(This month's) ebay rant

[claudiocambon]

Has anyone else noticed that, since Ebay changed its rules on feedback, buyers have become quite flaky in terms of getting in touch after the close of auction, paying, and especially leaving feedback, even when you leave it for them?

I know they wanted to change the rules to be more buyer-friendly to compete with Amazon, but I feel it is no longer the equable meeting place for buyers and sellers it was when I started on there more than 10 years ago. Between that and the fees (nd not having stuff to sell or money to buy!!), Ebay and I are soon parting.

(I think this belongs in this category, although it has a faint odor of Lounge to it.)

[John Whitley]

I can't say that I've noticed, but then I've been a buyer more than a seller lately, so perhaps I'm not a good sample. ;-)

That said, I expect that it will take some time for eBay to find the right balance for buyers. eBay has all of the data on which buyers are deadbeats, since they're the middleman for transaction closure. There's no real reason for manual seller-initiated ratings to indicate slow transaction completion. Imagine if these stats were automatically presented in a buyer's profile. Then give sellers the power to 1) set buyer rating thresholds on bidding and/or 2) let buyers reject non-conforming bidders manually.

There's also the second-chance system which picks up some of the slack here. It's worked for me both as a seller and as a buyer on several occasions.

[Ash]

I don't enjoy selling on ebay. I never have. I much prefered Yahoo Auctions when it still existed all those many years ago now.

[BarryS]

Things were definitely not equitable when sellers were blackmailing buyers with retaliatory feedback for trying to be truthful about real problems and genuine fraud. The whole feedback system had become a joke, so I think eBay took a big step in the right direction. Since eBay needs both sellers and buyers to make a profit, I don't see where they have a vested interest in one side over the other. If things get out of whack with sellers, you can be sure they'll try to do something--out of their own self-interest. To paraphrase a bit, eBay is the worst type of auction site with the exception of every other one.

[Dan Fromm]

Barry, I sort of agree with you. Sort of because although it takes two to transact, eBay transacts with sellers, not buyers. I believe, with no evidence to support the belief, that eBay management sees sellers as their customers and as the people who have to be, um, taken care of. Buyers are necessary but much less important.

Claudio, eBay is moving to become more like Amazon. That is, a site for stores who don't want to set up their own sites and try to attract buyers to them. If you want to see the future of eBay, visit ebay.co.uk or ebay.fr. Browsing for bargains in used photographic equipment is nearly impossible on both.

Cheers,

Dan

[DJGainer]

I tried to buy a 4 blade 16x20 saunders easle on eBay, and was the only one bidding. I led the auction (and was the lone bidder) up to the final 5 seconds, at which point the bid exceeded my maximum. The problem was that within 5 minutes of the auction close, I received a second chance offer from the seller. I contact the seller, who confirmed it to be legit.

Obviously, someone the seller knew or the seller himself shell bid the auction beyond my maximum bid, and then the seller offered me the item at the maximum price I was willing to pay. When I pointed this obvious fraud out to eBay, they simply said there was no evidence of shell bidding or seller misconduct. I responded, "Really? So you think that the seller contacted the buyer, received notice that the buyer would not pay, and made a second chance offer to me within all within 5 minutes? And even if that was possible, doesn't it demonstrate misconduct on the part of the deadbeat bidder?" eBay's response was that they had no evidence of either of my allegations, and that I should either accept or reject the second chance offer.

-Dave

[BarryS]

Sham bidding continues to be a major problem--I'd call it endemic. Unfortunately, the practice is a continuation of the shady practices at traditional auction houses. There's a good likelihood that any bid will be upped to near or at the maximum, so bid accordingly. Occasionally something really rare and desirable is worth going to the wall for, but everything else will roll around again.

[IanMazursky]

I am now an angry ebay seller!
Just because of the last 6 months, I have had 5 deadbeat buyers. Some took over 2 months to pay.
Ebay leaves you no real recourse but to wait. An unpaid buyers strike is useless. They dont care at all.
Opening up a case just gives them more time to wait to pay you. They can drag it out further.

The idiot reasons they give as to why they couldn't pay on time is insulting.
I had one guy basically screaming at me because i opened up a non payment case against him.
He thought that I had no reason to do it and it was all my fault. Hah! I told him i was just protecting myself.

Anyway, I always pay within 2-3 days. I never would let it lapse, no matter what is going on.
By bidding, you are entering into a contract.

Sorry for the rant but I had to get it off my chest.

[BarryS]

Ian-- you're completely right. I try to pay within 6 hours of winning an auction and wouldn't dream of waiting more than 24 hours. If you go to a store, you pay immediately, so why should people drag things out? I have some gear to sell and I guess I have to clearly state that if they don't pay within a week, I'll relist.

[Frank Petronio]

My best transactions have happened right here or on the Rangefinder Forum. People here are 99.98% ethical and reliable, so it is always my first choice.

eBay is the last choice, and more than half the time I feel like I either paid too much, or got taken advantage of, or it ended up costing me money.