posted on December 8, 2005 08:10:07 AM
I was starting to wonder when this would happen. Today, it did.
I have been advised that due to the number of non-receipt complaints filed recently, my account may be put under review.
In other words, if I don't straighten up, fly right and stop cheating people, I'm going to lose my PayPal account.
Isn't that sweet. You've got scamsters perpetrating actual fraud all over eBay -- with apparently nothing done to stop them -- and little ol' me is a threat to national security.
I currently have four pending PayPal complaints, as follows:
Transaction date/Complaint filed
11/29, 12/7
11/27, 12/5
11/21, 12/5
11/23, 12/3
None of these amounts are over $15.00. I anticipate a great many more such complaints in the next few days, since I have failed to invent instant teleportation of jewelry to customers. I have also neglected to hire additional staff to take on the holiday load.
But as I said up at the top, PayPal is making it easy. If they yank my account, I will either have to go back to accepting checks and m.o. only, or stop selling.
Oh, throw me into that briar patch, PayPal. You'd be doing me a huge favor.
posted on December 8, 2005 08:43:54 AM
And this new "transportation time" thing ebay has added to all of our listings (1st class mail 1-3 days) will only make it worse! Do they seriously think that buyers will read the disclaimer or understand that this means after shipment and not after payment when buyers are paying $600 for a PICTURE of an xbox???
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posted on December 8, 2005 08:53:07 AM
Here's the thing, neglus.
Many people assume that I am hard-hearted, mean-spirited and cruel to customers, but the fact of the matter is that I have a customer service background, both in and out of the computer industry.
The very first thing they teach you in CS class is: Set your customer's expectations. It's basic. Someone calls in with a problem, you create a trouble ticket, then you give the customer a realistic time estimate for repair. Most people will simmer down once they know how long it'll take. They just need to *know*.
We can't do that on eBay.
eBay sets our customers' expectations FOR US. Even before this latest transit time debacle, eBay was training prospective bidders to be whiny, suspicious and argumentative. Don't get a prompt answer to your email? Leave negative feedback. Don't like the item? File a fraud charge. Better, file a PayPal complaint. And don't forget to file with the Postal Service Inspector's office and the Internet Complaint Center!
I have NEVER seen any sort of instruction for people new to eBay that says something like this:
"Politeness and giving the benefit of the doubt goes a long way when the transaction isn't face-to-face. Many eBay sellers are part-time, one-person businesses who simply don't have the staff to provide services you may be accustomed to when dealing with huge retail companies. A little patience will go a long way."
That's it! That's all they have to say. And by gum, they should repeat it on every blinkin' bidding screen.
posted on December 8, 2005 10:29:24 AM
LOL Fluffy, at your briar patch comment. I wonder how many here got any of the Uncle Remus stories when they were growing up?!
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posted on December 8, 2005 10:42:07 AM
I would say because you ship so much,you have a lot of items stuck in the mail,some may be lost. That is what I hate about Christmas,these people think the minute they hit the bid button that there should be a magic crow with the item in their month on their doorstep. E-Bay should stay out of trying to promise 10 minute delivery,its only going to sent Sellers somewhere else to sell. They don't need the hassle.
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Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on December 8, 2005 11:00:48 AME-Bay should stay out of trying to promise 10 minute delivery,its only going to sent Sellers somewhere else to sell.
There is nowhere else to sell. That has been well-established.
However...
I am curious. How many reading this would abandon eBay and do something else if you could make 10% more money doing that something else? I'm talking about not selling on eBay (or anywhere else) AT ALL, but not working a conventional job either.
(Don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you anything!)
If you had another way of making money without entering the rat race again, would you?
posted on December 8, 2005 11:22:31 AM
I certainly would consider it. The one thing at this point that I will not do is go back to a conventional job. I've done that, and prefer working for myself a lot. I wouldn't hesitate leaving ebay behind if the right opportunity presented itself, I actually have another business (that is internet based that is not selling items) so I already have an income outside of ebay...
posted on December 8, 2005 11:25:22 AM
In a heartbeat...Singing Skip to my Lou all the way...tossing candy from the float in the parade I would have to celebrate...uh...YES!
posted on December 8, 2005 11:57:19 AM
I HAD a conventional job. I made good money (an order of magnitude more than I make on an hourly basis here; at least a 5-fold multiple on an annual basis), I had lots of freedom, I was treated with respect, I enjoyed mentoring others, etc.
There were a number of drawbacks, however: I had seen the movie before, I knew there was a bad-guy holding a knife behind the door, and that ultimately it would turn out that the butler had done it. There's a saying that in information technology, every problem is solved once per decade (centralize, de-centralize, centralize again, etc.), and after 30 years, I had seen each movie 3 times.
My wife has a job that pays very well, and so I can afford to do this.
If I could work at essentially the same activities, and make 10% less, but without worrying about crooks and thieves and bureaucrats and nasty buyers and all of the rest of it, I'd sign up in a heartbeat.
posted on December 8, 2005 12:36:48 PMfLufF, wrote,
But as I said up at the top, PayPal is making it easy. If they yank my account, I will either have to go back to accepting checks and m.o. only, or stop selling.
Or get a merchant account for credit/debit card acceptance through Costco or one of the many low-cost providers available to US based sellers. Makes charge backs much easier to defend as YOU handle them - not some faceless entity out to reduce their costs by not defending them. Maybe PayPal and eBay expect instant delivery, but merchant account providers do work in the real world and act accordingly.
posted on December 8, 2005 01:35:59 PM
We don't have a website now. Tried it; thought we would at least get our regulars to buy from there. But no.
We have even tried package inserts and email specials along with the EOAs. Nada.
They like the auction milieu. I can't tell you how many women have emailed me saying that checking my auctions is a morning ritual along with their coffee. I can relate to this. I used to buy a lot on eBay when I had tons of disposable income. I found two dependable steady sellers and boy were they happy to see me. One guy (who no longer sells on eBay, alas) sold me antique sterling silver tea sets, sugar tongs, goblets, Tiffany mugs, open salts, all kinds of really wonderful antique silver. I still have most of it. If I tried to sell it today on eBay I couldn't get anything like what I bought it for.
Edited to add:
This is also why Stores doesn't work for me. The inventory is too static in Stores; you see the same stuff over and over again. My ladies want new and kicky.
fLufF
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[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Dec 8, 2005 01:37 PM ]
posted on December 8, 2005 01:58:23 PM
I tried the web site bit before, too. I think people like eBay because they feel like they can control you and your terms. More and more, eBay is allowing that to happen with all the new "enhancements". Everytime I get an ASQ Email from a customer who just bought from me I cringe. So far, most of them have been to say that they received their item and are pleased. However, there was that one about the unmarked sterling bracelet and another who claimed to never have received her item. The only chargeback I had was from someone using a stolen credit card. Fortunately, I hadn't mailed the item yet. With eBay's new mailing time feature, you can hardly wait a day or two to make sure the credit card used was legit before mailing the item out. I can see a lot of freebies happening.
Yes, I would be interested in something else.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on December 8, 2005 03:15:43 PM
Oh, here's something that may explain all or most of the current happy shorsehit.
Item paid for 11/27, shipped 12/3, delivered today 12/8.
This morning's email, in part:
"Trust me, if you do not settle this I will make sure, since I am a stay at home mom with all the time in the world, that I will single handedly ruin your fraudulent business. You should just take care of this because I will NEVER let it end!!!!!!!" (Yes, that's right, seven exclamation marks.)
posted on December 8, 2005 03:38:12 PM
I can think of one business which is internet based and it does not involve Ebay-day trading.
Go to Yahoo and type in any stock symbol and click on its message board and read .
Unfortunately,few people get rich trading !!
May be you should get out of selling quantity and focus on quality-sell high margin high ticket items,if we only know what those items are!!
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on December 8, 2005 03:51:27 PM
You'd pretty much have to keep up with the "fads". Earlier this year I was selling threader earrings as quickly as I could get them in. Fortunately, I stopped selling them before they went right back out of popularity or I would have been stuck with them. People want to pay next to nothing for the product, next to nothing for shipping AND have it delivered within a couple of days even if its something that goes media mail! These are the people that should be shopping the deep discount houses where they can satisfy their need for IMMEDIATE gratification. If you simply cannot wait for something to arrive in the mail, you shouldn't be shopping on eBay.
Fluffy
What a nasty-sounding person. Hopefully, since it shows it was delivered today she'll be eating crow.
Cheryl
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on December 8, 2005 04:43:04 PM
I had a women do the very same thing to me. She contacted everyone she could find telling them I was fraud and she would ruin my business blah blah blah. I gave Ebay my tracking number and her claim was dropped. Once again, if you do not pay for overnight delivery then you have to wait.
posted on December 8, 2005 04:54:36 PM
Steve: "Tracking?" I use Delivery Confirmation. It is not tracking. The Postal Service does not track any shipments other than Express Mail, as far as I know.
I would never offer Priority Mail for a 2 ounce shipment. It's a marketing gimmick that has no service guarantee.
At any rate, I'm kind of enjoying the angst this year, thinking I won't ever have to put up with this again. Just as the BS from my last real-world job was the impetus for me to start selling full-time, the bovine excrement piling up in my email (coupled with lousy auction results) is just what it's gonna take for me to say Bye-Bye eBay, Hello Life.
posted on December 8, 2005 05:15:24 PM
My New Year's resolution is to be completely out of the eBay business by the end of the year and the second part of it is to give as little money as possible to eBay. No more gallery and the store has been closed. Hopefully by this time next year, I will have my life, garage and peace of mind back!
posted on December 8, 2005 05:31:14 PM
all I can say is,that Im not a power seller,so I dont do this for a living-just for extra spending money,and damn glad of it.
posted on December 8, 2005 05:38:10 PM
I am a Power Seller but only do this for extra spending money...I have expensive tastes. Need to finish paying next year for my 05 Mustang. Without eBay I would have missed out on a lot of fun things. But alas, it is time to sit back and relax a bit more. With the pending eBay fee increases as well as postal increases, there is no way this is worth it anymore
posted on December 8, 2005 05:41:36 PM
Wait! Did somebody say "ebay fee increases"? Really? Have I missed an announcement?
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posted on December 8, 2005 05:45:43 PM
eBay rolls out the fee increases every year at the beginning of the year. There is quite a bit of talk about this on eBay boards.
posted on December 8, 2005 06:00:26 PM
Yep. eBay fee increases, postal increases, and for those of us who have relied on USPS Shipping Assistant and have had the rug rudely yanked out from under us, the expense of having to deal with Stamps.com or Endicia.
Marc is so right. No way this is worth it any more.
posted on December 8, 2005 06:06:22 PM
I don't remember this being fun since around 2000 maybe. The good old days of going to garage sales on Saturday mornings and turning a quarter into $100 on occasion. My most memorable sale occured in 1998 when I sold a $5 beanie baby for $884. Nowadays everyone wants a piece of your sale. I pay Vendio for the gallery, Endicia for the right to print postage labels, SellaThon for tracking, eBay for Selling Manager, SquareTrade just for the helluvit, enormous fees to PayEnemy and of course the good old eBay listing and FVF fees.
Yes, I so make about $1000 a week clear but at what cost???
[ edited by marcn on Dec 8, 2005 06:07 PM ]
posted on December 8, 2005 08:51:25 PM
Is it my imagination or are the buyers just really nasty and hostile this year? It seems like the holidays really brings out the "road rage" in customers, but they seem worse this year somehow. I've had an inbox full of nasty WISMO emails tonight from customers who placed orders last Friday and early this week - all my shipment notifications seem to be disappearing into spam folders.
Had one guy, ordered Friday night, sent me a WISMO last night, email me tonight complaining that I hadn't responded to his first email (I did, his ISP must have lost it) and said "I have a phone - use it or I'm going to dispute this charge with my credit card company." It gave me a lot of satisfaction to call him after 10 p.m. and wake him up - but, hey, I used his phone })
posted on December 8, 2005 09:00:56 PM
Fluffy, yes I meant "Delivery Confirmation" from the post office.
Or you can get a tracking # if you mail USP (often less expensive than the post office).
I know it is hardly worth it to pay priority shipping for a 2 ounce item, but might be good have the option for buyers who expect their item quickly. At least it might quiet some from complaining that they haven't receive their item soon enough.
