Gadgetopia

About time ebay had an adjustment. their fees have been over the top for a long time. And I think people are realizing more and more than just because you found it on eBay doesn't mean it is a "great" deal. Or more likely now a days even a good deal. I always do an eBay search for equipment and most of the time I can find it new at the same or slightly higher than on eBay, unless it is being provided by someone with feedback of less than 10.

A new customer of our has spent a lot of money on her eCommerce site to try to break away from the eBay fees. Of course she is still using PayPal for payments because of the links they provide from eBay but it is a slow road to break away from a successful eBay business to a fully independent one using only PPC.

I saw the fees e-mail at 8:00 am as i was rushing out of the house and the first thing i said was something like this was going to happen. What were they thinking? For a 2,000 dollar item (picked a high price to get it all three brackets of FVFs) your fees have now been doubled.

I just received the "corporate" email from eBay's new North American President, Bill Cobb, in which he invited responses from eBay members. My reply was answered with an automated response, re-directing me to a number of other unresponsive customer service email addresses. Here's my letter for what it's worth:

Good luck Bill!

(Please forgive me if this is a duplicate as I responded to your email letter and received an automated "Unexpected reply handler" response. I've gotten used to that.)

Congratulations on your appointment to your new position, and, I sincerely mean "good luck".

If you've got a turn-around in mind, then you've got one big job ahead of you. For a start, might I suggest you go back to the page when eBay went public. That's when there occurred a separation in the "community" between eBay and the sellers. The whole attitude of eBay became quite obviously "what's in it for eBay?" At that point, the "community" became two communities, the first being eBay and the second, the sellers who became secondary. Yes, I will agree that "eBay has become a hugely successful marketplace" and largely "as a result of the...and...hard work of our community". This raises an obvious question, think about it: "what would eBay be if no sellers listed anything to sell?" Somebody dropped the ball and lost sight of this concept too long ago. However, eBay's unresponsiveness, insensitivity and lack of empathy for both the loyal sellers and buyers have created nothing less than an image of a new and very greedy corporate image. Ask eBay users of over the past few years about customer service and surely you'll hear a chorus of "What customer service?" Surely there's a monopolistic corporate attitude at eBay that says "we're it, we're the only one, we're the only place sellers can go..." Unfortunately for eBay, that's not necessarily the case. Many of the entrepreneurial sellers who helped make eBay what it is (was) are returning to their previous marketing means, i.e. flea markets, craft fairs, collectable and hobby shows, etc. Many have even taken their new selling skills to the next level, onto the internet with the development of personal web sites which are in direct competition with eBay. eBay, by its myopic unresponsiveness, greed and inflexibility, has forced many of its foundation community to leave and evolve on their own. And, in the meantime, eBay just stagnates, mired in blind, self-preservation.

But Bill, I don't portend to speak for the entire community of "little guys" who used to find eBay not only profitable, but enjoyable, exciting, fun, fair and honest as well. I think I speak for many of us who've seen the tide turn to the sole benefit of eBay at that at the cost of "our" community. There's an attitude prevalent out there that says the only beneficiary in a deal with eBay, is eBay. Quite frankly, I have heard the term "ebay community" too much. To me, and many others for sure, all that it means is just a synonym for "what's good for eBay". Every time a change is announced it is all too obvious that it is always more of a benefit to eBay than it is to the traditionally described "community". If eBay persists in this mode of development, perhaps a less transparent strategy should be employed, eh? As a seller, I have always felt eBay's hands in my pockets, but in the last few years, I have been feeling more than just my money being squeezed!

That's not to say that I have personally given up on eBay, however. For the past couple of years, I have still come back every other month or so with the hope of profiting with an auction or two. Unfortunately, it seems that eBay has been gaining the reputation of being the bargain basement of internet shopping and prices are reflecting that. My items see drastically fewer hits, attract significantly lower prices, and rarely do I sell upon the first or second listing. All too many of my auctions end with deadbeats who never acknowledge or pay. My recent results have been lackluster at best, and much to my dismay, eBay fees have usually been exceeding profits! A friend of mine (who has given up on eBay, mind you) has added to the old adage about life's only certainties: i.e.. death and taxes, to include eBay fees! Even when deadbeats spoil my auctions, eBay gets paid! That's a sorry statement if you consider all the implications.

Perhaps you may find that you have opened Pandora's Box with this, your letter to us. I know there are many, many past eBayer's like me out here who have become nothing less than disappointed, discouraged and resentful about how eBay has changed. Hopefully, there will be enough of us little guys in the "community" who have not yet quite given up hope, to respond to your invitation for our input. In the past, I have offered my constructive criticism and advice to Meg, and while I must admit there have been responses, they have always been by delegated underlings, and in generic, redundant terms, at best.

Well, I have said enough Bill. Like I said before and I sincerely mean it, good luck! You've got a big job cut out for you... hope you can turn things back around for all of us!

Harry Bosyk, for "winfield-traders"

EBay was a good company until it went public. Before the IPO it has to care for it's Sellers and Buyers, and in my view it really tried, but once the time limits were up for the CEO and other Exec's to be able to start cashing their stock options, then the company quickly got out of control with fee's, lack of customer service, and virtually no enforcement of rules and regulations. People can get ripped off fast, especially with the Globalization where foreign sellers come online with outrageous, and cleverly disguised shipping rates that new buyers are afraid not to pay. EBay needs a serious competitor, and it is surprising to me that a serious heavyweight has not stepped forward.

Hi:

I wonder what is going to happenm about the Ebay shuffle. It is like Ebay sucks the little man into getting a taste of freedom from a routine job by making a little money. Next thing you know he has one or two employees.....then 3 and 4 and so on....then one day he gets a suspended notice because they didn't like the way he posted an ad, or the fact his phone number changed and didn't update his records. Well this is a reallity that happened to me and from the net 1000's of others. Then it takes 2 weeks to see that EBay screwed up and you have to lay off half your work force and start over...What is up with that?....all of a sudden things are great and the great powers of EBay just shuts your business down for no rym or reason...not letting you have a say over the matter untill you are out of business....I think this is a major issue and has to be resolved...You submit an email in hopes that the lazy staff gets off their ass and actually sends you back a real email, other than the form one I got the last 13 days. Are they humans that work there?...I'm really thinking about flying to the corporate office just to see....Other than that they are just a bunch of impersonal heartless bastards...

raymond@frazierind.com

Major problems with Ebay and Paypal:

Bought item from ebay seller, received item - smelled like an animal died in it (presumbably a dead mouse?) returned ebay item -with seller's permission,- plus seller indicated on ebay selling page "returns accepted - refunds given - want customers to be happy" seller received item - (signature proof) Seller refused to refund money because" she is sick of people returning items" filled out appropriate forms with EBAY and PAYPAL Filed report on line with "internet fraud division" called local presinct in her area They can't do anything unless I travel down to her area ([location deleted] from ny) and file a small's claim report. IMPOSSIBLE - no funds - full time student.. Seller received item but then replied "no refund - I don't smell anything, sick of people returning items, I changed my future sellings pages to NO REFUNDS" This seller is: [username deleted]: [name deleted], [location deleted] CAVEAT EMPTOR (Buyer Beware) This seller is a MAJOR Con Artist and she is also a Federal Postal Service Frauder - meaning she forwards the item (united states postal service)with insurance, customer (buyer) refuses, and she eventually files a "loss" to united postal service "she never received item" and collects the insurance amount, which is usually a bit greater than what the item cost.

I have filed all APPROPRIATE REPORTS and intend to follow this to then end - with me winning!

So BEWARE CAVEAT EMPTOR: Ebay Member : [username deleted] from [location deleted] - [name deleted]

Sellers Beware of harsh-handed eBay practices!

Sellers have no voice in the eBay community. Although we continue to be their workhorse, eBay's rigid, inflexible practices of supsending accounts without refereeing the circumstances puts sellers out of business. EBay has invested much money and effort at attracting sellers into this market. They have, historically, provided a means for people to have an alternative venue to earn income with a reasonable degree of security. The company even offers support to people and schools who train individuals to become sellers in the eBay Community. However, nobody is safe from big business in the "Community" of eBay.

What do I mean? eBay invites big business in to act as watchdogs over its sellers in the form of what eBay calls their "VeRO Participants"program. Basically, eBay invites them in to alleviate risk of these businesses sueing eBay over "Intellectual Copyright Infringements" due to a few bad sellers. The conflict occurs when VeRO Participants complain about copyright infringement to eBay and eBay shuts you down based on the allegations without notice. eBay claims that they inform the sellers of their offenses and gives them time and the information to correct their listings so that they do not offend big business. They rarely do an didn't afford me this opportunity as they do not afford sellers the benefit of doubt. By their own admission, eBay does not investigate these matters. They simply take the word of big business leaving the long-time, loyal sellers with no recourse and weeks without an account to sell from. Most importantly, this activity by the VeRO Participants frees up the Emarketplace with less competition and pushes these customers right into their laps.

Yes, I know there are alot of people out there who do steal coppyrights every day. Some are aware of what they are doing and others aren't. Many, however, have not stolen anything, but there is no eBay customer support available who will work with its sellers and VeRO Participants to resolve matters. eBay assumes the role of Judge and simply shuts you down (in the middle of auctions) and accusses its sellers of wrongdoing. They even go out of their way to advertise to current bidders during these forclosed auctions that high bidders do not have to fulfill the agreement as the seller was suspended. EBay leaves you out there like a scolded child without any evidence to back up their actions. Finally, after alot of searching, I tracked down a hidden phone number for Customer Support through an eBay-complaint website. The first question you are asked when you call this number is "How did you find out about this phone number?" Even though I am a stockholder, that wasn't enough to earn myself any politeness or understanding. This number is not really there to provide customer support at all. It is just there so that eBay can legally say that they have one, despite their hard efforts to conceal it.

EBay asked me, through an email, for specific information to resolve the matter. They even made me sign an agreement before they would consider reinstatement. I didn't have a real choice as this was my only means of income along with two other people whom I employed. I signed it, faxed it over, and even contacted the specific VeRO participant and had a discussion with him regarding his complaint. The participant's information was finally revealed to me after 6 emails and 3 tough telephone conversations at the so-called Customer Support number. Turns out, it was simply a misunderstanding. The CEO of the company even contacted eBay via the same email address I had to help me resolve the matter and still NOTHING. Nothing except the same formatted letters that plague all eBayers - many words without alot of content.

It has been a month now. Despite 25 emails, 5 telephone calls, 1 unreturned call to the office of the President, 1 email from the VeRO Participant to eBay in my support, 3 faxes giving eBay the same information, and after laying off 2 of my workers I am still without a seller's account. But "Horatio" with eBay's Community Watch Team still finds time to send me the identical formatted letter over and over again whenever I make an inquiry.

EBay is hugely successful and, if my information is correct, they grew somewhere close to 50% last year grossing hundreds of millions of dollars. EBay needs to put some of that money into securing the backbone of its success - the sellers. Specifically, they need to provide real customer support and staff an army of operators to help resolve the simplest of conflicts rather than accuse its sellers, in the harshest way, of wrongdoing by suspending their sellers account. Without it, I think eBay is near the point of leveling off its success as many sellers look for freindlier harbors to conduct business in.

Regards, Jamison

In the past I have always enjoyed selling on ebay. However since the days of going Public fees have gotten so high that now I rarely sell on ebay. It seems every time you turn around they are doubling the prices on all fees not including the push to get everyone signed up with Paypal. Which is another Pandora's box for many sellers and buyers alike. I can remember when ebay did everything possible to deter you from using Paypal until a point when ebay gobbled them up. Everytime you have a problem no support can be expected from a live human body, just the old email form letter. Myself, like many friend of mine, sell gun related items on ebay which in itself can cause lots of headache by the self imposed rules they have for governing of selling legal items. An example is high capacity magazines, which after the Clinton ban expired are now legal to sell and purchase. Except on ebay They state 10 round capacity which is a joke in itself. 30 and 40 round capacity are sold on ebay all the time, but you better state in the auction these are "10 rd magazine". I just wish Meg and some of her corporate buddys would have to take the role of the small guy and just see what so many of us are up against with exuberant high prices and no support. But with all the millions she has she does not have to worry where her next dollar is coming from. I feel ebay in time will fall in on itself. Sure wish a new auction service would go online. Good luck to all you hard working sellers!

My complaint with Ebay is that if you have a problem, you cannot get help. There is live chat, but the person there is powerless to do anything but refer you to a URL which just gives you a form to fill out. I tried to retract a bid and was told I was unable to becuase the auction had ended. It had days to go, but when trying to place a bid for $2000 for a car with a buy it now price of $10,000. I immediately got a screen saying I had just won the auction. I immediately notified the seller who has not returned my email yet, and immediately went to live chat. who referred me to a URL where I filled out a form only to be informed I could not retract because auction was over.. The auction was over immediately... instantly with no chance for me to correct whatever mistake was made. And Ebay is intractible about helping me retract the bid that I NEVER MADE any bid at all !!!!!!!!!!. What the F_ is up with these arrogant people? They are obviously too cheap to put on enough help to deal with their customers. The top guys are drawing so much money they can't afford to hire enough people to run their business... just palm you off on a form... Ebay sucks.

Oh what a joy Ebay has been! I have been a seller for over a year now with 100% + feedback mind you. Ebay has put a selling limit on my account imagine that and for no reason other than they want to keep it this a safe place to trade. (ha,ha,ha) This all started when I did a overseas item (against my better judgement) This buyer was from russia also with 100%+ feedback however only 3 hey we all have to start somewhere. The item was to be shipped to Germany assuming it was for a present. Buyer never recieved the item however item was returned to me. Buyer refused to give proper address, so i opted to give a full refund. Buyer send me the following e-mails:Saint-Petersburg Russia the 26th of May 2005

Dear MaxMarsJewels,

In connection with your yesterday's declaration in the dispute started on 14.05.05 in eBay about your unilateral solution to close the matter and issue full refund (the value is not stated) of paid on 20.04.05 and undelivered item #4984383541 won in the auction please be informed as follows:

The item was purchased for a certain purpose which was not achieved due to your actions and inactions (failure to ship the item) and due to presentation of incomplete, unsufficient, untrue and conterfeit information you mislead the buyer and forced him to clarify the information of sending the item on his own accord bearing material losses and moral damage.

The buyer files a claim of material and moral character against you in this connection the buyer proposes to satisfy the claim in the amount of $15300 in out-of-court order within 3 days. In case you refuse to reimburse the losses in out-of-court order the buyer reserves the right to file the case to the court for reimbursement of material and moral damage in case full settlement within the frames of current eBay regulations is not possible. So now the buyer is trying to extort money from me how cute. I send all pertinent information to ebay. Imagine this a form letter telling me it is out of Ebays jurisdiction. Imagine that! It gets better than this buyer now wants my 21.72 Tanzanite as full redemption and then the matter will be settled:Dear maxmarsjewels2,

At present time I could take this item as redemption of full amount which is on the way to be claimed against you in the view of my claims of moral and material character. In case you agree please let me know as soon as possible and we will close the conflict matter. The proposal is valid until Monday 30.05.05. I would be excited too considering the item they bought was $800 and the Tanzanite was appraised at $18,000. Now ebay condones extortion great! Now in order for me to sell again Ebay wants front and back copies of my driver's license, credit card statements, and invoices to prove I have the items I am selling. No credit card statements form me. Ebay is allowed to give out all your personal information as they see fit. This guy has called and harrased me several times on the phone. But is out of Ebay's jurisdiction about the phone issue because there are privacy laws. It seems to me Ebay could care less! Today i searched for this buyer through the yahoo directory imagine no such person exsists. Ain't that sweet. Ebay does not simply care what a shame they lost an excellent ebayer here. I have filed to the FBI IFCC division as well as the Federal Trade Commision. I have also forwarded all the material I have to attys. Girard and Gibbs who were on board for the PayPal lawsuit. I believe if enough of us band together we could get ebay to open their eyes and see what exactly they are doing! Any comments gladly taken:) MaxMarsJewels

This is [username deleted] - [name deleted] referred to by AD on April 8.

This buyer bid on and won an item of mine. When they got it they emailed they were returning it. I emailed why? They said it smelled. I told them to return it. When I got it, it DID NOT SMELL. I had 5 other people smell it, it does not smell.

So I sent it back, refusing refund. She refused the package and it was returned to me.

People seem to think this is a good excuse (it smells) to return items. Returns cost me money, I'm not Walmart.

So she proceeded to send flaming emails to me. At first according to her, I could resell it. How could I resell it if it smells bad? (first admission of a lie). Then it changed from smelling slightly musty to smelling like mouse urine now like an animal died in it. (lie number 2 and 3).

I have been on ebay for 5 years with a positive feedback of over 1700 and only 5 negatives, one being this thieve's.

I was going to send her money back to her, but she kept on sending nasty email to me even after I told her she would be refunded. Since all of the email. I've left it in eBay and PayPal's hands to determine if I should refund her.

An eBay bid is a binding contract. The auction was not misleading. She got caught up in the bidding wars and bid too much for the item. But that is not my problem.

I delivered what I described. She should be responsible for her actions.

She doesn't even have enough integrity to give her name just intials. But she can state my name.

Sellers beware of this fraud, kaxmir ebay id. Should I post her real name?.

As far as filing with the Postal service, that is lie number 4!!! This one just doesn't quit!!!

I have never in my life filed a loss with the Post Office. It is up to the buyer to pay for insurance. That covers their loss not mine. She's really a sick person. Only person who refused delivery of an item was her. I have the purse in the same box I sent it in to her.

So if any fraud was committed with the post office, perhaps it was her? She refused delivery, not me.

It's a shame there are people like this out there. ebay was fun. Bidders need to ber made responsible for their bids.

I'm forwarding her earlier message to eBay. She doesn't need to be a part of that community.

[name deleted]

I hear you shelterguy, ebay sucks alwright, I got screwed as a buyer and a seller, this idiot lied and got all my listings removed, sent me abusive emails and ebay wouldnt help what so ever. I took them up to a week to answer my questions and most of the time if I had an enquiry, I was sent a bloody survey to fill in, lol, I see the funny side of it now. I ended up being suspended anyway, for nothing, when the Power sellers were selling exactly the same items as I was and that was fine with ebay. Being suspended made me fell realy bad at the time, till I discovered all I had to do was re register under an alias, just like most of the others did. Then to top it all off I get an email from ebay to pay my account, into their Swiss bank account, lol, christ.

For over a year I was selling a product on ebay with the full support of the manufacturer and then another seller starts selling the same product. Not a problem, I don't mind competition but then the other seller files a VeRO notice against me and my account is suspended and ebay expect me to beg to get reinstated.

The worst part is that the complainant has no rights over the product and I am in fact the sole UK distributor for this product. But as many people have learned the hard way VeRO is a great way of removing competing sellers - no proof required.

And yes ebay customer service is possibly the worst in the world considering the enormous profits they make.

The strange thing is that my auctions were removed very quickly on the word of an unscrupulous seller but when I filed a VeRO notice against this seller and included a signed statement from the product manufacturer stating that I am the only approved UK distributor they have so far taken no action at all.

The phrase "banging my head against a brick wall" springs to mind.

Well - here is a good one for you! I've been on ebay for over 5 years and manage ebay stores for several very large sellers. I paid my fees and ebay charged me 10 times within seconds. After being given the runaround with live chat, emails and forms - I too found a customer service number that I wasn't supposed to have, in addition to contact names. I just so happened to get ahold of one of them - and much to my surprise she was very helpful and nice. When I got off the phone I felt as though ebay was redeeming itself to me - UNTIL today. Today, I have 5 more charges, in addition to over $300 in insufficients funds fees via my bank - I haven't been refunded a dime as of yet. I've spent over 5 hours on email, forms, live chat and phone calls - to no avail. So here I sit - trying desperately to figure out what to do, how to get my money, crying, screaming, and not knowing how I can feed by 7 seven children. My husband has passed away, and this is what I do to make money - I sell on Ebay. Obviously, as of today, I have walked away from ebay - my livelyhood. Not sure what I will do - but since they now owe me $2538 - I guess I will have to go stand on the corner and see what I can make. Ebay sucks - royally, completely and I simply can't wait til I can get my day in court, make them pay, and make them a spectical. Ok - my 2 cents! Enjoy your trading on ebay - I'm outta here!

We all must realize what Ebay and Paypal are all about. They are all about making money. They could careless about right or wrong. The people that makes them the most money is ALWAYS right, and those that don't are ALWAYS wrong. They advertise fraud protection, but there isn't any. How could they protect anyone without any sort of quality control? When you buy something off Ebay, cross your fingers and pray that you get what you paid for, or get anything at all for that matter. And when you use Paypal to "safely and quickly" pay for your stuff, good luck getting your money back from them after you hit the "Send" button. Yet, Ebay is still growing by leaps and bounds year over year. In the end, we only got ourselves to blame. We support them by using their services. We grow them into the beast they are by subverting to their haphazard rules. While the title of this blurp is "Ebay SUCKS!", it is really about me looking into the mirror, slapping myself into the realization that even though I know what I was getting into, I did it anyway. That one bad experience with Ebay and Paypal finally happened to me, but I wonder if I would ever use their service again!

I am new to ebay this year and have had a lot of success thus far; but of course now I am starting to have trouble with them and pay pal. I can see that this business is clearly illegitimate and with time it will be forced to evolve or die. Here is a hopelessly ambitious idea..but it would be the only one that would deflate the company big time immediately...a gargantuan class action suit taken on by some equally unscrupulous lawfirm to "sickum" to the tune of 100 billion dollars or so.

Ebay has to have the worse customer service. I am not going to repeat everything I have read... but it has all happened to me. Suspension, send your cc info, license and the rest of the bull.. try this.. the local want ads.. Go back to old school.. I did and I am doing well.. and the costs are not even near ebay prices.. Hopefully, a big company like google will start up another online auction like squeagle.com.. and all us sellers can be back in business again ...Without sellers there are not buyers... but that is hard to see from the cabin of Megs ship sailing around the world or Bill Cobbs jet as they laugh themselves to sleep at night. Thank ebay for there computer generated responses and the follow up.."How did we do letter " You sucked!! Thats how you did!!. CM..

I agree with ALL here about EBAY, it does not care if you get ripped off, they have no powere or care to do anything about the scams and thieves they ARE SUPPORTING, it will end for them soon,stock will go down and they will be replaced, even ATT no longer will be a company, E bay will be replaced!

everyone try www.squeagle.com. this will replace ebay please tell a friend carl from caoe cod precious gems. hyannis mass 508 790 9200

PLEASE EVERYONE CHECK OUT WWW.SQUEAGLE.COM THIS WILL BE THE OLD EBAY THE AUCTION SITE THAT CARED... TELL ONE TELL ALL.... WWW.SQUEAGLE.COM... PLEASE TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS.. YOU READ IT HERE FIRST THANK YOU CARL M FROM CAPE COD PRECIOUS GEMS HYANNIS MASS 508 790 9200