eBay has also started to count neutrals as negatives and eBays DSR ratings are worded in such a way it makes it look as 4 stars is good enough to leave your seller when in reality, the lower the star, the worse off it will be for your seller as he/she faces impending suspension from eBay.

I believe eBay has to get rid of the seller who treats a decent buyer like rubbish and charges ridiculous postage (circumventing eBay fees) and gives a bad name in general to eBay.

However,

as Richard Ambrose, spokesman for eBay told the sellers on the Power Sellers Board, unfortunately the new rules will catch the good sellers much like dolphins getting caught in the net. Mr. Ambrose has done nothing in favour of helping those sellers who are getting negatives and neutrals from rogue buyers, he isn’t helping anyone recoup their final value fees from non paying buyers and smugly sits and watches the decent sellers flounder trying to keep their livelihood going in a market that is suddenly a feeding frenzy of rabid buyers who only sign up to hurt the sellers. In fact Mr. Ambrose has referred to the many complaints of decent, hard working sellers as “NOISE”.

eBay are fully aware of the downhill affect this is having on the sellers and tell the sellers to accept the negs that there’s nothing that can be done, knowing full well that these negs and neutrals are being left by vengeful buyers and people who have sad lives with nothing better to do than to go auction wreck someone’s sales.

It’s really sad that eBay have lost sight of who really pays the big bucks…the sellers..they pay listing fees, final value fees, shop fees and then some.

Sellers aren’t getting what they’ve paid for, not by a long shot. The listings are disastrous IF they even appear in searches. Sight visibilty sucks big time. Turbo lister and Selling Manager Pro (SMP) have such radical flaws in them that it’s a majour headache to use them these days.

Sellers were told they had to show a return time of 14 days for customers to return goods, and if the time wasn’t altered from 7 to 14 days the sellers would be in violation of eBay and government laws, so one is supposed to be able to do editing with SMP/Turbo Lister and after many sellers spent hours, and some even days trying to adjust this 14 day return policy, it just wouldn’t edit. A lot of sellers had to unlist items they had already paid to list before the changes, and pay AGAIN to list the items with the new 14 day policy. Ebay didn’t and wont reduce their fees for the glitches that affect the sellers yet they are just waiting to ‘bag’ a seller for a violation.

If sellers write to eBay’s Customer Service regarding a SMP/TL problem they’re usually replied to with a letter that is obviously copied and pasted from an eBay book, or told constantly to “Clear your cache.” eBay never admits to their technical flaws, and certainly doesn’t refund a seller any money for their lost listings.

The changes to eBay during the past few months have been dramatic. eBay sellers have responded to these changes by posting negative You-Tube videos, blogs, articles, posts, organizing boycotts and sharing their negative experiences with both eBay and PayPal.

Sellers are leaving eBay and finding other selling venues such as Amazon, Ebid and even their own web shops.

One of the worst blows is that eBay will only allow sellers to accept Paypal now. Paypal will withhold funds from sellers until they recieve a positive feedback/or just hold the payments from sellers for a period of time to help ensure that the transactions go smoothly. That is just another way for Paypal to make money. While they’re “holding” money for goods that have been sent, they will make interest on our money.

eBay used to be a place many of us looked forward to trading on. Now every day many of us dread what we’ll find when we log in.

Those who aren’t sure, usually have the foresight to look at the latest currency exchange before making International purchases.

Then there are those who go blindly into a purchase, get their item, and their bill and see that they have paid $40.00 (give or take a few dollars and cents) for a £20.00 purchase.

I’m not a mind reader and unless the Customer asks me before their purchase about exchange rates, how can I know they don’t know what they are?

Those who purchase without researching are a bit shocked to see the difference when the bill arrives. Then instead of giving proper feedback for prompt delivery, the item being as described, and postage being more than fair (most times I take up the extra cost) the buyer leaves NEUTRAL feedback because the exchange rates were too high!

It is NOT the seller’s fault for the exchange rates! In fact so many sellers bend over backwards to help alleviate these costs by discounting some of the cost or postage, sometimes both.

Chalk it up to one of the downsides of selling to International Buyers.

Most times the International Buyers are brilliant and in full understanding of these exchange rates, but it’s that tiny majority that make a seller think twice about selling again internationally. If we stop, we may lose that one fantastic buyer who doesn’t leave unfair ratings and can be the best buyer we’ve ever had.

Connundrum, connundrum.

Next week’s strike info:

Our International hub (HWDC) will be on official strike from 19.00 on Monday 6th August till 19.00 Tuesday 7th August. As a result, Royal Mail’s international services, Airsure, International Signed For and Airmail, will be subject to delays

All Regional Distribution Centres (RDCs) and our Network drivers will be on official strike from 12:00 noon Tuesday 7th August till 12:00 noon on Wednesday 8th August. There may be limited bulk mail collections but these are likely to be earlier in the day than usual

The following Mail Centres will be on official strike from 3am on Wednesday 8th August until 3am on Thursday 9th August: Gatwick; Reading and Dartford. Customers can continue to post items, as usual, on this day but we recommend posting in Post Boxes only. There will be limited business collections in these areas on Wednesday August 8th

The following delivery offices will be on official strike from 3am on Wednesday 8th August until 3am on Thursday 9th August: Crewe; Portsmouth; Gatwick; Reading; Truro; Swansea and Dartford. We regret that there will be no delivery services in these areas on Wednesday 8th August. Collections will be limited to a single collection from Post Boxes outside of Post Offices. This may be earlier than the normal advertised times

Parcelforce Worldwide’s guaranteed services will remain unaffected

Royal Mail’s Branch Direct, Sameday and Door to Door services remain unaffected

All other mail services will be subject to delay

And, just to help matters, the following mail centres are taking unofficial strike action, so if your buyers are served by any of these, they’re stuffed too:

Liverpool City Delivery Office
Chester Mail Centre
Newcastle Mail Centre
Aberdeen Mail Centre
Liverpool Mail Centre
Edinburgh Mail Centre
Kilmarnock Delivery Office
Johnstone Delivery Office
Glasgow G1 to G4 Delivery Office
Paisley Delivery Office
Glasgow G21 and G22 Delivery Office
Clarkston Delivery Office
Glasgow G41 and G42 Delivery Office
Glasgow G52 Delivery Office
Inverclyde Delivery Office
Stranraer Delivery Office
Ayr Delivery Office
Dumfries Delivery Office
Irvine Delivery Office
Motherwell Delivery Office
Edinburgh Airport
Royal Mail Scottish Distribution Centre
Glasgow Mail Centre

We’re smack dab in the middle of a majour disruption to postal services by striking workers. Right now, there’s currently a two week period of strike action taking place, with different departments of the postal service affected on different days.

This not only affects the actual days that the strikes are carried out, but it also seems to be creating a massive backlog of parcels in many areas. More and more people are complaining of slow delivery, items not being received etc.

If you’re an eBay shopper or an Internet shopper, please, please please be patient when buying items, and trust that your sellers are doing their absolute best to get your parcels to you.

Remember, sellers hands are tied because of these postal disruptions.

This (insert your adjective here) mail situation is completely beyond your seller’s control, and so very many people are experiencing delays.

Any place that sell to the public have T&C. Just because Fairy Magyk is online doesn’t negate the need for said T&C.

Sadly, there are so many scammers and dishonest people who use the anonymity of the internet to use stolen credit cards and other devious means of acquiring goods from a seller.

One way I protect my business interests is by following the guidelines set up by Paypal, which clearly state to the sellers that if you sell any item(s) to someone who has an unconfirmed address, is unverified and ineligible, then should that item go missing, or the purchaser claim it never arrived, me, as the seller wont be protected by Paypal protection policy.

I’ve had to refund 2 International purchases in the last few weeks because the buyers were at a very low feedback (3 and 0) and were marked in bright orange on my Paypal invoice that they were ineligible. I emailed both buyers asking them to follow the procedures at Paypal to become verified and never heard back from them. I refunded their money and felt a bit guilty for not shipping their items.

I shouldn’t have to feel guilty for that! I think it’s a disservice to the seller if someone just pushes the ‘BUY IT NOW’ button without reading the T&C. I’m not going to risk losing my money!

My T&C are very reasonable. They follow Ebay’s and Paypal’s rules and are there for the protection of BOTH Buyer and Seller.

To be informed is one way of making your purchase go smoothly.

Pure and Simple. Get verified. Confirm your address. Go shopping!

I expect my first one will be from the customer who didn’t pay me for weeks until after I had to begin an unpaid item dispute..and giving a negative will somehow make him/her feel better by leaving some unfair and maybe rude comment or two.

Or..will it be from a scammer, who will claim their parcel never arrived..even though the Post office’ tracing shows it has been delivered..and after they have claimed their money back..bonus..they’ve already got their goods, and try to justify their dishonesty with leaving a negative..

It will happen..as sure as it will rain in England, someone will leave the dreaded negative feedback.

You WONT see how the person who didn’t pay me for weeks, asked for more time to pay and was busy all over ebay winning bids and paying for them, while my items they had won sat, and sat, and my patience was generous until I saw that this person kept bidding and paying elsewhere.

Why do people do things like that? Why do they commit fraud by saying they didn’t get their product, get their money back and cause an honest seller to lose money, not to mention time?!?

Do the latter realize fraud is a serious crime and that a seller will start an investigation, and the post office will as well?

I’m talking about people who seem so nice, send pleasant emails and all the while have their theiving schemes all worked out?

What about a parcel that looks like the Post Office has been playing football with? It arrives, crushed, torn, or whatever and when you unwrap the parcel, your item is in pieces..Oh dear..does that warrant a negative to the seller who has painstakingly bubble wrapped and cushioned the object so carefully?

I’m waiting..and even though I’m prepared for the day..when I do get that negative feedback, how will I feel?

I believe in my good customers, and I know without a doubt that anyone who reads my feedback, and sees a negative will recognize it for what it is..sour grapes or a scammer.

I also believe that what goes around, will come back around.

Read the item description and examine the pictures carefully. If there is anything you don’t understand or would like to know more about contact the seller.

Make sure you understand what the seller’s terms are. Does the seller take personal cheques/money-postal orders? How long after the auction do I have to get payment in? Do I get the right to examine the item and send it back if I’m not happy or is it “all sales final”?

ALWAYS contact your seller with your questions BEFORE you bid. This way you wont have any unexpected surprises.

How important is feedback to you?

It’s useful for buyers who want to see what kind of seller they will be doing business with.

BUT..what about that one item that may have not been exactly what the buyer was looking or hoping for. They didn’t like it once they recieved it, or the post office lost an item and the purchaser has to wait for what seems forever to get a replacement or a refund. He/she leaves a negative feedback…sometimes in sheer frustration.

As a seller, I would hope feedback would all be positive. But I know there will come a day when I wont meet some customers’ satisfaction. Not from lack of trying, but because that one person will be very difficult to please, no matter what.
As a purchaser, I have myself wondered why some parcels take a week or longer to reach me here in the Mainland. I accept the postage cost when I make a bid and expect that the price I’m paying will give me expedient delivery. But I don’t jump to the feedback board with evil intents on making a seller look bad because he/she didn’t get my parcel to me in a reasonable amount of time.

As a seller, I understand there are glitches in everyday life, I accept that some things happen that prevent a seller from getting to the post office straight away , or that a purchaser may have to wait until payday next week, or that they had a major computer crash etc…
But, I think, if a seller had a habitual problem with shipping items on time and/or making more than £2.00 his postage, I’d simply stop using that seller.

A few negative feedbacks, depending what they were for, and based on the other positive feedback I see would not deter me from making a purchase from that seller.

HIGH UNFAIR postage costs would have a negative effect on whether I dealt with a buyer. But that’s another topic for another blog.

Stay tuned.

Now go on..tell me what you think about feedback and how important is it to you?