ebay for sellers has become VERY dangerous territory..after selling for 12 years, over 20,000 items, I'm OUT..too many crooks...got hit by a PRO, who demanded a partial refund on a rare "AS-IS", no return sterling silver flatware sale..claimed my weight was off...I bought a brand new scale, triple-checked my original, and, there was no issue, so, I knew I was being scammed, especially when I looked into the buyer(100% feedback!) record, and found 7 feedbacks removed, and, contacted all 7 sellers, and asked them if this guy had pulled the same stunt on them...got 4 incredible replies..the biggest horror stories imaginable...he used the same MO on ALL of them(even damaged 1 guy's silver, rendering it merely melt)..and, left all of them out thousands of dollars, instant paypal deduction, frozen accounts, and, suspensions....I left this guy 2 "negs", in the positive section, to WARN other sellers, and, he had them removed, and,
ebay suspended ME...of course, the guy got all of his money back..I offered to give instead of a partial refund, a FULL refund, and, he promptly left ME 2 negs, AND opened up 2 disputes, automatically forcing me as the guilty party, and, forcing a 403 dollar hold on my paypal account...it's the same story, you hear OVER and over again on
ebay...the crooks know how to milk the system, and get away with murder...many of my friends have stopped selling there...once
ebay stopped letting sellers leave negative feedback, all heck broke loose, and, buyers quickly learned how to milk the system, leaving good sellers like me totally helpless to fight back..this stuff rarely happened in "the old days"(about once a year, I'd get a nutbar, and have to do a refund, but, they were very rare, my return rate was like 0.05%, every year--I can't tell you how many buyers "changed their mind", once a coin was in hand, under the new system, knowing the would win every time(some buyers hope for an upgrade coin, using a negative feedback as hostage bait, knowing they cannot get one in return...if they feel it won't fly, the hit the refund button)...in a way, I'm relieved, because, worse things could have happened to me, as the stories are truly horrific for some sellers, who were merely caught in a trap
ebay refuses to do anything about, as long as they make quarterly projections...plus, paypal just asked for a TAX ID number, about some new law, reporting over 200 sales, or, a certain volume of $$, saleswise, to the IRS, under a 1099 form, which REALLY made me nervous...all my sales were fairly small sales, and, a sideline thing, but, it was under the radar, like most on there...time will tell how this kind of activity will playout...methinks changes will happen, once
ebay realizes how many sellers are leaving for greener grounds...it used to be fun, and, a real community...recently, I held my breath on every sale, which is no way to have to live by...ebay shot themselves in the foot on this one, bigtime...
Calvin