I think you are correct that important decisions are being made by AI. This is partially the reason for why I no longer think ebay is a safe place for a private seller. There are 19K reviews on Trustpilot for eBay, none of which have ever been responded to by eBay, and they have an average of 1.2 stars. (I have only read back to when the BPF was introduced). The type of issues facing private sellers are varied, numerous and deeply concerning.
You mentioned that "ebay will refund them from the sellers pending account". According to reviews on Trustpilot, eBay can take the money directly from your bank account. One private seller had a parcel returned to him as delivery failed, so he refunded the buyer. The buyer then opened a 'not received' case. eBay refunded the buyer AGAIN, but as the seller had no money in his eBay pending account, they took it directly from his bank account.
Other private sellers report that they are trying to close their accounts as a protest against bad experiences with eBay but they are being told their account has to stay open for several months 'in case there is any claim against the seller'. In other words they want access to your bank account. Have we authorised them to do this? Probably, because if it's in the t&cs we will be deemed to have accepted any changes to ts &cs if we carry on using the site after the changes are made.
Trustpilot reviews make for sobering reading and I really would urge any private seller to spend an hour or two looking at them. The rot goes deep with the site now and our problems are not just the diabolical trinity of BPF, SD and payment delays. Buyer scams are rife with sellers reporting that even if they have been with ebay for many years, and have 100% feedback, eBay now seem to be siding with the buyer as a matter of course. (Is this due to the BPF I wonder, and is the publicity around the BPF attracting dodgy buyers whose sole purpose is to exploit it?). Out of pocket sellers are being told to settle any dispute with a buyer 'outside of eBay' through the Small Claims Court. Strange isn't it, that they jump on you like a ton of bricks if you dare to send a message that suggests you might be doing business 'outside of eBay', but once they have had their pound of flesh and it goes pear shaped, that's exactly what they tell you to do!
eBay also seem to be freezing private sellers' accounts for unknown and/or arbitary reasons - a sudden high value sale, some listing' violation' that nobody can explain to the seller, too many 'failings' (too many cancelled sales being one of them, so take care) etc etc and there seems to be no way to get issues resolved as eBay does not seem to have a formalised regulated complaint procedure (which is a mystery to me as they are taking money out of bank accounts, so operating a Direct Debit system, so surely they must be regulated?)
All in all, I doubt I will return to selling unless eBay get taken over and rebranded and they ditch the AI decision making process. Oh and reverse the policies of the last 12 months. Not going to happen is it?
