Major changes to eBay message boards

[LeeAnne151]

I'm so upset. eBay has destroyed their message boards. The new format is worse than MySpace and Classmates.com put together. It is so visually disturbing that it is painful. I have over 7600 posts there going back to 2000 and I'm afraid I'm done.

[cindy]

Sorry, didn't even know they had a message board.

Thats the rule, if it works, break it

[Desertponder]

I rarely get on the message boards but I'll have to go look. Ebay shouldn't be messing with much these days as they are hurting just like everyone else. One wrong move and they'll lose their faithful base.

[LeeAnne151]

They screwed up My eBay again too.

[Bonnie]

I've sold a few things again there in the past month and one of my buyers was so pissed because they changed things and she kept having to scroll back and forth to read the listings.
She said she was 68 yrs old and is now giving up ebay because it's too hard for her to read.  If this is true ebay has lost a great customer, she's bought ALOT there, power BUYER, !

Ebay keeps screwing with everything it seems, for one the fees are way too much but people keep selling and buying. (myself included)
They also need to be more strict about retaliation feedback, I just had a deadbeat buyer and didn't leave them feedback because I didn't want them to screw up my 100% score!

[Bartman]

Don't you mean EVILbay?

They are pretty much useless and too big for their britches these days.

Bart

[Desertponder]

I had problems today when I tried to get into My Ebay and leave feedback for a seller. It kept freezing up Firefox.
I don't use Ebay much anymore. There are a couple of sellers on there that I buy makeup from all the time but that's about it.
Too many sellers try to make money by charging shipping considerable above actual cost. I don't mind a dollar or two to help
them cover shipping supplies but double is crazy.

[LeeAnne151]

Bonnie, if your deadbeat didn't respond to the unpaid item dispute they can't leave feedback. In my experience, most don't respond.

Their idea of fixing retaliatory feedback was making it impossible for sellers to neg buyers. Now many buyers have gone neg crazy.

eBay has ticked off a lot of people that are in older generations with all of their changes.

[Bartman]

That whole business about not being able to leave buyers a negative is crap.  It's turned into exactly what people said it would - a mess with buyers throwing out a negative for everything on a whim.

Their restrictions on shipping costs are another joke.  They don't know that shipping one floppy disc is not the same as shipping 20 and it costs more.  My friend got nailed on that one.

Bart

[EagleEye]

Opinions are like ------------, everyone has one.
I totaly disagree, buyers were not able to leave negative feedback due to the sellers retaliating.
I think that it was about time they did something about sellers holding buyers hostage.
I use ebay all the time if I'm looking for something. That and craigslist. It's only as good as the people selling and buying. I have had no problems, but I'm careful.
Didn't know they had a message board. Wouldn't consider going there.

steve

[Bartman]

It's got to be a two way street.  Lot's of buyers are scam artists as well.  EVILBay is leaning way too far on the side of the buyer now.  My friend sells a lot on Ebay (over 10,000 items so far) and every week he has another horror story caused by a buyer.  Between not reading the auction completely to doing charge backs because a buyer thinks it should arrive in 3 days, but takes 4 it is totally ridiculous.  When I had him selling stuff for me I stipulated he had to restrict some of the auctions to Canada only because of the problems he was having with International buyers.  I didn't want to risk an expensive item being stolen which is basically what happens too often.

Bart

[Krista]

we are in the middle of a painful transaction ourselves.. wish I could just cancel it... return the $5 in actual shipping he paid to the correct account and wait for the payment he made to the paypal email account that I have no idea where it came from as it's was closed 2 years ago get sent back since we have no way of claiming it.. We aren't huge sellers, but we haven't used that address in a coons age. like 2 years.

[Joyce]

Bart you do realize that eBay is made of of individual people like you and me selling and buying?
The merchandise does NOT come from one big warehouse.
It comes out of people homes, and offices, trailer parks, even prison, cuz I know some inmates sell their 'prison art'.
Shipping is as individual as the seller, there is no set shipping restrictions or rules.
The buyer should read the entire listing before bidding to determine if shipping costs are worth it.
Simply don't bid if you don't like the shipping terms.
Ebay is the company that provides us the website to buy and sell our merchandise and is not responsible for our individual behavior.
They have rules to regulate our behavior, but no, they are NOT responsible for your behavior or mine.
Or any whiny little bastard trying to scam other people. 

A few evil buyers and sellers, individual PEOPLE like you and me, are what is the problem.
Sellers namecalling, scamming, leaving bad feedback when buyers complain about low quality miniscule mushy plants, (and other low quality merchandise)
is what is ruining eBay. Some people are just so selfish and unscrupulous, lying about their merchandise, they don't care if they are ruining eBay, as long as they are making money .

I could name a few sellers, in fact one person was banned from here.    

But it's all about: buyer beware. Everyone here has a brain up there in their heads.
Everyone here is a responsible adult, who can turn on the common sense switch anytime they want.
Many just choose not to turn it on and then play the blame game when they make a mistake.
ANYone can look at a sellers feedback. They can see if there are a lot of negatives, and neutrals.
If they find a lot, they can logically choose not to purchase from that seller.
It's not hard to do, and you don't have to be very smart to figure out eBay.

I'm with Steve, totally agree with everything he said and I'm not into the message board either...for me, no need for it.
I simply review the sellers feedback and make my mind up that way.
As for selling, I state in my listings that any buyer with ANY negative feedback within 6 months can not bid.
(although I now have been selling under a different username for a friend of mine who has an antique/collectible business and is not computer savvy)
So if you are selling, you can stipulate anything you want to protect you from 'evil' buyers. 

I haven't been burned yet on a purchase.
Once a seller tried not to send me a pair of blue suede jeans I won for $10 including shipping...and I hounded him until he finally sent them 2 months later.
I think he was angry that they didn't sell for more, very expensive label....soft as butter.   
I told him if he left me positive feedback, I wouldn't give him any negative feedback for making me wait.
So once I saw the positive feedback....I didn't return the favor...gave him NO feedback. He's still waiting. ::
He hounded me for months to return the favor...and I asked him...how do YOU like it?

It's all about taking responsibility for ones own actions.

It's not eBays fault. 

[LeeAnne151]

Joyce, eBay does now have shipping cost caps in some categories like books and dvds/cds.

Krista, are you talking about a shipping address or email address that is old?
There has been a PayPal glitch where they were giving sellers the buyers old shipping addresses, going on now for  months. PayPal has been refunding some who call and are persistent but they won't accept blame.

If it is an old email address, if you can still receive an email at it you can add it back to your PayPal account and the payment will go through. You can have up to 8 emails linked to your account. Never be in a hurry to remove an old email address, just make the new one Primary. Any time you hit relist or sell similar or use an old Turbo Lister template the auction will upload with the old address unless it has been edited or revised. Payments go to the email embedded in each auction and not what is in your seller profiles.

Eagle Eye, I've never feared to neg a seller who deserved it. Retaliatory negs are easy to spot and they make the person who left them look worse than the person receiving. Now, if buyers don't pay or use fraudulent payment methods sellers can't neg them and that is wrong. There certainly are buyers who scam as well as sellers who scam. Many buyers have now gone neg happy.

eBay's message boards were a huge source of information for many, loads of really experienced people helping with just about everything to do with eBay. The PayPal board is a joke but the rest were great. I had a lot of friends there on several boards. There are similar interest boards like Animals and Book Readers and Cooks Nook that were fun. Now the format is unusable unless you are twelve and happy with MySpace.

[Bonnie]

The person did send payment finally.

I'd just bet that I will get a negative from a person who said they received a figurine broken even though it was wrapped in big bubble wrap, paper and then packing peanuts.
(She even told me that I had it wrapped well)
I did offer this person one at half  off  and they declined, but I just wonder about this person because they've only purchased 15 or so items and I see that she has left two others negative due to receiving broken items.
Well sorry but if that person has so many problems they need to pay out the $1+ extra for insurance!


Along with the s&h caps, sellers can't charge an excessive s&h amount can they LeeAnne?
Even though it doesn't seem like ebay cares.
(buy it now .01 + $100 S&H, for an example)

Also, some things do come from warehouses.
I know this because I bought a bedding set that was ordered directly from the manufacturer and there are drop shippers which I believe sellers purchase from.
You'd be surprised some of the large retailers that now sell on ebay too.
Sears for one ....

[Bartman]

You mean EVILbay isn't it's own warehouse/selling its own inventory?  It's just regular people buying and selling?  My God, I just learned something new today. 

Still needs to be a 50/50 deal between sellers and buyers.  I tend to believe my friend with his 10K + sales regarding the behaviour of buyers on there.  EVILbay, especially now that they control PayPal, makes it too easy for buyers to get away with things and they lost many good sellers as a result.

Bart

[LeeAnne151]

Excessive shipping/handling is not allowed but every auction that has it isn't caught.

What Joyce meant was that eBay doesn't own any warehouses, many people think eBay is a big company selling stuff like Amazon. or Overstock.

Many sellers use drop shippers which is allowed but stupid because they are often out of stock and buyers get mad.

Insurance protects the seller. Any buyer who receives a broken item can get a full refund from PayPal if they report it and return it with delivery confirmation. When a buyer goes to PayPal to force the refund it goes against the seller's record. Any seller with wording in their auctions about not responsible for breakage in shipping or not responsible if you don't buy insurance is going to learn the hard way that PayPal and eBay will force them to refund upon return. The only insurance a buyer needs is to pay with PayPal or a credit card.

I always added an extra fifty cents to everything and then just refunded when someone claimed breakage which was not very often. Refunds are a cost of doing business.

[Joyce]

Thank you LeeAnne, for comprehending my post. 

The moral of the story is, no matter from where the item is shipped: (and that never was a point to begin with)
BUYER BEWARE! 

Be responsible for your own actions, or lack there of. 
There's no one else to blame for YOUR mistakes... what a concept in this day and age. 

There is no '50/50' deal when it comes to eBay. 
You and only YOU are responsible for any click of YOUR mouse when using eBay.
eBay is not responsible for an idividuals stupidity, and/or lack of initiative to use the available eBay resources such as the feedback ratings and history. (laziness)

Sean, we need a 'No Whining' Emoticon. 

[Bartman]

EVILbay has things set up now so problems with a sale favour the buyer 80% of the time.  There should be no favorite anything.  That is what it means - 50/50.  Equal opportinunity for both the seller and the buyer to post negatives and deal with bad deals.  Take away negative feedback for bad buyers is flat out wrong.  It sends the message that sellers are all bad which is not the case.  My point is already proven on EVILbay itself with the negatives jumped up by sellers who have some kind of axe to grind.

Is is anywhere fair that my friend can get a negative because someone didn't like what they received, but would not return it for the full refund he offers and he can't give that buyer a negative?  Is it fair in any way when shipping to the UK the fast way is $50.00 and the customer is told this and requests it then he gets a negative because the "Shipping was too much"?  Is it fair that he gets a negative because it took the post office 4 days instead of 3 to deliver the item? 

Those buyers are, frankly, stupid and should be allowed to do nothing on EVILbay.  EVILbay has become a "sellers beware" marketplace these days.

The fact remains,  and there are actual seminars on this stuff that business people can take, that 90% of the time the buyer/customer is wrong.  It's nice to say, "the customer is always right", but it is hardly the case.  My boss found the seminar very intersting.  The number of people who don't know what is "their" problem as opposed to "my problem" is remarkable.  The company implemented a lot of what was learned at that seminar to stop the nonsense with the "I'm right, you're wrong mind set of the public these days."

I am agreeing with Joyce.  Take the blame for YOUR mistakes.  EVILbay says the buyer doesn't make mistakes most of the time.  Not true.  Level the playing field.

Bart