More free stuff on ebay No 3

And just when you think the ebay idiot can't get any worse, then they just keep on messing up.

I first read this from an article being shown on PSU, that came from Auction Bytes here

How about this one for those of you wanting free stuff on ebay, and this one seems to be a great one for all, and up to this point I really can't see any defence against the thief and its accomplice (ebay.)

From ebays Purchase Protection Policy or better know to some as the thief's bible

What happens if a buyer believes an item is not authentic?
When buyers file a claim alleging that the item is not authentic, we require the buyer to destroy the item. Once a buyer confirms destruction of the item, we will reimburse the buyer or provide an eBay coupon.

You notice the none mention of proof of any form, that you destroyed the item or that you had the item verified by a professional.
Even if the worse came to the worse, how much does it cost you for a fake designer bag for you to destroy instead of the genuine article you bought from the ebay seller? And take photographs of the fake one destroyed.

Now the number of ways to take advantage of this are so numerous, it is just insane.

I really can't see any defence against this one, as ebay think you as the seller are just a thieving scumbag, that is out to rob the poor unsuspecting buyer.
They are ignoring the fact that you as the seller are more likely to have put a lot of effort into selling on ebay, and have plans to stay on ebay, so are not likely to want to destroy your feedback or your reputation, where as the buyer has no such concern, they can be back five minutes later with a new ID.

This one has now been changed slightly but ebay are still taking over the buyer protection, and you should read on to see how bad that is going to be for the honest seller.

So an insight into how ebay are going to run this policy is shown here at tamebay, which just confirms what we all knew would happen with ebay, and how they would be hitting the yes, yes, yes button every time without any thought or common sense. And this was not for a fake item, but apparently for an item not as described.

This is supposed to be coming out fully, next month, and as you can see by the test case that it is a great chance to get free stuff. Ebay will be claiming that they will be monitoring for misuse of this system but we all know how little ebay know about security, so this is your chance to have all the free stuff that you want with little effort.

Now as always I will consider the angle for the scumbag seller that attacks their competitors, as this one not only gets you some free stuff from your competition, which you could even sell on ebay (as they will not check.) It also costs them the item cost, the postage, and an ebay backed no arguments strike against the sellers account. Then you can hand out your bad feedback and the seller is closer to being kicked from ebay, back in their search, so you can use your alternative accounts to buy more free stuff, but with a lower payout.

Defending yourself against this one, as I said is impossible, as it is totally down to ebays judgement, so nothing you say or show will pacify their stupidity.
They also seemed to have failed to mention any seller protection for this, so it really is a case of the only way to be safe is sell some place else.

For a lot of the large sellers this will be nothing, but for the smaller sellers, this will be the nail in your ebay selling coffin.

So if you have not started moving at least some of your stuff to the alternatives, then now really is the time to start, as eventually one or several of the new ebay rules will have you closed down.

If anyone has any tips on protecting yourself against not just the scammers and destructive sellers with this one, but also the buyer who decides they are a little short one week, and figures it would not be made possible if it was not supposed to be used, then I would be happy to see a response, as I can't think of a thing.
And please do not just say bend over and give whatever the buyer asks for, as for most small sellers or auctions sellers, then that is not an option, as they have no way to build the loss into the price. A lot of us are having to do this now anyhow, but hopefully someone has a way to defend yourself from ebay. The only one I can think of is not to use it.

ANOTHER DESTRUCTOR FOR THE SELLER ATTACKER

Another great trick for those auction wrecking competitors seems to be to get round the buyer requirements, so that you do not have to fit any of the requirements.

This is quite a simple task, as all you have to do is get the buyer to make an edit of their listing.
This can be done by asking if they could add a photograph, or if you see something wrong then mention it. The target will even thank you for your help.
Once they edit their listing, another little ebay glitch seems to work its magic and turns off the buyers requirements.

Your defence against this is do not make any changes, which includes adding extra photographs. Your customers may not like it but, they will like you less if you are no longer there.

Ebay making more of a mess for sellers

Some have classed this as the long awaited updates, or changes. Personally I think it is just more evidence that the lunatics are running the asylum.

So what are these changes?


More of the same sort of misunderstanding who their customers are, as they try to give the "sellers customers" more, which I assume their thinking is, if they just give the buyer everything for free, then they will have to start using ebay.
They are still struggling with the concept that it is the seller they have to keep happy.
Make it easy and safe for the honest seller, and ebay will grow. If they keep following this insanity, then ebay will continue to shrink, and these changes are a long way from any changes in the right direction for the honest seller.

You can find the changes in this FAQ here for US or here for UK but be careful of the ebay wording most of it is in bong speak, as in pass me the bong dude.

A few new pages that your customers will not use and a new super bargain logo, but as the new pages are using best match and also have to be selected during a search then who will use them, so we may as well forget they exist.

Here is ebays view on what they are doing

So that eBay remains a thriving marketplace we need a close partnership with sellers like you so that we all give buyers the experience they expect. We’re continuing to invest in driving traffic and buyer loyalty, and we need your help to make buyers happy and keep them coming back to you.

For our part, we’re also taking steps to make it easier and more profitable for you to sell - including consolidating the changes that impact your business and giving you plenty of lead time to adapt.

These updates are scheduled to take place the week of 15th June 2009 and you have to laugh or you would cry.

The new Smart FAQ

What are Smart FAQs? This is a new free feature that draws on live information from your listings to answer the top 20 buyer questions before buyers reach you through the "Ask a question" or "Contact seller" links.

So maybe the customer is not going to get through to you at all. You really think the ebay buyer is going to buy that? They really do not know the ebay buyer.

And there goes a way to really kill off any new customers if you look at number three

Direct buyers to another version of the Smart FAQ page from which only existing customers (users who have already made a purchase from you) can click "Contact seller" from the FAQ page to send an email directly to you. This option is not recommended unless it's absolutely necessary for your business operations. Removing the ability for buyers to contact you directly can cost you sales and have a negative impact on Detailed Seller Ratings.
A question to that last line, so why add it if it is not recommended and could even impact a sellers detailed seller rating. You can just hear the yells in their office of "pass over the bong before I start on these ebay changes."

How ever for those of you setting up new accounts with a thousand names, this one may be a good one to stop the ebay messages, and force the buyers to contact your email, which you add to the listing. Maybe ebay created this with you in mind, as it saves you having to log in to ebay.
Also useful for those that wish to have info to their off ebay venues in their emails.
But what good does it do ebay or any normal seller that just wishes to sell on ebay.

Tracking in the MY ebay section is useful if they bother to tell the buyers that it is there this time, or if it is clearly visible. They have not had a good record of informing buyers of this sort of thing in the past.

The next in the list is Return Policy and handling times.

This is another of those pointless exercises on ebay, but for what it is worth, you basically have to make sure you select either you do accept returns or you don't accept returns, which if you use Auctiva to list, it is already forcing the selection, so not really a problem.
Why is it pointless? Due to the fact that any return policy you have is overridden by paypal, and soon will be overridden by ebay.

More postage mess coming

Now we all understand handling time but ebay have decided to step over the line again, and make the seller responsible for not just the handling time but also the time it takes your postal service to deliver the item, as you can see here.

How will delivery estimates be calculated? We calculate estimated delivery time based on your specified handling time and the estimated times provided to us by the shipping service. Delivery estimates are calculated as a range of days, not a specific date.

Now there is a reason I have pointed this out, as we skip the next few items in their list, as they have little to do with me and if you care, then go read it. But the next important part, as far as I'm concerned is the new eBay Resolution process.

It seems ebay are struggling to control those with merchant accounts or those taking other payment methods, throughout the resolution process, as if the person does not use paypal, then there is little ebay can do about any problem at the moment.
So what it seems they have decided to do is move the resolution process, that will include any payment made by the seller to ebay, rather than allowing paypal to deal with it.

There are several things you need to worry about with this, as ebay seem to be under the same impression that they have been under for some time, which is "buyer good, seller bad" using my best Frankenstein monster impression, as I am sure ebay employees must have to chant every morning, as they sit at their keyboards, possibly using their best Frankenstein monster impression..

When can buyers contact eBay about a transaction? eBay Customer Support will be available for buyers at any time to answer transaction questions. In many cases, this will save time for sellers, because our Customer Support agents can answer basic questions that otherwise would have gone to the seller.

Seems a step toward taking the seller out of the loop, or they are board, as sellers are no longer wasting their time contacting customer support.

I have found one positive so far though, but not really

What if the buyer never paid for the item? Can they still call eBay with a dispute? Buyers are welcome to contact eBay for any reason. However, eBay will not permit claims when the buyer has not paid the seller.

At least that will stop those NPBs from playing their retaliation game on sellers, although how will ebay know if they have paid for an item or not, unless you only accept paypal payments.

That problem seems to be a theme with ebay and these changes, ebay could be paying back a customer who has not actually paid for an item, and then taking the money from you.

This one should also panic all those trading on ebay

Would eBay ever settle a case with a buyer without first contacting the seller? eBay may decide to refund the buyer before contacting the seller, but in all cases the seller will have five business days to respond to a claim. If a seller successfully settles the claim and the buyer had already been refunded, eBay will absorb the cost of the refund.

Is it me or is this just a little too much of that bong talk, as this really does not make sense, unless they already have the system set up to forget to inform the seller, when they feel like it.

Now another that you should worry about, even though it is worded oddly.

What if the item is still in transit when the buyer contacts us?
If the item is still in transit, eBay will consider the delivery estimate in the listing. If tracking indicates that the item should arrive within the delivery estimate plus a reasonable amount of additional time (3 days in most cases), the buyer will be told to wait and the seller will not be held accountable. If tracking indicates that the item will arrive outside this timeframe or is lost in transit, the seller may be held accountable. The same proof of delivery criteria apply to cross-border transactions.

In other words if the post office delay the delivery of your item, then the buyer will be refunded, and you will have a strike on your account, if your postal service loose the parcel and you have a customer with the brains of a nat, then you end up with a strike.
Also added from a pink on the ebay board, if the money is refunded and the item turns up, ebay will not request payment until the buyer contacts ebay to let them know that they have the item. And how many of the new breed ebay buyers are going to bother doing that.

So the basics of the above are if there is anything in the pipeline that will delay your postal service, such as bad weather, strike action, or anything else, then stop selling, as you are going to be blamed for their delays, as with the last UK postal strike.

For those that like that free stuff there is probably a few good ways to use this. One off the top of my head is do not be in when the item is to be delivered, do not request redelivery until the third day and try get your postal service to deliver on the fifth day. Or how about requesting all your packages go to your local post office or PO box, and they are not marked as collected until you pick them up. If the seller does not deliver to a PO Box, then just pay the small fee to your postal service to have your mail forwarded to a PO BOX.

Or the easy one, if they really do plan on acting like paypal, make sure your payment is an e-cheque, or take your time paying for the item, how much you betting that ebay are not going to look at when the item was paid for.

One good thing I have noticed is this

If a seller successfully appeals a dispute will Buyer Satisfaction Ratings be affected? When eBay decides a seller is not at fault for a dispute, the seller's Buyer Satisfaction Rating will not be impacted.

Which is better than the current system, where a seller is guilty until proven innocent.

And this one would be funny if it was not so damaging to sellers.

What can sellers do to protect themselves from buyer abuse? Sellers should report buyers who are abusive, either by contacting eBay Customer Support or by following eBay's process for reporting inappropriate behaviour.

We all know to take that with a pinch of salt, ebay will listen to what we say, yeah right and I am out hunting flying pigs in the morning, with a pea shooter.

For the Ebay UK there are a few changes that I think are basically ebay pushing that free postage scam they are trying to push on your customers. So check through them as they are going to force free shipping in several categories.
And if anyone from ebay is reading this, please look in my link section there is a link to a website called free shipping org (http://www.freeshipping.org/) Nip onto that site and see how the professionals offer free shipping, before you run your sellers into the ground.


The rest is basically the move of shipping labels to ebay, rather than having to use paypal, as you do now.

So what do I think of all this?

A lot of the changes are part of ebays plan at removing paypal from the complaint procedure, as stated above.

To be honest, the rest is really not that great either, as always with ebay, they just show how little they understand their own market place or any market place, as they make it more dangerous for the seller, who pay their wages.

You really need to start finding alternatives, as I think, ebay has gone so far out of the field, that even if they could work out how to get back, I doubt it will ever be what it used to be, as they are not only destroying the market place that was once ebay, they are also destroying the users that were once proud to be ebayers.

The new breed of buyer and seller is like nothing we have ever had to face from ebay in the past, as they have no pride in ebay, the market place or care for other users. They seem to have brought in a mass of scummy or powerless people that use the person they are dealing with as a punch bag to make up for what they are lacking in face to face confrontations.
Ebay is making their venue a place for the scum now so please lets get gone before they spill out into the other places we use, as something else I have noticed on ebay due to all these changes that the more unscrupulous a seller is then the more successful they are becoming, as they are willing to attack other sellers with no concern, and are very willing to shill bid up the price of their items without worrying about it, if they win it, then they just give themselves five stars and it is one less they have to do later, as that seems to be a normal thing for these sellers.


Most of the other changes are set up for BIN Sellers and they will already know about them.