Is eBay Finished For Non-business Sellers?

Brooker_Dave

DickDastardly wrote: »

Thanks for some very interesting replies, appreciated to know its not just me then! I had heard of Freecycle and just off to find out more, but I am very interested in Gumtree whom I had never heard of until this thread - so thanks for the heads-up!

Gumtree is owned by ebay....

DickDastardly_2

Goodbye Gumtree!:undecided:doh:

chja

Looks like I'm in a minority of one (not for the first time)

Have to say, I'm still making some decent pocket money from eBay. I buy also and have noticed a general increase in starting prices (and end prices too though) along with a massive increase in people listing 'buy it now' at silly prices.

Ought to say, I have never used eBay for books or music - always Amazon / Play. Their end fees are expensive, but you can keep listing for ever without charge. Also tried some other site - greensomitorother - mentioned on here, but never had a sale on that.

TurkishDelight

stevew8975 wrote: »

Putting this into another perspective, does anybody think that it is the big diamond powersellers that pull stunts like this, or the smaller "bedroom entrepreneur"?

When I hear about these type of scams, I can fully understand why ebay is focusing more on established, high volume sellers. I can't ever see Dell, Buy.com, Argos etc deliberately sending out empty packages.

You'd be surprised. We had a powerseller last year that we bought a boxset of pc games from.
They turned up, the box was knackered, looked like someone had jumped on it repeatedly, went to use the games and one of the license keys didn't work.

Only then did we check his feedback...

Turns out that even though he had a high percentage, he still had quite a few disgruntled customers.

I contacted him to try and sort it out and he didn't offer a refund but did try to bully me into leaving positive, saying that he would post my username on forums so I got put on peoples blocked bidders lists.

I left him a negative and have never had any trouble buying

But yeah, point is don't think you're safe from nasty customer service just because there's a powerseller badge.

mippy

I've used eBay as a buyer mainly for things that are only available overseas, or second-hand items that are no longer produced. I'd never personally buy a high-value item from eBay because most of the time I can get it for the same price new with the statutory rights associated with that.

As a seller, it's more frustrating than it was. I sell to clear out unwanted items, and buyers have come to expect a business-like service. I charged £3 postage for a rare comic as I had to pack it correctly, wait in line at the post office and pay the actual cost of postage (which was £1.50) and got a neutral feedback. Or people complaining because I don't dispatch an item the day after payment - I'm not a business and I work full-time, and have never expected immediate dispatch when I've bought from private sellers for the same reason.

It's also, because of rising fees, becoming less worth my while to sell smaller items which is a shame.

StaffsSW

spinning_hamster_wheel wrote: »

It DID clear though, it was 2 weeks ago, now it has been reversed, does this count?

Yes - ultimately, you have not been paid for the goods you sent. Open an unpaid dispute if you haven't already, and still within the 45 days time limit since the item was sold.
Put the details of the original payment in the comments box, along with the details of the reversal.

TurkishDelight wrote: »

But yeah, point is don't think you're safe from nasty customer service just because there's a powerseller badge.

I agree that it is no guarantee, and for the main part of last year any Tom, !!!!!! or Ahmed could be a powerseller as long as they sold enough items. It is now based on business registration, high star ratings and consistant service levels - and yes, ebay are taking action on even titanium and platinum level sellers who do not meet the seller performance standards.

I've recently had a run-in with one myself - an established business in Essex that just could not cope with the customer service levels required on eBay - generally these days they are much higher and tougher than any other online selling venue. Even though they had 3000 positive feedback per month for the last few years, they have now been NARU'd.

A quick look at the Sellerdome Top 100 worldwide sellers also shows that even Powersellers with 100k + feedback are being NARU'd for seller non-performance - but there are still disproportionately less Powersellers losing their accounts than there are non-PS.

One neg in 20 sales is all it takes to have a private seller suspended under the 5% rule. for a PS to get 5% buyer dissatisfaction, they have to be doing something fundamentally wrong, and deserve to be booted.

DickDastardly_2

That's exactly my point Mippy, thoughtfully put. For me eBay has only ever been about unusual or hard-to-find second hand stuff, which TBH there is no other kind of market place for, and TBH hence eBay's popularity globally. I think if they go away from that then as someone pointed out above, people will merely favour more established 'proper' retailers at usually better prices.

Anyway, for me personally, the affair is over. Its goodbye eBay from me I think.

spinning_hamster_wheel

^^ Steve, you are totally the man by the way! Started an item not received dispute and she's just replied, despite ignoring my messages since monday, saying she's going to phone her bank and sort out the problem.:beer:

steviebabes

Ebay is fine for small scale sellers if you know what you are doing. I think the problem is new sellers who do not do any research. I have been using ebay as a business seller and a private seller/buyer for over 8 years and have not had any real problems. Yes the fees have increased over the years but the gap between ebid/tazbar etc. and ebay has, in my opinion, widened. The same can be said for buyers, check feedback before bidding/buying and you can still get bargains from trustworthy sellers.

karenw

Hmmm no problems for me as a buyer or seller for the last 6 years :eek: i hear so many horror story's but personally i have had it plain sailing apart from the odd problem i am a very happy private ebay seller maybe i'm the only one lol :rotfl: