eBay debt collectors - Can I ignore them?

theonlywayisup

JoeJoeJoe111 wrote: »

Thanks, my gut is saying to ignore them until there is a chance of court being involved, but hopefully it wont go that far.

As a seller I have not broken any eBay or Paypal terms (hence why my paypal is still active) After several messages to eBay they continue to avoid the question I keep asking.... Which term did I violate. There are 100's of other users both company and personal accounts selling my exact same prodct and from there feedback have a much higher defect rate. I dont understand what caused ebay to make this decision and I am sure they have there reasons but if they can not justify to me why this decision was made then I can justify to them why I am not going to pay there fees. Treat me unfairly and you get the same service back. Before this I had paid all my fee's, but this is a way I feel I can get back at them for them saying I am not allowed to use there services.

What item were you selling.

How do you know other sellers had "the same defect rate".

JoeJoeJoe111

theonlywayisup wrote: »

What item were you selling.

How do you know other sellers had "the same defect rate".

Digital goods.

I could tell their defect rate from their feedback, which means, in reality, it would be even higher than whats listed on there feedback, as feedback doesnt nessessary show situation where a case was opened and the buyer forgot to leave feedback.
From around 300 sales I got 3 negative. Rest were all positive. Those that did have an issue, I refunded with no hassel to ensure my seller rating is maintined above standard.
Other users selling the same product had a significantly higher defect rate.

theonlywayisup

JoeJoeJoe111 wrote: »

Digital goods.

Were they prohibited/restricted by eBay policy?

JoeJoeJoe111 wrote: »

I could tell their defect rate from their feedback

You do realise that feedback of any sort isn't a defect?

Defects are cancellations initiated by the seller for out of stock or cases closed without seller resolution. Neither of which can be seen from the feedback score/rating.

JoeJoeJoe111 wrote: »

From around 300 sales I got 3 negative. Rest were all positive. Those that did have an issue, I refunded with no hassel to ensure my seller rating is maintined above standard.

As long as they opened cases and you refunded that way then you wouldn't get a defect. If you simply refunded without a case then you would.

JoeJoeJoe111 wrote: »

Other users selling the same product had a significantly higher defect rate.

As I said above you cannot see another seller's defect rate.

usefulmale

Remember also, that if you dispute the debt, the debt collectors HAVE to return the debt to eBay.

eBay would then either have to take you to court, or forget the debt.

soolin

Digital goods and 1 in a 100 negative feedback and defects, I suspect there is more to this story than we can immediately see.

OP although I think that perhaps eBay had a reason for questioning you, and many of us have had to supply details to both eBay and PayPal over the years, it still doesn't alter any of the answers above. Pay or don't pay, the choice is yours . I agree with RFW that as a business if you owe money for services provided it seems to be poor business sense not to pay them, and perhaps that does suggest you have an issue with keeping to terms and conditions generally. However, whilst legally you should pay if you have made your mind up not to then just keep an eye on what is happening and watch out in case they send debt collectors.

I also think your PayPal account might be at risk further down the line, especially as has been stated above , you used your account to pay your fees.

JoeJoeJoe111

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Were they prohibited/restricted by eBay policy?



You do realise that feedback of any sort isn't a defect?

Defects are cancellations initiated by the seller for out of stock or cases closed without seller resolution. Neither of which can be seen from the feedback score/rating.



As long as they opened cases and you refunded that way then you wouldn't get a defect. If you simply refunded without a case then you would.



As I said above you cannot see another seller's defect rate.

They where not prohibited items, many other users selling them same thing.

I understand that feedback isn't a defect but when it comes to digital goods the only logical reason someone would leave negative feedback if the item did not work, leading to some sort of case being opened. As a result a potential defect on the sellers rating. But as you clarified if refunded they wouldn't of had seller performace rating decrease.

JoeJoeJoe111

soolin wrote: »

Digital goods and 1 in a 100 negative feedback and defects, I suspect there is more to this story than we can immediately see.

OP although I think that perhaps eBay had a reason for questioning you, and many of us have had to supply details to both eBay and PayPal over the years, it still doesn't alter any of the answers above. Pay or don't pay, the choice is yours . I agree with RFW that as a business if you owe money for services provided it seems to be poor business sense not to pay them, and perhaps that does suggest you have an issue with keeping to terms and conditions generally. However, whilst legally you should pay if you have made your mind up not to then just keep an eye on what is happening and watch out in case they send debt collectors.

I also think your PayPal account might be at risk further down the line, especially as has been stated above , you used your account to pay your fees.

1 in a 100 sales is very small, and this was errors made from the buyer. (i.e buying something not compatible yet demanding a refund)

From your experince, bearing inmind there are 2 payemnts to be made, one of £55 and £88 I believe, what are the chance of me ignoring them and then them taking me to court? I assume, as they are 2 seperate accounts, the debt collection will make demands for each of the sum rather than the combined total?

Is there any final warning/letter I can be made aware that any court iniation process is imminent and will happen. If it gets to that stage I would rather pay before getting into a court mess and potential pay even more. Am I correct in thinking that if a court procedure is made, I can pay before the court notice, essenitally avoiding the potential court fees?

theonlywayisup

JoeJoeJoe111 wrote: »

They where not prohibited items, many other users selling them same thing.

Just because others are selling the same thing doesn't mean an item is allowed. If you are sure your item isn't prohibited then it certainly sounds like you have issues with the running of your account, apropos defects etc as you don't seem to understand that feedback isn't relevant to defects.

Just my two penneth, but fees are paid in arrears which means you have had the service. You should be paying them.

ballisticbrian

I've probably saved more than £55 in 12 months in bits for my wife's car and my bike by owning an eBay account.

soolin

JoeJoeJoe111 wrote: »

They where not prohibited items, many other users selling them same thing.

I understand that feedback isn't a defect but when it comes to digital goods the only logical reason someone would leave negative feedback if the item did not work, leading to some sort of case being opened. As a result a potential defect on the sellers rating. But as you clarified if refunded they wouldn't of had seller performace rating decrease.

Forget others, this is the policy for digital good son ebay:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/downloadable.html

The fact that you are required to prove you have the right to the intellectual copyright and a right to sell is possibly what you came up against.

Also feedback is feedback, 1 in 100 neg is very bad, most of us would be worried about our business if we had that many buyers leaving a neg. Feedback is not a defect, as has already been explained, and you have absolutely no way of knowing what other sellers expanded dashboards look like.