Ebay non-performance as agent

acarden

Thanks for all of your posts.
The key issue I am trying to get across here, is:
The escalation process has only one remedy, a refund, this is not documented "as the only remedy of escalation" that I could see, I would have liked a "final sale reminder" to be sent to the seller as a last chance before the non-seller notification, advising the user of their obligations, and how the non-sale will affect their reputation, and / or just rename the escalation button "Escalate for refund" to avoid ambiguity.

honeythewitch

acarden wrote: »

Thanks for all of your posts.
The key issue I am trying to get across here, is:
The escalation process has only one remedy, a refund, this is not documented "as the only remedy of escalation" that I could see, I would have liked a "final sale reminder" to be sent to the seller as a last chance before the non-seller notification, advising the user of their obligations, and how the non-sale will affect their reputation, and / or just rename the escalation button "Escalate for refund" to avoid ambiguity.

If there was some sort of punishment applied (like a ban?) it would discourage buyers from "false listing" and refusing to sell.

The "one size fit all" complaints system doesn't cover everything, and it is useless for anything out of the ordinary.
There is also no need for the refunds to take so long if they have clear evidence of fraud.

Flyonthewall

acarden wrote: »

Absolutely, this is part of my point. I raised a case, it didn't resolve the situation, so I "escalated" the case with comments to enforce the sale. It was an "escalation" button that I expected to have Ebay send a final sale reminder, not just take 5 seconds, then issue a refund. At the least, the "Escalation" button should be changed to "Have Ebay issue a refund button" as "Escalation" to me means to consider a number of options / resolutions.

If you google escalate it gives this definition:

Escalate
verb
verb: escalate; 3rd person present: escalates; past tense: escalated; past participle: escalated; gerund or present participle: escalatin

1.
increase rapidly.
"the price of tickets escalated"

- make or become more intense or serious.
"the disturbance escalated into a full-scale riot"

When you escalate a case you are saying an outcome cannot be be reached and are raising the case to a higher level (i.e. ebay). Escalating the case makes it more serious as ebay have to resolve it and they leave a black mark on the sellers account.

That definition does not mention anything about numerous options. When you sign up to ebay you agree to their terms and conditions. They're just the middle man and there's not a lot they can do in such situations except give a refund which they did and that's all they guarantee. At least you've not lost out.

When it comes to ebay you should never assume something is yours until it's in your hands and you're happy with it. Until that point anything can happen whether it's a bad seller not sending it, it getting lost in the post or arriving not as described.

It's annoying at times and there are probably times when we all wish ebay would do more and look at each individual case properly but they have a lot of issues to deal with and need to remain as fair as possible to everyone. A seller is highly unlikely to bother acting on an automatically sent message from ebay telling them to send an item they really don't want to send.

Flyonthewall

honeythewitch wrote: »

If there was some sort of punishment applied (like a ban?) it would discourage buyers from "false listing" and refusing to sell.

The "one size fit all" complaints system doesn't cover everything, and it is useless for anything out of the ordinary.
There is also no need for the refunds to take so long if they have clear evidence of fraud.

As campdave says, you can report the seller for non-performance. When you escalate a case the seller gets a black mark against them. When you leave negative feedback and low stars it's one step closer to them being banned.

Some bad sellers manage to last longer than others but there are systems in place to make sure that bad sellers are not selling for long. Bad buyers and sellers get banned all the time, it doesn't stop others trying to get away with it or stop them attempting to start again with new accounts. As I said though, they'll soon be banned.

What would you suggest ebay do? They need to be as fair as possible to every person but even ebay do not have the staff or ability to look into every single case fully and most cases are resolved fine with that system. You can appeal cases if needed.

soolin

There are steps in place to remove poor or non performing sellers. For any small seller three low stars in the same category (that is a 1 or 2 *) will mean restriction and possibly lead to suspension. So basically for smaller sellers it is three strike and you are off .

I think it would be entirly appropriate to leave poor feedback and perhaps a 1* for communication - possibly leave the other categories blank as the stars cannot be judged.

honeythewitch

Flyonthewall wrote: »

As campdave says, you can report the seller for non-performance. When you escalate a case the seller gets a black mark against them. When you leave negative feedback and low stars it's one step closer to them being banned.

Some bad sellers manage to last longer than others but there are systems in place to make sure that bad sellers are not selling for long. Bad buyers and sellers get banned all the time, it doesn't stop others trying to get away with it or stop them attempting to start again with new accounts. As I said though, they'll soon be banned.

What would you suggest ebay do? They need to be as fair as possible to every person but even ebay do not have the staff or ability to look into every single case fully and most cases are resolved fine with that system. You can appeal cases if needed.

I would suggest that they change the complaints system so that you can communicate with a real person if the automated system is not applicable, and use the same methods that other sites (successfully) use to stop people re-registering time and time again.

I get the impression that Ebay are not a small struggling firm who cant afford a few more customer service staff.

campdave

honeythewitch wrote: »

I would suggest that they change the complaints system so that you can communicate with a real person if the automated system

You can, you just have to pick up the phone which seems beyond the realm of a great many of the posters here.

honeythewitch

campdave wrote: »

You can, you just have to pick up the phone which seems beyond the realm of a great many of the posters here.

And wait on the line for several hours at great expense!

campdave

honeythewitch wrote: »

And wait on the line for several hours at great expense!

Someone's being slightly melodramatic.

You want to speak to a human, there's your answer.

If you don't like it, keep on doing what you're doing.

soolin

honeythewitch wrote: »

And wait on the line for several hours at great expense!

With a PIN I have never waited longer than 45 seconds, certainly less than a minute.

The only time I ever waited longer was when there was a serious meltdown and everyone was on the phone.