellers and I think it affects their reputation adversely if there are lots of cases being opened. Whilst waiting (24 hours) for a reply, I started looking at similar listings again as I knew it was very likely I would be returning this one! And what do I find? The same one ie the 'wrong' one that the seller has sent me, listed by none other than the same seller at a price of £8.50 with free postage (making it £4 cheaper than what I had paid)! So I promptly sent him another message telling him that whilst I wasn't happy at the time I sent my first message I was even less so now and pointed out the said listing I had found. This time I got a reply! But no apologies or thank you for your message or we want to try and put things right. Oh no, his message just said - 'Thats different company'. Then another one saying - 'Hi, return to us we will refund'. I was just speechless. No apology for the inconvenience at all. And I believe this was no mistake. I think they have sold out of the 'nice' ones but instead of taking the listing down they just send out the other (cheaper) one and hope that many people won't even realise it's not the one they ordered or will just not have the time or want the effort of returning it.

This kind of thing is happening more and more on ebay. And there seems to me to be no retribution for sellers who play these games. You can only leave feedback (I think) for completed transactions, not ones where you've returned the item. But this will continue until ebay introduce some kind of penalty for sellers found to be habitually sending out goods that do not fit the description.

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

pixiesen2012 — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:06:54 GMT

fascinating,

you say you have had all these 'problems' yet the feedback you have left is all positive,

there is absolutely no sign of any problems whatsoever!

ebay do penalise sellers when they receive enough bad feedback

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

mikeontinternet — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:11:03 GMT

Because as I say, you can only leave feedback for items you have received and accepted and are happy with! This item for example has now disappeared from my 'purchase history' page. So how can I possibly leave him any adverse feedback?

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

pixiesen2012 — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:14:17 GMT

you can leave feedback for every item that you purchase

go to your feedback profile page and use the Leave Feedback link there

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

mikeontinternet — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:39:54 GMT

Thanks for that, I did not realise that was the case. Just one question, if you leave negative feedback for a seller who has not at that stage left any feedback for you as the buyer, can he not then retaliate by leaving you negative feedback? When I sell anything I always leave the buyer feedback saying thanks for prompt payment, but more and more I notice when I buy that sellers do not do this and I wondered if that was because they are giving themselves the opportunity to 'retaliate' should you leave them what would be genuine (but negative) feedback.

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

john1297576 — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:50:20 GMT

I am afraid that you do not understand a lot of things about selling.

Any transaction that is completed then Feedback can be left, you just need to look in More Actions.

No seller should ever refund outside a case as they do not get the selling fee refunded, so there is no point in delaying opening a case. The only damage to a seller is if they don't DEAL with the case themselves, if ebay get called in then they do not get the refund of the selling fee and do get a Defect. Defects are VERY damaging.

It is no good complaining about sellers and doing nothing about it, that is what feedback is for. Defects for a seller are serious as that is how ebay measure performance and expect no more than 2% of Defects per 100 Sales.

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

red_magpie — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:54:26 GMT

Do you realise how difficilt it is to read a solid wall of text, with almost no attempt to separate it into paragraphs?

I'm can't even begin to reply to your question, because it hurts my eyes to read it!

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

mikeontinternet — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 16:04:50 GMT

I do apologise red_magpie if my post was difficult for you to read. I did in fact use four separate paragraphs, but clearly wrote it the old fashioned way, without blank lines between them!

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

mikeontinternet — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 16:18:43 GMT

Hi. I am the first to accept that there are many things I don't understand about selling. I do sell occasionally but in the main I am a buyer.

As you can see another member has pointed out to me that it is possible to leave feedback for sellers where the item was in fact returned. I hadn't realised this.

I think the reason why I often write to the seller instead of opening a case is because I have seen many times on sellers listings a message saying if you have any problems with the item please let us know first and do not open a case with ebay. Yet what you are telling me is that there is no benefit to them or more to the point no potential damage to their reputation by having cases opened? So I am confused as to why they should ask you not to open one?

Finally, I take your point on feedback and I do appreciate it's importance. However, perhaps you could answer the question I put to the other community member as they have not responded. What concerns me is that there are an increasing number of sellers who do not leave feedback first. They should do surely? When I sell that is exactly what I do, thanking the buyer for their prompt payment. But am I right in thinking that by delaying leaving the buyer feedback they are ensuring that they do not get negative feedback? Because surely they can wait to see what kind of feedback the buyer leaves, and if it's negative then what is to stop them retaliating by leaving you negative feedback which is not warranted?

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

pixiesen2012 — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 16:41:28 GMT

no, sellers cannot leave negative feedback, ebay removed that option many many years ago to stop tit fot tat feedback,

if a seller leaves a negative comment on a positive feedback you can report them and get the feedback removed

sellers wait for buyers to leave feedback first so that they know the buyer is happy,

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

pixiesen2012 — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 17:52:04 GMT

sellers should NOT leave feedback first,

leaving feedback is the very last thing that should be done, and sellers should be the last one to leave it,

they are making sure the buyer doesn't turn into the buyer from hell, after they have left feedback saying the buyer was wonderful

sellers cannot leave negative feedback

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

mikeontinternet — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 19:00:27 GMT

I fail to understand some of the points you are making. If sellers leaving feedback is such a bad thing, then why do many of the reputable companies selling on ebay automatically leave feedback when they receive the order and payment?

As for the buyer turning into the buyer from hell, well if what you're saying is correct and sellers can't leave negative feedback it wouldn't seem to make much difference surely?

It has always been my understanding of the ethos of ebay that the seller leaves the first feedback to thank the buyer for prompt payment. Because as you say that is all they can do so they may as well do it straight away. What is the point if them waiting if as you say the buyer turns out to be a nightmare, because they are still unable to leave negative feedback for them. It begs the question if sellers can only leave positive feedback (or none at all) then is there any point?

Re: Why no crackdown on dodgy sellers?

pixiesen2012 — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 19:35:33 GMT

but at least they won't have left feedback saying the buyer was great!

big companies have feedback left automatically it can be set to be left as soon as a buyer pays or when the buyer leaves positive feedback,

so a lot of selllers use the 'when they've paid' option

as you say, there really isn't much point in feedback for buyers these days, as sellers can only leave positive, so many sellers just don't bother any more

but as feedback is completely voluntary it is up to the individual to decide if and when they leave it