I THINK EBAY HAS CHANGED A LOT. DO YOU?

[billnben1986]

Hello

Brave person speaking! lol.

Since the feedback thing changed where sellers cannot leave a neg I feel things have changed a lot on ebay. Plus with the postage hikes. And the recession.

I have been on here since it started more or less, buying, selling... mostly selling. 

Recently I did not receive two items within a month, oddly. I simply did not get them. The sellers had not tracked them (why not, when it costs such a little extra?) I got my money back going through the res. centre. Because their proof of postage was not good enough they needed to provide a tracking number. But then I got a string of really nasty abusive messages . One included a bully-boy schoolground sort of violence threat and that was enough for ebay to intervene and put me onto the police. The messages stopped. But the second time it happened, (one was from London, the other from Manchester) the abuse was horrendous. I had not even left negatives! Not in either case. Just because I had not received my item so they had to refund me my own money back they were mad at me.

Now I don't remember this sort of thing happening in the old days? Did it? My other half is a policeman so I feel safe but it makes it very unpleasant!

My suggestion is that every one tracks everything, so the item can easily be located. Then I thought, hang on, I am being targeted , but maybe THEY didn't send the items. I had not even considered that!

But people seem to have a lot of anger. More so than before. Mmm.

It seems ebay wants your money but does not care at all about how ebayers treat you or indeed they themselves support you (or not) when you are innocent but in trouble. When I call on the phone I  cannot understand what they say , and am too embarrassed (wrongly) to admit it. because of their heavy accents. When I go onto the chat live help, they keep me waiting for half an hour then transfer me to the wrong dept then push buttons quoting whole paragraphs of rules I already know (so they do not have to attempt writing I suppose) . Also I do not know where they are but I can tell you for a fact they are not speaking from the UK, yet they say they are when you ask them,  most cannot write english well and all the names they use are false ones! They are all such obviously made up names like Zack Powers. 

I worry about what is happening to ebay and ebayers. Abuse seems to be par for the course. Doesn't seem right. Also why don't all sellers track EVERYTHING then this sort of trouble would never happen.Surely if anything is worth selling it is worth tracking and it is the only way to prove you have sent your item to your buyer after all!

What do you think, people?

Apologies if this is all old hat but I have not been here much.

[millielilac]

The thing is when buying and selling on eBay it is devoid of face to face personal contact.

You have no idea of who you are trading with and how different their values and behaviour might be. It is possibly only when a problem arises that these differences might surface.

It is a pity that you have encountered unpleasantness with your trading partner ....but the vast majority of sales do go through without problems ....you have just been unlucky.

Re ending all items with tracking ...in some cases it is just not viable especially with low value items. However provided the item cannot just be popped in a post box most sellers do get proof of posting so it should not be too difficult for most sellers to scan this in and send to buyer as proof.

Every item sold on eBay is not necessarily worth being sent by tracked post as it does add to postage costs ...and buyers like low postage.

[renomarvinm]

You have had two bad experiences.  I am sorry about that.  But please remember that there were only two!  Ebay has literally millions of sellers.  I sell all the time myself.  I am always courteous to my buyers.  I ship promptly, and my daughter wraps all of our packages with extra care!  And I have never, not once, refused a refund to a customer.  I describe each and every flaw in anything I sell as if I were going to buy it myself!  And I am far from being unusual.  In fact, on ebay these days, I'm just a typical seller - nothing more.

Please do not be discouraged.  Most of us are dilligently trying as hard as we can.  Honest!  

Best wishes,  Bob

[billnben1986]

i am a seller of many years standing too. 

But then I found out that proof of postage is not actually proof, a buyer said they had not had an item, when I sent 'proof of postage' they told me it proves you sent something to someone, it doesn't prove you sent it to me as my address is not on there and then they  went to the resolution centre..She got her money back and I lost the item in the mail! 

Proof of postage doesn't stand up in resolution centre cases ... It has to be tracking number as far as I know (can anyone confirm this?) so now, as I sell price stuff, I track everything. I mean even things that cost only a fraction of my normal prices.

I feel ebay is basically a good thing and I enjoy it and have made many mates through ebay, but I do still feel that people could be as courteous as I am and we are. I feel if it were face to face things would be very different!

I do not feel as supported by the 'teams' who are on customer support as I used to, either.

But I am glad I came on here. It might help me in the future. I am glad to say things are going well, I have had a few hiccoughs recently.

No biggie 

[millielilac]

My response re POPs was that it had crossed your mind that the items were never posted...but this is a how a seller could prove they had.

It is true that POPs are not accepted in the resolution centre as proof of DELIVERY ...it is not the same thing.

However a POP will cover you for items up to a value of £20 and you can use this to claim from RM.

[billnben1986]

...but do POPs have the buyers address PRINTED on them? This I would think is the vital thing. 

Thank you one and all.

[ellesgifthampers]

I wish all sellers operated like you. I recently purchased a bracelet which arrived damaged. On closer inspection of the photo (enlarging it a great deal) the damage was already there. The seller has offered me a partial refund however I will be worried that the bracelet will brake due to the weakness and asked for a full refund. This was also offered however the seller would not pay the return postage despite listing the item as 'in great condition' no mention what so ever of the damage. the sellers tone changed when I asked for a contribution towards the postage ( I was only prepared to return by recorded delivery ) and I got the response ' the item was clearly photographed, the listing states no returns and the refund was a gesture of goodwill'

Why should this be acceptable when the item was damaged before being dispatched? Why should I be out of pocket in order to return the item for the refund?

This experience has really put me off using Ebay as Ebay seem more interested in retaining a sale for their fee albeit a part sale than the buyers rights.

Very, very disappointed.

A bad buying experience may be in the minority but that is of little comfort when that bad experience happens to you.

[red-sloth-clothing]

When I post items at the Post Office the assistant writes first line of address and post code on the receipt.