Thread: RANT: Why eBay sucks and don't bother trying to sell your used OEM Ballasts on there

Yup eBay has gone to help lately (well last year or two) really whenever they took over PayPal. I use to sell on there all the time until they started getting ridiculous with there fees. They want a listing free, percentage fee from the sale and then of course paywalls fee. As a seller you get zero protection. As a buyer you can say anything and get a refund. You get lucky enough to get your item sent back. Most of the time you lose out on both. Nowadays I only buy on eBay as a last result or if I find a killer deal.

Too hell with fleaBay!

I hear ya on that, i rarely buy from ebay used mostly because i suck at sniping auctions. All i buy from ebay is usually new from some sort of vendor.

I probably could have been one of those doucher buyers and basically got a free item but i didn't.

I bought a graphics card and the guy just jammed it in a 5 buck flat rate box no padding as it was the perfect size to fit in. So the PCB and fans were just touching the box. I was beyond pissed when i got the package like how stupid are you. I'm surprised it didn't get damaged and has been working fine tho. I gave him neutral feedback because of it tho because that was unacceptable in my eyes.

Sent from BFE

Oh yea and the ridiculous prices they charge for shipping.. You pay that and then you its shipped like above..

I paid 10 bucks for shipping when that box costs 5.99 lol.....
Plus being packaged stupidly. Smh

Sent from BFE

Right? And here I am shipping a ram stick thats in a really rigid plastic shell that it originally came in and stick that in one of those boxes filled with packing peanuts. I want it too be safe.

Sent from BFE

You should see how I package stuff. Bubble wrap packing peanuts double boxes. I sold a guy an entire pc once, packed the inside of the case with newspaper, wrapped the case in bubble wrap, put the case inside the case box with Styrofoam and packing peanuts.

Sellers are even more screwed if they ship it back to you damaged, which I know this guy will. I've looked into what happens if they do and the seller is basically screwed.

I been on since 2007 I sold 1 thing so far. It went well. No complaints or feedback though lol, but I bought over $7000 worth of stuff so far. If something was wrong or I ****ed up, I messaged them and seen if I could swap parts out or send it back. The only problem I had was with a iPhone screen I bought and the dick head wanted me to send proof that it was busted and then pay for shipping for another screen so i just took my loss.

Yeah I loved ebay until the last couple weeks

I sell stuff on ebay pretty regularly. Haven't had too many issues. Have had a few people claim parts don't work but fortunately they where parts I had more than one of and told them I would send them another if they returned the "defective" one they had received. One guy just never responded and the other sent the part back and of course it worked perfectly.

The policy is nice if your an honest buyer tho. I purchased an Used MSD Distributor for my Wife's LT1 Firebird. They guy said it was in good working condition and pulled from a running corvette. I got it and the input shaft wouldn't spin by hand you had to grab it with a vice grip to move it. So I contacted the guy and told him I wanted my money back because I wasn't in "good condition" just because it was pulled from a running car. I even offered to pay the return shipping. Argued with him for a week and finally took a case out against him and got my money back.

I definitely wish a better auction site would come along tho. eBay is on it's way town the toilet.... the water is swirling and everything

eBay got too big for it's britches. When it bought PayPal, or PayPal bought it, whichever, is when things really started getting bad. I used to buy things off eBay all the time. I shop around a lot more but use Amazon more than anything anymore.

Honestly though I never really had a "bad" experience with buying on eBay I only tried to sell two things and neither sold. I have like over 70 positive feedbacks from purchases though. I only ever left one neutral feedback and that was because the shipper took much longer than it stated in the ad. It said would ship within a week and it took almost 3 weeks to ship. That seller was mad that I left a neutral and tried to "bribe" me with a coupon to rescind it. I did not.

There was one other experience where I bought a MAF adapter and filter for my Stealth. The ad stated it was a 114mm (4.5") filter and adapter. The picture showed a metal adapter and 4.5" filter. When I got it I got a plastic 3" adapter and very cheap filter. I immediately emailed the seller and he was like, well the ad only said adapter. I screen shotted it for him and quickly proved him wrong. He then changed his argument and was like, well this is all we had in stock. He tried giving me the run around but I made him send me a return shipping label and refund the entire payment. I basically told him he could do it that way, or I would, leave negative feedback and file a charge back and not only get my money back but keep the product and told him the choice was his.

EBay bought PayPal, the guy that started PayPal took the money from selling it to eBay and started Tesla Motors iirc.
-edit- Maybe not I thought I read this someplace but can't seem to find any info about it.

Sent from A Galaxy Far Far Away........

I just looked up my first eBay ID. It was created July of 2001. All positive feedback at 200, which is more than I have on my current ID because people are SUPER lazy now and don't leave feedback (even though I leave feedback for every transaction as soon as the buyer pays). Unfortunately, it looks like they very recently made some changes on feedback, like not showing the date the feedback was left (or links to the auction the recent feedback is for), so I can't see when the first transaction was. I know I started out only buying at first. The thought of selling on there never crossed my mind. However, I still have printouts from every auction I sold from Jun of '02 on up with that user ID. First one I see is a '91 - '93 HUD which I started at $9.95, and got bid up to $275 + shipping. My personal best on a HUD (same style) was $324 shipped. Also sold a really nice condition Buick LeSabre T-Type spoiler. Picked it up from the yard for $14, started the bidding at a penny, and it went for $280 shipped. *sighs* Those were the good ol' days.

There was a manifesto written by a supposed eBay employee who was part of their "think tank" years back.

http://www.ebaysucks.com/

It basically said that eBay is trying to become "Amazon Lite", and wants guys like us out of there. They want actual retailers who sell new products with set shipping charges, return policies, etc. I don't know if it was legit or not, but if you read through it, despite some of what he said never coming to fruition, the general gist of what he suggested has definitely taken shape. They haven't put set amounts on shipping, but they HAVE capped what you can charge for shipping in certain categories (i.e. video games), and the final value and PayPal fees are also taken from that shipping charge. And while they haven't set a standard for shipping times and return policies, they HAVE made it mandatory that you select a handling time (anything over 3 days will flag an "exceptional handling time" to buyers on your auction listing), and must clearly state return policies. You don't HAVE to take returns, but the only way you can do that is if you sell the item as "broken/for parts only". Otherwise, regardless of what you select for a return policy, a seller can file a claim and win his/her money back. If you DO accept returns, you cannot pick a time period less than 14 days. The manifesto was also right about the bar for discounts on listing and final value fees being set so high that only high volume retailers can hit them, meaning the people who made eBay what it was in its heyday won't be getting any discounts off the outrageous fees.

It's really disappointing and frustrating to see what has happened to eBay over the last 7 or 8 years, and I know MANY, many people feel the same. That is why, as I said before, now is the prime time for a competitor to come along and strike at them.

Got the item back, item still functions perfectly, the clip is cracked now, and I wiped the dust/dirt off with my finger and nothing else.

What an asshole. He just wanted it to test his system and made up bull **** when his system tested fine, so he wanted $20 back so he could at least flip it for a profit. Every email he sent me was a change in his story.

Still whining about your poor selling practices?

Jiggly puff, Bill, Jiggly puff