6/30/08

eBay: The Microsoft of Sales

I'm closing the eBay accounts I have and moving to eCrater, which is free and caters to sellers, not shareholders. eBay has become THE name in online sales, that's where everyone goes to find cheap stuff, and lots of it. But they recently changed their policy and have really hurt sellers by no longer letting them leave neutral or negative feedback. Instantly I started getting a lot of nonpayments, people trying to extort me, and other ridiculous scams. There are people just bidding on a lot of the same items and then only paying for the lowest one, and wasting the time and money of the sellers of all the others they don't pay for. The sellers who are harmed can't do anything to warn others, and the buyers will always have a 100% rating, while buyers can leave negatives for unfounded reasons, one I had was that I wouldn't send him a second item overnight for free. I had a lady open a claim because of a projector sold as-is, since it had no lamp. I stated all that clearly in the listing, and when she asked me questions about it I told her everything about it, such that it was the projector only without a lamp. She then complains that she didn't get a manual, lamp, AV cords, or speakers with it. I quoted the emails and explained to her that she had been informed of that. She files a claim, saying I misrepresented the item, and without contacting me at all eBay awards her a full refund. Now in any conflict resolution, you need both sides. I would have gladly shown them the emails, the listing, and anything else they wanted, but instead I was screwed. They helped her commit fraud. eBay is now trying to implement a policy that you can only pay with PayPal, which they own. That would further hurt sellers, because PayPal takes out fees on transactions, and wouldn't allow any other companies to compete. Sound like a bad deal for sellers? Yep. That's why I'm leaving eBay, never to return, even if they go back to how they were. They're losing a lot of their top sellers, and shooting themselves in the foot too.

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