Wacky Packages and Ebay

[jeffcaff]

I have been selling on Ebay for about 20 years now and I may finally be at the end of rope.   I realize that Ebay brings 300 million plus bidders but the last year has been awful.  Ebay rewards amatuers who have no understanding of what an auction is.  They are more apt to reward a bidder who is spent a total of $10 on Ebay versus a power seller who has sold well over a $1 Million. More than 95% of the bidders are excellent but that 5% is killing me.  I won't get into the details but I think I will be creating my own site and hooking up with someone like Shopify this year.  Everyone on the forum has been excellent so I will surely let you know when I decide to post the majority of my items on another platform.  Any advice, commentary or opinion would be greatly appreciated.

[NationalSpittoon]

Yes. My father used to sell horror comics on there, but once someone claimed that we sent a damaged copy... so we were forced to give a refund and he sent a DIFFERENT copy back. Needless to say, we haven’t sold anything since.

[MoldRush]

Do these unscrupulous buyers have feedback that reflects their unethical conduct, or does eBay have the deck stacked against sellers so severely that you can’t even utilize the only avenue of retaliation available to you?  I remember some chat a while back saying that it wasn’t even possible anymore for sellers to leave negative feedback to deadbeat buyers.

[MoldRush]

If the feedback system was a true two-way system like it should be, the seller should have the right to refuse the sale to a winning bidder with negative feedback of the type in question.  And I think years ago the seller could include a stipulation reserving the right to void a sale under those circumstances, and eBay would honor it.  I haven’t actively sold for several years so I don’t know current policies, but if the system is rigged against sellers such that there’s zero recourse in situations where a seller has clearly been scammed, then it’s probably just a matter of time before new platforms get created that will restore some protections both ways.

[jleonard1967]

Do these unscrupulous buyers have feedback that reflects their unethical conduct, or does eBay have the deck stacked against sellers so severely that you can’t even utilize the only avenue of retaliation available to you?  I remember some chat a while back saying that it wasn’t even possible anymore for sellers to leave negative feedback to deadbeat buyers.

Nope, you can't leave negative feedback for a bad buyer.  We really need a competitor to come in, but Ebay will just buy them out

[bandaches]

Nope, you can't leave negative feedback for a bad buyer.  We really need a competitor to come in, but Ebay will just buy them out

The competitor will be facebook or amazon, more likely facebook.  They are mammoths compared to ebay so they will be buying ebay out.  Facebook has been aggressively trying to grow marketplace now with payment and shipping options.  Facebook MO is to buyout their competition.  Perhaps we will see a drop in fees when facebook takes over because facebook is more interested in tracking everything we do as that data is worth billions in the digital commerce and advertising world.

[drono]

I have been selling on Ebay for about 20 years now and I may finally be at the end of rope.   They are more apt to reward a bidder who is spent a total of $10 on Ebay versus a power seller who has sold well over a $1 Million.

I've been wanting to get back into selling on eBay, but posts like this and issues I've had as a buyer with USPS lost and destroyed deliveries, where the seller just gave me a refund when USPS should have been responsible, have made me think twice about it.

What I bought:


How it arrived - you tell me someone who handled this package didn't know it was damaged:

The competitor will be facebook or amazon, more likely facebook.  They are mammoths compared to ebay so they will be buying ebay out.  Facebook has been aggressively trying to grow marketplace now with payment and shipping options.  Facebook MO is to buyout their competition.  Perhaps we will see a drop in fees when facebook takes over because facebook is more interested in tracking everything we do as that data is worth billions in the digital commerce and advertising world.

Google is another giant who buys into whatever market they want.  I don't know if they're interested, but I think auctions merged with the search engine would be a dual-edged sword - great for those who want to see it and bad for those who would suddenly have even more fodder in their search results.  It's hard enough now to search for something for competitive pricing and all of the top results are eBay listings.  I know how to search on eBay; I want Google to show me if someone is selling it.

[RawGoo]

I just had USPS lose a package on me and ended up having to issue a refund, so not only did I lose the item, but also shipping and ebay fees.  I'm half afraid to mail anything anymore, but until someone invents a transporter, we're stuck.  And, the transporter will probably scramble some atoms once in a while   

[Hustler08]

I just had USPS lose a package on me and ended up having to issue a refund, so not only did I lose the item, but also shipping and ebay fees.  I'm half afraid to mail anything anymore, but until someone invents a transporter, we're stuck.  And, the transporter will probably scramble some atoms once in a while   

Same exact thing happened to me MANY TIMES OVER - that fuckin USPS Sucks ASS!!! and so does EBAY!! they don't give a SHIT!! and Topps is becoming just like them - we pay all that $$$ and they can't even give us a sketches for  every 5 packs - you order 15-20 packs and they fuck you on the sketches!! NO EXECUSES!! it WAS WAY BETTER WHEN JEFF Z. WAS RUNNING IT WAY BETTER!!!AND I DONT THINK FUCKBOOK OR FUGOOGLE ARE GOING TO BE ANY BETTER!! SORRY FOR THE RANT !! IT NEEDED TO BE SAID NO MORE 

[jleonard1967]

Same exact thing happened to me MANY TIMES OVER - that fuckin USPS Sucks ASS!!! and so does EBAY!! they don't give a SHIT!! and Topps is becoming just like them - we pay all that $$$ and they can't even give us a sketches for  every 5 packs - you order 15-20 packs and they fuck you on the sketches!! NO EXECUSES!! it WAS WAY BETTER WHEN JEFF Z. WAS RUNNING IT WAY BETTER!!!AND I DONT THINK FUCKBOOK OR FUGOOGLE ARE GOING TO BE ANY BETTER!! SORRY FOR THE RANT !! IT NEEDED TO BE SAID NO MORE 

Now, next time you reply to a post don't hold back.  It isn't healthy

[Alexeirex]

I went through a similar situation also - I put my insured package in the bin like the post office people suggested without having scanned the item at the desk because the holiday line was so long.
Guess what? It never got scanned at the sorting office and it never made it to the recipient - an item I sold for $400!!! That I had to refund and YES, the post office didn't even offer me a refund on the postage after 2 inquiries via their website.
The office where I sent out the package? They suggested I contact another govt agency as it was probably stolen outright - I will wait in line and get my item scanned from now on but it was their personnel suggestion in the first place!!!
A

[ToadallyDude]

I started on eBay in 1997, and actually still have an account which I never had to add my credit card to.  Every time they updated how new accounts were created, they grandfathered in the old accounts, so I just never added one as I used to pay mostly with money-orders anyway (yah, haven't bought anything for quite a while on there).  When they added Paypal, I started a Paypal account, but never added it to eBay, and then Paypal totally messed up my account and it took me 3 years to get it cleared up.  I'm probably the only person left in the world with an eBay account that doesn't have a credit card or Paypal attached, so I wonder if I could turn it into an NFT and sell it as "rare".  heh.  But ...If Farcebook (r intentional) buys EvilBay, I'll close my account in a heartburn.  I won't use anything with that co. attached.  But someday, the world will be owned by 3 companies, and we'll all be Zenergizers in The Matrix.

[toddbarrett]

I just had USPS lose a package on me and ended up having to issue a refund, so not only did I lose the item, but also shipping and ebay fees.  I'm half afraid to mail anything anymore, but until someone invents a transporter, we're stuck.  And, the transporter will probably scramble some atoms once in a while   

I recently sold an item on eBay, and after two weeks the buyer said the package never arrived. I placed a "find my package" on it with USPS website. The buyer gave me one more week, which was nice of her. After the week, the package still shows "out for delivery" so I refund the buyer her money, and in the "find my package" page on the USPS website, I changed the delivery method if they find the package to "Return to Sender."

A month or so goes by when suddenly I get a message from USPS that say's "Great news, we found your package, and delivered it to the addressee!" I messaged the buyer three times that I will pay for the postage if they mail it back to me, but of course I never heard back from them.

A week or so after that the USPS sends me a survey on the results of the "Find my package" feature. I spent 10 minutes writing up the details and telling them how ridiculous it is to have the "return to sender" feature if they are not even going to use it. I never heard anything back from them. In fact about a week later I received another survey asking how I liked the "Find my package" feature.  

[freetoes]

The Post Office is batting .250 on my last four shipments. A couple of times the box was so damaged that someone had to have done it deliberately.  The actual items were virtually indestructible, but some coin rolls went missing. Once I successfully filed a claim with the USPS; the other times I was able to work it out with the buyer.

When feasible, I have been known to deliver sufficiently high-end items in person, to avoid any screwups and cut out PayPal.

[vahsurfer]

MANY Years ago I had acquired a complete 1-16 set (extra and sold it for a quick flip on Pirate's Bay.
THANK GOODNESS I took it to FedEx / Kinkos for shipping.

I paid for THEM to pack it up and insured it for the selling price.
THEY VIDEO RECORD the associates packing up the item(s).

It arrived at the buyers and he claimed it was ruined, destroyed, etc. - You know the routine......
He sent it back and after examining it, it was very apparent he had rifled through the notebooks and handpicked to upgrade his own collection.

After FIGHTING with eBay and PayPal (HA - IMMEDIATELY disconnected my banking info, they tried to take the money!!!)
I finally WON!  I had to get the fraud department from eBay / PayPal and FedEx on a conference call and have them review the packing process videotape and some other information.

I had the insurance which ultimately was paid to eBay via FedEx as they IMMEDIATELY gave the buyer their money without a proper and formal investigation.  That is my two cents,

Richard
#StayWacky

[Alexeirex]

MANY Years ago I had acquired a complete 1-16 set (extra and sold it for a quick flip on Pirate's Bay.
THANK GOODNESS I took it to FedEx / Kinkos for shipping.

I paid for THEM to pack it up and insured it for the selling price.
THEY VIDEO RECORD the associates packing up the item(s).

It arrived at the buyers and he claimed it was ruined, destroyed, etc. - You know the routine......
He sent it back and after examining it, it was very apparent he had rifled through the notebooks and handpicked to upgrade his own collection.

After FIGHTING with eBay and PayPal (HA - IMMEDIATELY disconnected my banking info, they tried to take the money!!!)
I finally WON!  I had to get the fraud department from eBay / PayPal and FedEx on a conference call and have them review the packing process videotape and some other information.

I had the insurance which ultimately was paid to eBay via FedEx as they IMMEDIATELY gave the buyer their money without a proper and formal investigation.  That is my two cents,

Richard
#StayWacky

Good going disconnecting your bank info! PayPal almost ALWAYS takes the side of the buyer. I have had a few buyers renege on their purchases over the last year with no consequences...
A

[drono]

PayPal almost ALWAYS takes the side of the buyer. I have had a few buyers renege on their purchases over the last year with no consequences...

Isn't that an extension of Murphy's Law? 
If a criminal can find a way to steal it, they will. 

I found this statistic on the Internet: PayPal processed nearly 34 million transactions per day in 2019.  If only 1 in 10,000 of those were fraudulent, that would be 3400 per day or 1,241,000 per year.

So PayPal probably doesn't have the time or manpower to sufficiently investigate each claim.  And the criminals probably know that, which of course ruins it for the honest.  It also means PayPal has to charge higher fees to compensate for insuring or investigating the loss.

[JailOJohn]

I once (this year) sold a sealed case of Funco minis to a guy on ebay. Photo in listing showed EXACTLY what the item was. Buyer complained that when he opened the case, it didnt contain the characters he needed to complete his set. After he complained, i had to take the (now ruined) case back. I took a total loss as i couldnt re-sell opened blind boxes. I realized then that e bay totally favors the buyer… Several other times, whiny and unethical Canadian buyers insisted i eat the shipping and customs fees to Canada, which ended up being $70 on a 3 pound cgc comic holder. I now make all of my listings  say “Will ship to U.S. ONLY.”…and i still get idiots asking if i will ship to Canada……Not directly Wacky related, but the principles are the same...

[drono]

I now make all of my listings  say “Will ship to U.S. ONLY.”…and i still get idiots asking if i will ship to Canada……Not directly Wacky related, but the principles are the same...

I can understand that from the buyer's perspective.  I collect Swatch watches too, and many sellers in Europe say they won't ship out of the E.U. in their listings, so I've politely asked them what the costs would be to the US.  Swatch stores definitely won't ship out of their country, so if it's not sold in the U.S. (and many are not), then I have to find them on a secondary market.  The last one I bought cost me 50 euros to ship, but I was glad to pay it for a watch that was limited to 70 pieces.

[bandaches]

MANY Years ago I had acquired a complete 1-16 set (extra and sold it for a quick flip on Pirate's Bay.
THANK GOODNESS I took it to FedEx / Kinkos for shipping.

I paid for THEM to pack it up and insured it for the selling price.
THEY VIDEO RECORD the associates packing up the item(s).

It arrived at the buyers and he claimed it was ruined, destroyed, etc. - You know the routine......
He sent it back and after examining it, it was very apparent he had rifled through the notebooks and handpicked to upgrade his own collection.

After FIGHTING with eBay and PayPal (HA - IMMEDIATELY disconnected my banking info, they tried to take the money!!!)
I finally WON!  I had to get the fraud department from eBay / PayPal and FedEx on a conference call and have them review the packing process videotape and some other information.

I had the insurance which ultimately was paid to eBay via FedEx as they IMMEDIATELY gave the buyer their money without a proper and formal investigation.  That is my two cents,

Richard
#StayWacky

Who was the buyer, we need to all be on the alert to avoid.