Ebay: Wake Up & Smell the Coffee! Protect Us From Fraudsters Now

punkpink

porto_bello wrote: »

Why are DSRs anonymous? What benefit is there to be gained in covertly hammering a seller's reputation? Can you imagine the worldwide crash in feedback scores if buyers could leave anonymous negative feedback too? :rotfl:

Isn't that assumng the worst of everybody? i mean the majority of most people leave genuine feeback, i only sell the odd few bits when having a clearout but ive got 100% feedback, no problems whatsoever and ive had one item ive sent go missing which i proptly refunded and claimed from royal mail. Ive sold used stuff mostly but because i am honest my buyers have been to.

Byatt

punkpink wrote: »

I Ive sold used stuff mostly but because i am honest my buyers have been to.

I am honest too...

when there is a computer screen between yourself and your buyer, as opposed to a shop counter, it's very difficult to guage who are honest and not so honest, to downright dishonest...so feedback is a way to do this, but as a seller on eBay I do not have that option .

lovinituk

punkpink wrote: »

Isn't that assumng the worst of everybody? i mean the majority of most people leave genuine feeback, i only sell the odd few bits when having a clearout but ive got 100% feedback, no problems whatsoever and ive had one item ive sent go missing which i proptly refunded and claimed from royal mail. Ive sold used stuff mostly but because i am honest my buyers have been to.

A casual seller is unlikely to come in contact with dodgy buyers on a regular basis, if at all, so I can understand your view. However high volume sellers, particularly those selling items more prone to being targetted (such as mobile phones, games consoles, etc) are more likely to experience such buyers more often than you might think.

punkpink

Byatt wrote: »

I am honest too...

I never implied you wern't simply stating that you cannot just assume that because something gets lost that the buyer is lying. Also in relation the the previous post the poster suggested that just because buyers could leave neg fb anonymously they would do so just for the sake of it...

porto_bello

Punkpink, what is there to stop me buying numerous items from you, claiming they all never arrived, leaving you multiple negative feedbacks, multiple adverse DSRs and then selling on your items myself?

Post office signed for tracking (even if you used it) rarely shows on-line, so that won't help you. You can do nothing about the negative feedbacks and DSRs. You could prove to ebay that I was reselling the items that I claimed hadn't arrived ... But would ebay come to your rescue? :rotfl:

PS What is to stop me doing all that and then moving on to the next victim, repeating the process again and again, working my way around ebay, hitting the best sellers with the best reputations?

punkpink

No theres nothing there to stop you from doing so, but i would have to say that by simply listing on ebay i automatically enter myself into unknown terratory, but i just trust that people do the right thing, i certainly know that i couldn't lie to somebody like that without it playing on my conscience so therefore it would not be worth it.

lovinituk

punkpink wrote: »

but i just trust that people do the right thing, i certainly know that i couldn't lie to somebody like that without it playing on my conscience so therefore it would not be worth it.

Unfortunately there are plenty that don't share your morals.

I agree its wrong to think that 100% of buyers are out to scam but its also naive to think that 100% of buyers are trustworthy.

BigRedAnt

punkpink wrote: »

No theres nothing there to stop you from doing so, but i would have to say that by simply listing on ebay i automatically enter myself into unknown terratory, but i just trust that people do the right thing, i certainly know that i couldn't lie to somebody like that without it playing on my conscience so therefore it would not be worth it.

I think that's a good point again. The thing is this is not unknown territory to business sellers; Ebay is a great platform to sell on (in terms of the size of the marketplace), but there plenty of people who aren't like you; they are quite happy to scam, cheat and get as much as they can for free. The problem is that as business sellers we can't protect ourselves from this, without pricing ourselves out of the market.

The choice seems to be send it recorded, which means you can't compete for price and make very few sales, or send it untracked and take a chance with the scammers. Now what kind of choice is that?

As with others here anything over a certain value we send recorded UK, and don't sell abroad. I'd love to be able to sell these items abroad, but I can't risk it.

But please everyone be aware that this is in no way a blanket attack on buyers; most buyers are honest, reasonable, and great to deal with. However the few buyers that aren't can make or break a small business, with the seller having very little power to protect themselves.

punkpink

But can you not claim losses from royal mail anyway? i know that it is not a solution and does take time but at least you get money back?

Aside from that, i agree that ebay rules make it easy for scammers but it makes buyers feel safe, i just have an objection to people implying that if ebay changed feedback to anonymous then negs would increase.

porto_bello

Punkpink, no offence intended.

The point I was making is that sellers can and are being hurt by negative feedback and INR claims, whether they are are honest or not.

And ebay has granted all buyers a free for all to undermine sellers, whether those buyers are honest or not - even when a history of routine INR claims and negative feedbacks offers clear evidence of dishonesty.

Passing on the cost of scamming to Royal Mail is possible, but it's as morally wrong as the scamming that precedes it. - It's not the answer.