View Full Version : I've about had it with non courteous ebay sellers


radiotvnut
11-24-2009, 05:54 PM
Yes, I'm one of those that blew a gasket when ebay enacted the "paperless payment" policy and closed my account. After about a year, I decided to open a new account for the purpose of buying from sellers that didn't mind accepting my check or MO. When I find an item of interest, I send a message to the seller asking if they'll accept some form of mailed payment. At first, it was not a problem. In fact, many sellers thanked me for paying with a method other than paypal.

Here lately, I've had more and more sellers who didn't even bother to respond to my question. It doesn't take 30 seconds to send a simple "yes" or "no" answer. I just can't stand sellers who won't acknowledge questions from potential buyers. I don't care if it's ebay, CL, the local paper, or whatever.

The most recent ebay case was a late '30's picnic portable Emerson radio with a BIN of $19.99 and a starting bid of $14.99. Last Friday, I fired off the usual "will you take a check or MO" request and I have yet to hear a word from them. The radio ended today with no bids and you don't know how bad I want to fire off a message to them saying that "you could have sold this radio if you had replied and agreed to my payment request; but, since you didn't bother to respond, I'm sure I can find someone else who likes my money". Had they simply replied to my question, I wouldn't have thought anything about it, no matter the answer.

Sorry, just had to vent.

Sandy G
11-24-2009, 06:20 PM
Go for it, way I look at it is, I'm willing to buy something from YOU sight unseen, YOU oughta be as willing to take a chance on me as well & accept my check/money order...Screw Ebay & paypal. And yes, it don't take 30 seconds to say yea/nay on a simple request like that...People are just such jerkovs sometimes...

crtfool
11-24-2009, 07:45 PM
OH - Don't get me started with eBay sellers! My biggest complaint is with sellers who refuse to give feedback to their buyers unless they get feedback first. I have been on eBay for about 11 years, and my feedback rating would be at least 3 times what it is if these selfish sellers gave me feedback.

I am a good buyer - when I win, I pay immediately, and i usually ask for a tracking number in the email that is sent to the seller with my PayPal payment - I do not always get one, though. I do not bother the seller with nagging emails with questions about when they are going to send the item. As a buyer, I have to have trust and faith that I will actually get the item that I bought and paid for, and that it will be what it was described as, and in the condition that it was described as - this is not always the case, too. I feel that this deserves immediate feedback from that seller because they got paid immediately.

I hate it when the seller sends me a message, or several messages, begging me to give them positive feedback and promising that they will then leave me feedback afterwards! Sometimes I will respond and ask them why they will not give me feedback, and trust that they might get it back - most of the time, they will either ignore me, or tell me that they are not sure that I am happy with the purchase until I give them feedback first. Very rarely does this get them to give me feedback. I also will never send a message begging for feedback.

If I have a problem with the item, I will send a message, and see what the seller will do to resolve it - if they handle it properly, then I might leave feedback first. I have also left feedback first in very rare instances when I felt that the seller did something extraordinary, or went above and beyond after I made the purchase.

There are some sellers that do understand this concept, and actually do give me positive feedback immediately after they receive payment. I always give them positive feedback when I receive the item, or if there is a problem, then I will wait until the problem is resolved.

END OF RANT - Whew, that made me feel better to get this out! I have been wanting to post this somewhere for the longest time - THANKS!

AUdubon5425
11-25-2009, 06:40 AM
Occasionally I used to list on eBay. I always stated in my ads that it *may* take up to ten days for me to pack & ship a larger item; I was not a "professional seller" but selling something from my own collections.

This was back when I could not easily get away from work to make the post office or FedEx during business hours, not to mention the extra trip out to the box company for correctly sized boxes. Add 2-3 hours of double-boxing and packing with crumpled newspaper (what I've found to work best and prevent shifting.) Oh yeah, I also have a wife and family and obligations on the homefront.

Despite the disclaimer, twice I had buyers file "non-received" complaints within the ten-day period. On one the item had already shipped and I had given the buyer the tracking number. Do they e-mail me? Of course not. SO eBay freezes my Paypal account until the "dispute" is resolved. Hogwash.

These days, unless I know I can make $100 or more on something I'd rather GIVE it away locally than sell it on eBay. Not worth the hassle.

radiotvnut
11-25-2009, 11:21 AM
I can think of 3 good reasons NOT to sell on ebay:

A. The forced paypal / paperless payments rule.
B. The bull crap that sellers have to put up with from A-hole buyers that know they have the upper hand with paypal as their cushion. I know paypal "buyer protection" has come through on some legit cases; but, it is also a scammer's paradise.
C. The fact that a buyer can leave me negative feedback; but, I can only leave positive feedback for the buyer, no matter how bad they screw up.

devoid
01-07-2010, 08:16 PM
I really have not much respect for ebay anymore. It used to be an interface for two parties to transact upon something. Ebay has greatly isolated the buyer and seller and imposed what amounts to an employee manual for sellers. Yet fee the seller up the wazoo to the point of breaking even if you're lucky. And there's no recourse for for dealing with idiot buyers. And the junk to quality items ratio has turned ebay into a really seedy market with all the low life sellers. And ebay is now the store and the sellers provide the stock for the buyer to buy FROM ebay. There's too many inhibiting rules in place for buyers and sellers to have a direct transaction. And they try to polish that turd and pretend it's what it used to be. I myself really need to learn other markets but ebay is like that dysfunctional relationship you stay in for the comfort of the familiar.

truetone36
01-07-2010, 09:51 PM
I used to buy quite a bit on ebay, but when they imposed the paypal crap, I gave up.

site123a
01-15-2010, 09:25 PM
In response to radiotvnut's & Sandy G post...

It's true, it's simply un-courteous to not reply to a question on ebay (no matter what it is Craigslist is a different story tho), it's very easy to check the person's history before responding. However some sellers do get tons of emails everyday and they simply can't respond to everyone's question. There are a lot of scams going around with check and money orders at the moment, people are just not willing to take a chance with them. PayPal is the universal payment on eBay, so you have to expect that's what most sellers are going to take...

OH - Don't get me started with eBay sellers! My biggest complaint is with sellers who refuse to give feedback to their buyers unless they get feedback first. I have been on eBay for about 11 years, and my feedback rating would be at least 3 times what it is if these selfish sellers gave me feedback.

I have to disagree with you, it's common courteous to leave a feedback first if you are the buyer. Your only making the payment, the seller however had to make the ad (which includes a well written description, photos and getting the package's accurate shipping weight/price) and then after the auction ends, he has to pack the item well (so that it doesn't brake during shipment) and get it to the post office in a timely matter.

However feedbacking on eBay is completely voluntary, which means both parties are not obligated to leave each other a feedback. As for tracking the package, you should have ask for that before you even bid...


I don't quite get the stigma about using PayPal, however ebay I can understand, in fact the main things I don't like about it is the odd fees and the new auction/summary layout. :thumbsdn:

So why do you guys refuse to use PayPal anyway?

ChrisW6ATV
01-15-2010, 11:23 PM
I would object more to the "Paypal required" rule, except for the fact that every single buyer I have ever had for my Ebay items (except one local buyer) paid me with Paypal.

I agree with site123a; as a seller, I would never leave feedback for a buyer first, even under the old rules. There is very little to rate buyers for-either they paid or they didn't. Sellers can be rated on many facets: packing quality, shipping speed, accuracy of description, speed and quality of update messages after the sale, etc.