I hate eBay.

J

jhclare

Messages
517
I just had to get this off my chest....

I have to say that I really cannot stand eBay. Whilst it's a great idea on paper, I find the following:

  • Sellers can not leave negative feedback. Why not?
  • You are forced to use PayPal
  • The feedback system is very flawed. I have had 100% positive feedback for the last 7 years. Two negative feedbacks from the same idiot buyer now have me at 50%. WTF?
  • I'm sick of idiots asking me multiple questions about the item that are plainly explained in the listing.
  • I'm sick of people winning the auction then deciding they don't want the item.
  • I'm sick of people bidding then asking questions. Ask questions first![/list:u]

    So, I have a brushed metal curtain rail, brand new, worth £45. It goes for £4 after 7 day listing. Ok, so I should have set a reserve, but I expected at least £25. Buyer gets funny when I want to cancel the transaction. I mean, if I wanted to give it away I would have gone to the charity shop. Leaves me negative feedback, saying I refused to post item. Bollocks - we couldn't agree on price - no payment was ever made!

    Also, a few years ago I was almost scammed out of £500 for a high end amp. Paid PayPal - a few days later was about to post, and I get an email from PayPal saying payment had been cancelled! Very lucky....

    Arrggghhh!

    I've had better luck with Gumtree - cash in hand, item taken away. Done.

    Anyone else have bad experiences? I seem to attract all the freaks/criminals!

    John
 
Hi,
I've been selling on ebay for over five years now, as a semi-professional seller, and I understand your frustration. I will try to address each point in the order you have made them.
The reason sellers cannot leave negative feedback is a new change, previously they could. There was a situation where a buyer would leave negative feedback and then the seller would simply do the same, tit-for-tat, and to stop this the sellers right to leave negative was withdrawn. The three (non-paying) strikes and you're out still applies though.
You are not forced to use Paypal, alternative methods of payment are postal order, cash on collection and posting a personal cheque. Ebay bought Paypal (which was a private company) a few years ago, and now insist that funding transfers are done that way. (Some cynics point out that now ebay gets paid at least twice for every transaction).
The feedback rating system works on a three monthly rolling window as a percentage of your overall feedback. Unfortunately, this means that if you don't sell or buy regularly, and you receive a negative, then the proportion of your negative/positive feedbacks will be greater.
Buyers rarely read all the listing before buying. This is just human nature. If you wish to make them aware of an important point, put it near the top in capitals.
People who win auctions and don't pay incur a non-paying strike against the account. Each time this happens you should open a strike request, which will get your fees returned to you.
If you don't set a reserve on an item you're listing for auction you must accept whatever it goes for.
Hope this helps.
 
I can only speak as a buyer, but i am aware that E-bay can be a pain in the arse as a seller.

Ive never had any real problems with E-bay.
I know it can be a real minefield but what isn't these days? - there's someone trying to rip you off round every bloody corner.

The Feedback system was flawed from the start, no negatives from sellers was designed to combat the stupid tit-for-tat negatives from sellers.

Pay pal - I love paypal tbh - but then Im a buyer only. I'm aware they can be a total arse if your a seller.

Idiots and questions? - well idiots do as idiots do. Happens in every area of life.

Concerning your sale - Hate to say it, but - you only got yourself to blame there. Almost any auctioneer will tell you this( hell watch Bargain hunt!) Just becuase you think something should fetch a certain price, doesn't mean that it will .. and on a site like E-bay you are taking a hell of a gamble if you don't set a reserve or set a starting price.
It pisses me off no end when a seller yanks an item becuase its not fetching what they expected. If your looking for a certain price - Set that from the off, dont get shirty when it goes tits up
 
I feel your concerns John.

I am not into this and have very little experience with eBay. Although from a first look the whole thing appears nicely set up and safe, once you go through a couple of unfortunate transactions or hear other bad stories then you realize how tough it can be.

It looks to me like a place where you really need to know the rules of the game very well in order to come out clean and safe. One mistake and you've either lost money or incurred -ve feedback.
 
You can't set a reserve under £50 for some items, you need to start the bidding at the minimum amount you want to let it go for otherwise you run the risk of a 99p snipe winning. I know the higher starting bid incurs a increased listing fee but it is either or I am afraid. I think some people ask a question to see if the seller is responsive but in that situation I usually ask a question that is not in the listing.

Yes it is full of idiots but so are the roads, I would have been annoyed at you wanting to cancel the transaction if I won it fair and square at £4 but I do know what you mean. The fees are putting me right off, Listing fee, final Value Fee then the PayPal fee between them it can take the profit right out an item, this policy of forcing free P&P in DVD and CD categories is shite as well, it does not cost nothing to post so you have to add that to the listing price and end up paying fees on the posting as well.

Sneaky but they are good at wringing every drop out of you, there is no real credible competitor. Gumtree is closest so far but again it has it's tossers who think a 10 year old bench grinder should fetch 75% of what a new one will (recent experience) but at least it is a bit more transparent.
 
As an experienced seller cancelling the transaction because you didn't get what you expected is really out of order.

You entered an agreement by entering the auction, you reneged on that agreement and you received the appropriate feedback. Totally warranted.

On a more interesting note I got a car door lock fixed by an ebayer who charged £15 postage after a 99p bid. He ended the auction early I sent him the lock, got it back in a few days fixed. I suppose this avoids a final value fee. Clever.
 
Ebay are looking at postal charges across the board right now, and have already put some maximums in for certain categories. Pretty soon, your lock man won't be able to charge more than the postal cost of the lock itself.
 
jhclare said:
So, I have a brushed metal curtain rail, brand new, worth £45. It goes for £4 after 7 day listing. Ok, so I should have set a reserve, but I expected at least £25. Buyer gets funny when I want to cancel the transaction. I mean, if I wanted to give it away I would have gone to the charity shop. Leaves me negative feedback, saying I refused to post item. Bollocks - we couldn't agree on price - no payment was ever made!
Click to expand...

I'd have left you negative feedback on that.

An auction is a legally binding agreement and he won it. He might have chosen not to bid on other auctions and missed out on them purely to bid on yours, he may have had a maximum of over £25 but was not required to pay it as no body else bid above his £4. Yes you should have set a reserve but since you didn't wanting to cancel because it didn't get the price you expected is every bit as bad as a winning bidder not paying IMO.

I'm not a big fan of Ebay either, I don't buy used items for more than £10 or so, I will buy higher from from business sellers if its a good deal, and I very rarely buy from abroad.
 
Yeah that was common practice for a while, you don't pay fees on the postage so sell it low with a high postage on a BIN. I did see some rumblings about them capping P&P on some items which is them trying to grab a higher final value fee.
 
Just a question for sellers on e-bay, i've purchased some items before for work and i'm always wondering if the items are stolen or is the seller a legit trader, i.e pays he's tax, declares what he earns.

I would have thought the tax man could have a field day on there.

I was thinking about starting some sort of on-line shop on there, but there does seem to be a lot of pit falls
 
If you sell over a certain amount (not sure how much) you are required to register as a business seller. When you do that you have to contact Inland revenue and get a VAT number and so on.

However, if you're just flogging off the odd bit and piece from your own home, the rules are much more relaxed for you. You don't have to register as a business seller, and can go on happily flogging your stuff. It all depends on how much you are intending to list.
 
Jeltz said:
jhclare said:
So, I have a brushed metal curtain rail, brand new, worth £45. It goes for £4 after 7 day listing. Ok, so I should have set a reserve, but I expected at least £25. Buyer gets funny when I want to cancel the transaction. I mean, if I wanted to give it away I would have gone to the charity shop. Leaves me negative feedback, saying I refused to post item. Bollocks - we couldn't agree on price - no payment was ever made!
Click to expand...

I'd have left you negative feedback on that.
Click to expand...

+1
 
bean said:
Jeltz said:
jhclare said:
So, I have a brushed metal curtain rail, brand new, worth £45. It goes for £4 after 7 day listing. Ok, so I should have set a reserve, but I expected at least £25. Buyer gets funny when I want to cancel the transaction. I mean, if I wanted to give it away I would have gone to the charity shop. Leaves me negative feedback, saying I refused to post item. Bollocks - we couldn't agree on price - no payment was ever made!
Click to expand...

I'd have left you negative feedback on that.
Click to expand...

+1
Click to expand...

Surely -1 in this context :D
 
Professor Blighty said:
If you sell over a certain amount (not sure how much) you are required to register as a business seller. When you do that you have to contact Inland revenue and get a VAT number and so on.
Click to expand...

You do not have to register for VAT to sell on eBay as a business seller. VAT registration thresholds are nothing at all to do with eBay, especially when the current threshold is £70K VATable turnover per annum.

HMRC also take a keen interest in people who buy stuff with the specific intention to sell it on... that in their eyes is trading and the profit generated is treated as income. If you can't substantiate your accounts, they will make some nice assumptions for you when they make the assessment.
 
Ebay will ask you to register as a business seller if your selling threshold exceeds a certain amount. When you register as a business seller you will be contacted by the Inland Revenue, and if your gross turnover is around £60k you will need to register for VAT then.
 
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