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Ebay!!!!!!


Graham T

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About 3 weeks ago I listed a few built models on eBay, having had success in the past.  One was an Airfix Dakota, CLEARLY described in BOLD script in the description as for collection only,  In addition the P&P section of the listing stated, no postage, collection only.  A buyer bought it, I invoiced & AGAIN the invoice states "for collection", the buyer paid & I  simply sat back to await his contact to arrange collection.  Yesterday he sent me a VERY aggressive message via eBay to the effect that he hadn't noticed the collection business & he wasn't prepared to travel 140 miles to collect it & why wasn't I prepared to post it (again I had explained in the listing that it was fragile & hard to protect).  TBH I had doubts about him when I saw he lived so far away but left it too him to mention this.  Had he messaged me AT ANY TIME explaining that HE had made an error, didn't realise it was collection, HE was sorry & would I consider refunding, I would probably have agreed but his message to me appeared to lay the blame on me & as I say was very aggressively phrased.  He has opened a case with eBay, I have the choice to refund, send the item, or contact the buyer but I am not prepared to do any of this as currently it is being handled by EBay's "automatic claim resolution service" that only gives you these options.  I'm going to wait until ebay step in & investigate & I am allowed to state MY case.  It's ONLY £20 but there is a principle involved here!

Edited by Graham T
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And by the by, earlier I listed 2 x Airfix Lancs & a B-17, again all CLEARLY listed for collection.  One buyer bought all three & as I was invoicing I saw he was in AUSTRALIA!!!  I contact him, he was apologetic & I cancelled the order.

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I’ve well and truly moved off eBay for selling items as the fees were starting to get way too high and stuff like this just seems to happen. I’m wondering if ‘the buyer’ thought it was free postage, although I know you state that it wasn’t. Perhaps the listing appeared that way to him? 

Anyway, good luck and perhaps look at other mediums to sell stuff rather than this worldwide fee sapping business. 
Cheers.. Dave 

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A familiar tale with regards to angry/'entitled' customers on eBay I'm afraid. It's a system that is open to abuse unfortunately.

 

I have had a few but the one that sticks in my mind was for the sale of a resin figure which I clearly stated was unassembled and unpainted in the listing. It sold and all was quiet then I got an aggressive and angry message from the customer demanding a refund because it wasn't...You guessed it...assembled and painted!! I refused on principle due to the overly aggressive nature of the initial contact (which didn't get any better with subsequent messages) as the original listing clearly stated the condition. He threatened all sorts of actions and I ended up contacting eBay as the abuse was completely over the top. A few days after I contacted eBay I heard no more from him so whether eBay stepped in or whether he realised he had made a complete fool of himself and retreated into the undergrowth I don't know but he went straight onto my blocked list after that.

Had the gent approached me in reasonable fashion in the first instance and explained that he hadn't realised the condition I would have accepted a return even though it was clearly his own stupid fault but 'shouting' and 'threatening' as an opening line to a return request due to not reading the description properly (or using that as an excuse) was never going to end well for him.

 

I would happily drop eBay as a selling platform tomorrow if I could find an alternative that works for me. Since moving to eBay's own payment system (as they are phasing PayPal out) my fees have shot through the roof and it is becoming too expensive for selling smaller items valued at less than £15-£20 where the margins are tight at the best of times.

 

Duncan B 

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4 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I’ve well and truly moved off eBay for selling items as the fees were starting to get way too high and stuff like this just seems to happen. I’m wondering if ‘the buyer’ thought it was free postage, although I know you state that it wasn’t. Perhaps the listing appeared that way to him? 

Anyway, good luck and perhaps look at other mediums to sell stuff rather than this worldwide fee sapping business. 
Cheers.. Dave 

This is the text from my listing, just as it appeared.  Little ambiguity there I feel!  😀

 

Offloading a few that no longer fit my collection & are just gathering dust but too good & representing too many hours of work to simply put in the bin.  Here’s a 1/72 scale Airfix Douglas Dakota DC-3.  Authentic colours & markings for an early post war RAF machine. Nice addition to any collection.  See my other items for more 1/72 bombers & others.  I simply can’t pack this well enough to post so for COLLECTION ONLY (please do not message me for postage costs) from near Stansted Airport.  Please ask for more details or images if required.

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Have had a few challenging experiences as a non-business seller that pretty much deterred me from selling save for the very rare occasion. This has included bidders getting angry at the postage options, especially those that seemed to think that if they bought five items and have them shipped together then the postage magically drops by about 80%. Trying to explain to them that the post doesn't work like that and that more items equals a bigger box and greater weight, which equals more limited and more expensive (including insurance) shipping options, which equals postage that can be more expensive than the P&P for each combined. Oh and I didn't have a magic box and packing material tree outside that I could harvest for free. No thanks!

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4 hours ago, Graham T said:

This is the text from my listing, just as it appeared.  Little ambiguity there I feel!  😀

 

Offloading a few that no longer fit my collection & are just gathering dust but too good & representing too many hours of work to simply put in the bin.  Here’s a 1/72 scale Airfix Douglas Dakota DC-3.  Authentic colours & markings for an early post war RAF machine. Nice addition to any collection.  See my other items for more 1/72 bombers & others.  I simply can’t pack this well enough to post so for COLLECTION ONLY (please do not message me for postage costs) from near Stansted Airport.  Please ask for more details or images if required.

 

 

For a lot of people that's too much to read.  Many simply don't/won't read past a short sentence these days.  It's why Twitter is such a hit, short messages, that don't take much to read...

 

I've sold about a dozen kits on ebay but never had a problem with actual buyers just problems actually getting stuff sold - my last kit for sale a KP 1/72 Mig-23UB didn't sell for months, despite a price no higher than the 1 other seller in the UK with the same item, so I took it down.  Had a few kits I've tried to sell go that way.

Edited by RobL
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On the mobile app, the description text is cut to a small paragraph and it is not fully shown unless you click to view it, so it is very easy to miss things.

Edited by Tim R-T-C
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I wont use ebay now, as a seller you have no protection as I found out when someone claimed a kit I sold was complete.

 

Too many chancers on there now,

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Never used Ebay, probably never will.

Buying outlets now down to the letters A & H, after a certain secondhand kit seller shot itself in the foot with an inadvertant 100% profit margin disclosure. And shows, if they come back - but I suspect they'll be rather sparse affairs compared to days of old.

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As most of us know now, Ebay are doing away with Paypal ( I think?) and need us to provide our bank details, this is effective end of month, just got another nag this morning.

My intention is to wait ... I know they wont go back on this, but wont be selling or buying there until after 31st as a casual seller/buyer that I've always been and wait until maybe mid June once dust has settled a bit.

Should I give them my details now or before 31st, any pro's and con's to waiting and seeing? Bang up to date with seller fee's ETC here. Don't want waiting to impact me negatively either, like everyone else am a bit dissatisfied with them and their high fee's ETC, but do have 100% positive 1200+ feedback and been with them for 16 years, someone here recently mentioned Ebid and have it bookmarked but not sure how viable it is yet?

Thoughts on all this appreciated ... I guess I'm an older dog who does not like learning new tricks :)

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This is exactly my intention as well. Wait and see... I have been with e-bay for ages and find their fees exorbitant.  Their handling of the cases also leaves much to be desired  - so I feel a bit uneasy providing them with my bank details and giving them semi-access to it. I am not at all sure if it is worth the time spent to open a separate bank account just for e-bay.

 

Not sure what would be the benefits of registering your bank account with them... they hint vaguely at some discounts events on sellers fees but what they are and will they materialize - who knows? 

 

E-bid also entered my bookmarks list.... but from what I understand the selection there is not as big as on e-bay and (in case you are a seller) it takes much longer to sell something there. Perhaps more people will migrate there after these new rules?

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I just hope their cyber security is up to it as they will be a prime target for hackers looking to ransom wear etc.  I imagine it would be and more so than most.

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+1 from me for waiting and watching.

 

I too have been on eBay a long time (20 years and 1700+ positive feedbacks). I have never complained about PayPal fees ( I realise that PP is no longer a part of eBay) because of the protection from fraud that PP afforded me. I'me very reluctant to give out my bank details to eBay and I agree with @JohnT and @BallsBuster about the practicalities of this idea.

 

Lets see eh?

 

SD 

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I must admit, these post have got me worried, now. I recently agreed to E-Bay's "new way" - they definitely want to push Paypal out of the picture. In recent years E-Bay have implemented a number of measures that I very strongly disagree with. Removing a seller's ability to give a troublesome buyer a Negative Feedback mark was a real stinker (officially, this was to help make the buyers' Feedback more "honest" without having to worry about any retaliatory comments - I suspect it was actually to give the company an easier ride and much less administration). 

 

They also recently introduced an "Easy Returns" facility, where buyers don't even have to contact the seller to say they have a problem with their purchase - they simply have to return it to the seller and E-Bay then give them a full refund. Now, this is great for buyers (and EXTREMELY open to abuse by them), but it's awful for sellers and encourages a very detrimental, easily-defrauded environment in which to trade.   

 

Unfortunately, E-Bay remains one of the best places to sell most items, despite the changes in the company's rules in recent years. Sure, there are other sites, with much less draconian regulations, but I always wonder how many people actually use them. 

 

On the subject of E-Bay's security with folks' bank-details, I have little doubt that they will claim their security is second-to-none. I really hope that they're right, considering that one of the most successful and richest companies in history (Facebook) recently had a half-BILLION users' personal, financial information stolen by hackers. If hackers can get in to Facebook's servers that easily, I doubt that E-Bay will be able to provide a more secure service. 

 

Chris. 

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You get ALL sorts on E-Bay. You can put "For Collection Only" in letters six-feet high on your listing and the Bobble-Hats will still either not read it or simply ignore it. 

 

I had a situation recently selling a camera. Some fella offered me about half my asking-price and gave me a load of reasons why this was all he could pay. I politely said no. Then things got rather heated ("How dare you treat me like this... I'm a pensioner.... I'm only using it as a prop in a film I'm making....", etc, etc). After a while of his increasingly aggressive messaging, I told him that I would not be selling to him under any circumstances and that he should stop contacting me. Oh dear, that really "lit the blue touch-paper". It ended in him saying he would report me to E-Bay (considering that no actual sale had occurred between us, I wish him the best-of-luck in arguing this one out).   

 

The ironic thing was, about 5 weeks later, I put a similar camera up for sale on the 'Bay. Have a guess who contacted me thereafter and offered me about half my asking-price? I politely declined, again, and sold it to a different buyer a few days later. Some folks have a really poor memory....

 

Chris.  

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Yeah Chris, came across my fair share of awkward folk on Ebay in my 16 years there, ah well.
 

Done a fair few sales and buys here on Britmodeller now, never a hint of a problem ... pure magic !

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1 hour ago, spruecutter96 said:

I must admit, these post have got me worried, now. I recently agreed to E-Bay's "new way" - they definitely want to push Paypal out of the picture. In recent years E-Bay have implemented a number of measures that I very strongly disagree with. Removing a seller's ability to give a troublesome buyer a Negative Feedback mark was a real stinker (officially, this was to help make the buyers' Feedback more "honest" without having to worry about any retaliatory comments - I suspect it was actually to give the company an easier ride and much less administration). 

 

They also recently introduced an "Easy Returns" facility, where buyers don't even have to contact the seller to say they have a problem with their purchase - they simply have to return it to the seller and E-Bay then give them a full refund. Now, this is great for buyers (and EXTREMELY open to abuse by them), but it's awful for sellers and encourages a very detrimental, easily-defrauded environment in which to trade.   

 

Unfortunately, E-Bay remains one of the best places to sell most items, despite the changes in the company's rules in recent years. Sure, there are other sites, with much less draconian regulations, but I always wonder how many people actually use them. 

 

On the subject of E-Bay's security with folks' bank-details, I have little doubt that they will claim their security is second-to-none. I really hope that they're right, considering that one of the most successful and richest companies in history (Facebook) recently had a half-BILLION users' personal, financial information stolen by hackers. If hackers can get in to Facebook's servers that easily, I doubt that E-Bay will be able to provide a more secure service. 

 

Chris. 

 

Good points Chris, well written and thought out too this change has on us who use Ebay and especially for even casual selling.

Definitely waiting this out now before providing Ebay with my bank details and selling in particular there too for foreseeable future.

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Hi all'

 

Just a little heads up regarding the changes and some observations of ebay recently.

 

My better half often sold unwanted items from my stash on ebay until this week.  She was informed that the rules regarding payment were changng to direct bank account only on the 30/04/2021 repeated emails and messages were received until she gave permission for the bay to have direct access to her bank account. 

 

Streamline payments improve seller experiences making things easier etc.  If your thinking of changing I would suggest in light of Theresa's experience you think very long and hard as to whether it's worth it.

 

She now has a situation were after items are sold payment is withheld for up to four days after posting,  before being sent to her bank account, despite repeated requests to talk to someone from ebay she has been ignored.  The paypal system worked but ebay have now made the seller experience much worse their fees have increased dramatically and you now get a monthly TAX invoice which she has recieved no information about!! is this a government requirement or ebay's she's not sure but it came right out of the blue. Despite repeated attempts to talk to someone from ebay she has been unable to get any information from them. 

 

Apart from that Since the turn of the year she has had casual misogny particularly from a couple of bidders and one seller ,  Some of the personal remarks have been unacceptable but ebay never replied to any complaints.  On top of A number of  claims of items slightly damaged in post (particularly Gemini jets despite photographic proof of 100% intact items) that look suspiciously similar (nice to get a free model and full refund,if you can ) one return clearly wasn't the item sold  but  ebay have insisted she give  full refunds in each case amid  threats to feedback scores. even though the photos prove no damage as she always took pics before wrapping, (they can contact you quick enough about this strangely though !!!!)     something most sellers never think about because you expect people to be honest!  It's becoming untenable to sell there but there are few alternatives 

 

  It's becoming a real mess on their site but it's to both our minds only going to get worse.

 

All I can say is in light of our experience think long and hard about signing up

 

regards

 

Eamonn

 

 

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4 hours ago, Team Aer Lingus said:

 

She now has a situation were after items are sold payment is withheld for up to four days after posting,  before being sent to her bank account, despite repeated requests to talk to someone from ebay she has been ignored. 

 

This is very bad! It was not clear from their promotional letters that you have to post the items before the payment clears. Is this their new normal? Could you please let us know? If this is the case, there is no reason, why I should bother selling anything with them.

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Jut an FYI

 

Since Tess handed over her bank account details and despite the ebay bumpf about money going into your account within two days of sales/orders!  this has not been her experience on any item sold since she signed up.

 

 She prides herself on very quick postage usually within 24 hours and ebay transfers have been between 3-6days after postage not sales/orders.  It could be teething issues but if it continues it may lead to people going elsewere to sell. 

 

The money when transferred usually clears quickly into the account minus the fees   but the delay in payment is noticeable compared to the old paypal system. The new TAX invoice arrived this morning along with another  April invoice. 

 

Eamonn

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18 hours ago, One 48 said:

As most of us know now, Ebay are doing away with Paypal ( I think?) and need us to provide our bank details, this is effective end of month, just got another nag this morning.

Thats the end of using ebay for me. Righty or wrongly, I always saw PayPal as a safety net, which in my experience, worked fairly for both buyers and sellers. Having ebay directly accessing my bank is out of the question as

 

  • I suspect money will just be removed from my account should a buyer complain - and should the buyer be in the wrong, it will take ages to get the money back
  • I don't use my bank account online for anything. I always use a credit card for online transactions (which gives you some protection). I don't trust ANYONE'S security 100%, but, the credit card companies seem to have a much better track record of sorting things out when things go wrong than the banks. I'm certainly not going to give ebay my bank details.

Cheers

 

Colin

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