Why is it so hard to sell on eBay?

Ubbquittious

For one you have to have the absolute lowest price by a good margin or else they'll buy from some guy in the UK with more feedback. But once you get over that...


I have been on it about 15 years mostly buying different bits and pieces. Maybe 1 in 50 items I buy or 1 in 100 give trouble.


But when selling about 1 in 5 or 1 in 10 items come back to haunt me in some form. People looking for refunds, saying it didn't arrive (if they can get away with it) and various other nonsense.


Have they biased things too far in favour of the buyer now? I sold a costly enough item recently and yer man now is telling me it doesn't work. When this item comes back to me and I discover it is actually working (which I'm almost positive is the case) is there any point in using the "report buyer" function ?

Gonad

eBay is a joke . Only care about the buyer and feck the seller .

Buyer can just leave you a negative feedback without even giving you a chance to defend yourself .

There should be a case system for negative feedback where you try resolve the the issue and eBay then decide if bad feedback can be left .

For yourself in these situations rather than asking he buyer to return the item you can try offer a partial refund instead . Most people are just looking to rip you off and get something for nothing so it’s hard not to get frustrated on eBay

fritzelly

Ebay has moved in bias of the buyer in the past few years
Like any business you will always get people who are not happy
You may not be the lowest price but lots of people will pay a small premium for local delivery so they know it will be there a few days later vs buying from China and waiting for a month and more
So it depends on what you are selling.
On ebay if you are ever selling anything the slightest bit expensive you should be sending by registered post - alas competing against UK sellers selling into Ireland for example you will find their registered post prices to Ireland are considerably cheaper than vice versa

Discodog

I have sold on ebay but our postage costs make it difficult to be competitive. You can't quote the true postage cost in the listing otherwise people will think they are being ripped off.