eBay "No Sales" protest scheduled to occur Feb 18-25

[mlschop]

Originally Posted by ActuaryGuy23

This isn't totally accurate. eBay will refund the final value fees from the item actually selling, but they don't refund the original listing fees. Total load of crap if you ask me.

Well those original listing fees are going down...so instead of losing $0.20, you'll lose $0.15 I've sold hundreds of things on ebay and have only once had a buyer back out. I don't think it happens that frequently.

Originally Posted by ActuaryGuy23

And I would also debate how many folks are using PayPal. I know there are a lot of folks who think PayPal is the devil and that being directly related to eBay doesn't help anything. It's just as easy for a psychopath buyer to make false claims on a PayPal account as it is on eBay. The difference being that - if you choose to use PayPal - those negative reports can result in your PayPal account being frozen along with any balance contained in it. Or, in the REALLY bad cases, PayPal using the accompanying bank account to withdraw funds from a disputed transaction (and sometimes more than the disputed amount).

Buyers that don't want to use Paypal can't buy my auctions. I only accept paypal. If people are too and are willing to accept the risks of fake money orders and bouncing checks, then they have to buy their product from someone else.

[mlschop]

Originally Posted by ActuaryGuy23

Have you EVER sold anything on eBay? I'll assume not. Suffice it to say that I totally disagree with this.

The problem with your theory is that - in far too many cases - the real negative consequences of shady business are on the side of the seller. If a seller receives too many negative feedback ratings (by too many, I mean 2% of all feedback), they can be suspended or banned from eBay altogether. If a buyer gets negative feedback, it can have almost no impact on their being able to buy again. Short of the "three non-payment strikes", I'm not sure buyers ever get the heave ho.

In essence, this policy allows all your flamers, idiots, and crazies to exploit the buyer side because they can cause the most destruction without having to front a penny on their end. At least under the old system, sellers could alert potential buyers and other sellers that a particular negative was just some yahoo who couldn't read the listing or just is bat-5h!t crazy. Without being able to leave feedback on these trolls, I guarantee you'll see an uptick in the number of transaction disputes and non-paying bidders.

Contrary to what you believe, 95% of all buyers on eBay aren't scammers. You really think people are going to start leaving negative feedback for the hell of it? And you really think enough people are going to do this to cause a significant rift in the system?

BTW - I've definitely seen sellers with far more than 2% negative feedback on ebay. So i dunno who you've seen/known that got banned for 2% negative feedback, but I'm guess they were doing something seriously shady...

[ActuaryGuy23]

Originally Posted by mlschop

Buyers that don't want to use Paypal can't buy my auctions. I only accept paypal. If people are too and are willing to accept the risks of fake money orders and bouncing checks, then they have to buy their product from someone else.

I would tend to agree and if not for my very bad experience with them would probably still use PayPal. Long story short, I had some PayPal user report a violation against me despite NEVER USING MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT. They claimed I charged fees to use the service, which is a big no-no on credit card transactions with PayPal. Instead of doing any background to see that the complainant never even sent money to my account, they just suspended me and took the ~$100 balance I had at the time.

I never saw that money until PayPal got slapped with a lawsuit for similar practices. A check arrived at my house within a month.

[ActuaryGuy23]

Originally Posted by mlschop

Contrary to what you believe, 95% of all buyers on eBay aren't scammers. You really think people are going to start leaving negative feedback for the hell of it? And you really think enough people are going to do this to cause a significant rift in the system?

BTW - I've definitely seen sellers with far more than 2% negative feedback on ebay. So i dunno who you've seen/known that got banned for 2% negative feedback, but I'm guess they were doing something seriously shady...

They don't ban ALL sellers that get 2% negative feedback, but they will review accounts and suspend for just that. Check the eBay community boards for some background. It's been a while since I read them, but I know that it is a popular topic of conversation.

[gadzookz]

Funny thread. I was thinking of a way to organize a "No Buying" boycott so that I could get a bunch of crap on Ebay for cheap.

[IAm@Work.com]

Originally Posted by TOTEM

What are the changes to the fee structure?

Originally Posted by Headline from eBay:

Reduced Listing Fees
You asked, we listened. We're reducing Insertion Fees and adjusting Final Value Fees to lower your up-front cost to sell on eBay. You wanted free Gallery, now you've got it--plus more feature discounts.
Lower insertion fees
Free Gallery picture with every listing
Lower fees for Gallery Plus, Picture Pack, and Feature Plus

Real change: Final value fees went from 5.25% to 8.75%

[Expunge]

Originally Posted by ActuaryGuy23

Have you EVER sold anything on eBay? I'll assume not. Suffice it to say that I totally disagree with this.

The problem with your theory is that - in far too many cases - the real negative consequences of shady business are on the side of the seller. If a seller receives too many negative feedback ratings (by too many, I mean 2% of all feedback), they can be suspended or banned from eBay altogether. If a buyer gets negative feedback, it can have almost no impact on their being able to buy again. Short of the "three non-payment strikes", I'm not sure buyers ever get the heave ho.

In essence, this policy allows all your flamers, idiots, and crazies to exploit the buyer side because they can cause the most destruction without having to front a penny on their end. At least under the old system, sellers could alert potential buyers and other sellers that a particular negative was just some yahoo who couldn't read the listing or just is bat-5h!t crazy. Without being able to leave feedback on these trolls, I guarantee you'll see an uptick in the number of transaction disputes and non-paying bidders.

Yes plenty of times. But negative feedback to buyers isn't going to do anything. They will just create a new account for the next purchase. As a seller it's not like you have an option of who wins your auction. You don't need any feedback as a buyer. But you need feedback if you're a seller.

Don't cry about the 2% thing. If negative feedback jumps so will this percentage.

The changes will result in ebay getting more $'s via final value fees. Good sellers will still shine, and there will be less room for bad sellers. scammers will still exist until ebay makes it more difficult to get a new account(something they don't want to do). Sellers will get their protection, or the bad publicity will cut ebay's market share quickly.

I know buyers who are afraid to give negative feedback because of seller retaliation. I actually think this is a fairly serious issue with e-bay. I've also had a seller who never gave me feedback because I didn't give him feedback - they were waiting so they could dis me if I said anything bad, I suspect. (He sent me broken stuff twice, and then agreed to refund my money. I wasn't sure what sort of feedback to give.)

I think the better fix would have been to "blind" the feedback, and just not post it until both parties have given feedback. Then you could let people change feedback up (if they resolved some issue after the feedback) but not down, and also let people post a short response to bad feedback.

[strategygamer]

that's what i originally thought when i saw this thing, the way that it would work.

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by Lucy

I think the better fix would have been to "blind" the feedback, and just not post it until both parties have given feedback or the period during which one can leave feedback expires. Then you could let people change feedback up (if they resolved some issue after the feedback) but not down, and also let people post a short response to bad feedback.

IFYP.