100s Lose Money While eBay and PayPal Do Nothing

One of the biggest sellers on eBay Australia has not delivered possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise to his buyers. Complaints were made to eBay weeks ago yet this seller's account remained active. Why didn't eBay shut it down? What was PayPal doing while this was going on?

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

"In the past three months ebusiness-supplies sold over $1 million worth of goods. It is the seventh biggest Australian eBay user in terms of the number of items sold.

eBay was made aware of complaints about the seller weeks ago but did not disable the user account.

Over 450 eBay users who bought items from the seller - often at a price seemingly below cost - have left the company negative feedback in the last 30 days."

PayPal Australia managing director, Andrew Pipolo claims that those who paid the seller using PayPal "will be entitled to refunds through a new fund set up specifically to deal with this incident."

A new fund? Where was all the PayPal buyer protection which eBay leads buyers to believe is already in place? If it exists, why the need for a new fund? And what about those who didn't use PayPal in their transaction with this seller? Many Australians do not like or trust PayPal and may be left hanging with little or no recourse.

If this is what eBay calls "safe trading," I want no part of it. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.

Additional Note: For a glimpse into some of the reasons why eBay members in Australia dislike PayPal, read the article from apcmag.com titled "eBay boss: 'not offering PayPal is like buying heroin.'"

UPDATE: Andrew Pipolo explains why they initiated the "new fund" referenced above, "We're actually not liable for it but it's something that, because of the circumstances of this particular seller, the impact on such a large number of buyers, we've made the decision to make a fund available to cover the expense. "

Ah Ha! It certainly sounds like he is admitting that the Buyer Protection eBay and PayPal are so fond of bragging about isn't much good, doesn't it?

Additionally, the number of buyers affected appears to number in the thousands, according to the abc.net.au transcript linked directly above.

Why I Blog About eBay

You may wonder just what I have against eBay.

When I first started selling on eBay, I checked out the eBay discussion boards and my education concerning the real eBay began. A lot of information about what goes on can be found there. When there are glitches on the site; when changes happen; when the site appears to have been hacked (more on this below); what the latest scams are... the boardies are always the first to know these things.

Unfortunately, a lot of the information one can find on the discussion boards never seems to make it to System Announcements or General Announcements so many eBay members remain unaware. Many of us who have seen too much think that isn't right so we blog about it hoping to get the word out to more people. Others upload informational and consumer awareness videos to YouTube.

So what have I seen happen on eBay? The list is long but one of my earliest issues with eBay's methods came about because, one at a time, several buyers turned up on the New to eBay message board looking for help after being scammed in a ponzi scheme. eBay was offering them no useful assistance at all. Board regulars had to inform these people about where to go and what to do in an effort to get their money back. I was still naive enough at that time to be stunned at how little eBay did for these people.

That was only the beginning. I continued to help new members and, as I became somewhat jaded about eBay, I found myself getting reported to LiveWorld frequently for telling people the truth. I got many warnings from the moderators as did others who thought the truth was more important than spinning the eBay party line.

If someone new asked questions about selling on eBay, we were expected to tell them that all was rosy. If we tried to tell them about the fees or how slow sales were, we got reported or the trolls came out to shoot us down, malign and mock us. Board wars and battles are common on eBay.

I can't begin to tell you how many people were reported or even suspended from the boards for talking about the incident that took place on eBay's Trust and Safety board when a hacker calling himself Vladuz posted hundreds of eBay user names along with accompanying personal and financial information, including passwords and credit cards numbers. eBay tried to sweep it all under the rug and maintained, for quite some time, that those of us who had seen this were imagining things.

Right now there are probably thousands of sellers who have no idea that they are paying for product listings on eBay that are nowhere to be found in a Search. eBay hopes that they will remain ignorant. I experienced that myself when an item that I was trying to sell could not be found even though I was the only seller with that particular item at the time. A search of the exact title would not bring it up in a search. This goes on all the time and it's getting worse all the time. Buyers think they are seeing everything that is available for sale on eBay but this is not reality.


Speaking of buyers, how do they feel about the new eBay? I intended to link to a buyer complaint on the eBay stores discussion board posted yesterday. But apparently, the thread was killed by Live World. Fortunately, I have a screenshot. Click the Image below to enlarge.










These are just a few examples of things that have happened on eBay and continue to happen which should NOT be swept under the rug. I am just one of many eBay members and former members who think it's important for people to be educated about the true eBay with all its warts.

eBay auction site wins?

Is eBay winning the current war that it seems to be waging against its members?

You have to check out this YouTube video for one man's opinion!

YouTube member relaventpc, AKA torpino, has a must-see video about eBay's antics and misdeeds. According to him, eBay (or someone with an ax to grind) has gotten his previous videos shut down.

I know others who have been in the same, or similar, situation: videos removed; account suspensions; eBay discussion board suspensions; auction interference; and much more.

What is eBay's problem? Why are they putting so much effort into shutting up their detractors? Do they have something to hide?

Relaventpc has some ideas about what eBay may be up to. Check it out and leave your comments on his video and here, as well. Help to get the word out on eBay's transgressions.



Thanks to the commenter, Cappnonymous, who turned me on to the above video!

Once Again eBay Robs Its Stores Sellers

The paying customers at eBay are being ripped off again, in my opinion. The Listing Frame is gone; missing in action!

Some time ago, a feature called a Listing Frame was added as an option for eBay stores. Basically a Listing Frame is a left navigation bar in each listing which links to various categories in an eBay store. The idea is to promote other items in the lister's eBay store for multiple sales.

A few days ago, numerous store owners noticed that their Listing Frame had mysteriously vanished. To add insult to injury, in addition to the categories part of the Listing Frame going AWOL, the top navigation part of the Frame has changed. eBay has taken it upon themselves to change the few categories in this top navigation to... whatever.

On the eBay Stores discussion board, one person posts that eBay now has lower-level categories in her navigation rather than the top-level categories which she wants to promote. Sellers are unable to fix any of this because the option to revise the Frame is also now missing.

See the screenshot below for an example of a listing with no left navigation. All that wasted white space looks bad, doesn't it?



As is usual these days, there was and still is NO announcement on the eBay site about this problem. Some sellers contacted eBay and were told that this is another of the never-ending "glitches" and that they are working to fix it. If this is true, why not make an announcement for all to see? Maybe there has been no announcement because this is not, in reality, a glitch but a deliberate testing of a new listing page which will no longer include that all-important Listing Frame.

Members of the Stores board were told that the Frame would be disappearing eventually but this was not supposed to take place yet. Why does eBay have such a hard time being honest with its sellers? Why not just admit that they are arbitrarily removing Frames already, either as a test or for good? Why do they always seem to have something to hide? Where are their ethics?

At present, eBay Stores owners are paying for the Listing Frame through their store fees and they are not getting what they paid for. Maybe it's time to file a report about eBay's current practices and mistreatment of its sellers at Ripoff Report.

What's Up with eBay's Sadistic Treatment of Its Sellers?

One would think that a seller was an eBay paying customer and should be treated as such. It seems that either (1) eBay does not agree or (2) they have shoddy, possibly unethical, ways of dealing with said paying customers.

An example of eBay's mistreatment of its sellers can be found in an AuctionBytes Blog article titled eBay Seller Suspended for Posting Neg in Positive Feedback.

eBay's new feedback policy does not allow sellers to leave anything but positive feedback for buyers. The seller highlighted in the AuctionBytes Blog left positive feedback for a buyer but included a negative statement about that buyer in the Comments section. Now he finds himself locked out of eBay. He can't sell or buy.

This seller left a comment on AuctionBytes explaining his suspension:

Here is the actual message you get when you attempt to sign in after beibg
suspended for leaving NEG to buyer in the POS comment section:

Dear (SELLERS NAME AND EMAIL)
We regret to inform you that your eBay account has been suspended due to the violation of our site policy below:

* Site Interference - Feedback Abuse

An activity that interferes with any of eBay's operations. In this case, manipulating the transaction process by entering into one or more transactions without the intention of following through with the transaction(s) and with the intent of leaving feedback as part of a campaign to harass the other member(s) involved.

Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using eBay in any way including registering a new account.

Please note that any seller fees due to eBay will immediately become due and payable. eBay will charge any amounts you have not previously disputed to the billing method currently on file.

Regards,
Investigations Department eBay AG

If I didn't know eBay's tactics and dirty tricks so well, I might be astounded. Sadly, this has become typical of the way that eBay treats its sellers. No respect. No recourse. No appeals. Just shut-out, "You are suspended." The seller in question believes that all of his listings have been expunged from the system. Should he wish to return to selling on eBay when his suspension is ended, he would have to build those listings from scratch. eBay does not save them, apparently.

Is this good customer service? Is this an acceptable way to treat a paying customer? Maybe eBay sees it that way but, as one who has been in retail and wholesale sales for much of my adult life, I find it appalling.

eBay Exec Lorrie Norrington: Bad Buyer? Bad Seller?

During eBay Live 2008, President of eBay Marketplace Operations, Lorrie Norrington, told a tale of buying and reselling a pair of shoes on eBay. Interested persons thought to check this out and made some odd discoveries.

Ms. Norrington's auction listing stated that she received the shoes as a gift. I thought she said she bought them?

eBay Employee Trading Policy states that, "When eBay company employees list an item for sale on eBay, the eBay company employees must identify themselves as eBay employees and include the link to this Web page in their listing." How odd. I don't see that link in Ms. Norrington's EBay listing nor do I see her identify herself as an eBay employee.

A search at Toolhaus.org reveals that Ms. Norrington received Negative Feedback, as a buyer, on Nov-13-06. The feedback from the seller stated, "NON PAYING BIDDER - TOTAL TIME WASTER." Oh, my.

You can view the whole sordid story in the YouTube video below and judge for yourself. Is Lorrie Norrington a Bad eBay Seller and/or Bad eBay Buyer?

Thanks to an anonymous commenter for alerting me to the fact that this topic is under discussion on eBay's own Trust and Safety message board. What are people saying about the conduct of Lorrie Norrington as a buyer and seller on Ebay?