eBay Expands Definition of Defects as Deadline Looms

by: migliore

1. a buyer is the customer of the seller and not the customer of eBay.

2. any intentional interference with the relationship between a business and its customers is actionable in California as ''tortious interference with prospective economic gain.''

3. when eBay starts this crap of theirs come August 1, I sure hope and pray that a bunch of sellers get together and go after them for this.

For years, eBay's favorite mantra was ''WE ARE ONLY A VENUE''.

Now they are placing themselves between sellers/businesses and the customers of those sellers/businesses (''buyers'').

Interesting.... and frightening.

by: Stanislav

Actually I should get back to pack my ~100 or so orders from today ...  

by: Ric

eBay is retroactively changing standards, and that is bad enough, but changing the defect policy before it is even live is ludicrous!!!

This shows sellers just how desperate ebay is for revenue - they will change the rules of the game on a moments notice if it means that they will be able to hold more revenue by taking away hard earned seller discounts.

The company wonders why they can not grow sales, yet they fail to realize that sellers are some of ebay's most active buyers.

Time and time again, they ignore this fact at their own peril and seem unable to grasp his concept.

They expect that they will be able to bully their sellers over and over again and their sellers will simply shrug it off.

For me, the answer is simple, I will not be making any other purchases through eBay for the rest of the third quarter, and if the beatings continue I will expand my small protest through the balance of 2014.

by: wanda

Ebay is fulfilling the New World Order... they are not stupid... they know exactly what they are doing.  People who want to think they are stupid better hit the books... or consult their nearest conspiracy theorist to catch up on what's really going on here.

by: Ming the Merciless

The degree of hatred I feel for ebay's management can't be measured no matter how high the scale.

They are beyond contemptible. They are eons beyond despicable.

They've looked at the number of sellers crate and discovered too many sellers will still be qualifying for discounts that will take money from their bonuses.

From now on ebay, no holds barred. All the years I've sold on ebay I've never taken down an ebay item to sell off ebay to another ebay member.

That stops immediately.

I will spend at least an hour every day until August 20 (and maybe beyond) filing NEW state and federal complaints against America's new Mafia.

If I could think of a stronger word than hate, I'd use it.

It's damn good thing I don't live near San Jose.

by: rifshen

As a soccer fan, I hear eBay telling my team that all corners, free kicks and yellow cards will be counted as goals.

by: Truk

Sad thing is I'm not even surprised anymore
 

by: Ming the Merciless

Half a sentence seems to have disappeared from my post above.

I think the meaning is clear, however.

Too many sellers still qualifying for discounts even under their completely unfair defect definitions so they've become more unreasonable.

These people -- and specifically today you, Jeff Terrell, belong in prison. Or worse.

by: Stanislav

I honestly don't think anyone can ever stop what eBay is doing against their sellers UNLESS government  steps in.  

by: Ming the Merciless

Check the first one-third of this article out! What does this (X rated language) remind you of?

http://www.perrspectives.com/articles/art_enron01.htm      (sic)

by: dasw

The statement "I have received my item but it arrived late." is totally different than being "shipped" late.

Being shipped late means the seller brought it to the Post Office later than he(she) said he(she) would in the listing handling time.

Being delivered late usually lies with the Shipping Service.

As usual terminology gets messed up when it comes to ebay and how people interpret their written and/or verbal statements....but then logic and consistency was always lacking.

by: SparklyEyes7

I recently sold a collection of books for $100 and shipped it media mail.  It weighed 52 lbs and was in an 18" x 12" x 12" box.  

Only after a case was opened after 2 weeks did the post office acknowledge that media mail has no guarantee of an arrival date. eBay considers a shipment lost after 2 weeks with no scans.

What I found out is media mail goes on the truck last, and with such a large box, it sat in the warehouse for a month before getting on a truck.  The buyer did receive the books in 6 weeks but eBay refunded her money anyway since there had been no scans.  So I get a defect, a negative feedback and am out my money for selling, shipment and the original cost of the books.

Reason is out the window.

by: MovinOn

Ebay found a loophole where 3 sellers will still be eligible for the TRS discount. They have now fixed it.

The beatings will continue, and will continue to get more severe, until morale improves.

Though I still have 100% positive FB, I have gone from a TRS to below standard in one fell swoop. On Aug. 20, I will be cancelling the rest of my ebay listings for good. I'm done selling on ebay. I'm MovinOn.

Does anyone know if there is a count somewhere of the total number of items for sale on ebay every day? I would like to see the numbers for Aug. 19 and Aug. 21, 2014. I would hope the number on Aug. 21 is at least 30% lower than on Aug. 19. Take that, ebay!

by: Mr. Me

Arrogance + Ignorance = ebay....
no, they arent too big to fail!

by: brokentoys19

They can change whatever they want and all that will happen is that people will complain a bit, and continue to use the site. Same old same old.

They now have their policy and rules pages blocked from being cached so it's a likelihood they are changing all sorts of things and no one will be able to point out what has been changed.

I think Wanda above could even be onto something. Look at Pierre and Donahoe's high level connections, hobbies, and some of their recent "accomplishments". Wow. Don't anyone ever expect the gov't to do anything about ebay wrongdoing.

by: Puck

''''If they give refunds for 1 day ''late'' delivery saying that's ''not as described'', that's just nuts!''

And that's just eBay!

by: DJBrady

After the hack and change passwords fiasco we feel that this is really the worst possible time for a giant rating change for sellers.

Our feeling is the best thing for us is regarding Ebay to take it up another notch and ship super fast (luckily our post office is open later than most), keep stamping everything SCAN ME, write everyone to say your package is on the way, stop selling the items we have the most ''issues'' with on Ebay, add problem countries to excluded ship to countries and see what happens with the holiday season. I imagine that all Ebay sellers will see more of the ''how likely is it that you'd recommend a friend to sell on Ebay'' e-mails from now to the first of the year.

We're really starting to feel that we're just sharecroppers on Ebay - just farming someone else's land.

It's a really good time to look at where/what else to sell and expanding our own websites. Seriously - several years ago was there anywhere else to sell? I think changes are in the wind.

by: comet

Wow---I just had an envelope sent back to ME (seller) DAMAGED and with the item MISSING---apparently eaten by the processing equipment in the Springfield MASS "sorting center".  OF course this means that the item never reached the buyer.  I asked if she wanted to give it a few days---they also send a form so you can describe what was IN the package (more on THAT anon)  but she was quite snotty since I did not have ANOTHER of the SAME item.  Oh well!  I refunded both the price and the shipping--she did not in fact GET the item so---

Surely even WITH the proof of tracking I uploaded  (on time!)  AND the form from the PO AND the damaged envelope with the tracking label;  damage--huge hole--and the DAMAGED stickers the PO put on it--I am STILL open  for a DEFECT.  

What a sham!

Oh--that form?  Aside from the description of the item you were TOLD that ALL ITEMS INSIDE the package should somehow be LABELED with the shipping info.  In case they---ya know--DAMAGE it!    I dunno about YOU but---when shipping out a SHIRT--one that would be damaged if I used my label gun on it--and surely a sticker would not adhere or would leave residue---how CAN I label this stuff????

Oh--and the SAME  processing center damaged--but did not LOSE---an incoming non-ebay package the SAME week.

So guess it is equal opportunity for the PO then huh.

Soooo--After 20 August---where we all gonna meet up?????

by: Ming the Merciless

Yo, Jeff!

Last year I spent more than $22,000 on ebay. I've spent less this year in protest of ebay policies and spent on Amazon instead.

I will be spending ZERO dollars on ebay from now and will make online purchases anywhere BUT ebay.

Shove it, Ho.

by: Ming the Merciless

I will pray every night that Anonymous hacks ebay and takes the entire site down on August 20 and keeps it down for several days.