Re: [FWDLK] Those of you who sell on eBay

Perhaps I have a sort of warped view on the topic since I work as a "Customer Service Supervisor" at my place of employment (and perhaps some of this is just me venting). We spend a lot of time trying to help customers who have an issue (perceived or real) with an order or item they ordered from us. Probably 99% of the time we are able to quickly and easily resolve any issues to the liking of both parties. A lot of the time the customers we spend the most time dealing with are those who, in short, are trying to pull a fast one on us or those trying to get something for nothing. Occasionally you'll get the customer who doesn't think our policies should apply to them. So, even though we're following the policy, and it is clearly listed where they can read it BEFORE they ever order anything from us, they still are upset. Just like a kid in a candy store throwing a temper tantrum because he can't get the candy he wants.

My mom also does, or at least did sell on eBay quite regularly until a couple months ago when someone who won 11 different auctions from her left a neutral rating for each of those 11 auctions because there was an issue with one of the auctions they won. The other 10 auctions went just fine and the issue on the 11th one was resolved. After my mom left positive feedback, the idiot came back and left 11 neutrals. Ebay's response was to ban my mom from listing anything for 30 days because some jackmo acted totally irrationally when leaving feedback. This was actually a blessing in disguise, as she makes a LOT more money selling the literature she has on Amazon.com than she did on eBay...and Amazon has cheaper fees, so it looks like eBay really helped themselves on this one.

My mom had another buyer just recently supposedly withdraw his bid from one of her auctions, but somehow he still won the auction (either he bid multiple times or went back in and placed another bid after the first was withdrawn). Naturally he refused to pay for the auction, so now there's a negative rating on my mom's account from this guy since my mom left him a negative rating for not paying. I don't think a seller deserves a negative on their account just because some idiot is too stupid to know how eBay works (he wasn't new to ebay either).

Anyway, the point I'm getting at is that sometimes, the customer is most definitely WRONG. You don't always have to try to be fair to the buyer AND the seller when one of the two is clearly in the wrong. Ebay's system now is definitely flawed, and from the sounds of it so far, the new system will be as well. Honestly, I think the best you can expect of ANY ratings system like eBay's is that it will have only minor flaws. Maybe instead of making these changes, eBay should just require anyone who wishes to buy or sell to take an IQ test and score above a certain level.

There are too many people out there I have run across that have a "businesses should have their lips firmly affixed to my butt" attitude. I guess what I'm saying is that maybe eBay should use some common sense when dealing with buyers and sellers, and maybe be a bit more flexible in their feedback policies. If a buyer fails to read a description and then is upset because the seller delivered exactly what was described and they just weren't happy with it, I say tough luck, be sure to read the description next time and don't blame your own shortcomings on other people. Stop trying to hold everyone's hand, and then maybe people will start to learn to think for themselves a little.