eBay Insanity

[ColtsD21]

I'm a Forensic Document Examiner & trained Private Investigator


What a great title!

The sad thing is Ebay is a monopoly. I finally realized if you want to buy and sell there you pretty much have to take it. The good news is you can pick and choose who you sell too. I choose not to do business with people who have excessive shipping costs.

[Cardcop]

I've been very sick for the last several months, so I haven't been able to do much of anything. It sucks when your mind works, but your body doesn't. I now have the worst symptoms of both Muscular Dystrophy & Multiple Sclerosis and my own body is blocking every medication they try. I have a tumor of the thymus gland which is making it hyperactive destroying any medication my body has not been used to for at least a few years.

eBay just keeps getting worse just when I thought it wasn't possible. I get so worked up because almost no one else does, especially the ones who are PAID TO & WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO AS PART OF THEIR JOBS like eBay itself.
I purposely report ceratin auctions that wildly break eBay's rules & check back every day or so and almost always now eBay does nothing at all. I'm talking about the most obvious autograph forgeries, fake cards listed as real ones, and of course my pet peeve: those who drastrically overcharge shipping & handling (and yes FEE AVOIDANCE is one of the main rules that breaks). All three of these things according to eBay's own rules and confirmed on the phone with eBay "specialists" (they don't have supervisors???) are things that are supposed to END AUCTIONS or change them in the case of shipping fees.

There are more & more new sellers who don't offer a shipping discount AT ALL when you win more than one auction on the same day! I'd like to see someone seriously defend this one!!! And no, this is not stated in any of their listings anywhere. Even before there was eBay, combined S&H was AUTOMATIC in the sports card hobby! This continued on eBay WITHOUT SAYING up until about 2002 when the USPS drastically increased the postage on bubble envelopes. It used to be that #000-#00 (small-medium) bubble envelopes always had the same fees as plain white envelopes & we could use Delivery Confirmation on flat packages too. I think this was the beginning of the end for eBay as many of us knew it from the day they started. In 2002 when a two ounce package went from .60 cents to $1.25 or so overnight, some sellers started charging like .10 cents for each additional card, but it was rare back then. But it was still automatic that S&H was to be combined for free unless specified otherwise until fairly recently where only a small number of sellers (mostly newbies) started with HIDDEN FEES. This caused more collectors to stop buying on eBay than any of you probalbly can imagine. This is why I'm so worked up about overcharging shipping & handling, there is a much bigger picture to this that most don't think about!

Why do you think that in less than a year the biggest sellers get the highest prices for the exact same cards? This is the OPPOSITE of the facts a few years back. I think it's because at least sellers known exactly what to expect from these big sellers and at least they won't be surprised with a major upset when they receive their cards. I've been trying to get people to understand how delicate the situation was with the remaining buyers for a long time, but most didn't listen. I often e-mailed them on eBay politely trying to explain that something they were doing was hurting THEMSELVES more than anyone. Now that's the case & a lot of decent sellers are gone for good because they were a bit greedy and wouldn't budge. This is bad for everyone!
Buyers in fear of being upset became such an epidemic that even tntnorthnj - THE BIGGEST/WORST SELLER ON EBAY makes more on the exact same cards than a seller with (200)+ SELLER feedbacks & a PERFECT seller history. SOMETHING IS EXTREMELY WRONG WITH THAT!!!

Eveyone is entitled to their opinion, I get that and it's perfectly OK. I read everything everyone says and I've changed several things I thought over the years because I think life is a constant learning experience. But when someone stoops to attacking me personally, or calling me a liar without any facts whatsoever is childish and gets no one anywhere. The love to bash me over on another card seller's board/blog becvause they are many of the sellers I go after & they banned together against me. Let them have their fun over there - it doesn't bother me anymore. I once e-mailed everyone (over 20 of them) who were personally attacking me with my direct e-mail address, and invite any of them to discuss the issues with me politely. NO ONE RESPONDED! But I don't want any novice to believe that those idiots are speaking the truth.

For instance, I never claim that I did not receive an eBay item when I actually did. A few started this rumor that I do this "all the time" and they got quite vicious. Then suddenly I'm blocked by many eBay sellers I never bought from??? These are people believing things they have no personal knowledge of & that bothers me. Here's the truth: my Post Office (Maspeth, NY 11378) was one of the Post Offices named to be closed when the USPS stated that they were closing like 2,600 Post Offices. Then suddenly I'm missing packages in a pattern that was deduced to bOver a one year period I lost about (3) packages in total, ten were sent Delivery Confitrmation and of course I didn't blame those sellers at all. But the ones who sent my cards without D/C I filed Buyer Complaints againmst if I didn't receive them in 10-days or more and the seller refused to help in any way or was acting strange. Like in cases where I won cards very cheap & the seller instantly gives me a refund as soon as I filed a buyer complaint??? That's not always a coicidence...
I'm quite certain that the sellers that start bashing me are the ones who ignorantly don't send items with Delivery Confirmation because they think the only way to do it is by driving to the Post Office and paying .80 cents for it. Up to 20% of sellers still do this! If you click PRINT SHIPPING LABEL on eBay or Paypal, you can print you own postage w/fees via Paypal at LESS of a price or the same than the Post Office charges in person! It's true that eBay doesn't advertise this quite enough, but new sellers need to ASK QUESTIONS of other sellers! Until recently when I became too sick, I used to notify anyone who sent me a package with that .80 cent green sticker and tell them how to do it the right way.

IT'S .17 CENTS FOR DELIVERY CONFIRMATION ONLINE! You print the labels on plain paper with any printer and tape it to the bubble envelope. Plus you can buy insurance too this way at the same PO fee. But you NEVER need to go to the Post Office in-person again for domestic shipping. If one package is sent Priority Mail, most Post Offices will pick-up all your packages the next day by truck if you request this online! For some sellers it's worth this to spend an extra $3.00 just to have all their mail picked-up for free every day!!! You can get the same free supplies at the PO delivered to your home for free as well.

Most of what I buy is for hospitalized children- some of which are paid for by the families of the children. So I value everything I can afford to keep for myself, isn't it the seller's responsibility to use Delivery Confirmation when they ALL charged me $3.00 or more for shipping? I let a few slide that cost me only a couple of dollars for the card(s) and the seller charged less than $3.00 shipping. I don't think most would even do that.

Take care everyone, your health truly is EVERYTHING!

James

[Chaplain11]

I have pointed out a few policy violations to sellers, quoting the acutal policy. Some get mad but it is what it is. While the sellers do charge more, as explained, it is against the rules. Thanks for what you were doing.

Dewayne

[centrehice]

I was not employed by eBay, but due to my own due diligence in the very expensive Wilderness and Extreme Clothing category with Jackets of $400.00 USD - $700.00 USD, for Mountaineering, etc, I managed to shut down 12 different Counterfeit clothing operations based in China.

They were selling Fake Arc'Teryx and North Face clothing. Bogus jackets that didn't look anything like the originals, but labeling was in similar locations.

It's fun finding a Fugazy or two. I'm no rat or dobber, but I do love shutting down counterfeit punks.