[LINK] Ebay vrs Bricks

Michael Skeggs mike@bystander.net mskeggs at gmail.com
Mon Jan 24 22:12:24 AEDT 2011


On 24 January 2011 21:55, Craig Sanders <cas at taz.net.au> wrote:

> <chop>
>
> and it seems quite common for sellers to punish buyers by giving
> negative feedback in response to neutral or negative feedback rather
> than in response to how well the buyer lived up to their side of the
> bargain (i.e. how fast they paid).
>
>
Ebay blocked sellers leaving negative feedback a couple of years ago. This
isn't common any more.
In my opinion, this tilts the board heavily against the seller (note I am an
ebay buyer 100 times more often than I sell anything).



>
> > standard protections if you pay by credit card, so I would suggest
> > buyers are already quite well protected.
>
> ebay's buyer protection sounds nice in theory, but it's pretty useless
> in practice. all the seller has to do is disagree with what the buyer
> says and ebay will believe them, take their side, and consider the
> matter closed. since it's not worth the expense or stress of suing
> anyone for small amounts (i.e. anything under about $5-$10K), you lose.
>
>
> I tend to pay via credit card using Paypal for most items. I have been
duded twice (funnily enough, both times for 2nd hand laptops).
The first time, about 10 years ago, ebay dawdled about refunding my money,
and suggested I owed a dispute processing fee. I just disputed the charge
with my credit card company and had a full refund.
The second time (last year) ebay refunded my money within the week, and in
full. I suspect have found it a lot easier to handle disputes since they
took over Paypal.





> > Ebay has a number of problems, but I don't think inadequate regard for
> > buyer's interests is one of them.
>
> i do.
>
> believing that ebay cares about buyers' interests is like believing that
> real estate agents care about buyers' interests (or worse, tenants'
> interests). they're the SELLER'S agents, not the buyer's (and if they
> act against their sellers' interests, then they're probably breaking the
> law in some way).
>
>
I think ebay are looking after their own interests, and care little for
buyers or sellers, but I do think they changed their approach a few years
ago to be more hostile to sellers (to avoid A Current Affair "expose" and
similar poor PR in my opinion). For example, if a buyer disputes that an
item was sent, Ebay will automatically find against the seller unless it was
sent registered post.

Regards,
Michael Skeggs



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