OT latest eBay shakeup

Control and profits.

Under recent changes, sellers may only accept PayPal payments (PayPal being part of eBay's company), with a few exceptions (or a couple of different electronic transfers).

I only mention this here in RCM because eBay is the channel that many of us acquire our cool stuff thru.

Some sellers are really pissy about payments, some say payment due within 2 days, many say confirmed addresses only (even though PayPal seller protection has been extended to include buyers with unconfirmed addresses, as I was notified Oct 31 '08). My bank and utility statements go to a PO Box (not a shady, privately-owned drop box), so my address isn't confirmed for FedEx or UPS.

The UPS system doesn't stop PO Box addresses from being entered into the system (at least not thru thru the eBay/UPS portal for printing shipping labels), so I've had to tell a couple of sellers that I informed them of my street address in my correspondence (which they chose to ignore), so, to have the package intercepted costs the seller an additional $10 (heheh), and generates more revenue for UPS.

Some sellers insist on using UPS when USPS gives away new boxes/packaging for Priority Mail, and USPS can pick up packages, too. In my experience, UPS is slow and wreckless, damaging about 40% of my packages. But some sellers insist on using battered, used boxes that burst or destroy the contents, by sending them UPS. So what?

A UPS claim means the damaged product goes back to the seller, and the buyer waits for a settlement (try to get a receipt for the merchandise from a driver when you give it back to him/her), in which the end result may be that UPS declares the package a "bad pack", no payment. So you ask/squeeze/force the seller for a refund. Wasted effort over weeks of waiting, but you get a refund made by the seller or PayPal.

I'm not apprehensive about using PayPal for payments, I've had a Personal/no fees account almost as long as I've been eBaying, 1999 maybe. I expect the no fees agreement to be charged fees before long. That will be the last straw.

Ebay has made countless worthless/damaging changes to try to convince everyone that there is no risk in doing business with a stranger online. They want the control AOL imposes on it's members, only to try to insure that fraud is non-existent.

Thieves are going to get in and make money on the eBay name, but they think they'll be able to stop them.

Ebay, where they're working hard 24/7 to f*ck up a good business. Oh well, maybe Microsoft will buy it.

In general, most eBayers are honest folks. Many others are just afraid of what might happen if they piss off the watchdogs.

Both eBay and PayPal have settled claims for me, although I hate the processing and persistence required to finalize a claim. Ebay or PayPal gave me $100 last year out-of-the-blue because I had filed a claim. That wasn't the settlement, just a kind-of apology from eBay or PayPal (can't remember which, doesn't matter, since they are one), which was followed up with an apologetic phone call (which also included several questions about my overall satisfaction with doing business on eBay and if I trusted PayPal).

I'd bet some tightwads are fuming or drooling over that, but I had consistently been spending some serious moola at the time.

Reply to
Wild_Bill
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I've never had a problem buying from ebay sellers that I couldn't resolve by talking to the seller myself. Also, I've never had a problem selling things on ebay.

Ebay wasn't broken, but they are working hard to fix that.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

eBay is working hard to piss off as many people as possible and on squeezing every dollar out of buyers and sellers. They always disguise it as "improving buyer experience"or some crap like this.

Reply to
Ignoramus14497

Here is why I hate the "paypal only" policy despite accepting paypal.

I sell a lot of stuff that is picked up locally. Paypal gives me no seller protection if a buyer pays via paypal, picks up, and later claims that "item was not delivered". In such a case, they would refund the buyer without question. They require a tracking number from UPS or USPS as proof of delivery. Signed statements "item picked up in described condition" mean nothing to them. So they are demanding that I accept payments and expose myself to buyer fraud. All so that they can make extra bucks on the paypal fees.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus14497

I didn't know thing were that shakey. If I have someone do a pick-up in the future I'll be sure to have them sign beneath a copy of their drivers license. That might help.

dennis in nca

Reply to
rigger

Dennis, yes, I think that it does help.

Reply to
Ignoramus14497

Why not just take cash and be done with it? What's a copy of a drivers license going to do for you?

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

I've encountered many more problems recently as a buyer, than I did when I was selling (quite a while ago). The main problem lately is sellers stating something is new, only to find out it's just a used POS, sometimes with accessories missing.

The main issue I have with forced PayPal payments (other than being forced) is that this change guarantees that eBay gets paid twice for every transaction, once for the sale of the item and again for the payment (including a percentage of the shipping/handling costs).

All the small sellers, which are the ones out finding the really interesting stuff to sell on eBay, are getting properly fuct.

Reply to
Wild_Bill

Show proof of who picked it up ! Even if they pay cash , ebay/paypal can make you refund the money to their account .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

paypal will make you refund money they never changed hands in the first place?

How does this work?

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

He tells ebay he never received the item . ebay forces the refund ... not sure if it matters that he didn't pay thru paypal . I could be wrong , I have been before ...

Reply to
Terry Coombs

I used to do what Cydrome leader suggested, which is to specify "cash only on local pickup". I believe that this is no longer acceptable.

Indeed, if they pay cash, they cannot get a refund from ebay or paypal, but only have recourse to the seller. Usually, on local pickups they are able to ascertain the condition of the item so that there are no disputes later.

Reply to
Ignoramus14497

I used to have quite a few eBay customers that would mail me a check and I very seldom waited for the check to clear before I shipped and never had a problem. Now most of those guys (old farmers) don't trust Paypal and just quit buying. eBay just sucks now. Steve

Reply to
Up North

On Mon, 1 Dec 2008 14:35:04 -0500, the infamous "Wild_Bill" scrawled the following:

Ooh, that sucks. Other than a few items (out of close to 300 purchases) I've had very good luck with product condition and description.

There was the broken handle on a hand plane (in 2 pieces, not "slight crack" as she stated, and she then negged me after I 'neutraled' her), a corroded mister, and this recent broken CD. I got refunds on the latter two and wrote off the first as a bitch on wheels.

Yeah, I wasn't too comfy with that turn of events, either. Too monopolous. The recent raise in fees across the board didn't help win them any friend, either.

I ordered a book (or thought I did) last week and then found out that it was an ebook, not paper. I immediately cancelled the sale but the seller had been too quick. He packed it and mailed it within 20 minutes of my purchasr. Anyway, he said it was OK to return it and he'd give all my money back, including original shipping fees, if I returned it. The disc arrived broken and, very professionally, he simply told me to toss it and he refunded my money.

A question about today's eBay Stores: I have some items to sell online. Is the $9.95/mo store worth the price? 20 at a time is OK by me. Who's using their store nowadays and how do you like it?

-- The only difference between a rut and a grave...is in their dimensions. -- Ellen Glasglow

Reply to
Larry Jaques

If you use ebay to communicate electronically and leave your phone number the seller can verify your address by doing a telephone number reverse lookup at anywho.com and call you back.

Wes

Reply to
Wes

I've bought a few things where I picked up the item in person. I'm bringing a postal money order or check depending our relationship. Why should I give paypal a cut of this? I'm not going to hand over the money if I'm not happy with what I'm intending to pick up?

WEs

Reply to
Wes

The small sellers are being totally forced out. I calculated the EBay cut for small items to be in the region of 35-40% if you add the insertion fees, final value fees and PayPal cut. It's just not worth it!

Other stuff they introduced is the maximum shipping charges on some items, notably books. I sold a few of those but will not do so any more as the maxima are well below the current postal charges from Canada.

Finally, as a result of all this or not, there are very few bargains now to be had on EBay. I was looking for some stuff for my mill and found I could buy it cheaper from established bone-fide dealers.

The reasons to use EBay are getting to be less and less.

Reply to
Michael Koblic

Sounds like me. Looks like I'm done with ebay. I haven't been on there in a while anyway.

Pete Keillor

Reply to
Pete Keillor

Same here.

Reply to
Ignoramus14497

Exactly how I see it. What I like about local pickups, as a seller, is

1) cash 2) Being able to show everything to the buyer 3) no packing and shipping 4) meeting fun people. I have a great relationship with a few of my buyers 5) being able to sell them more stuff 6) not paying paypal

When I list on craigslist, I usually discount stuff 20% from what I think they would sell on ebay. I would rather have the buyer get the savings.

Reply to
Ignoramus14497

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