Like many sellers, I saw the other side of business on eBay. I sold full-time for years, keeping excellent feedback and building a customer base of almost 5000 happy customers. I was also a Power Seller for most of that time. Two years ago, over Christmas holidays, I noticed a strange absence of personal emails. My computer also shut down every 15 minutes or so. I have MSN XP operating system, and the computer was newer.
I went through all channels to fix, calling MSN, etc., etc., etc. for three months. Since I was operating a successful eBay business, it was a real handicap to keep up but I did. MSN could not find the problem, and I had Norton antivirus which tested clear, free from problems. By March, I noticed a strange thing with my eBay accounts. Items that were "paid" were switching to "unpaid," and as with all "unpaids," I notified buyers through eBay emails with no answers. Then those who bought more than one item appeared to pay for all and then took back payment on one! Really strange. I contacted eBay again and again via Live Help and got the runaround each time.
Meanwhile, my computer was still shutting down, few emails appeared, etc. On eBay, members cannot directly contact technical support. An email is sent which is never answered, except by a "canned" response. I did that many times, contacted various people at Live Help. It's very frustrating to run a business like this.
Finally, someone on Live Help happens to mention that yes, eBay knew there was a glitch/problem with accounts in PayPal changing status. They were working on it, and I should "just mail everything out, even if it looks like it isn't paid." No fix came. The emails between seller and buyer were cut off within eBay, so I began to receive numerous negative feedbacks for non-communication and not mailing out items paid for. eBay's Live Help indicated we would be helped by reversal of negative feedbacks, and luckily, I saved copies of the conversations as the negatives were never reversed. I think I got twelve.
When the problem was finally fixed, eBay did not clean up the mess left. So we had to go back and manually check for payments in PayPal, etc. eBay took a month to fix problem, and during this time, I did get an excellent MSN tech on phone who connected the computer problems with the eBay problem. They were one and the same. He found virus contamination and walked me through hours of fix ups.
Obviously, eBay had known this affected XP users, but ignored our problems for months and let us take the "bullet" for the problem and ignored us. My feedback went down to 99.5%. Thank goodness, not a bad score as I had thousands of feedbacks.
It gets worse. A month later, eBay decided to start a new feedback program which used only newer feedback and considers all neutral feedback as negative feedback. My feedback fell to 85%, and I was suspended. eBay was contacted and reminded that the negatives/neutrals were to be taken off for the virus contamination issue, but no one knew anything about it. And when eBay suspends a seller, it means total cutoff from accounts, customers, and total closure. So I was stuck and could not even contact a lot of the reps.
Within a short time, eBay realized it made a mistake and reversed its new feedback policy. My feedback went up to 99.5%, but I was still suspended. But even when I could get someone at eBay to listen, no one would help me. Just to let you know, I do not have another job; this is how I earn my living.
After months, I was reinstated. How? I don't even know, and I quickly geared up to earn Christmas money. (I believe a 30- or 60-day review reinstated me.) My sales were soaring, and my auctions were closing within a day with one item at $200. And eBay suspended me again. No explanation, no low feedback. No one at eBay had a reason. But some clown advised me to mail items I had already wrapped and printed postage on. So I did. No one knew what caused this suspension. No one knew if it was temporary or permanent. My feedback was not low.
Within a day, eBay went into all my accounts and returned all the money to customers, even though I had mailed all the items out. I lost at least $1000 on these lost items plus hundreds in listing fees that I was charged for listing and selling the items. Again, no one knew anything at eBay why this happened, but it appeared to be permanent suspension. But no one really knew.
Right at pre-Christmas time, one year later and still experiencing this business. So I went to the Wisconsin Attorney General for Consumer Protection and filed. eBay was given 30 days to explain why a good seller who paid eBay some $500 to $800 a month could not get answers. eBay called back and did reinstate me. I was warned to be good, because they were giving me another chance. I promptly told her that I now had my own website and had gone to the number 1 alternative selling site, ebid.net, an English-based auction site and did not plan to ever return.
The rep for eBay did not know what to say. I was supposed to thank her for the loss and the sleepless nights, my bills not getting paid, etc.? I also told her that I had the names/addresses of my 5000 customers and were inviting them to join me. She was stunned. I left my account there as is in case a class action suit ever opened.
I sold there for years; each year, I paid fees between $6000 and $7500 and got treated like this. No reason, no explanation from anyone. There are lots of problems at eBay, one being the ever-changing complicated rules, and the other being a corrupt feedback system. Buyers are babied and allowed to do anything; sellers are given contrary and contradictory rules to follow (i.e., sellers allowed to specify when item is put into mail: "I ship within 5 business days." But feedback asks buyers to rate sellers on "did item come quickly." If seller rates lower in this area, they are suspended!).
Feedback system is corrupt. It can't be changed, even if made in error or there is a mistake. So buyers soon learned they could do anything to sellers, and sellers had to comply or lose feedback and seller privileges. Soon we were receiving negative feedback if an item did not arrive in one day. eBay stood by the feedback.
eBay is very anti-seller; now the rules allow buyers to keep the items if they find something wrong with them and the seller must give money back too. Buyers saying "It doesn't look like the picture." gets free item and money back. You can imagine how that is playing out! It's an absolute mess, i.e., if feedback scores are lower, the seller's items appear on the bottom of the lists so no one sees them; and if feedback scores are lower, sellers are restricted to only a certain number of listing within certain categories. Also, if feedback scores are lower, all payments from buyers are held for 21 days, but seller is required to ship item immediately (Hint: using what for postage? air?).
Sellers are leaving this site in droves, and it is understandable why. New policies are being put in place this month for even dumber "improvements." ebid.net has gotten so many sellers from eBay that our members have volunteered to befriend them and get them selling via the forums. We are swamped with sellers bringing thousands of items over. Their loss, our gain.
I have worked in business for 45 years and have never seen such an incompetent mess of a company in my life. I can't see an out for them over than purging their staff and starting over fresh. Oh, is there life after eBay? There certainly is. Selling on alternatives uses different techniques, but daily sales are possible and new buyers seek us out. To handle the masses leaving eBay, ebid.net members volunteer to help new sellers learn these techniques and get up and sell fast. It's a totally different environment, a better site that learned from the mistakes eBay made.
I lost my primary source of income. I lost thousands of dollars through lost listing fees, selling fees, PayPal fees, photo fees, and store fees when they started and stopped by listing for no reason. I lost my good customers, as my suspension made me look like a criminal. I disappeared overnight without explanation. And I almost lost my expensive computer to virus contamination. eBay knew of the problem and did not fix for months. And they allowed sellers to take the blame for the breakdown in payment status and loss of communication through eBay emails.
I spent three months attempting to fix computer problems, hours on phone to MSN, etc, to fix something that eBay caused and did not announce. Some of my customers had similar problems and had to replace hard drives, etc. I spent almost a year trying to straighten out virus problems, buyer problems, suspension problems, and feedback problems all caused by eBay.
And I pay my bills and keep my family fed and a roof over our heads. No amount of money makes up for the disrespect, lack of emotions/understanding, lack of control, and the things that happen when your only means of earning a living is ripped away--ripped away by a company that does not care. Very bad experience. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.