10 REASONS TO AVOID THE CESSPIT AKA EBAY !!

1. Scam and low integrity sellers. NOT EBAY’S FAULT, although they need to do a much better job of policing their sellers and removing scam accounts. On average, as a very high volume buyer, about 8% of my purchases have some kind of issue, most of them minor. It is then up to me to work it out with the seller. VeryThe Absolute 10 Worst Things about EBay.

1. Scam and low integrity sellers. NOT EBAY’S FAULT, although they need to do a much better job of policing limited access to the buyer, where a customer service rep is almost never available, makes this challenging on about 20% of my inquiries.

2. Extremely limited choices, especially when seeking returns and assistance. The “one size fits all” can fail miserably if your problem or situation falls outside EBay’s very limited parameters. NO PHONE SERVICE IS AVAILABLE. NO ACTUAL CUSTOMER SERVICE IS AVAILABLE. Your only option is to use their defective system.  It is like trying to get customer service out of a robot. Often there are only a few choices in a world of infinite possibilities. Seek help on YouTube with “how to” videos.

3. Misrepresentation of products sold. You see a picture of 2 items thinking that you will be getting a 2 pack and then only one arrives. You may have not read the fine print near the bottom of the page. If that happens choose “Return Item” and then choose ” Doesn’t match description or photos” to process your return. EBay will most often issue a pre-paid return label and then send it back. Also, lower quality **bleep** substitutes are often sent. If that is the case use above and send it back.

4. Completely bogus hijacked seller accounts. Sometimes created by bots, if it seems too good to be true it probably is, so ask yourself, “How can this seller make any profit selling at this price?” If a $500 item is $69 then it is most likely fake, so use your common sense when shopping. EBay also does very questionable accounting, removing information on purchases without the buyer’s consent, making it incredibly difficult to apply for a refund, an AVOIDANCE action that EBAY uses to prevent having to pay out on their guarantee.  Disgusting.

5. Difficult to Know hidden fees, like some shipping, sales tax, processing, and returns. If you change your mind, which over 20% of persons do after purchase, your options are limited. To be fair, very long distance shipping does carry some risk and responsibility upon the buyer. I will often place items in my cart and choose “Save for later.” If I do not place them back into my cart a second time, then perhaps that is something that I can wait upon or do without completely. Sales tax is legal, sometimes charged by the seller’s state, which you cannot control. The majority of times you save the sales tax, although that is currently changing. Switching your purchase to another seller can sometimes remove the sales tax.

6. Calling EBay for help is not an option. EBay wants to force you to use their system at all times, so learn their system and the few idiosyncratic glitches you may need to navigate around. YouTube can help greatly in this regard. I do not want to misrepresent anything; most of the time the system works only OK under a variety of circumstances.

It has grown even more difficult recently. I personally have switched 50% of my business to Amazon. I will be getting out of Ebay all together within one year.

7. Selling on Ebay has many challenges. Buyers can be unreasonably demanding. Perhaps they hit upon one or more scam sellers in the past and assume that you are going to do the same thing. The real cost of selling on EBay is about 22%, which can be hard to cover if you are selling a low profit item. EBay charges you a very reasonable 11%, then your shipping costs and then PayPal adds credit card fees. Sellers that charge high shipping fees do not do well in general. These days, everyone expects free shipping.

8. PayPal accounting is very difficult to understand. It is also very incomplete, slower than molasses going uphill in January, and holds back your payments for up to one week. Monthly statements are a bad joke played upon the consumer; it is poor 5th grade level accounting at best. If PayPal is shorting my account, or double charging me, I simply cannot tell exactly. To be fair, most likely they are not, only the uncertainty can be maddening. For this reason I limit my exposure with them and never leave excess money in my account. Transferring money to your bank is very easy and simple to understand.  Additionally, PayPal has now removed all access to information on items being purchased, there is no longer any description of what you have purchased – only a number string that is almost meaningless. I honestly cannot imagine why EBay thinks that keeping everyone in the dark is beneficial to business . This only forces buyers to use customer service on simple transactions that they easily could have differentiated themselves. Literally these are corporate dummies making the decisions who are making life difficult for everyone.

9. EBay consumer trust is questionable for good reason. I cannot count the number of times I suggest to buy on EBay and hear back, “I will never shop there!” EBay is fully aware of the problem and does work upon solutions. The difficulty here is that people can create problems faster than EBay can solve them realistically. One of the downsides is that international sellers do business here like they would in Asia, Africa and elsewhere. This does not always fit in the US marketplace, where the standards are much higher. Communication can be a big issue. Shop carefully and check out the seller’s profile always.

10. Ego among EBay sellers can make life difficult for the consumer. If you think that you are God’s gift to Earth, then you may be a menace. Marketplace participants can manipulate and avoid taking responsibility for their actions. Not Ebay’s fault, in the last few years, seller’s integrity has been an issue and it seems to be on the increase. EBay is tightening standards, only this is a massive problem beyond their complete control. You can help by maintaining a very high integrity profile. EBay has to keep a balance between hands off and take action, which is not easy to do in all circumstances. EBay does not often take kindly to critical feedback. After writing dozens of times the only response I have received is that you can be part of an unpaid position on the “EBay council.”