god.. I HATE eBay

Relic · #1 08-24-2011, 04:36 PM

yeah another ebay hate thread...we have these like what? One every three weeks now?
I'm just flustered..I've been a seller on ebay for the past 10 years or so and I have never seen the amount of bs that I do now.
It's so common now for a buyer to basically extort you that it's not even funny.
I sold a bass a few months back - they guy gets it and claims that the pickups are "broken and hanging out"

(they were not) and he wants a refund or a partial refund "to get it fixed" because I scammed him... I didn't. If I take it back, I eat all of the fees, then have to resell it and incur more fees and he knows this. It's just easier to bump some $ back via paypal which I did.
Now, a completely different guy is making accusations about some historical repro uniform stuff that I sold. He claims that "it's used" it's absolutely not, yet as the seller, I'm powerless. He holds all the cards. Yeah I can report him as trying to "feedback extort" me, but that's not going to do a darn thing for me at the moment. They'll just tell me to refund the guy and they'll watch him. So all I can do if I want to make $ on the deal, is give him a partial refund, or take the item back and resell and get hosed again.
I'm just fed up at what ebay has become.. dammit!!

MatticusMania · #2 08-24-2011, 04:41 PM

Im surprised, with all the threads that I see here, that anyone still uses eBay.

I havent bought or sold anything on eBay in probably 5 years. When did the PS3 come out? Around that time. Id rather sell things locally, on craigslist. (or TB classifieds)

hdracer · #3 08-24-2011, 04:45 PM

I quit selling on ebay 3 years ago.
I will still buy but selling is out of the question.
I have much better luck with CL. It is a pain but I keep all my money & have no worries after I get the CASH.

Relic · #4 08-24-2011, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Im surprised, with all the threads that I see here, that anyone still uses eBay.

I havent bought or sold anything on eBay in probably 5 years. When did the PS3 come out? Around that time. Id rather sell things locally, on craigslist.

But that's the thing - I was doing ok with it for the longest time even when many folks were up in arms about it. I mean, so long as you understand the fees you're going to pay and you understand how everything works + you know going in what to expect, it's not bad. You make the decision to do so.

My point is that it's the damn buyers now. I used to be able to send stuff out in confidence that it would be a great transaction - I KNOW that I described the item well and I know that I'm not out to scam anybody and for years now, I've been getting stellar feedback.
But as of the past year or so, man that's really changed... it's almost routine now for a buyer to accuse me of scamming, demand their money back etc etc.
This latest guy - it could just be buyer's remorse. He obviously didn't read the auction very well (he accused me of omitting items that we never actually mentioned in the add, etc). So now, if I want to retain my 100% pos feedback, I'm obligated to refund the guy who did NOT read the auction well. It's nuts

MatticusMania · #5 08-24-2011, 04:56 PM

Sounds horrible. I wasnt quite so against the eBay regime until I started reading the horror stories on here. All I can think while reading them is "Who the hell would ever want to deal with that?". Sounds like you had a lucky streak going for a while, looks like its up now.

Relic · #6 08-24-2011, 05:02 PM

yeah Matt I'm coming to that realization finally... it stinks though because I used to actually use eBay as a sort of additional income. Now that we bought a new house that additional income is needed more than ever... only..... I cant rely on it anymore.
I'm probably going to try Craigslist at this point and see what happens.

jp58 · #7 08-24-2011, 05:03 PM

I've moved entirely on to Craigslist. If I hadn't had so many problems with paypal, I might deal a little on here.

MatticusMania · #8 08-24-2011, 05:04 PM

Im sure you can find some other means to continue that stream of income without evilBay, no? I havent used it in forever, but I used to like Yahoo! Auctions over eBay. Maybe replace ebay with multiple sites to sell your stuff, might be more work, but could prove fruitful.

MatticusMania · #9 08-24-2011, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp58

I've moved entirely on to Craigslist. If I hadn't had so many problems with paypal, I might deal a little on here.

Ive made 3 transactions via TB without the use of paypal.

groooooove · #10 08-24-2011, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Im surprised, with all the threads that I see here, that anyone still uses eBay.

I havent bought or sold anything on eBay in probably 5 years. When did the PS3 come out? Around that time. Id rather sell things locally, on craigslist. (or TB classifieds)

i listed a carvin fretless 6 on here for a few weeks. i went all the way down to something like $425 shipped. it still woulden't move.

listed it on ebay and it went for $550 @ buy it now.

while i agree that ebay caters to buyers and dumps on sellers, sometimes you have no choice - the most people shop there, and you can get the most out of your sale sometimes from them.

i do still avoid them, though.

jp58 · #11 08-24-2011, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Ive made 3 transactions via TB without the use of paypal.

Local deals?

MatticusMania · #12 08-24-2011, 05:17 PM

I'd guess it helps to sell on places other than eBay if a) youre not in a hurry to move it and b) you have a fairly in-demand product.

hdracer · #13 08-24-2011, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

yeah Matt I'm coming to that realization finally... it stinks though because I used to actually use eBay as a sort of additional income. Now that we bought a new house that additional income is needed more than ever... only..... I cant rely on it anymore.
I'm probably going to try Craigslist at this point and see what happens.

Same here. I use to make $10,000 -15,000 every winter ( my slow time) and it really helped.
Once I figured out a good way to use CL I have brought back about half of that income without the BS of ebay.
Oh, and that is pure cash income.

MatticusMania · #14 08-24-2011, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp58

Local deals?

One was a pedal trade with a dude in Az. Another was a pedal I sold to a guy in San Fran, I just told him I dont use paypal. I asked if he wouldnt mind sending a check, and he didnt. I also let him know I wouldnt ship until the check cleared and he was okay with that. The other was a sale to a local guy who saw my TB ad.

Brad Johnson · #15 08-24-2011, 05:28 PM

I don't often sell on ebay and rarely have any problems with the many items I purchase. Got great prices on lots of household/music/automotive/etc. items, far better than anywhere else and typically get great service with the vendors and sellers I deal with. Just saying...

MJ5150 · #16 08-24-2011, 05:31 PM

I use eBay to help get an idea on what I should sell things on craigslist for. I'm afraid to sell anything on eBay. If no one here or at CL wants to buy what I am selling, I just throw it away or keep it.

-Mike

**cheezewiz** · #17 08-24-2011, 06:05 PM

I only recently started having problems on ebay too. Mine have been with non paying bidders. Only thing I found to do was leave "positive" feedback that says, "DEADBEAT" or "NON PAYER".

tastybasslines · #18 08-24-2011, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

yeah Matt I'm coming to that realization finally... it stinks though because I used to actually use eBay as a sort of additional income. Now that we bought a new house that additional income is needed more than ever... only..... I cant rely on it anymore.
I'm probably going to try Craigslist at this point and see what happens.

Amazon has an excellent reseller program, and I'm guessing here...gets more traffic and has more serious buyers.

El Beardo · #19 08-24-2011, 06:32 PM

I've also been selling on ebay for a while and I know exactly what you mean and I completely agree. I've even had a few sales like you've got now. It's frustrating.

ZanaZulu807 · #20 08-24-2011, 06:48 PM

I really have no beef with eBay, been using it quite a while. Sure you can have trouble with buyers, same can be had any seller site... Sure they charge you fees, but so does PayPal.... An alternative to eBay that I found works quite well is to sell on Craigslist or sites like this and use Google Merchant; no fees whatsoever, just send an invoice and get paid. My only gripe is that you can't store funds like you can on PayPal, but who cares as it goes directly in your bank account. Been selling like this several times and have had no issues whatsoever.