Found out the hard way

OK, so it seems I have found out the hard way that ebay has a HUGE loophole in their system. Take it for what it's worth and maybe my case is rare; who know's, but here is what happened:

I sold an item on ebay listed as perfect condition. It was a magazine that has been given to me after someone read it one time. By the way, let me also tell you that this magazine is only sent to members which makes it a little harder to get if you are not a member. Anyway, so I've soldquite a few of these magazines already with nothing but raving feedback unbtil this one guy...lol it always starts out like that!

So to make a long story shorter this person writes a very nasty email telling me that an ad had been cut out on a certain page and that he wants his money back plus s+h if I want my mag back. OK well so far I'm not too blown away by the request, but you don't have to come off like a jerk from the get go do you? So it gets better. A secound email follows right after which reads something to the extent of "I wanted Jan and not Dec". Now it's getting more clear!

So let me explain how this works and what I now understand to be a huge ebay loophole and a realpain in the butt to any ebay seller.

So ebay now how this policy in place that says somethinglike "if a buyer is not satisfied with the item they bought, they can claim it was not described correctly, file an ebay claim to which most people will choose the option to dispute which means ebay will make the final choice as to what happens, ie.- you refund the money and also pay for the s+h to get your item back, or the buyer does what he wants with the item but you nor the buyer is out any money.

This is where it gets bad fast. A buyer can claim your item was incorrectly advertised and ask for a refund. You fight it because you know your item was in mint condition. The buyer files a claim to which you fight and pick the option available,(have ebay decide), and then you get a instant response that tells you the buyer will get a refund, but you will not have to refuind the money. I guess ebay coves it?

So what a great scam! You buy something, say iot isn't like the ad said, get your money back and you get to sell or use whatever you just bought! WTF??!! How could this have been thought out? I mean I guess what do I care what happens to my stuff after I sale it and get paid, but this just doesn't seem fair even I do get to keep the money from the buyer. It just doesn'tmake sense.

OH YEAH, GUESS WHAT ELSE!!! THE BUYER CAN AND MOST LIKLY WILL LEAVE YOU NEGATIVE FEEDBACK JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT AND EBAY ONLY LETS YOU THE SELLER LEAVE POSITIVE FEEDBACK OR NOTHING AT ALL!!!

I'm adding a ton of listings!

I know it has been some time since I have added any relevent information to my ebay blog,however I do have some great news to share! I have been hard at work creating a template for all our ebay items, which makes it really easy to list ebay items fast.

I hope to be able to post more detailson how you can easily copy my template and make your own ebay listings fast and easy to make more money on ebay!!

Check back in a few :)

Ebay seems to be pushing out the little guy

So ebay has reduced the listing fee to FREE if you start at .99 or less, which is great news, however...they have also started to do a monthly review of your account based on customer response. This seems fine as well, but what isn't caught right away is that you get reviewed every month and if you fall below the baseline your items will not be found easily in searches. You can improve your stats of course, but it takes a whole month to get your items back into view of other users!

The way this hurts the little guy and doesn't effect the bigger sellers is that if I get only 1 neutral or even a 1 or 2 for satisfaction, I'm screwed for a whole month! The larger volume sellers can get multiple NEGATIVES without any harm because they have so many buyers that the bad scores average out to be very slim. Someone like a regular seller who maybe sales 10 or less items a month will be devastated by only one bad review!

I know it makes great sense to remove bad ebay sellers, however I have had many people buy my items only to tell me later that the shipping was too high...TOO HIGH! They knew the cost of everything before they bid on it! How can someone say the s+h was too much after buying the item and then leaving a bad comment? Ebay needs to fix this issue at once!

EBAY NEWS - List Auction-style FREE--no Insertion Fees--when you start your Auction-style listing under $1.

Starting March 30, 2010 selling on eBay will be a better deal than ever!

• List Auction-style FREE--no Insertion Fees--when you start your Auction-style listing under $1.
  
  
• Get new, lower Insertion Fees for all other start prices.
  
  
• Either way, pay one easy Final Value Fee of 9% of the winning bid (but never more than $50)-and pay only if your item sells.
  
  
• List in Fixed Price for 50¢, with Final Value Fees for the most part staying the same.

This new standard fee structure will replace the current "first 5 listings free"--you'll pay no Insertion Fees whenever you list Auction-style and start pricing under $1!*