eBay sellers at the mercy of buyer's protection
As an eBay hobbyist, not a power or smaller business seller, I am furious with eBay whose over-egged buyer protection policy that is supposed to protect buyers AND sellers, insist on treating my successful bidders as retail customers who are entitled to a whole raft of consumer rights they wouldn't normally have when they transact with private individuals.
Whenever I sell a small item for a couple of quid or so the buyer need only issue a complaint to eBay claiming that they haven't received the item, or they did receive it but it was not as described (when neither is true), to stop my legitimately received payment from being transferred from Paypal into my private bank account. If I have already transferred the funds to my bank already, before sending out the item to them, PayPal can siphon it back and then withhold it from me in readiness to reimburse the buyer in full without my consent and without insisting that the buyer first proves on a balance of probabilities that I had defrauded them by not dispatching or sending out a mis-described item. Surely this is illegal? Even my accountant can't view, let alone raid my bank account, to forward unpaid taxes. So how come PayPal can treat my bank account as if it is their own?
Apparently it's not enough for sellers (hobbyists and retailers alike) to provide proof of postage to the buyer to show that they held their end up by sending out the item in the first, which is a reasonable enough burden to prove. No, they must also take responsibility for the item reaching the buyer personally. So if a buyer took possession of the item and they decide they don't want it, PayPal will still take sellers money to refund them in full. No questions asked. e-Bay never insist that the defrauding buyer should prove that they never received the item or that the seller refused to sell or send out the item after they received payment. A court would insist that they should to win compensation from another private individual in a civil dispute.
What about the law of unforeseen consequences? The postman nicked the parcel in transit, or there's a postal strike and the package got lost in the post, or the parcel was delivered to the buyer's address but it was signed off by a neighbour in the buyer's absence and they kept the package, or the buyer is not able to receive the package and the delivery docket the postman/woman shoves through the letter box is chewed up by the dog? Is that the sellers fault? Apparently it is according to eBay and PayPal, their embezzling sister arm. Should occasional sellers be responsible for delivery when they can't control post office actions, even after sellers clearly stated in their eBay listings that they are sending the goods 1st class not by special delivery or registered post intended for high value items? I think not.
Furthermore, sellers can't send goods by securer, more expensive parcel traceable methods because the additional postage costs for special delivery or registered post would outweigh the maximum they could charge for P&P on the item and that these constraints would leave sellers with insufficient surplus P&P to cover the cost of paper wrap, jiffy bags, parcel tape, bubble wrap and so on. These things cost money, they don't grow on trees. eBay fees and PayPal transaction fees, stationery costs and now traceable higher parcel postage costs to prevent defrauding buyers from cheating sellers would simply wipe out any profit entirely. They may as well trundle down to Oxfam and dump their old stuff there.
Given the number of complaints on similar issues I read, isn't it time disgruntled eBayers signed a petition to give eBay and its distortion arm PayPal one hell of a boot up the backside with a class action for general and punitive damages for withholding funds and raiding private bank accounts to extract legitimately obtained payments and also for flouting the fundamental constitutional principle that resides with all western jurisdictions that assumes that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty? I think it is.
Comments from visitors
There's a surprise.
I have bought on ebay but not normally high value goods. I must have been lucky as I've never had any problems to date. I guess that if you go into it with your eyes open then you'll not get any surprises.
You are kidding right? OK, I left my cardigan at a Iden pub a few weeks ago. I sent the owner a return labelled jiffy bag with stamps on it to pop it back to me. He e-mailed me to claim he'd sent it. But it never arrived. What should I do then? Ring up the pub and ask them to pop down to Marks and Spencer and buy me another one? Or refund me the money to cover a replacement?
Don't be so daft. When you order stuff online you have to take some of the risk for the parcel not arriving. All the seller has to do (or should have to do is prove that they sent it to the right address (recorded delivery normally prints the postcode of the destination) and clearly state on their adverts what method of postage they are using so that buyers are forwarned about the risks they might take. If buyers enter into an agreement it is on those pre-cleared and agree terms. They can't change horses half way through the race by insisting that the seller refunds them when non-delivery of the proven sent item is beyond their control. If they are unsure about buying from sellers who post things to them, instead of wrapping them in bags to hand them over a counter, they should shop in the high street. Simple enough. Individual wardrobe and attic clearers shouldn't have to enter into a customer like relationship with buyers and buyers have no right to treat occasional junk and cast off sellers like retailers.
Within any auction online or IRL there will be a percentage of people, buyers and sellers, who will be dishonest. Thats the nature of the beast.
Ebay have brought in draconian policies safe in the knowledge there is no effective online competition due to people not using alternatives.
If the alternatives, with better policies, were to become more popular and eat into ebays revenue you will almost certainly see change
wakeupsheeple - 29-Nov-11 15:09
On the otherhand you mention some 'what ifs' e.g. the neighbour keeps the package or it gets lost in transit. I don't think it's fair that the buyer should be left out of pocket in this situation. I make sure my items sent are covered in the event of loss and yes there is a P&P limit on some auctions but you can simply choose the 'other courier' option to make sure the costs are covered.
Otherwise they are merely using the mechanism for bounced cheques, and refusing to clear the funds from the sender's end.
charmbrights - 29-Nov-11 08:56
These surely must exist on other online auctions you know the one,s i mean buyers who report that they have,nt received there item / items and sellers who report they have posted items when they have,nt ..
I think when thinsg start going wrong for individual sellers on eBay ie.buyers becoming nasty members becoming malicious it,s time to move on..
Ebay member 2006 to present - 29-Nov-11 08:55
Mention on-line auction to your average person on the street and they look confused, then say oh you mean ebay
Ebay has a virtual monopoly on online auctions despite there being alternatives (enter online auction into your search engine of choice, then set prefs to UK only)
If people were prepared to do something revolutionary and not follow the heard ebay would no longer have this monopoly and would be forced to change their heavy handed tactics
The power is in your hands
(expects nothing to change as most we users these days cant think for themselves)
Signed
Someone who witnessed the birth of the net, was online on dial up bulletin boards before the net even existed





