Why I Hate Ebay

[steamloco76]

Anyone who has purchased a gun or accessory from me using this forum's classifieds, or other online forum classifieds knows my descriptions are accurate and conservative, I ship quickly at a fair charge and answer questions quickly.

Some things just don't sell here, so I use Ebay. Recently Ebay and PayPal have changed the rules on sellers. They used to release your money as soon as USPS or FedEx tracking showed items as delivered. Now the item must show as delivered and the buyer must leave you feedback before the money is freed. If the buyer doesn't leave feedback, they hold you money for five to seven more days.

Under the old rules, all but one buyer left me immediate, positive five star feedback. Under the new rules I have yet to have a single buyer leave me feedback! Eight buyers and not one single feedback. Four of the buyers PM'd me to say they like their purchase, but never left feedback. I know darn well they are doing it just to tie up the money for a while longer. Ebay even deducted my seller and final value fees from my PayPal account before payment for items I sold last month was released. What scam.

 

[raver]

I always thought Paypal was shady as hell. They're acting as a bank, without actually BEING one. Thus avoiding being held accountable to the fed. They've been taken to court more times than I can count, and have now banned their active customers from forming class-action lawsuits. That should tell you something, right there.

 

[pownal55]

For every dollar of yours they hold back is interest drawn on their account. Multiply that by thousands and you see what's going on. I never sell on Ebay if I have a choice.

 

[swilli41]

I've stopped buying anything on eBay since PayPal has become almost mandatory. I'm much more comfortable sending a money order to the seller and waiting a little longer for shipment. A few buyers will accept a M.O., but most tell you that eBay requires PayPal....period.

 

[kozmic]

I too am neither a fan of Ebay nor of PayPal. I do browse Ebay, but try like heck to buy whatever I need elsewhere. The last time I used PayPal was to make a donation to this forum. Next year I will use one of the other options and not PayPal. I would much rather pay via personal check, bank draft or money order and wait until the payment clears if needed.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

Thanks for the heads up. Be some time since I got in anything from EB- but when I do, I deal DIRECTLY with seller of KNOWN to me quality of history, such as B&H and use a card.

 

[MPSGT]

I've stopped buying anything on eBay since PayPal has become almost mandatory. I'm much more comfortable sending a money order to the seller and waiting a little longer for shipment. A few buyers will accept a M.O., but most tell you that eBay requires PayPal....period.

For many years I did all my purchasing on Ebay via money order but not too long ago when I told one seller that I didn't have a pay pal account and preferred not to deal with them he refused to sell to me and actually insinuated that I must be dishonest. I guess what goes around, comes around and now pay pal has the upper hand . . . Just saying. And, lets face it, Ebay is not what it used to be anyway. Have you seen the ridiculous asking prices???

 

[ibewbull]

I was not aware of the lays in payments.
I have used paypal for some deals on our forum and no one complained.
I am a distance from post office and with their reduced hours it is difficult to get things done in one trip to town. Gas is not free.
Seems a personal check is not preferred now a days.
Credit card fees add to cost.
There is no real win here which ever rout we go.
The M 49 I won on GB last week has no action on my part yet since the USPS was closed on Presidents Day. So 4 days are lost here.
I wish we had a real president.
Well I will quit my rant before I get too carried away.
As for feed back and holding payments. I suggest posting that in the sellers description then maybe the buyer will get on the stick with FB.

 

[soccerguy83]

Agreed, I have been keeping a daily eye out for a deal on a reloading press and a good majority are over MSRP on a NEW press with very little rational for the price. Some do include multiple dies and shell plates, but most do not!

 

[skrazo]

In the last few months, I have bought a couple items on fee_bay that I could not find elsewhere. Interesting..........the sellers did not leave me any feedback. I paid with PayPal almost immediately after the auction closed. I have looked at other online auction services, but they don't seem any better than fee_bay. So, we just have to choose our poison and move on.

 

[srsmyth]

I won't even look at Ebay anymore, ever since the coercion to use Pay Pal.

 

[chief38]

Not to mention the fact that originally you could choose your method of payment like Postal M.O; Bank Check etc. NOW you MUST go through Paypal, wait for your money, and pay absorbent fees! Yes it is a scam and until there is serious competition ebay will continue their restrictive rules and ridiculous fees without the use of any grease!

IMHO they are NOT doing all that great anymore. There are a lot of items listed there but there are also a lot that never sell. I suspect that GB, Craigs List and others as well as "our great economy" has stymied sales quite a bit. Also buyers have gotten much more savvy and have found as I have that MANY MANY times you can buy the exact same item brand new from a legitimate retailer cheaper than the stuff they sell on fleebay. You just have to do your homework!

 

[zzzippper]

I've had sellers bug me for feedback before I even get the item. One seller told me it was an ebay auto-function. I know that sellers poop their pants if they get less than stellar ratings.

 

[H Richard]

What bugs me is how can you leave feedback "before receiving the item"? I haven't participated in ebay since paypal became mandatory. I do en-devour to leave feedback on Gunbroker as soon as I receive the item.

 

[the ringo kid]

I've stopped buying anything on eBay since PayPal has become almost mandatory. I'm much more comfortable sending a money order to the seller and waiting a little longer for shipment. A few buyers will accept a M.O., but most tell you that eBay requires PayPal....period.

Once established a relationship with most sellers-they will gladly deal off line avoiding giving that much more to ebay. Thats how I deal with about 99% of what I buy.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I buy on eBay. And I pay using Paypal. They are a bunch that needs watching! I pay my Paypal with a credit card. They keep wanting me to give them access to my checking account. When pigs fly! It supposed to be for my protection. Yeah, right.
Only one other person has access to my money. And I have known her for quite a while. That would be my daughter.

 

[S&WIowegan]

There's a lot of reasons for what they're doing. First is they got so many complaints about crooked sellers they switched to high protection for buyers(and paypal gets the float). They try anything to get the EPS up and raise their stock price.

The big message here though comes from the CEO who states he is moving toward the Amazon model as fast as he can. Ebay is gradually squeezing small sellers out of the game with high fees. It'll be interesting to see if they can be Amazon II....not so easy since that is a huge warehousing and shipping project!! Maybe we should all sell Ebay stock short.

 

[SW_shooter]

I'm not going to bash eBay. I use it for an occasional purchase when I find something I want bad enough or can't find anywhere else. I do a lot of looking and like so many places on the web I laugh a lot. People post things for sale and put ridiculous prices on them (even here). I'm not going to claim to always buy cheaper than anyone else, but I do avoid things that are priced considerably higher than I see other places.

As to PayPal, well I use it and don't have any gripes from a buyers perspective. The charity I am part of uses it to collect donations from people so we like it very much as it allows people to make donations to use easily and we can then transfer the funds to our bank.

I'm a firm believer in "if you don't like it, don't do it".

 

[steamloco76]

My round of selling which made me post my original rant started with a rifle scope and two sets of fancy wood grips for Rugers, all were items I tried to sell here and on the Ruger Forums. The scope sold for good money, however ebay says I'd clicked on the "Donate % to charity" button-which I don't remember doing- so I had to give 25% of my sale price to the World Hunger Org. The Ruger grips went for less than $30 shipping included. I used a reserve so that cost me $2 each, then the final sale fee which is now calculated on postage too. When those fees are deducted from my PayPal, PayPal charges me 4% for the pleasure.
Currently I have camera bodies, lenses and a motor drive on ebay. Nothing is bidding-up high, but at least all but one item have received the minimum sale bid. I've shipped three items, but USPS is on a slow kick- all were 2 day priority. It has been six days for one item and four and counting for the others. One of the buyers will be a fungus and give me a bad mark for slow shipping. Hey-if you want FedEx overnight,pay me the $50..

 

[venomballistics]

Gave up on Ebay years ago.
After the great bullet ban .. I tried to adapt and at every turn they'd change something and bust my moxie all over again.
I've branched off into things I could sell there, but won't. I hate the transaction policies, and terms one must put up with as a seller.
I often wonder why they have sellers at all. There must be some double standard involved to support their chosen ones.