In every issue, readers soundoff about issues important to them. From feedback to payment services, from fees to posting policies, AuctionBytes Soundoff gives you a chance to air your views.
Send your letter to the editor by emailing ina@auctionbytes.com with "Letters to the Editor Blog" in the subject line. (Remember to include your name as you would like it to appear.)
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Hi Ina,
Below is the statement I read while updating one of my listings on eBay. I'm curious why eBay states, "You will still be able to insure you(r) items"? My item? Legal ownership passes once the item is mailed (assuming the buyer pays shipping). The reason for insurance is for the buyer to insure they are covered! Anyway, I am not surprised by the arrogance and complete disregard of the seller.
Also, I realize this new requirement is really a mute point because sellers have restricted and limited recourse against any claims because of PayPal.
Thanks,
Troy
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Ina,
I'm curious after reading Griff's statement of "The fact that there are over one hundred thousand sellers to date who qualify for Top Rated Seller contradicts your statement. In fact, DSRs have actually created a more trusted marketplace for buyers who are coming back to search and shop on eBay by providing an incentive for sellers to improve and increase the levels of quality for their customer service."
One hundred thousand sellers out of how many?
It just seems like they keep blowing smoke in our ears. Sounds like a good statement but I assume there are millions of active sellers which makes the 100,000 statement laughable as the percentage of TRS would be very very low.
Thank you.
Deana
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Dear Ina,
It's been a while since I wrote a letter to you. Doesn't mean I haven't been reading auction bytes...just haven't had much to say. Well, now it's time for me to write again!
eBay, in it's infinite wisdom, is once again discriminating against smaller sellers, and, in particular, smaller Power Sellers. The new changes they've announced make it seem as though eBay is going out of its way to make life almost impossible for us smaller sellers. First it was the change in feedback policy where sellers could no longer leave negative feedback for buyers. The it was the new DSR ratings. Now it's the policy of lowering a seller's buyer satisfaction with the 1 and 2 star ratings. I can't wait to see how much more difficult it's going to be for me to get my miniscule 5% Power Seller discount this fall when eBay puts even more discriminatory practices into effect.
I have no doubt that eBay has completely turned its back on the kind of sellers that helped build eBay into what it is today. And I also have no doubt that eBay is going to go the way of all large companies that forget their roots. I am looking forward to the day when someone manages to get an auction site up and running that will really give eBay a run for it's money!
Thanks for listening.
Joanne
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Hi,
An ebay merchant gave me your email, and suggested I inform you of the issue I experienced with ebay recently.
I have three addresses with PayPal and Ebay. We do not have street mail delivery, but there are the occasions when something has to be sent UPS or FedEx, so a physical address is listed as an alternative, and as a verified address for the bank checking account. Because we receive a large quantity of mail, we have two Post Office Boxes. As it happens, one credit card is joined to one Post Office Box, and another credit card is with the second Post Office Box. All three of these addresses are verified.
My husband’s business address USED to be listed as an alternative address. He sold this business 18 months ago, and that address was deleted, and our home physical address was joined to the bank checking account address. We have made many many purchases on ebay using PayPal, with no delivery problems in the past 18 months.
Around August 27 - 30, 2009, something odd happened. My husband's old business address appeared as the "ship to" address, whether the purchase was made using a bank checking account transfer as payment, or American Express, my preferred method of payment. The old address that seems to have popped up out of nowhere I deleted yesterday, when a merchant alerted me that the book I purchased was returned as "undeliverable". Interestingly enough, this old address was no where to be found in the PayPal Profile, but there it was in ebay. Listed also were each of the two Post Office Box numbers listed twice!!
No doubt I should have caught the old address being listed at the time of payment, but I did not. I've never experienced a problem before; needless to say I will be more vigilant hence forth. Good thing book sellers are an honest breed.
I emailed the three other sellers and asked they charge me for a new shipping fee when they get the books back, and resend them to me. Needless to say, we are all a bit puzzled, and I am out of buck$ for reshipping charges.
I should also mention this time, that about a year ago, we were bombarded with spam from an ebay look alike, resulting in all ebay messages going into the delete file. You have to be persistent to use ebay.
Veronica
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Dearest Ina,
Want to congratulate you on Auctionbytes.com's 10th Birthday. Your newsletter has been the bridge that guided and informed so many of us out of the darkness.
"The name of the game for small online sellers these days is diversification. As sellers have discovered, relying on one company leaves them vulnerable to not only the whim of that company's direction, but to technology glitches as well. This is true for marketplaces, storefront providers, online payment processors, and even search-engines."
Being perfectly honest, I have found it somewhat of a struggle to "start over again" .. since in "invested" so much of myself into a particular site I will NOT mention. But i blame myself. It was inevitable, the signs were coming for over a year now-but i made the mistake of keeping all my "eggs in one basket". Nor have I have not kept up with technology-so i have only myself to blame.
But now i'm gaining my footwork, and i know it's going to take even more time to get back up on my feet. Thanks to you website, and the wealth of information your staff, yourself , David and your readers have made available, I've been gaining my momentum. The present day economic position makes the situation even more so of a challenge.
Yet i feel like the "LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD". Thank you so very much.
I know that you understand and appreciate what we sellers have been going through. I've Finally gained the confidence to "walk out into the light" and have been planting roots in other places... thanks to your articles and your readers comments.
One of the most important ingredients with building a business... or selling as a "hobby" (in my case ) - is how important it is to be Patient... after all the work has been done, yet still stay on top of all the groundwork that has been laid.
"We registered the domain name AuctionBytes on September 3, 1999. We published our first email newsletter two months later (the first incarnation of AuctionBytes was actually a hardcopy 4-page newsletter that we handed out at fleamarkets and antiques shows, but that's a story for another day)."
After reading how "Auctionbytes" was started, I can appreciate all your hard work and the information you share, as you, too, have walked in our shoes-doing what you must to get your Publication off the ground.
Congratulations on your 10th Successful year building Auctionbytes and for being a platform for so many sellers like myself who are grateful for all the great information, tips and education you've given and shared with us.
I remain to be a loyal subcriber to Auctionbytes.
Best Wishes Always, to you and David.
"Dorothy & Toto"
PS: I'd also like to take this opportunity to give a big Shout out.. and standing ovation to :Craig Newmark -the founder of of "CRAIGSLIST" !!. Also.. a big hand to Jim Buckmaster -Chief Executive of "CRAIGSLIST".!! Craigslist has been a dynamic help to everyone, especially in these troubled financial times. It's a shame a "certain Company" (whom i will not mention) got their fingers into "CRAIGSLIST" Ina, Would you consider writing up an article about Craigslist and the two men mentioned?
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To the editor:
I have been buying and selling off and on with eBay since my birthday in 1999. Someone got me to sign up that day and at times I have had great fun with the site. At times I have wanted to take an axe to my computer because of them. In fact about 2 years ago I decided to "show them" and closed my account. Well it did not cause the economic collapse I had hoped for after all. Recently I decided I wanted to get back on and established a new account and a new Pay Pal account. Hoping to start selling I know building a good reputation as a seller is important so I looked for some low priced items to sell.
Unfortunately I found thousands of people on eBay selling ebooks on how to sell, build positive feedback, become a power seller and so on. Most were selling for 99 cents and offered resell rights. I decided to buy a few and try my hand at selling. I used the ready-made listings they gave and was in business. Then I learned, as eBay removed a few of my listings that digital delivery items must be listed as classified ads.
I should have done some research first so I was wrong. I took down all my listings that I knew were in violation. I happen to have a few hundred CDr's and a thousand or so CD mailers in my junk room from where I used to sell FCC test questions and answers on eBay and other forums. So I decided that since I basically had those paid for I could afford to burn CD's and mail them for 99 cents. Since I did not have to consider the cost of the CD and mailer all I had was eBay and PayPal fees and postage. I thought this way I could follow all eBay policy and still be able to move a lot of item maybe. Things went well. I was offering 4 different eBooks on CD. Then eBay removed one of the listings because the word "feedback" was in the item title.
Now I had read the policy about this and only used it in this one listing because it was specifically allowed by eBay policy. I also got a customer service rep in a live chat and told him what I was selling and gave him the exact item title to see if it would be allowed. He assured me it would be. So I responded to the removal with copies of the eBay policy and told them what the customer service rep had told me and ask them to restore my listing since it did not violate eBay policy. They place me on a 3-day seller suspension and responded with the same form email they had the first time. I ended all my listings as soon as my seller suspension was given (they only stop you from listing new items) to make sure I had not missed something and so they could not find any more violations.
I tried again to explain to them what eBay policy said. No response this time. Until just moments before the 3 day's would be up on my suspension. They hit me with a 30 day account suspension with the reason of "as explained, thanks" given. I responded asking what new violation I had made to incur a new suspension since I had stopped all selling and listings when they gave me the 3 day seller suspension. They responded with some form email that had nothing to do with the questions I posed. I made the mistake of mentioning on a discussion forum what had happened and that I had found 5 listing with either the exact listing title or almost exact and reported them for the same "feedback used in item description" violation to see if they would apply the policy the same way. I kept updating every 12 hours or so on the status of those listings. After about 48 hours I was banned from the discussion forums as well.
Does eBay always attack those who point out their error and ask them to make them right? Does eBay never respond directly to a question about their errors? Years ago they seemed much more responsive to us when we had questions about what they did. What has happened to eBay? Does anyone know how to get eBay to work with you when they make an error?
I decided to file complaints with the BBB on both suspensions separately to see if I could get anyone from eBay to discuss it with me. I noticed on the BBB web-site people posted things about eBay. Could not find a good one in the bunch but the BBB still gives them an "A" rating.
Are we living in the "Twilight Zone"?
Bobbi
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Also visit the Letters to the Editor Blog, here are links to letters published from September 7 to present:
Innovation Equals Complexity at eBay (September 19, 2009) Link
eBay Neglects Stores (September 17, 2009) Link
Glitches Detract from Online Selling (September 17, 2009) Link
Problem with Home Page Feature (September 14, 2009) Link
Goodbye eBay Blogs (September 13, 2009) Link
All Business, No Fun (September 7, 2009) Link
