Fed up of EBAY sellers.....

Metal graduate Age : 32 Joined : 30 Dec 2007 Posts : 282

Just wanted to see if anyone was getting as fed up as I am with sellers on Ebay.

Lately I have bought quite a few bits on Ebay only when the item turns up the condition is nothing like how the item was described.

To give an example I am very much into gamming, current and retro. I have a nice collection of games consoles and games built over many years. I recently bid and won for what was described as an excellent condition Sega Saturn console. The picture showed the Saturn in it's box and in what looked like mint condition. It turned up today unboxed in a right state. It looks like the console was used as a football and kicked around the house with scratches eveywhere and covered in dirt and some of the plastic on the front missing.

This is just one example, I could go on but just wondered if anyone else was getting as fed up as I am am with dodgy sellers.
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THE GODS MADE HEAVY METAL!!!

Administrator Age : 38 Joined : 18 Jan 2007 Posts : 2382

I think sellers don't care as much anymore, as they have no way to defend themselves from a feedback standpoint.

Ebay stripped us of that right, on buyers can leave feedback so if you are a dick you caan leave neg feedback for no other reason that it came in 3 days and wanted it in 2, and we cannot retaliate...which is Bullspit.

It's one of the main reasons I no longer sell there.

for your case, it sounds like the seller nabbed a pic for his descrip. from elsewhere which is lways a bad idea.
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"A thousand black bats screaming in my ears for blue eyes"

Metal graduate Age : 32 Joined : 30 Dec 2007 Posts : 282

I've always found the feedback system on Ebay to be highly flawed. For example I wanted to give someone bad feedback about a year ago as I won a bid on a rare superman graphic novel. The seller emailed me and said he was having problems with paypal so could I wait a week and he would email me to let me know it was alright to pay. 2 weeks and a couple of emails later I got a snotty reply telling me to be patient and he will contact me. A further 2 weeks later still nothing and this time no replies to my email to I gave him some negative feedback. Straight away I got negative feedback in return and then a few begging emails asking me to agree to us both withdrawing feedback, WTF! So I got a bad rap for no fault on my part.

It didn't matter ether you were a buyer or seller in the past you would ever give bad feed back for fear of the same being given back. so this made someones feedback score practically useless. Now the system is better, only sellers should recieve feedback. They are the ones responsible for the condition of the item and the delivery. It shouldn't matter if someone is a bad buyer as the worst that happens is the seller doesn't recieve payment, he can still then list the item again and sell it to someone else yet the buyer could be lumbered with a crap item.
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THE GODS MADE HEAVY METAL!!!

Moderator Age : 37 Joined : 10 Jan 2007 Posts : 2549

Subject: Re: Fed up of EBAY sellers..... Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:53 pm

sellers always had & still have the unpaid item policy to fall back on. this can lead to the suspension of the buyers account if he gets to many marks against him. i like the feedback how they have it now. the buyers are the risk takers & deserve protection against retaliation for negative feedback.
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Subject: Re: Fed up of EBAY sellers..... Fri Jul 25, 2008 11:14 pm

The change not allowing sellers to leave retalitory negative feedback is justified, if not flawed. If a seller rips a buy off, by either not sending, sending crap, or whatever, they ALWAYS retaliated with a negative, even if the person paid, which is the only requirement for a buyer.

The best solution would be to have negative feedback monitored, but I doubt the company is going to employ an office full of people to make sure feedback is fair.

As for Ultra's issue, the picture may have been of a mint console, but did the description say it was mint? Some people don't have digital cameras or scanners, so they nab pics from elsewhere on the net, or just use eBay's stock photos. If the auction said the console was mint, then you have a claim, and you can get your money back (eventually). If the auction gave an accurate description of the item and you only looked at the photo, well, then, shame on you. It sucks, but that's just how it goes.

EBay is something you have to pay attention to. People try to be sneaky, but if you look into each auction and seller, you can generally avoid those that'll screw you over. I've been using eBay since 1998, so I'm like an expert at this point. Haha.
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"Happy people have no stories." —Therapy?

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Administrator Age : 39 Joined : 09 Jan 2007 Posts : 2926

My problem has always "Feedback Hostage". My only negs are from guys in China that got their item, exactly as desribed, then would say, "$5 shipping was too much. Refund my money", or some other crap. Of course, I am not bending to that, and they leave negative when I did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG. Now how does a seller get any retaliation/satisfaction now? Go to ebay with the whole, "my word against him" bit? They don't care.

Add the "seller can't leave neg" along with the fact that ebay and paypal raised the fees ALOT, and, if you agree or not, sellers are getting it right in the pooper. And we are the ones that ebay makes money off of - not the buyers.
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UNCLE SAXON'S CRAZY CD SELLOFF!

Subject: Re: Fed up of EBAY sellers..... Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:29 pm

Metal novice Age : 28 Joined : 19 Jul 2008 Posts : 64

I think a lot of problems, if not 99% of them, could be avoided if before bidding, people actually took the time to check the seller's feedback, read every detail on the auction's description and contact the seller if they have ANY questions. It's that simple. By asking a question, you can have an idea of how the seller behaves just by how he answers to your question. If he gives you a sloppy answer or if he is a dick, just avoid it. Sometimes I think that there are bad sellers on eBay because people still buy from them.

If you are a seller, you have to be VERY specific about your terms. Write in huge letters that people have to READ THE WHOLE DESCRIPTION BEFORE BIDDING and tell them that you are going to report them to eBay if they screw with you. Don't just assume people know that, some of then don't.

Protect yourself by requiring registered shipping if you're sending to certain countries (ie. China, Philippines,...) or do not send to those countries at all, afterall you're not gonna have a lot of people buying from those countries anyway, so why take the risk? Keep record of all emails and stuff if you're having arguments with buyers, because they will most likely help you in case you get into a serious matter like a Paypal claim.

I know some people are just pricks, that's undeniable, but I have more than 1000 transactions on eBay and my feedback is 100% positive.

Metal graduate Age : 32 Joined : 30 Dec 2007 Posts : 282

Subject: Re: Fed up of EBAY sellers..... Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:36 pm

Well, if they used a stock photo and sent you crap, fight for your money back. It's a bit of a pain, but you can get your money back.

But Velvet elaborated on what I mentioned above. Do a little research. There are patterns you can pick out with feedback and it'll tell you a lot. For instance, the most glaring example of a bad seller is one that appears to constantly sell multiple items to buuyers. You click on the buyers' feedback, and they're doing the same thing, selling multiple items to the same buyers. These are the crooks, bootleggers, etc. They're not really selling these things. They're creating auctions, and someone is just going and "buying" them. Then they're loading each other full of positive feedback so it looks like they're good sellers. You'll see that they may have 2000 positives, but they've got 250 negatives. The positives are those fake buyers. The negatives are the real buyers they've ripped off.

I buy from no seller that has feedback like this. Why eBay allows that to go on is beyond me. Actually, they get their auction fee, so it's probably not beyond me.
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Moderator Age : 37 Joined : 10 Jan 2007 Posts : 2549

Metal graduate Age : 32 Joined : 30 Dec 2007 Posts : 282