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How do Ebay and PayPal get away with it?

by allthesp
20 replies
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I sold something on eBay. I paid $10 for shipping, $6 in fees. The buyer then decided they didn't want it and made some totally BS excuse about how the item was not as described ("the cuffs are different than I was expecting"). They requested a partial refund for the "misleading" information of the listing, created a dispute, and won. PayPal froze MORE money than the initial payment and then took MORE money to refund the lady ($2.01 more) and then somehow charged me for the return shipping ($6.58). To make matters worse, they even NEGATED the credit I had on my account ($5.58).

Total cost of the transaction: $30

Ebay is an unbelievable company. Paypal is even worse.
  • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
    I feel your pain. If there was a competitive alternative I'd use it in a second but for now, if we want to use eBay, we have to put up with this crap.
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    "Ebay is an unbelievable company. Paypal is even worse. "

    They are the same company.
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  • Profile picture of the author dustoff
    I know what you mean. I stopped doing business on ebay on the large scale. I had a store, auctions the whole bit and went through many changes with them and decided to move to a smaller store front and do my own thing. I still use paypal but not on the same scale as a year ago.

    Since pp is owned by ebay you don't have a lot of options as far as payment.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    If you sent it, and they got it, and your ad was honest, legally they should DISMISS the dispute!

    IF your ad was materially wrong, then the customer should get a 100% refund after they send it back to you. That would set you back approx 28.58($10+6+6.58+6) plus the sale price. Did you sell it for $1.42!?!?

    If the cuffs look different from the picture, you should mention it.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author allthesp
      The ad wasn't "materially wrong", thus my complaint here.

      Also, I sold it for $59. I spent:
      $8 shipping
      $6 fees
      $2 Ebay somehow took out of the account to process the dispute
      $6.58 return shipping I was somehow assessed in my account area
      $5.58 credit they removed

      I don't know if the last two figures are related to the transaction, but they removed the credit and mysteriously charged me $6.58 for the dispute.

      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      If you sent it, and they got it, and your ad was honest, legally they should DISMISS the dispute!

      IF your ad was materially wrong, then the customer should get a 100% refund after they send it back to you. That would set you back approx 28.58($10+6+6.58+6) plus the sale price. Did you sell it for $1.42!?!?

      If the cuffs look different from the picture, you should mention it.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author diver351
        Ebay and Paypal, now of course the same company.
        They are without doubt the least customer focused, customer friendly company's on the whole web.
        Earlier this year I went away on holiday and on my return I noticed that Paypal had for some reason not paid themselves (ebay) fees which I had set up for auto payment, I also noted that I had other fees that would soon be due, these amounts totaled over £200 so I paid the lot as 1 manual payment. Paypal contradicted themselves several times as to why they did not make the payment, even telling me that I had instructed them to stop auto payment.
        The next thing I know is that they started auto payments again and paid the fees that I had already paid. I contacted Ebay for a credit, they refered me to Paypal, they refered me to Ebay. I am still in dispute with them as we speak.
        Because I am in dispute Paypal have now put any payments that I recieve through them on 21 day temp hold. These people are crooks and should be doing jail time.
        The sooner these people are brought to book for their actions the better any competition to these would get so much good will before they even started but I suppose at the moment we are stuck with them.

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author shankywanky
          Amazing facts never thought about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Recession_Proof
    I have found that while ebay maybe ok for testing markets they suck in every other way.

    Even when you use the classified listings, you can technically use a different payment processor other than paypal. I liked the idea..so I use what else the ever amazing Google Checkout....

    But whoa..Ebay knew folks would do this and they now give you a message that Google Checkout is not allowed. The dirty bas@#$ds.
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  • Profile picture of the author sarahberra
    The fees are just too much. This is why I don't shop on eBay that often anymore. I like craigslist and Amazon has really great deals. I think Amazon has taken the place of eBay for me.
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    • Profile picture of the author allthesp
      I like Craigslist and Amazon also. I hate to say it, but I will probably continue to buy off of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rough Outline
    eBay always backs the seller, always, even when they are in the wrong.

    eBay doesn't care at all, they make a load of money, screw the small guy, no one bats an eyelid and everything carries on the same.

    Ditto for paypal.
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    • Profile picture of the author Aj Wilson
      Originally Posted by Rough Outline Writing View Post

      eBay always backs the seller, always, even when they are in the wrong.

      eBay doesn't care at all, they make a load of money, screw the small guy, no one bats an eyelid and everything carries on the same.

      Ditto for paypal.
      I think you mean eBay always backs the buyer.
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  • Profile picture of the author allthesp
    Update:

    How did the buyer leave feedback? She left my first negative feedback. Is there any way to dispute that?
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    • Profile picture of the author salegurus
      Originally Posted by allthesp View Post

      Update:

      How did the buyer leave feedback? She left my first negative feedback. Is there any way to dispute that?
      Sorry, you are out of luck. There is no way stealbay is going to reverse the neg for you. Your only hope is to try and get the buyer to do it, but from what you've said i think your chances are not so great.

      I used to do $3000 to $7000 sales per month on ebay, but ebay and paypal fees are so high now that there is no margin for profit (electronics) so i gave it up.
      Example:
      Sell a laptop for $937
      ebay takes $47
      Paypal $29
      Total $76

      Also serial refunders and scamers are all over ebay making it unpleasant to do business there, sellers get no support from ebay/paypal and they can do with your account as they see fit.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    They've definitely got their own little country going. I can understand that they want some funds kept back for refunding, but to just freeze an account completely should be just illegal. However - to me it's an indication that they might have gotten swamped with refund requests that the seller wouldn't honor enough that they just put a whammy down on crap dealers.

    I'm also wondering if they didn't go through a drop in sales enough to spur the reaction that buyers can say anything, and the seller has no way to respond. They are creating a pure buyers market and they are going to see a drop on the seller side if they don't start equalizing the system soon.

    Guess that Whitman is too busy running for gov to notice that people are carping about the system and going to other services.
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  • Profile picture of the author Silas Hart
    eBay is at a point in their business history when they are actually hurting, and they don't have a reason to other than as a reaction to the way they have shaped and molded eBay/PayPal and how it works.

    eBay has really made some over complicated choices that have resulted in removing smaller sellers, which has lowered the wide range of items that sell and thus lowers the amount of possible buyers.

    I switched my eBay business into a multicommerce business, running one main eCommerce website, several niche websites, and then operating on Amazon and Bonanzle, and a couple others here and there... eBay is no longer the core of my business, my eCommerce website is. Next is Amazon. Theoretically, eBay should be... but they aren't.
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  • Profile picture of the author salegurus
    Actually Meg Whitman ran ebay quite well, it's only when John Donahoe took over that things started falling apart. His "vision" of ebay has let to a lot of dissatisfaction from small volume sellers. And lets just say he is not very popular on the ebay sellers forum.

    Just to be fair there were a lot of bad sellers on ebay and something had to be done to protect buyers but Donahue has simply gone too far and the pendulum has swung way too far in the opposite direction.
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    • Profile picture of the author allthesp
      Ebay's model has shifted tremendously since I first began using it. I now feel like they are a less efficient Amazon.

      I am still angry with eBay, but in the end the $30 and negative feedback I received is probably a cheap way to realize that selling on Ebay just isn't worth it anymore.
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  • Profile picture of the author MonkeyMaker
    Paypal "mistakes" and dumb policies have caused me to lose hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars. They are a perfect example of the bad things that happen when a company totally dominates its market and has very little competition. I just hope that a real Paypal alternative emerges soon. It would be a good thing for EVERYONE!
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