eBay has now become a scammers dream where dishonest buyers can con Paypal and harm legitimate sellers with absolute impunity.
I recently had a buyer who asked for a total refund because "we changed our mind" . After I reminded them the auction clearly says "no returns" they filed a bogus claim with Paypal and their brand new pristine item was now suddenly a "used, damaged piece of junk" . I responded to this with a copy of their original message to me, proof to any sane reader that there was nothing whatever wrong with the item when they first asked for a refund.
Paypal, as usual ignoring all common sense and logic, told them they could return the item for a refund. I assured the Paypal agent that this liar would either deliberately damage the item or not return it at all. Only after the buyer failed to prove the item was even shipped did Paypal deny this purely fraudulent claim.
I have since been repeated harassed by this buyer with demands for a refund and threats of a bad feedback if I don't give in to this ridiculous claim.
I will now have to dispute the inevitable bad feedback and risk losing even though I kept copies of the threatening messages, but guess what?
That's right! DSR's are anonymous, just like graffitti in a public toilet! eBay has handed cheats, liars, and greedy or spiteful buyers a perfect weapon to use against any seller who dares defend his rights and his property. As far as I know there is no way to dispute low DSR's since eBay has chosen to hide their source from the seller.
Most buyers no longer care about feedback, since they can't get a negative no matter what they do. And fewer and fewer of the happy buyers bother to leave it, since there is no incentive. Meanwhile eBay does everything in it's power to make unwarranted complaints easy and now anonymous.
And although few of the happy buyers bother, ALL of the unscrupulous, the greedy, and the just plain nasty ones make that extra effort to tarnish our reputations. Any buyer who fails to get something-for-nothing (Yes, there IS no such thing as "free shipping". It's an imaginary eBay invention to get more fees!) can hide behind a wall of anonymity and complain about the shipping they themselves agreed to pay.
And why bother reading the auction details properly? Paypal will just give you your money back and eBay will let you damage the seller's performance standing if the item you bought for $5 turns out not to be worth the $100 you thought it might.
I for one, am absolutely disgusted with eBay's heavy handed treatment of sellers and am actively looking for a way to leave the site. eBay has clearly demonstrated nothing but pure contempt for part time sellers like myself. And it's policies prove that it has no respect for fair play in the marketplace.
If you sell eBay makes money. If you don't sell eBay makes money. If you ship free eBay makes even more money. If you charge for your postage, materials and time, eBay punishes you with lower search standing. If buyers complain, no matter how frivolously, eBay takes away your seller discounts and makes more money.
If you are not a megaseller, You cannot win on eBay!
trader
