Do ebay buyers trust sellers?

Irn-Bru-Kid

Is distrust between buyers and sellers becoming endemic on ebay?

We are reading more posts on buyers going to extraordinary lengths to return items. A recent example is a buyer allegedly paying £35.00 to return a bottle of perfume. Is this purely because too many sellers are claiming they have not received returns sent by normal means?

And sellers expecting buyers to pay extra for signed for or tracked postage on items that cost pennies. Is this because too many buyers are claiming INR?

When something goes wrong the word 'scammer' is never far from someone's lips.

By reading the forums here and the community boards on ebay, you get the distinct impression that buyers are wary of sellers, sellers are wary of buyers and everyone else is a scammer.

I do know that's not the case. Ebay is a fantastic marketplace and the vast majority of people use it properly. But is the fear and distrust spreading?

soolin

I think there are as many mistrusting buyers and sellers as here are trusting ones, we tend to get the 'black and white' posts here, not the mundane middle of the road views.

The fact that we do get sellers saying that they 'must' use recorded as their wise buyers may claim non delivery I think shows a very low tolerance levels on behalf of a seller.

Im at an event at the moment with a lot of other dealers , some are happy to leave their stalls up overnight on the basis that the venue have assured us it is secure, others spend 2 hours packing and 2 hours unpacking each day and pay for secure storage.

RainbowDrops

The happy sales outweigh the problem transactions, but people are always more compelled to share negative stories than positive ones.
Mostly because problems need advice, whereas if there's no problem, there's no need for public input.

Crowqueen

In my case I only buy in a few categories on eBay because in some that I have bought in I've found that I don't receive anything worth it. Anything with moving or electronic parts seems to be either a knock-off, on its last legs, or of poor quality. I only sell anything I know is straight out of the box or never been used. Doubtless there are many successful sales but I gave up some time ago; I've had much better luck from Amazon or from independent websites.

I gave up on clothes largely because even from some business sellers I got sent a dishrag for a fiver. The postage costs militate against bothering to pay for something like that to be sent out; I did buy something nice from someone who was struggling due to poor sales and a recent unfair neg that I have worn a lot since, but on the whole I avoid clothes as there is an awful lot that can go wrong and a lot of places to get decent cheap clothes where you can try things on.

However, I love eBay for buying/selling collectables, books and paper ephemera. Unlike some other catalogue-based sites you can list anything you like, so it can be a gold mine of interesting things, and particularly books published before ISBN numbers came in.

Part of the problem with overstated postage is that the PO can suggest inappropriate, expensive services or they think a courier is safer.

Particularly where sellers come in, I think sites like this become an echo chamber. People see the forums, think "OMG everyone's a scammer" and start on the wrong foot.

We also only ever see half the story - we don't see the disappointed buyer being called rude when the seller gives them the brush-off, and no-one comes here claiming to have committed INR or SNAD fraud (at least not intentionally), so it's really difficult to tell whose 'gut feeling' is right and whose is just borne of a reluctance to take on board certain responsibilities incumbent when they sell e.g. a breakable item by post. It's also hard to tell a frustrated buyer they won't get their return postage back or that they are not entitled to demand an exchange rather than a refund. There are also people who think eBay is suitable for everything and try to hammer a round peg into a square hole with the inevitable collateral damage, where IMO there are many more options for collection items that it's not necessary to offer anything like that for sale on eBay where Facebook and other small-ad sites work better. That often causes a few easily solved problems.

It should be possible for people - both buyers and sellers but particularly sellers - to sit down and think for a moment before acting. The sellers should particularly make sure they are fully informed about any risks before they list, because buyer protection is far more robust in law as well as on eBay. That would save a lot of problems encountered on the board.

SamuelFisherIsBroke

We hardly see anyone come onto forum sites to praise a seller or a buyer.

People will only use forums like this for help and advice. And most often enough its usually about a dispute. You will hardly ever get ebay users saying I SOLD A BROKEN VASE, BUT I CLAIMED IT WAS NEW, BUYER WANTS REFUND. Because people are not 'that' honest.

So really you will only ever see stories of buyer dealing with horrible seller, or seller dealing with horrible buyer.

I was a eBay seller for a couple of months, and to be honest out of 100% of transactions i had 95% which were problem free, this includes customers that wanted refunds, or had problems etc. The other 5% were the buyers who tried to make a mountain out of a mole-hill. instantly exagerrating the situation, claiming that the item is not described is me being a scammer. I wont lie that i was completely polite to them, but when they were rude to me, i was rude back.

You get people like that, that scream scam the first sign something has gone wrong, whether it be a mistake or intentional. And there are buyers who first oppurtunity they get, they try and turn a situation into a gain for them.

This goes the same for sellers. My sister is a Nail technician, and she buys all her supplies from eBay, she often has bought things that are not as described, or the item hasnt been delivered, but then shes classed as the scammer because shes the one who supposedly has received the product, and is trying to get something else for free.

We all trust each other up until the point where something has gone wrong and a persons integrity is being questioned.

But i think sellers have less trust as now even if they are the nicest seller that you can find, you can get the most horrible buyer that can ruin your ebay feedback.

Some people even leave horrible feedback because its "fun" to, ive seen countless people bid on items, not pay. But just because they havent paid for the item, they are still entitled to leave feedback on the seller, and most often enough its negative feedback. All that a seller can do is open a case for unpaid and leave a mark on their account. Which is far too long of a process and not effective enough to deter such horrible buyers.

I think eBay is flawed by taking away the option to leave a negative or neutral for the seller.

People look at this flaw and take advantage of it.

RFW

My regular buyers now that I can be trusted and if a problem crops up now that I'll sort it out. For newer customers with even a minor problem it is often a different matter, there can often be an assumption that I'm out to rip them off, no matter how small the amount or trivial the problem.

I'm not saying that this site shouldn't be around but it does add to the mistrust if people think the problems mentioned on here are the norm. Given that there are millions of transactions on Ebay every day and not millions of posts here it is definitely not the norm.

marie-20

I have to say that around 95% of my transactions are without issue and the 5% that have issues are generally INR's and most people are reasonable however there is always one that just makes me wonder why I bother.

I/we are a Gold TRS and have around 100 transactions a day on eBay however we outsell eBay on Amazon by around 500 transactions a day but we receive a higher amount of INR's from eBay - not % wise but actual figures so the difference in % is gobsmacking - I do sometimes wonder if our postie looks at our labels and takes the eBay ones out of the sacks and throws them in the bin LOL.

I think that eBay has 'allowed' a lot of scammers to exist and get away with it (hence the ridiculous amount of INR's compared to Amazon but not enough to consider signed for or tracked post) but most buyers and sellers are honest people but the odd one spoils it for all as the ones whom were scammed presumes that everyone is out to scam them hence the distrust but as people has stated you only ever hear about the bad as why would people write about the good - we are British after all and just like a good old moan and praising doesn't fit that bill :rotfl:

porto_bello

As others have stated, here, you read about the problematic small percentage of transactions - after all, that's what an advice forum is all about.

It's a bit like working in a GP's surgery and saying, on the basis of people coming through the door, that everybody in the locality must be ill with something!

Strapped

I'd say buyers generally "trust" eBay sellers - or else they wouldn't buy from them. But they don't trust them THAT much when something goes wrong, IYKWIM?

markwilkinson

I don't immediately misstrust sellers on Ebay, but then I only really buy in safe categories. Only had one problem with a seller in the last 12 months and it was dealt with correctly - I paid return postage and was refunded the original item price and postage cost.

I don't know if buyers trust me as a seller, but I have 100% glowing feedback and people still keep buying from me. Not had many issues as a seller. Did have a major headache with a buyer 3 or so years ago.

More recently though i'm very wary of buyers. Had 5 auction listings finished in the last hour, one has paid immediately. Out of the other 4, 2 potentially, will collect, 2 will be posted on receipt of payment. Maybe i've been reading this board too much but i'm fully expecting one out of those 5 to go wrong.

iheartbristol

I always assume that every buyer is going to claim non delivery, I just don't trust them - then consider it a bonus if it all goes smoothly. I've never had this happen with UK buyers, but it used to happen a lot with US buyers, as a result I only ship within the EU now.