Sellers biggest ebay grumbles (Things they should fix)

jimsmillions

Ebay sellers whats your biggest grumble? I must admit as time goes on I have more and more so thus use Ebay less However by far my biggest grumble is an old one

***** or not for dispatch time

Virtually all buyers score this on the amount of time taken for the item to arrive at their front door and not when you dispatched it. Once I hand a parcel over to the the Post office or Parcel force the delivery time is then 100% out of my hands. I revisited Ebay just recently only sold about 15 or so items but got a low star rating for dispatch time from buyer of a Subbuteo set. I posted it the day they ordered but Royal mail took 9 days to deliver. Cheers Ebay, Cheers Royal mail

Whats your seller grumble Ebay should fix?

November2

Yes, the rating system is one of the worse things Ebay have introduced. Never look at your ratings, I actually cried when I saw I had some 1s it upset me that much as it made no sense whatsoever with regards to the feedback comments. I find opening unpaid items sometimes results in 1s as it is spiteful revenge. I think some people leave 1st just for fun too. My biggest gripe however is the fact Ebay allow buyers to claim non receipt of goods over and over again for months. I posted an item recently and had the 'I haven't received it, I want my money back or I'm reporting you email', I check their feedback and for 2 years they have been claiming non receipt on nearly every purchase! I reported them to Ebay but they were still registered and doing it months later. And yes Ebay/Paypal refunded them their money! Sellers should have the feedback option of 'claimback for non delivery' which other sellers can see before posting and which Ebay/Paypal actually act upon when it reaches a certain number. And bring back sellers allowed to leave negatives to buyers!

I_wanna_live_for_free

November2 wrote: »

Yes, the rating system is one of the worse things Ebay have introduced. Never look at your ratings, I actually cried when I saw I had some 1s it upset me that much as it made no sense whatsoever with regards to the feedback comments.

This is exactly why you should look at your ratings. Ebay won't hesitate to restrict your selling if you consistently receive poor stars. The system is there for a purpose to assess your performance.
It may be upsetting but if a buyer can't give you 5 stars for something then you should be asking yourself how you could have done better and learn from that for future sales.

I_wanna_live_for_free

November2 wrote: »

My biggest gripe however is the fact Ebay allow buyers to claim non receipt of goods over and over again for months. I posted an item recently and had the 'I haven't received it, I want my money back or I'm reporting you email', I check their feedback and for 2 years they have been claiming non receipt on nearly every purchase! I reported them to Ebay but they were still registered and doing it months later. And yes Ebay/Paypal refunded them their money! Sellers should have the feedback option of 'claimback for non delivery' which other sellers can see before posting and which Ebay/Paypal actually act upon when it reaches a certain number. And bring back sellers allowed to leave negatives to buyers!

Maybe consider sending your items tracked for a while if this is a regular occurrence?

It's the seller's responsibility to get the item to the buyer so if they haven't received it (and not everyone is lying about non receipt) then you should be refunding and claiming back from Royal Mail (or whoever you sent it with). A Certificate of Posting is free from the Post Office and though not good for Paypal purposes will mean you can pursue Royal Mail for the loss. Sending your parcel tracked so you can provide Paypal with a tracking number in the event of a non-received claim is even better.

I don't see what use it would be to bring back the ability for a seller to leave negative feedback. That usually resulted in tit for tat retaliation.

jimsmillions

I_wanna_live_for_free wrote: »

This is exactly why you should look at your ratings. Ebay won't hesitate to restrict your selling if you consistently receive poor stars. The system is there for a purpose to assess your performance.
It may be upsetting but if a buyer can't give you 5 stars for something then you should be asking yourself how you could have done better and learn from that for future sales.

Thats exactly my point though made in the first post! I could not have done any better I posted the same day payment was made yet got a low * for dispatch time? Could I have gone any faster? When you offer free P&P your star are automatically set to 5 stars though can be altered by the buyer. Just MHO but I think this should also be the case when you mark your item as dispatched within the period you stated as the seller.

@November2 your problem can be solved by using recorded post. As long as you can give Paypal proof of delivery you wont loose out. Guess you have to asses the value of the item and decide to take a risk or not. I often post things 2nd class recorded that I didnt have recorded postage advertised on just beacuse they bid up higher than I was expecting.

RFW

So this quickly descended into a "customer is the enemy" thread. Yes, it's a bit unfair if you're marked down for dispatch and it is Royal Mail's fault but if the buyer has a problem with the arrival time then they should be able to complain to the person who sent it, that is the only person they have a contact with.

Negative feedback for buyers? What on earth for? There's no other company in the world that rates their buyers. If sticking a red dot next to someone's name makes you feel better then train to be a teacher;)

The rating system does have its faults (I've been affected on one account by a mistake and adverse stars) but works pretty well at taking out the multiple offenders who used to get away with poor service by leaving negs for anyone who bothered to complain.

Treat your customers well, give good service, pack well, dispatch in good time and you'll still get the odd complaint but nothing that will affect your account.

jimsmillions

RFW wrote: »

So this quickly descended into a "customer is the enemy" thread. Yes, it's a bit unfair if you're marked down for dispatch and it is Royal Mail's fault but if the buyer has a problem with the arrival time then they should be able to complain to the person who sent it, that is the only person they have a contact with.

Negative feedback for buyers? What on earth for? There's no other company in the world that rates their buyers. If sticking a red dot next to someone's name makes you feel better then train to be a teacher;)

The rating system does have its faults (I've been affected on one account by a mistake and adverse stars) but works pretty well at taking out the multiple offenders who used to get away with poor service by leaving negs for anyone who bothered to complain.

Treat your customers well, give good service, pack well, dispatch in good time and you'll still get the odd complaint but nothing that will affect your account.

Sorry I do disagree. First off Royal mail can be contacted by the either party. The reciver or not as it were can complain to royal mail complaints can be made by anyone not just the sender.

The second piece of advice you gave was valid at one time but not so much now that small seller are evaluated over a year! Makes getting a listing restriction suprisingly easy with just a few buyers rating you down on things that actually had nothing to do with you in the first place.

This is not a beat the buyer thread we all need those and in fact I am one too. This is more of a what can Ebay do better thread (Whilst having a crafty grumble)

RFW

jimsmillions wrote: »

Sorry I do disagree. First off Royal mail can be contacted by the either party. The reciver or not as it were can complain to royal mail complaints can be made by anyone not just the sender.

The second piece of advice you gave was valid at one time but not so much now that small seller are evaluated over a year! Makes getting a listing restriction suprisingly easy with just a few buyers rating you down on things that actually had nothing to do with you in the first place.

This is not a beat the buyer thread we all need those and in fact I am one too. This is more of a what can Ebay do better thread (Whilst having a crafty grumble)

I agree with most of that, it was follow up comments about negative feedback that always get to me, not your initial post. Anyone who thinks that that is a good way forward needs to rethink their selling strategy and whether it's for them.

I think the post issue is an interesting one. If an item takes two weeks to arrive, it's easy enough to blame the sender, as often it could be their fault. There's not really a way around that and in any system a buyer can complain (with negative feedback, if not stars) that can seem unjust but wouldn't be changed.

I think there could be a lengthening of being given a chance to improve on odd low stars, or at least being told more in advance that there is a problem. Often sellers receive email that their account may be restricted a couple of days before it is.

I_wanna_live_for_free

jimsmillions wrote: »

Thats exactly my point though made in the first post! I could not have done any better I posted the same day payment was made yet got a low * for dispatch time? Could I have gone any faster? When you offer free P&P your star are automatically set to 5 stars though can be altered by the buyer. Just MHO but I think this should also be the case when you mark your item as dispatched within the period you stated as the seller.

I agree with you. The bit you quoted from me was in response to November2 advising to not look at your ratings.

melliott1963

jimsmillions wrote: »

.... When you offer free P&P your star are automatically set to 5 stars though can be altered by the buyer. Just MHO but I think this should also be the case when you mark your item as dispatched within the period you stated as the seller.

@November2 your problem can be solved by using recorded post. As long as you can give Paypal proof of delivery you wont loose out.

Sorry, but your first point is unworkable. What's to stop a seller marking the item as dispatched as soon as they receive payment, and then not actually sending the item for 1 or 2 weeks?

Also, recorded is a waste of money. You don't get any additional compensation over just getting a (free) proof of posting. Recorded post is not tracked, it just goes with standard mail and may (but not always) get a signature when it's delivered.

techspec

Ebay as never been the same for me since the 40% BIN rule came in. Its nuts.

I used to start at the minimum i would accept - and add a BIN at a price i would be happy with. Buyers nearly always went for BIN - as it saved them waiting and rsiking losing it.

But now the BIN as to be 40% higher than the start price. Who is willing to pay 40% more for an item, just to get it quicker?

I no longer add BIN - so Ebay are losing money, i have to wait longer for a sale and buyers are losing out on the chance to get it quicker.

One of Ebays nuttier decisions.