I've just closed my ebay account

[Fllllight]

Well, put in a request to do so...actually ther bastards take up to 6 months (180 days, is that right??) to close it. Because they can I suppose.

This is after 3 years building up a 100% score of nearly 600 points.

The final straw was when I loooked at my account to find I had an 'alert' - apparently a listing had been removed because I had written in the text, despite offering (compulsory) paypal in the listing :

'No paypal for this one please'.

This was because it is a huge glass table and will need collecting, and I cannopt prove it was delivered if it is collected as I won't have a postage receipt.

Therefore the buyer could pay via paypal, then put in a claim that the item was not received, I would be unable to prove they had it, and paypal would then be able to recover the money from my account.

So, say the buyer gets home with the tabel, drops it, then decides to be unscrupulous - I would lose all the money.

I am furious with the whole bloody organisation and will never, ever use it again - it is completely shit.

Thankyou.

Oh - and they didn't even bother to email me, to say that my listing was removed. Not a sausage. Utter c*nts!

I would ask the buyer to log into their account on my computer and leave me immediate feedback stating item had been collected in good condition.

Yes, thanks - but that holds no water at all. You'd think it did but it doesn't. Paypal don't even read the feedback.

It's an awful system - buyer usually wins unless online tracking (yes for a table!) is provided by the seller.

God, I didn't realise that could happen, I'm mostly a buyer but have sold a few odd bits.

How has Paypal beome so powerful?

Hmm yes, well it was rolled out in the states first of all. Has been sneakjed in imo, everyone has to offer paypal on every listing, which of course offers little protection for sellers and we are now open to all sorts of abuse.

I have also been a buyer mainly, but this is just the end of selling for me. I will use the local free ads and give stuff away I think!

Where are the monopolies commission when you need em? Surely they should have some interest in something like Ebay which holds the auction market firmly in it's grip, forces paypal upon us and then ups it's fees every two minutes without worrying about losing small sellers, because they know, deep down, we have nowhere else to go.

Drives me nuts!

Yes Squilly, a very good point...I wavered foir a long time but have finally decided enough is enough. Nowhere else is as well known as ebay but they treat their customers like complete cr*p.

I think we need to hit them where it hurts. I refuse to use a site that has such bloody useless customer loyalty and service. Even if you message them or ring their 'helpline' you never get an appropriate answer. It is all a load of shit, and I don't want to put my name to it.

that's crazy, i noticed yesterday that we all now have to offer paypal. it's mad especially for items to collect.

i'm not happy either, we just got a second neg from a dispute we won. can't leave him any feedback other than positive.

Aw Sea that sucks

I think we as sellers need to walk.

Ebid is quite good. But it doesn't have a huge customer base yet.

I'm hesitant to pay £49 upfront for something that might not be very effective iyswim.

How about getting the buyer to sign something to say that he/she has collected the item?

I would get a person collecting to sign a 'delivery note'. It doesn't help much, but perhaps taking a photo of them taking the item up your garden path would help

It's a joke really.

I'm trying Ebid Fllllight. It's not big now, but so many people are getting cheesed off with Feebay, who knows? Maybe Ebid will make a business out of ticked off traders? And if there's any way at all to trade elsewhere, it's got to be worth a try. I'm beginning to despair of Ebay and I've tried so hard to be positive, but it's not easy these days.

I know it's hassle but if you did sell something that was collected in person, paid through Paypal & then they opened a dispute stating item not recieved then it's fraud & the police can be involved.

When I sell a collection only item I always jot my surname & postcode on it in a UV pen (some poeple use smart water) as this way if I need to prove the item was mine the police only have to shine a UV light on it

Another trick I learnt is to send a recipet via recorded delivery to the person as then you have a online tracking number!

Oooh, MrsMagooo, im loving the uv pen idea. v clever.

I've stopped using it to sell as well.

Flubdub another use it has is on something like a pram etc - the latest scam is people buying something they already have but that has a broken part, switching the part then asking for a refund stating the item is broken (with me so far).

So you can ask for the item to be returned to you first & that way you can check to make sure if it is YOUR item that is broken or if the buyer replaced the part with a broken one as if it's your item it will have the UV details on it.

Do you get what I mean?!

Yep, I understand. But, then what do you do? Isnt it your word against theres?

Usually emailing the buyer telling them you know the broken part is not yours & how you know that is enough to make them close the dispute ;)

i hate ebay with a passion as they suspended my account because i'm linked to a suspended ebayer who lived in this house before me! i've written emails and phoned ebay they wont do a thing. any ideas how to get an account?