eBay

froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock · ‎06-12-2014

The below if paraphrased from a buyer who opened a case for an item not received through ebay. I did send without tracking (those are always the ones to go missing, strange). Just wanted to point out that ebay encourages the claim to be opened and then counts it as a defect even if you refund in good faith.

and by the way i did not know this opened a case, i thought it just sent a message to you that i needed help finding it. It doesn't say it is opening a case until after you hit send then it says it but you don't have a way to say no to a case being opened

cumos55 · ‎06-12-2014

This has been reported many times on eBay.com.

Go to ask a question... and a case is opened..

Will this be changed? Nothing appears to be changing.. based on the discussion boards....

25050906 · ‎06-12-2014

Item not received or item not as described open automatically a case.

I always use "others" to communicate with my sellers even for item not as described.

froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock · ‎06-12-2014

I am sure it's been hashed to death, but I thought I would post yet again. It is over the top frustrating that ebay cannot fathom or understand this issue or chooses to ignore it.

While I don't subscribe to the 'i'll never shop, buy sell, on ebay' meme, I can say with 100% certainty that I never recommend ebay as a place to sell, and discourage people from doing so. I rarely recommend buying on ebay, and I have cut back to a maintenance level in selling where I can take home a bit each month and am reassessing what to do next.

Ebay is not a place where the average joe can sell, and is not the place to sell 'items from your closet'

After being limited for selling a stupid iPhone box, which thousands do, but I can't , and then being limited for too high of shipping, even though I barely cover my costs at the cheapest, and lose on the rest, but now with this being counted as a negative, I wouldn't be surprised in a full blown suspension coming my way.

rose-dee · ‎06-12-2014

@xpress.deals wrote:
Item not received or item not as described open automatically a case.
I always use "others" to communicate with my sellers even for item not as described.

Yes, but that's exactly the crux of the problem. This is something that experienced or sophisticated eBayers understand (especially if they also sell), but that many, many buyers don't -- until they run up against it accidentally.

When a buyer sees the option in the "Ask a question" section that says "My item hasn't arrived yet", that option might seem to be a logical choice for asking a question about something that hasn't yet arrived. Now, if that option were clearly worded to indicate that it would open a case (as in, for example, "I'd like to open a case about an item that hasn't arrived"), then I think buyers might be inclined to choose "Other" if they really didn't want to start up a case.

This is a problem that has been reported on these boards a lot, and has been brought up with the eBay.ca staff, but there seems to be a brick wall where this subject is concerned. Certainly no one at the eBay.ca board hours has agreed that it needs to be fixed, let alone recognized that there is a problem.

atxpoint1 · ‎06-17-2014

It's shocking to hear that ebay is being so negligent about this issue. I don't see how it could possibly benefit them to have a greater number of defects, INR cases, and frustrated/annoyed sellers.

dutchman48 · ‎06-17-2014

It is intentional. More defects, less discounts, less sellers!

Ebay wants to become a retail mall like ali or amazon and not have to deal with used, old, not working, etc. New and shinny is what they want to have on the site!

rose-dee · ‎06-17-2014

@atxpoint1 wrote:
It's shocking to hear that ebay is being so negligent about this issue. I don't see how it could possibly benefit them to have a greater number of defects, INR cases, and frustrated/annoyed sellers.

Well, although I'm sure eBay has its arcane rationales for doing everything, which we will never, ever really know for sure, it seems to me that one benefit of this defect system for eBay will be to get rid of a lot of TRS sellers (and hence not have to pay them the 20% discount), as well as a lot of small, Mom-and-Dad type eBay enterprises.

Numbers are everything in this new defect game, and the bigger your volume, the less the defects will hurt. Big sellers get to start with a fresh slate every 3 months; the rest of us smaller sellers will be dragging every defect along behind us like a sea anchor for a full 12 months.

The bottom line I think is that eBay really isn't interested in supporting its original seller base anymore. They want big, visible, commercial sellers or small sellers who are nearly perfect. So far I've personally managed to hang on, but there are certainly far more pitfalls in front of us than there used to be.

Unfortunately, in its rush to attract the mobile, Wal-Mart style buyers, I believe the direction eBay is going will drive away millions of buyers looking for interesting, unique items.