Anyone think ebay has gone downhill?

keefg

I haven't used ebay for a good while, until recently and it seems to have changed for the worse.

It seems that no (or few) sellers will leave you any feedback until you leave them positive feedback first, which in my mind totally undermines the feedback function as a lot of people are to scared to leave sellers any neg feedback just incase their own feedback % is ruined.

Also the pop up ads are more frequent and annoying.

IMO ebay is not as fun/pleasant of an environment as it once was, you need to be increasingly aware of dodgy sellers. Shame.

anyone else feel the same?

Our man in Havana

It seems that no (or few) sellers will leave you any feedback until you leave them positive feedback first, which in my mind totally undermines the feedback function as a lot of people are to scared to leave sellers any neg feedback just incase their own feedback % is ruined.

This is the major flaw with the whole setup. Feedback needs to be radically overhauled to restore buyer confidence. The sellers have too much power. I believe that once a buyer has paid on time he has fulfilled his end of the deal and should receive pos feedback at that stage.

Ebay don't care as they don't want to upset the sellers who provide their revenue.

keefg

Bond-007 wrote: »

I believe that once a buyer has paid on time he has fulfilled his end of the deal and should receive pos feedback at that stage.

Ebay don't care as they don't want to upset the sellers who provide their revenue.

I totally agree with both points.

I will never use it again for anything other than books, cds or other cheap items. Too much risk involved buying anything electronic or anything of high value on it.

eamon234

I agree I've been using eBay buying and selling since day one and I got caught for the first time last week! Bought a (new) phone off this plonker and he sends me an old UK simlocked piece of crap after numerous emails with him promising to refund he now is no longer a registered user and when I tried to claim back on Paypal it says the item isn't covered even though it says so on the auction page.
They just make it way too easy for these guys - for example you're not supposed to be able to list an item for sale in a different country to you but you can - so if I'm doing an Ireland only search I still get bombarded with rubbish from all over the place - it's just too big now and they obviously can't control it.
With regard to feedback - as a seller I have found lately that people aren't bothering to leave feedback even if the transaction went ok so on my last few I have stated that feedback wouldn't be given until I received mine. I don't sell much though just a few bits and bobs.
And sweet Jesus has anyone tried the community forums? Seems to be constantly full of unhelpful arrogant self centred w*nkers (sorry if there's anyone reading who isn't - I exclude Boards members )
I'm sticking to Adverts from now on

dobsdave

Last time I bought something (December), I was asked to rate the seller on numerous points from postage to quality etc.
The feedback was anomynous.Is this the norm?

Our man in Havana

Yes. It's a new system they have. Yes it is completly anonymous.

sternn

Having only bought one item, and that ending up being a fake http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055216724 i am now of the mind that the majority of sellers on ebay are selling chineese/japineese imports (electronics that is)
I thought in my case, with the seller being a registered user for over a year in Ireland that i was safe, but he did have very limited feedback. But i was a lucky one, and got my money completely refunded. Now that the item has been deleted, i am unable to leave the negative feedback but I have reported him to ebay as selling fraudulent items.
To be honest, this incident has really put me off buying anything on ebay. I bought a small cheap item about a week ago, and am still waiting on that. So hopefully i wont have the same problem.

And yes, i do agree with the flaws that are in the feedback system. Now that he has refunded me the money, I am no longer able to leave negative feedback on his account, which means i cant warn anyone else that might be lured into purchasing off this guy. I consider myself lucky that he didnt do a runner, which seems to have happened to numerous people.

quinnray

I agree ebay has gone to crap recently.
The feedback system doesn't work.
However as a seller I don't leave feedback for a buyer until I have received.
This is a safeguard for myself, because if, for example an item gets lost/damaged in
the post, and I replace/repair/refund it (my responsibility). Even in such cases some newbie buyers will leave neg feedback.
As a buyer if I am happy with the item I give pos feedback and expect the same in return. I think it's the right protocol.

As for paypal.. bunch of thiefs.. I had the same experience as eamon234 above.
Paypal automatically close the case and you cannot re-open or get any assistance.
The best option I have found is to go direct to my cc company and chargeback.

Wertz

Feedback has always been like that since I started using it. I agree it's a flawed system but I can understand why even legit sellers won't leave FB until they get their's
Needs an overhaul, won't gte it.

As for it going downhill, I suppose it depends what you're buying, from where and from who...I got 3 items last night for about €80 all in (inc delivery) from a US seller...to buy them on ebay.ie or UK and especially to buy them in a shop would have cost me at least €200 (€300+ in the "high st"). It takes some digging around and a few eMails to get people to post outside the US but it's always worth it.
Someone made the comment about not being allowed list in a different county...but if you list your item for worldwide sale and the search preferences are set to wroldwide, then those items will show up.
eBay.ie is sh*te in my limited experience of it.....co.uk has a far wider selection, less apparant scams that I can tell...the only thing is it has a lot of sellers who charge insane postal rates for the short trip across the water the item takes.

jor el

keefg wrote: »

It seems that no (or few) sellers will leave you any feedback until you leave them positive feedback first, which in my mind totally undermines the feedback function as a lot of people are to scared to leave sellers any neg feedback just incase their own feedback % is ruined.

That's pretty much the way it's been since I started using eBay about 4 years ago anyway. Only 2 out of about 50 sellers left me +feedback after I paid and before I left any for them.

quinnray wrote: »

However as a seller I don't leave feedback for a buyer until I have received.
This is a safeguard for myself, because if, for example an item gets lost/damaged in
the post, and I replace/repair/refund it (my responsibility). Even in such cases some newbie buyers will leave neg feedback.
As a buyer if I am happy with the item I give pos feedback and expect the same in return. I think it's the right protocol.

This does lead to sellers basically holding feedback to ransom though, with the threat of negative feedback for any buyer that (legitimately) leaves negative for a seller.

The whole system needs to be overhauled. As you rightly point out, some newbie buyers will leave negative comments for sellers because something goes missing in the post, or because it doesn't turn up the next day. eBay needs to keep closer control over the system, and remove unwarranted negative comments and even penalise those who do it.

I can't see it happening though.

As for eBay going down hill, I'm not so sure. There's a lot of crap and knockoff items being sold as real/new and there's quite a few scammers on it, but you can get some good stuff on it. It's not the ultimate bargain grounds that some people report it to be though, far from IMO. You just have to be careful.

I still use .co.uk, .ie does seem to have far fewer selections available.

yoyo

I'm still waiting for a seller to leave me possitive feedback, left his like 2 weeks ago, emailed him asking for it and still hasnt left it :P I agree the feedback system is a flaw due to sellers only leaving feedback once you leave it for them but at least they have the anonymous thing in (I was told a item would be posted 24hours after payment on the 27th Dec, but it was only posted 8th Jan!), so I left good feedback but 1 star for delivery

Nick

Colonel Sanders

yoyo wrote: »

I'm still waiting for a seller to leave me possitive feedback, left his like 2 weeks ago, emailed him asking for it and still hasnt left it :P I agree the feedback system is a flaw due to sellers only leaving feedback once you leave it for them but at least they have the anonymous thing in (I was told a item would be posted 24hours after payment on the 27th Dec, but it was only posted 8th Jan!), so I left good feedback but 1 star for delivery

Nick

problem is a lot of people have 4.5 for say postage costs when their P&P charges are an outrageous rip off. Not sure if people realise the fact its anonomous.

The feedback system needs a major over haul. Not sure how but a buyer needs to be able to leave deserved negatives without the threat of retalitory feedback from a seller. Surely ebay can look and see that a buyer has fulfilled their obligations and can null undeserved negatives if a paypal account can show an item was paid for immediately.

yoyo

Colonel Sanders wrote: »

problem is a lot of people have 4.5 for say postage costs when their P&P charges are an outrageous rip off. Not sure if people realise the fact its anonomous.

The feedback system needs a major over haul. Not sure how but a buyer needs to be able to leave deserved negatives without the threat of retalitory feedback from a seller. Surely ebay can look and see that a buyer has fulfilled their obligations and can null undeserved negatives if a paypal account can show an item was paid for immediately.

Was £2.99 for postage of a game, seemed reasonable enough, he did only pay £1.57 for the actual stamp, but in fairness the time it takes to get down to post office and get envelope I dont mind that, I tend to ignore fellas who purposely have buy it now items @ .99p and then £13 postage lol! That is another thing ebay should ban, postage should only be postage charges, not a way to sneak in additional cost :P

Nick

Monotype

yoyo wrote: »

Was £2.99 for postage of a game, seemed reasonable enough, he did only pay £1.57 for the actual stamp, but in fairness the time it takes to get down to post office and get envelope I dont mind that, I tend to ignore fellas who purposely have buy it now items @ .99p and then £13 postage lol! That is another thing ebay should ban, postage should only be postage charges, not a way to sneak in additional cost :P

Nick

Ebay has banned that - they just haven't enforced it.
It doesn't bother me much - I compare any items in postage and price before buying.

Nody

yoyo wrote: »

Was £2.99 for postage of a game, seemed reasonable enough, he did only pay £1.57 for the actual stamp, but in fairness the time it takes to get down to post office and get envelope I dont mind that, I tend to ignore fellas who purposely have buy it now items @ .99p and then £13 postage lol! That is another thing ebay should ban, postage should only be postage charges, not a way to sneak in additional cost :P

Well the seller could also put it up for £15 and 99p postage if you prefer to pay Ebay more money (as the seller will need to get his profit regardless of the Ebay fees).

jor el

yoyo wrote: »

I tend to ignore fellas who purposely have buy it now items @ .99p and then £13 postage lol!

They're normally the ones I buy from. Overall, the price is usually cheaper this way when you add the cost of delivery to the item. It's more often a good way to keep the price to the buyer down, rather than a sneaky way of adding in additional profit for the seller.

byte

What I'd like to see is if sellers choose to post to UK and Europe, that they're forced to put in a postage cost to these locations. It's a pain when many sellers don't put in postage costs outside their home country, even if they say they'll ship to others.

Musha

I just starting selling/advertising on ebay, I am taking the view that everyone looks on ebay first for an item they are looking for... as a business I cannot use adverts.ie on the shipping you have to bank in a certain amount for handling.. post office run.. courier company run boxes tape address printing etc but centainly no more than €2 per item the stuff i am selling is €200+ one item is €15 for delivery other is €30 but it does weigh about 70kgs not many couriers will take that weigh without costing an arm and leg ... also just started using they classified ads service
heres hoping for good feedback

Wertz

byte wrote: »

What I'd like to see is if sellers choose to post to UK and Europe, that they're forced to put in a postage cost to these locations. It's a pain when many sellers don't put in postage costs outside their home country, even if they say they'll ship to others.

I've often thought that some sort of weight and/or size entry field for sellers linked to a calulator for the local post service/couier company's could iron out some of the overcharging problems. Nearly all post offices and couriers have fee calculators on their own sites and given the custom they receive from eBay sales, it would be in their interest to make things as efficient as possible.
...and sellers should allow buyers to specify their shipping options. Not every item requires signing for or insurance.
I can understand sellers wanting to use a shipping service that verifies delivery, but on far too many occasions ytou'll pay for signed-for or registered only to be fobbed off with normal airmail/1st/2nd class post with sellers pocketing the difference.
It couldn't be that hard to set up and would work in eBay's favour WRT fee avoidance...

Colonel Sanders

yoyo wrote: »

Was £2.99 for postage of a game, seemed reasonable enough, he did only pay £1.57 for the actual stamp, but in fairness the time it takes to get down to post office and get envelope I dont mind that, I tend to ignore fellas who purposely have buy it now items @ .99p and then £13 postage lol! That is another thing ebay should ban, postage should only be postage charges, not a way to sneak in additional cost :P

Nick

I wouldn't cry over a euro or 2 in the difference but once bought an elctric toothbrush, postage was £13, actual postage cost was £5. Thats a ridiculous rip off.

Btw it is against ebay rules to overcharge for postage as ebay fees are not collected on P&P but ebay don't care. Its sellers who pay fees not buyers so they couldn't care less about buyers.

mike65

If the postage is stoopid don't buy. Obvious but true. I agree about UK suppliers not selling to ROI addys after all they'll send to NI! That said sometimes, if you inquire, it turns out they are happy to post.

Mike.

A Dub in Glasgo

I will not send to RoI addresses if people decide to use paypal as those addresses are not confirmed

eoinhealy

Bond-007 wrote: »

This is the major flaw with the whole setup. Feedback needs to be radically overhauled to restore buyer confidence. The sellers have too much power. I believe that once a buyer has paid on time he has fulfilled his end of the deal and should receive pos feedback at that stage.

Ebay don't care as they don't want to upset the sellers who provide their revenue.

Ebay (Who ownes PayPal) Dont care about their sellers, they p**s of more and more sellers ever single day. Since eBay purchased PayPal the two of them have gone to the dogs!

Take a read of this!

www.paypalwarning.com :eek:

You might feel a little differently after you spend some time on that site.

super_furry

yoyo wrote: »

I'm still waiting for a seller to leave me possitive feedback, left his like 2 weeks ago, emailed him asking for it and still hasnt left it :P I agree the feedback system is a flaw due to sellers only leaving feedback once you leave it for them but at least they have the anonymous thing in (I was told a item would be posted 24hours after payment on the 27th Dec, but it was only posted 8th Jan!), so I left good feedback but 1 star for delivery

Nick

See now I'd leave bad feedback or at least neutral for that. He's promising a service that you're paying for but not getting.

A Dub in Glasgo

So would I

ednwireland

i used ebay a fair bit over the years but first paypal wouldnt let me use my credit card without sending them copies of bills bank statements etc the a couple of weeks ago i had my ebay account hacked and password changed (i know this cos i have a hotmail account with same user /pass and it was got at too) ebay seem to have no way of dealing with this. i doubt i will be using ebay much anymore just cant trust anything about it or paypal anymore.
also you dont seem to see the bargains anymore its all crap and fakes now . i doubt any legit business is using it for anything apart from loss leading and getting you onto their real website (was talking with someone about this last week and this was his attitude) the only other guy i met who was a power seller wasn't paying tax and thats how he made money the whole system seems flawed to me

Timmaay

Worst thing about buying from the uk/us is paypal, its exchange rate is crap. Paypal "doesn't charge the buyer any fees" my arse, it offers an exchange rate which is about 2.5% off the actual rate, and pockets that 2.5%.

The only good thing about US sellers starting auctions at .99c and charging crazy deliverys is that you pay less for the actual product and then are less lightly to be over the €45 customs limit (when the seller marks them as gifts).

Nody

Timmaay wrote: »

Worst thing about buying from the uk/us is paypal, its exchange rate is crap. Paypal "doesn't charge the buyer any fees" my arse, it offers an exchange rate which is about 2.5% off the actual rate, and pockets that 2.5%.

Then charge it in the local currency and take the hit on your credit card, what's the problem? I can't recall having any problems charging pounds directly to my euro credit card with paypal before.

rubadub

Timmaay wrote: »

Worst thing about buying from the uk/us is paypal, its exchange rate is crap. Paypal "doesn't charge the buyer any fees" my arse, it offers an exchange rate which is about 2.5% off the actual rate, and pockets that 2.5%..

I hate paypal, but am not bothered with the exhange rate too much. What are you calling the "actual rate", I hope it is not XE.coms rate, if you are do you really think anybody gets that actual rate? Do you really think you could go into your local bank and get money after fees etc for the rate they give? Even excluding fees you dont get it. I know plenty of people working in banks who get free exchanges, you never get the published rate on XE or on the news.

Then charge it in the local currency and take the hit on your credit card, what's the problem? I can't recall having any problems charging pounds directly to my euro credit card with paypal before.

Yep, you could do that, and could end up worse off, I know my CC would charge 2 or 2.5% for any currency change like that, ONTOP of a crap rate nowhere near XE's

As for ebay, it is shocking the stuff they are missing, simple things like being able to sort by lowest price first (including the shipping to your country), and the inclusion of "paypal only to confirmed addresses" in the auction listing and search function.

rubadub

yoyo wrote: »

I tend to ignore fellas who purposely have buy it now items @ .99p and then £13 postage lol! That is another thing ebay should ban, postage should only be postage charges, not a way to sneak in additional cost :P

Then you could be missing out on good bargains. if 2 guys buy a product at the same price, and want to make the same profit, then the guy with the high postage will be cheaper. Simple maths, think about what is happening.

I actively search for high post/low price combos. And I am delighted that ebay are incompetent at enforcing the rules about it.

jor el

Nody wrote: »

Then charge it in the local currency and take the hit on your credit card, what's the problem? I can't recall having any problems charging pounds directly to my euro credit card with paypal before.

For those who don't know how to do this, here's how. When sending a payment and you get the the confirmation screen, you'll be shown a summary like this:

Payment Method:
Credit/Debit Card: €1.40 EUR from Visa XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-1234
[URL="http://"]More Funding Options[/URL]

PayPal's Exchange Rate as of Jan. 24, 2008:
1 Euro = 0.715781 British Pounds
[URL="http://"]Conversion options[/URL]

Click the link that says Conversion Options, and change from Paypals exchange rate to Card. You won't know what rate you'll be getting though, plus all credit cards apply a charge for non-euro currency conversion. This could be anything from 1-2.5% typically.

I think the difference will be negligible, unless you're paying thousands, and you know up front what the credit card rate is on the day, then you could compare the difference.