Has ebay changed its policy or is it me missing something?!

[liddiard]

I have been a seller /buyer on ebay for 23 years but have never had a week like this week. 
It started with a buyer contacting me to find out if I had more than one bra for sale . 
We agreed to her buying 3 bras for £30 with £3.35 postage  .  She was then charged £33.65 by ebay - with £5.54 + £1.11 in Vat for postage so £6.65 for postage. This mean that I got £33.65 minus £1.83 Buyer Protecting minus £6.65 postage (!!) = £25.17 !

I contacted ebay Chat because I could post the bras for £3.60 (48 hour tracked and collected from my home) so why would I pay £6.65 for postage and lose any profit?? The Agent said they would refund my buyer and refund me the  £6.65 so that I could go and buy my own postage (not sure what my buyer was owed other than an explanation as the £6.65 they paid was partly the postage they were meant to pay and what they were paying for the bras.) Ebay of course HASN'T refunded ANYTHING TO ANYONE despite saying they would escalate the complaint and get back to me. I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't get why ebay are not offering sellers the option to post items themselves and why they are insisting that Simple Delivery doesn't cost more when clearly it does cost more + the VAT !!!

Then today I was left SCREAMING again. I purchased two shirts from ebay. Seller accepts returns. Shirts were too big so I went to return them but ebay are INSISTING that I have to post them individually, there isn't a means of sending them in ONE parcel with ONE lot of postage !!!

I spoke with an Agent who tried to argue that if someone is sending 6 items back and  ebay allows people to send more than one item in a parcel then what does ebay do if the seller doesn't receive all the items back?!!!! I said EVERY online shop in the UK, indeed the WORLD allows people to send items back in ONE PARCEL because NOTHING ELSE MAKES SENSE DOES IT? But they wouldn't have it. I pointed out that if someone had 6 items that would cost them 6 x £3.60 (for instance) £21.60  rather than £3.60 to post back . She still wasn't having it. They then said that if I purchase 2 labels and only use 1 then the other label would get refunded when the system picks up that it wasn't used!! I am SURE that this isn't true but even if it was, why would someone have to (using the Agents example) pay for 6 labels in order to use 1 label and then have to get the other 5 refunded! Has ebay honestly gone mad ...or is it me? 

To make matters worse I have written to the seller of the shirts I am trying to return to ask for their address so that I can send the shirts back without using ebay and they keep absurdly replying offering me a 30% discount if I keep the shirts!!! That is the shirts that don't fit!! When I replied and said "but the shirts don't fit" they offered me a 60% discount on shirts that don't fit!!! Honest to God ....by this point I am wondering if I woke up in a parallel universe this week ! 

I have written to ebay about all the above but I then read this on Ebays How To Complain Page - "

“Only complaints submitted by post or by contacting us will be reviewed” !!!

So does this mean that they don't address subliminal or pscyhic complaints?!!

Maybe this is THE END of a 23 year relationship with ebay that has NEVER EVER been this crazy or crazy at all I have always found it a good platform for both buying and selling. 

SO AM I ALONE IN THIS MADNESS or are you too wondering what has happened to ebay!?

[liddiard]

If some of the post doesn't make sense such as the heading  - it is because it has been edited by the Mods because I used words that aren't allowed , I also used some CAPITALS  . I didn't use  swear words but obviously I can't say what words because they would be edited out 

[style_wise]

Yup, Simple Delivery brought a lot of crazy glitches, some of which eBay have not solved. The lack of combined postage for Private Sellers  - and the removal of the ability to invoice with combined P&P - is frustrating many people, not just you. Most Sellers are asking for the Buyers permission to cancel their multi-buy purchases and relisting as one bundle, with one lot of postage.

Since your Doesn't Fit returns come with a postage cost, I can understand the seller offering you 60% off instead. It may have been a courteous solution, depending on the item cost / postage cost. But I don't understand why you are writing to the Seller for their address? When you opened your Doesn't Fit return you will receive it there (if not, wait and ask eBay to step in).

If CS says your unused SD return label will be refunded, I would trust her and let it play out. It's true that when first purchasing items any unused SD labels are automatically refunded to the Buyer within 30-days. (If the Seller purchased the label a refund has conditions and has to be requested.)

You've been around the eBay block, and have seen a lot of changes, so please don't let it frustrate you. Your peace of mind is worth more than any shirt 😉

[liddiard]

Hi thanks for your reply - good to know I am not alone in my frustrations. Not sure what you are saying here: 

"Since your Doesn't Fit returns come with a postage cost, I can understand the seller offering you 60% off instead. It may have been a courteous solution, depending on the item cost / postage cost. But I don't understand why you are writing to the Seller for their address? When you opened your Doesn't Fit return you will receive it there (if not, wait and ask eBay to step in)."

The postage costs are mine not the sellers . I didn't go through the Doesn't Fit return because they were trying to charge me for TWO parcels - they wouldn't let me send the TWO shirts as ONE parcel, so I by-passed ebay and sent them myself 48 hr tracked Royal Mail for half the cost. Lord knows how this then gets sorted with ebay but what is the point of having TWO shirts that don't fit even if they do only cost me 40% of their value or am I missing something? 
So what do you think of the Agents argument about having to send 6 items individually, even though they would have arrived in one parcel? It's not just me is it? !