eBay sucks

[Norweger]

Massively.

I can't understand what the h they are thinking.

As a seller you cant leave negative feedback for buyers. What is the reasoning behind this? That you might stop scammers from continuing their scams by warning others?

Also, the so called PayPal disputes are a joke. All they do is automatically give the buyer who opened a dispute money from your account after a certain amount of time after first freezing them.

And the prices they operate with? Madness. They are not satisfied with just charging a fee for a sale.. oh no, they even want 10% of the shipping cost and if that wasn't enough they also own paypal which also charges 1-1.5% of the total amount and if you are gonna transfer money to your bank account then they operate with their own conversion rates which obviously effs you over another time.

I really wish they had some competition.

[palani]

try craigslist

[Norweger]

It's not as internationally oriented as I'd like.

I remember a while back somebody made a selling platform for facebook that got popular very quickly but it got taken down with a bs-excuse (they were probably paid off).

http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/11/yardsellr-the-ebay-for-facebook-becomes-the-latest-casualty-in-social-local-commerce/

[Serpo]

It's not as internationally oriented as I'd like.

I remember a while back somebody made a selling platform for facebook that got popular very quickly but it got taken down with a bs-excuse (they were probably paid off).

http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/11/yardsellr-the-ebay-for-facebook-becomes-the-latest-casualty-in-social-local-commerce/

all these things seem to turn out crooked or a foul odor is detected after great fanfare when they started up

[madfranks]

Fed Up With eBay? Here Are Some Worthy (And Cheaper) Alternatives For Sellers (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fed-up-with-ebay-here-are-some-worthy-and-cheaper-alternatives-for-sellers/)

The problem with ebay alternatives is that your audience is much smaller, meaning the potential money you make will be lower also, even after factoring in all the fees.

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

You can start an Amazon store.

[chad]

i buy a ton of slabbed morgans and peace dollars on there. the sellers are hilarious. they are completely paranoid that you might negative feedback them or start a dispute and get their account debited. i get about 2 or 3 email follow ups from most of them to "make sure i'm happy" as well as endless thank you cards thrown in the box. one guy i bought a fairly expensive ms65 from had to go in the hospital and missed shipping me the coin. his wife was emailing me frantically for a phone number so she could call me and explain the delay. i was like "your husband is in the hospital, stop worrying about negative feedback." lol

[Cebu_4_2]

I just got a negative from a no feedback buyer claiming I sent them something used and not new. They keep emailing me for a refund but have no tracking number and I never got the item back... what the fuck ever. It's still a negative on my sterling 100% positive. I would have just refunded but they fucked up leaving that negative before contacting me. I refuse to sell to anyone with less than 5 feedback from now on.

[MNeagle]

i buy a ton of slabbed morgans and peace dollars on there. the sellers are hilarious. they are completely paranoid that you might negative feedback them or start a dispute and get their account debited. i get about 2 or 3 email follow ups from most of them to "make sure i'm happy" as well as endless thank you cards thrown in the box. one guy i bought a fairly expensive ms65 from had to go in the hospital and missed shipping me the coin. his wife was emailing me frantically for a phone number so she could call me and explain the delay. i was like "your husband is in the hospital, stop worrying about negative feedback." lol
How wonky is it that she is tracking you down over ebay 'feedback' issues vs. monitoring her hubby? I guarantee you I won't be online if any health concerns have family members in the hospital. Sheesh...

[chad]

How wonky is it that she is tracking you down over ebay 'feedback' issues vs. monitoring her hubby? I guarantee you I won't be online if any health concerns have family members in the hospital. Sheesh...

i know. they had something like 2,000 feedbacks with 100% positive. she was freaking out that i was going to ruin their business.

[sirgonzo420]

How wonky is it that she is tracking you down over ebay 'feedback' issues vs. monitoring her hubby? I guarantee you I won't be online if any health concerns have family members in the hospital. Sheesh...

Well then I'm glad you don't have any family members in the hospital!


Get it? I knew you didn't because you're online.

[pioneer]

I would have just refunded but they f'd up leaving that negative before contacting me.
Being a little hard on the buyer aren't you? eBay automatically opens a window for dialog to an unhappy buyer IF they mark a neutral or negative box when making their comment giving the seller anything less than a positive feedback.

That's the only way some of us buyers have of finding the right url to open dialog with the seller at all, especially uncooperative sellers. So by leaving neg fb, ebay knows they are unhappy and puts you in the crosshairs. Then they can open a complaint and be protected and get their money back and you get your merchandise back, because ebay will require them to provide tracking info before releasing their money back to them which they sucked out of you!

I have found over the years that getting the sellers attention is the first rule, and ebay finds a pissed off buyer easier to believe and rule in favor of, if the unhappy buyer posts negative comment. Those are rather motivational normally. You sound like a hard ass, which is why ebay designed the gripe system the way they have.

Wish I had your ebay name so I could go educate your seller and you get your stuff back. Interested?

If you cooperate with the complaint process, then they will be invited by ebay OR YOU to remove your blackmark with a mouse-click and you'll be all happy and have your stuff, right? It's quite automatic stimulus response electronically now.

[pioneer]

How wonky is it that she is tracking you down over ebay 'feedback' issues vs. monitoring her hubby? I guarantee you I won't be online if any health concerns have family members in the hospital. Sheesh...

Just got out of the hospital. Internet, especially ebay surfing over her iPad is how my girlfriend passed the time. It's called boredom.

[gunDriller]

all these things seem to turn out crooked or a foul odor is detected after great fanfare when they started up

sort of a moldy bagel odor ?

[Twisted Titan]

I wouldn't do eBay for the simple reason that when the time comes everybody is going to get hunted down by the IRS and they will have everything they need to prosecute you for tax evasion or some other trumped up.charged

[Norweger]

Got chargebacked twice this month.

[gunDriller]

i used to sell used computer stuff on USENET in the early '90's.

it was a completely different world. everyone was so well-mannered. Zero no-shows, zero low-balls zero returns. about 150 of my transactions one year were UPS COD for cash - all 3 parties (buyer + UPS + USPS) came through - unbelievably, batting 1.000.

i bought a batch of computer stuff from a neighbor about 2 years ago. they were eBay power sellers and they were closing their store. the guy had gotten one $2500 counterfeit check. the woman was tired of busting her ass selling cell-phone chargers, and STILL getting negative feedback.

they said "the good years" were around 2005, that by 2008 it had gone to pot. their garage sale that i went to was in 2011.

they hung on as long as they could.


i tried selling stuff on Craigslist in 2006 & quickly stopped. too many no-shows, too many low-balls, etc.

the culture basically changed a lot in those 13 years. the difference between USENET 1993 and Craigslist 2006 was Night and Day. both times i was selling to Silicon Valley tech people.


i've actually never bought anything on eBay.

i think it is a true challenge - to create a social network that resurrects the honesty of the early 90's. that's not a Facebook reference.

[Norweger]

It's as if they want to create distrust between private individuals and only allow the big companies to operate instead. It's strange that no alternatives have come along.

[gunDriller]

It's as if they want to create distrust between private individuals and only allow the big companies to operate instead. It's strange that no alternatives have come along.

i'm not sure if it's the software or website. posting on Craigslist is similar to posting on USENET.

in the early 1990's, the tech economy was a lot stronger. a typical sale for me was a SUN server, which i got for $20 from a friend with a surplus electronics business. he got it for free. i would re-sell it for $200.

the buyer was an Apple programmer, highly paid, just wanted a server for some side project.

the economy is much more cut-throat now. full of desperate people.

i would like to find a larger forum where i could actually sell stuff, like BMUG used to be, for example. there's some good trust among regular G-S.us members, but we are few in number, not enough for a selling network.


in general i have found it works best to have wealthy, honest customers. in the year 2013 ?

[Hitch]

The only thing I've sold on ebay is was a car, 1972 vw bus. I traded my first sailboat for her, young couple moved out of the bus right into the boat. I watched as they sailed off, then drove the bus home. Sold it a month later for a $1000 profit on ebay.

[Cebu_4_2]

I use it to supplement my income and it is tough selling normal day to day items. Sometimes I do a random search and score items cheap just to resell them. Search example "moen" mattering what faucet can sell around 80-100 bucks. Last summer I picked one up at a garage sale for 5 bux, sold it cheap for 80 bux.

Between ebay and paypal you can count on at least 10% and then figure shipping your sale can cost from 15-50% of your profits! That is incredible. I see the shipping companies making the most of it.

[Norweger]

It's about time with a little update on my experience with paypal/ebay.

Recently i sold 2 coins to an asian buyer which i shipped registered in order to cover my ass with the so called ebay seller protection even though the buyer did not pay the amount required for registered i still sent it that way because i was still making a profit on the sale.. or so i thought.

When he got the package he claimed that it contained only the one coin and not the 2 he had paid for and it was obviously the most expensive one that was missing. Well, i sent registered i thought for myself, theres no way i will have to refund him based on his claims alone, but again i was wrong. He opened a case with ebay and after some responding both ways the case was to be "decided" by ebay (automatically be found in the buyers favor) this is exactly what happened and ebay refunded him money from my paypal account +shipping charges. Im then out of my coin and im almost sure he's got them both. I cant even leave negative feedback or even write a caution in the forced positive feedback because that violates ebay policy... buyers can have positive feedback removed automatically so its a very good tool for scammers. Sellers are in no way allowed to leave negative feedback and absolutely not the truth about a fraudulent transaction. Scammers can get away with this forever because many sellers value their feedback above everything. "Don't want to refund me? i'll leave negative feedback and theres nothing you can do about it"

Moral of the story is that its way, way easy to scam with paypal/ebay. It doesnt even require any effort. It might be just a little harder with sellers that ship via USPS registered, but with "overseas" sellers and those who ship unregistered it's really piece of cake. Just claim the item never arrived and voila.. refund!

Well, being a bit mad about this whole situation i decided to went a little on the ebay forums in order to hopefully inflict a little economical damage on this criminal conglomerate that is ebay/paypal.. having been there for a while i started noticing untiring sellers that were overly positive about paypal and how they have sold insane amounts of stuff the last year and never been scammed and such. Obviously this is not something i wll accept without proof as several of those supposed succsessfull sellers all have fake ids to protect themselves on this site which they in the same breath calls so safe and secure.

Well, i got into an argument with such a person and asked certain questions about his role as a seller and i told about my experiences as a seller and the whole paypal situation. After a while the user went apeshit on me and started claiming that i had sent him death threats through the messaging system and that i should enjoy my suspension. This i didn't think much of because im not guilty of what he accused me of and no way was i gonna get booted for somebody simply saying it.. so i asked him over and over what exactly my wording was in this supposed message i had sent him. I even suggested that he might have my username confused with someone else, but he wouldnt bulge. So i went after him repeatedly.. and what happens? several other idiots start to worship this muppet and starts talking about how they want his name on a t-shirt and whatnot.

And then i got booted for a day because i supposedly had broken one of their sacred rules.

I did send a mail to moderation@ebay.com, but i don't really expect a reply because this guy is guaranteed a hired "hands off" shill.

[Norweger]

So fuck ebay, fuck paypal and if you want to study shills and how a forum is entirely operated by them then stop by the ebay forums. Social engineering 101.

[Cebu_4_2]

I would never sell international on anything. Lots of scammers and the ones with very low feedback can't bid or buy my items. Tough enough to make anything with the charges let alone giving my shit away for free. I have seen a lot of shit happen. I sold a couple new electric women's razors one customer claimed it was used not new so I told them to send it back. They went to the post office and had it returned at no charge, when I got it it was used, it was OLD and used. They replaced their old used one with my new one. I lost shipping and got an old used razor that I couldn't sell... feedback was 2. Can't leave any neg feedback sucks. Can't warn anyone about them. Another item was claimed to never have arrived and they opened a case, I provided the tracking number and was cleared, had only 1 feedback.

[Glass]

yes, sorry to hear of your loss. I know a lot of people who have been through this. They always find in favour of the buyer. They also bait you with emails so you will lose your temper and they can ban you, shut you down and take your money. ebay is a 100% scam. I deal with some people who I found through ebay but we deal outside of it but they are stores not individuals.

I wanted to add, does anyone remember the story of the lady who sold a very old violin and the buyer claimed it was a fake. He got his money back and ebay ordered the destruction of the violin. He video taped it and put it on YT. It was a legitimate violin.

[madfranks]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but you should have known better than shipping coins to Asia. Asia is the headquarters for scams and ripoffs. I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

[Norweger]

Yeah i've made some connections and have done transactions outside of ebay, but unfortunately not outside of paypal. That will be my next challenge.. to convince people to pay by wire transfer. There are some promising credit card payment options as well, but not available in Europe.

[Cebu_4_2]

Yeah i've made some connections and have done transactions outside of ebay, but unfortunately not outside of paypal. That will be my next challenge.. to convince people to pay by wire transfer. There are some promising credit card payment options as well, but not available in Europe.

I use paypal to process credit cards for ebay and my business. 3% isn't bad for not having to pay 100 bux and completing PCI compliance. Cheapest option was 10.00 a month and 2.9% + .50¢ per transaction.

[Norweger]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but you should have known better than shipping coins to Asia. Asia is the headquarters for scams and ripoffs. I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

Strange thing is though that i've sent quite a lot to China and never had a single problem.

I would not have to worry though if it wasnt for the fact that all the responsibility lies on the seller, if people decide they want to have stuff shipped unregistered then it should be their fault if something happens. As it is with a local site i frequent. I judge by the sellers feedback and decide if i want to take the risk or not.

I did block all asian countries after this incident though.

[Norweger]

I would never sell international on anything. Lots of scammers and the ones with very low feedback can't bid or buy my items. Tough enough to make anything with the charges let alone giving my shit away for free. I have seen a lot of shit happen. I sold a couple new electric women's razors one customer claimed it was used not new so I told them to send it back. They went to the post office and had it returned at no charge, when I got it it was used, it was OLD and used. They replaced their old used one with my new one. I lost shipping and got an old used razor that I couldn't sell... feedback was 2. Can't leave any neg feedback sucks. Can't warn anyone about them. Another item was claimed to never have arrived and they opened a case, I provided the tracking number and was cleared, had only 1 feedback.

The old switcharoo. A very common scam.


I use paypal to process credit cards for ebay and my business. 3% isn't bad for not having to pay 100 bux and completing PCI compliance. Cheapest option was 10.00 a month and 2.9% + .50¢ per transaction.

I was looking at www.merchantinc.com, paypalsucks.com suggests it as an alternative.

[Cebu_4_2]

1.99% + 25¢ per +7.95 a month.

Paypal is similar priced but I have the free plan: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/paypal-payments-standard

I don't want to deal with credit card numbers or compliance fees so I send my customers a request for payment. Most people have heard about paypal so it's not an issue (so far). Looks like merchantinc can send invoices for payment too but it's not a known name like paypal. Anyone you use you have to be careful on the setup, when applying you have to state how much per month you will use. If that number goes much above or below they can lock the account and your money can stay in the stratosphere indefinitely. This also applys with a static merchant that you can use. Fuck the terminals but virtual requires the compliance shit which really sucks even if you do not take payments via internet (email etc). It's all a scam, the trick is to generate as much income as you can and be ahead of the game.

[Serpo]

Yeah i've made some connections and have done transactions outside of ebay, but unfortunately not outside of paypal. That will be my next challenge.. to convince people to pay by wire transfer. There are some promising credit card payment options as well, but not available in Europe.

Thanks for letting us know about this

Im looking at importing from Asia but will make personal contact ,still it isnt easy , if you start small and build/test reliability over time it will grow and be successful because Asia is a great place to do business at the moment .

Am working on something that is exciting in whatever form it takes and it all comes from having/making contacts over there.


My making contact over there was through visiting a friend and it just happened from there.

Not sure if I can be that ambitious ect at my age so will do it like a co op or profit share who ever is involved makes from profit, know the perfect people that fit every bill required .

[Cebu_4_2]

Thanks for letting us know about this

It is very important, take notes Serpo.

[Serpo]

It is very important, take notes Serpo.


haha

western union or telegraphic transfer works fine and western union is cheaper as the bank screws you on exchange rate if you are sending money

probably need to send 1000$ at a time to make it viable

[Cebu_4_2]

haha

western union or telegraphic transfer works fine and western union is cheaper as the bank screws you on exchange rate if you are sending money

probably need to send 1000$ at a time to make it viable

1000 dollars and you are on TPTB list!