I'm much more active as a buyer than seller, and am broadly aware of what seems to be a bias on the part of the company towards buyers. I was also, to be fair, once the beneficiary of a fairly substantial refund from eBay on an item that was supposedly, but actually not delivered (long story). Having said that, this recent episode made my blood boil, and has me seriously questioning whether I will continue to use the platform. I sold a vintage watch, and described it as not having been timed, and requiring a service for regular use. I also stated no returns. Well, three weeks after it had been delivered, the buyer requested a return because it was running fast. I explained that there were obviously no guarantees of accuracy for a ~70 year-old watch, and that I had stated that a service would be required. He escalated, and I naïvely assumed that the facts would speak for themselves. Well, to shorten the story a bit, without any further (email) discussion eBay simply authorized the return, and said that if I didn't refund the purchase price, they would on my behalf. I spoke to a supervisor on the "Premium Services" team, and, after a long conversation, came away with this basic understanding: if a buyer claims an item to be defective, eBay will authorize a return and force a refund, irrespective of whether or not the claim is valid or reasonable. In fact, it will not look into the details at all! It made no difference that I had accurately represented the watch, nor that I stated "no returns". So, in summary, and a twist on an old cliché, let the seller beware. Grrrr...
Depending of course on how much your ebay and paypal account are worth to you, you could pull the "nuclear option" of deleting your bank account information, all payment information, and your account. Let them try reversing it then. Obviously for regular sellers that is a problem, but if you are ready to give up the platform anyway... The bigger issue is that there is utterly no guarantee that you will not get a Timex returned to you in the post, and the money refunded by Ebay, leaving you with no watch, no money, and no recourse.
Afaik the "no returns" that sellers write on listings mean nothing and the buyer has many loopholes to get a refund. If the buyer paid using PayPal I would call them and see what they say. Being a totally separate company to eBay perhaps they will be more understanding on you clearly saying it has not been timed and needs service
Seems pretty easy to fix. EBay could offer sellers an option to add to checkout that says, “unless the item is not as described, you agree that the purchase is ‘as is’ and can only be returned at seller’s discretion.” This would compel the buyer to do full diligence and force sellers to fully disclose all issues to attract a buyer. Then again, it would also force eBay to get off its arse and actually investigate disputes...
Ebay used to allow watches to be listed as being for parts or repair under the condition category. They do not allow this anymore for watches, but seem to for other items. If its listed under parts or repair ebay has never required me to take a return. But that is no longer possible for watches. The best defense is to allow returns and charge a restocking fee. But if the buyer is savy and opens a not as described return the seller eats all the shipping fees.
I hate eBay. I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again. I bought a vintage watch described as working. When it arrived it didn’t at all. I asked for a return no issues. eBay emails me and says I don’t have to return item. Of course I did but what gives them that kind of authority
I have said it in other threads, but eBay is a flea market with buyer protection. As a seller you are always gonna get lowballed and screwed in some way. As a buyer it’s great and basically no risk. I think serious collectors should find alternate means of selling (like here) unless you just want to dump it for nothing.
as an ebay seller (not for watches) and i worked at a company doing all the ebay sales for 8 years, it is really getting bad, working at that company we would be selling around a thousand things a week and there was probably about 10-30 problems a day. ebay would side with the buyer around 95% of the time, the only times we would win is if we spent hours on the phone and had undeniable proof. now by myself selling i sell around 3-10 things a week and i get people with vague threats in the messages especially when they need things on a timetable, clearly ignoring the listings, asking for things i wont do. its really frustrating.
I sold 2 old cell phones that were sitting around. Both were perfect working condition except one wouldnt charge but you could swap out the battery (Note4). I clearly listed it as such and also listed it as for parts or repair. Buyer complained it was non working and demanded a refund...... basically same as your story. The kicker is I had to refund his money and then he had to send back the phone. Apon opening the box, he shipped me back a VHS tape....... wtf. Ebay wouldnt do anything for me. The whole platform is a joke and I refuse to use it anymore. Side story.. looking into the guys ebay store, he sells all cell phone parts........ so hes blatantly scamming people and has Ebays full support to get away with it. what a joke.
I've never understood ebay management. Without sellers, they have no product, so why the hell do they make every change to disadvantage sellers? Sellers can and have gone elsewhere
I guess I have benefited a lot more as a buyer from the protections and bias than I have suffered as an occasional seller. The whole process is pretty frustrating. My tastes have changed and I sold quite a bit recently to move unworn watches that I collected early on. Between constantly monitoring eBay for sales, dealing with multiple questions, and a couple of returns, I have come to the conclusion that it would have been easier to hold on to the watches. After a couple these 'no return' returns, I ended up a little wary that every item I sold would end up in a similar situation. It also took me a while to realize that breaking even was not really breaking even, with all the eBay and PayPal fees. I still have a few items listed, but I will think twice about listing anything new.
ebay is good for buying and sucks for selling. Doesn't seem sustainable unless they have an endless supply of sellers willing to get screwed at least once. Maybe they do ?
From Wikipedia Established in 1998 as Confinity,[11] PayPal had its initial public offering in 2002, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay later that year.[12][13] eBay spun off PayPal in 2015.[14][6] The company ranked 222nd on the 2018 Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.[15] Spin-off from eBay It was announced on September 30, 2014, that eBay would spin off PayPal into a separate publicly traded company, a move demanded in 2013 by activist hedge fund magnate Carl Icahn. The spin-off was completed on July 18, 2015.[51][52][53] Dan Schulman is the current President and CEO, with former eBay CEO John Donahoe serving as chairman.[50] On Jan 31, 2018 eBay announced that, "After the existing eBay-PayPal agreement ends in 2020, PayPal will remain a payment option for shoppers on eBay, but it won’t be prominently featured ahead of debit and credit card options as it is today. PayPal will cease to process card payments for eBay at that time." [54][55]
I feel like ebay was where you went for hard to find used items and then it turned into a marketplace for selling anything. Not sure how anyone makes money selling new goods that aren't that valuable when theres a platform like amazon that's way better.
Almost enough to make a man want to buy his phone back, in pieces, file a return complaint with eBay on the seller and, after getting refunded, send the seller his tape back.
Its frustrating. I was never gonna use the phones and figured I'd get a few bucks outa them while they had value (probably made 300 off both phones before fees and shipping) At the end of the day i would have rather just tossed em in the garbage but part of me had to fight the good fight and that was a week or two of emails and dispute conversations. Like I said, I won't use the platform at all anymore.... even to buy. I'm against Ebay so I wont even be the buyer if it means supporting their poor business practices.