BOYCOTT EBAY FOR FAIR SELLER POLICIES

Well, I never thought I would see this day – a day when I, a long term eBay seller (1998) would consider leaving what had become ‘my world’ in many ways – a community – a very lucrative source of income – and a friend. I’ve been a seller for 11 years and have also been an eBay educator – teaching people how to be successful sellers. I’ve given alot to eBay and all this I manage around a full time career. An average sales month for me working at it for an hour or two every night was $1000 to $1500 Gross. I taught scores of people in my locale how to sell; and made a tidy little sum doing that too; it helped me; helped the attendee and MOST definitely helped eBay but alas .. I’ve been a bad, bad girl … and have gotten my hands slapped by the eBay school marm … and I find myself sitting outside the eBay window so to speak; peering in, watching all the lovely little eBay POWER Merchants like Dell, Sears and the like selling their refurb and return crap like crazy; and many buyers bloated with their new found power to ruin seller’s livelyhoods with a lie and a carefully placed DSR rating.

Here’s my story for what its worth. I posted it over on eBay too and the comments in the forums were .. umm there’s nothing you can do, blah blah blah .. I talked to an eBay ‘representive’ on the phone and finally hung up on her. She couldn’t even pretend nicely that she was reading a script to me – I told her I had read all the things she was saying already and if she was going to waste my time with her dribble from her nicely laid out script I was hanging up; which I did.

I’ve had pretty good feedback through all the years I’ve sold on eBay. Recently I’ve had some illness related issues that delayed shipping but whenever possible; I will refund the shipping to a buyer if I’m too slow in shipping. That generally makes them happy and ‘sometimes’ they will leave feedback for me. I probably get about 50% return on feedback though I leave it for every single transaction I make on eBay, either buying OR selling.

So here’s the story: I sell a guy (I’ll call him Dimwit Dave) an electronic part. It didn’t cost much $9.99 and after he paid, I promptly shipped it 2 days later on Oct 20. Two days later on Oct 22 my delivery confirmation (which I have decided now is an absolute waste of money as it doesn’t ‘fix’ a damn thing) showed that the item had arrived at its destination – Dingledorf Dave’s house. End of story .. Notttttttt so .. a week ago; Dorky Dave files a Dispute against me with Paypal claiming he didn’t get his item – oh contrare Mr. Dick .. er Dave Doofus! The tracking number clearly shows you did! So I file a counter claim and I win the claim with Paypal aka eBay. End of story. Dipchit Dave doesn’t contact me after that .. and suddenly what should appear before my wondering eyes .. (sounds like the Night Before Christmas vaguely huh) but a hideous NEGATIVE feedback on this auction. Deceitful Dave tells the ‘world’ that I didn’t communicate with him (hmm how many more emails do ya want buddy?) and that he didn’t get his precious little electronic part. Not only that but he rated me at the lowest rating possible on Shipping in the DSR’s .. which .. you guessed it, dropped my rating there to 3.9 which is NOT good for a seller. Its REALLY not good; I got my hand slapped really hard because eBay has now locked me out of selling till I bring up that DSR score .. and ‘graciously’ they have said I can still sell the items I currently have posted but that I can’t list anything new and I better not even THINK about using another account or creating a new user because Big Brother is watching me and they will ban me for time and eternity if I do that to avoid the pain of having my hand slapped.

So, I thought .. maybe I can negotiate with this joker .. err sorry … Dragonion Dave .. and ask (BEG) him to remove the bad feedback and in particular the low DSR’s. He agrees IF I will send him another electronic part just like the one he claims he never got – and if I do that he will remove all negative referrences and all will be right with the world. So .. against the advice of some friends .. I went out and bought this extortionist .. errr .. did I say he EXTORTED goods, services and feedback ratings … that’s exactly what he did. Diobolical Dave told me that IF I did as he demanded I could have my precious eBay privledges back because after all; the buyer is GOD now on eBay so .. I buy the item, ship it Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation and Signature required to a NEWaddress he gives me of his girlfriend so he’s ‘sure’ someone will be there to accept because guess what .. he goes to school all day and works all evening so isn’t at his own address to receive packages .. how handy. So .. I send the item; all at my cost and wait expectantly for him to receive it which he did, 2 days later. I feel confident that my problem will eBay will be resolved momentarily when Devine Dave removes all reference to a bad transaction with me .. but … but .. it is not to be .. no .. this is my punishment for working my tail off at a full time job, selling on eBay part time, teaching eBay classes and...Read More

Hello everyone and a big HELLO for all the New members….we appreciate your joining us in this boycott against ebaY.

As most of you know, there have been numerous changes on ebaY since the beginning of January 28th. Most of these changes have had adverse effects on most sellers. I made a conscious decision at that time that I would no longer buy or sell on ebaY.

The problem for many sellers and buyers was finding alternate selling and buying venues where there was a good variety of goods offered, fair fees and SEO available.

Recently I have decided to start selling again and am in the process of getting pictures taken and getting all my ducks in a row.

The three sites that I have found that I think will do the most for my business of selling vintage collectibles are:

1) Bonanzle.com

2) Atomic Mall.com

3) CHS shops.com

I have not found any auction sites that I want to be a part of as of yet.

The 3 sites listed above are for fixed price items and the fee structures are more than fair.

There are NO fee sites such as blujay.com, eCrater.com and others that charge absolutely nothing to list and sell on with no final value fee. These free sites work well for many but I have found CraigsList to work for free in my local area better than the above listed free sites.

Maybe I am old school (and getting older every day…lol) but I would rather choose a site that does charge some kind of fees so that site has some money to spend on SEO and advertising.

At Bonanzle.com, there is no listing fee and you only pay a final value fee when your item sells. You can also haggle the price with a prospective buyer via email or instant messaging in real time.

At AtomicMall.com, no listing fees and a final value fee.

At cshshops.com, you pay $5.00 monthly and there is NO final value fee. The owner of the site is more than decent and will help you or will even make you a custom banner for your store….for free.

For others who sell handmade items, there is Etsy.com, which has experienced a huge growth since ebaY decided to implement all the changes on their site. You do pay a small listing fee and your ad stays up for four months. There is also a fair final value fee. Etsy puts out advertising and they have a good buyer base. They also have a vintage section where collectibles can be found.

With the economy in the dumpster at the present time and the high cost of living with the price of fuel, utilities and food, watching where you spend your money for selling items online needs to be a place where it will work for you.

Good luck to all of you who are still working from home and trying to sell quality items online. It has definitely been a rough year for many of us but remember…the economy is such that many people will be looking for what you have and with the high price of gas and with affordable shipping options, I expect many will be buying online.

If you need or want your ebaY feedback numbers for when you go to a new site to sell, go to http://www.repatoo.com and make a copy of your feedback. At least you can steer new customers to look at your feedback so they know you are NOT just a new kid on the block when it comes to online selling.

Take care and if you have found a place that is working for your selling online, post it here so that many can have the information to make an informed decision to where they might like to sell.

Later on…….Meredith

Couldn’t guess? Well its because EBay sucks. Derr. Pardon my sarcasm and let me just say it feels good to not be alone. My girlfriend actually told me to never go on eBay again cause it stresses me to much….So i came here to vent about it and honest to the man above do all I can to see them crumble.

My story is long but ill just let you know what happened in the past few days.

I usually do sales one month and take a month off. less then 30 days ago i sold a phone and got positive rating charged the guy 4 bucks to ship it. He of coarse wasn’t happy paying four dollars so he decided to give me a low DSR Rating on shipping fees. Since I only sold that one thing Ebay invented there own type of math 4 + 4 = 17 GO FIGURE

So I bought a ton of stuff and obviously didn’t make my rating go up. But wait it gets better, they supposedly take the last 30 days of your DSR ratings, that’s wrong because I had listed 7 items 1 week ago (yeah up i wasn’t even blocked) after some sold and some didn’t I went to re list and that’s when I noticed i was blocked and my DSR rating was low.

So here is the kicker I only had one previous sale which is what brought down my average, I received payment on one of the newest products a week later and asked so nicely for the buyer to give me 5 stars across the board and he did. so my average went from a 3.7 to a 3.8.

WAIT A MINUTE that doesn’t make any sense I don’t get it. So technically i only sold 2 things and got money for it in the past 60 days and my dsrs are 3.8 all because some guy didn’t like the fact i charged him 4 dollars to send a 2 pound box across the united states.

I read some of your postings here and was puzzled on how you guys have spoken to eBay. I emailed them and called and still no response. How do i get through to them.

You know what EBay has taken years off my life with this stress. They have created egotistical and unrealistic buyers, not to mention they have turned sellers into broke complainers. Its so messed up THEY ARE GIVING 10 % OFF ALL SALES. SOUNDS GOOD BUT NO OOOOOOOO THE REALITY IS ebay GETS THE 10% BACK PLUS MORE FROM OUR fINAL vALUE fEES.

So what happens now how do we shut down the evil empire eBay and then take over the world?

p.s. pardon the grammar its 4am and im stressin

The final Ebay…make my head explode…decision,
was the 12% final value fees.
I went with it for 1 month.
The unlimited quantities, was intriguing, and the 30 day deal was creative…until I discovered, the buyers, still wait until the last possible second.
My items sat there with 24 ‘lookers’ until the 11th hour.
That meant, I sat there, with NO INCOME, for 30 days.

THEN the final duct-tape moment came.
I got an e-check. PayPal.
That was on Oct. 20th.
All hell broke loose (at PayPal) an Ebay company, and to this day, I can’t get my money.

Ebay calls it a ‘glitch’.
But, they sent me an invoice.
When I said they have ALL my sales locked up in this ‘glitch’.
Well, gee whiz, knock me down and slap my face….I still owe them some money.
I guess it’s my problem to figure out how to get them paid.

EBID is for me.