Here are ten very good reasons to avoid selling on eBay but very few of us including myself can seem to resist staying away from that website.
Let’s face it they have more traffic than every other online auction site combined!
In the meantime, I am just going to do the most constructive thing you can do with a problem. Bitch about it!
1. Customer Service
Half the time spent on the phone with an eBay agent could so easily be reduced by removing one simple time-consuming factor.
Stop asking us every two minutes if we wouldn’t mind holding on another two minutes!
Doing this just added two more minutes, next time just say four minutes.
2. The Hold Music
I wish they would play Gary Glitter! I don’t know how he sounds but it has to be better than that same old tired tune.
How about some Barry Manilow, Englebert Humperdinck, Barbara Streisand …
3. The Seller Photos
This is not “New without Tags”! Would I ever say that to her face? Hell no…
Nor would I tell this lady to her face that if a bra has been squashed into the intimate sweaty crevices of your body, it is not new because you left the tag attached.
4. Shady Competition
How did somebody sell some used Tupperware for $11,000? I can’t sell new Tupperware for $11.00!
This long ongoing mystery where everyone else is selling the latest iPhone at $600 and then we have that one guy who is able to sell his at $4500 has me stumped. Was it personally signed by Steve Jobs?
And, China, how do you sell anything for an auction that starts at one penny, and then offer free shipping?
5. eBay Selfies
While Generation Z is using Instagram to show off their selfies. Generation X uses eBay as their platform.
And for those still holding their cell phone up in the bathroom, the camera has a reverse button.
I just want to know whether to expect a camera or an ugly gold dress in the mail!
6. Not as Described
Is it ever? They have photographs to look at. Do we need to write a two-page essay here?
This is every eBay seller’s worst nightmare and every eBay buyer’s favorite reason to scam.
7. The New Buyer
No, no, no!!! Not the one with 0 percent feedback who suddenly orders the most expensive item in your inventory. We already know what is going to happen, but we are forced to ship!
It was my pleasure to learn to be a better seller thanks to this buyer. I don’t mind the negative feedback or, the free product I gave him along with his money back. I understand that his terrible buyer experience nearly scared him and his multiple accounts away from eBay.
8. The Charge Backer
This the very definition of the eBay snake!
He plays a sneaky game. He will bypass eBay, leap right over Paypal and fall straight into the loving arms of his credit card company!
Mastercard will wipe away his tears and reward him with a brand new laptop and give him his money back!
9. The Best Offer Guy
No, I don’t want to sell you a $100 item for $10. Nor do I want to include free shipping in the deal on top of that!
Would you like it hand-delivered it on a silver platter along with a cocktail and caviar! I am not in this for philanthropic reasons.
Why do so many buyers think the average seller from home has a huge warehouse full of goods and can afford to sell it to them at a price where the shipping would far exceed the cost of the item! Do they try asking Nordstrom to do the same thing?
10. MC999!!!
Indefinite Suspension! Two dreaded words that have brought grown men to their knees in tears. Their whole livelihood is suddenly destroyed by some a**hole bitching over something trivial such as the fact that they actually had to pay for their item.
Circumstances are very limited in the eBay world where a seller can just say NO to a buyer without suffering severe repercussions.
So you receive the MC999. You call and say okay fine, what can I do to fix this and when will I be reinstated?
“Nothing and Never” they reply. “You have caused customer dissatisfaction and we feel another site may be more suitable for you to sell on”.
What website refers you to their “competition” when they are making good money from you!
Surely there must be something I can do, you plead. I have a 100% feedback and only two defects! “Nothing we can do the system won’t let us override it”.
“Can you possibly call your IT department then?”
Click! You are hung upon. How will you pay your rent, your bills?
Switch to Amazon or get yourself a stealth account… but that is another story.
eBay is not a place to put all of your eggs in one basket!