Problems With eBay?
Not sure if anyone else is having problems with eBay, but I am. As a seller, I often use the Featured Plus tool, which normally allows my items to appear on the first page of any search for Jazz records with the subcategory of 33-RPM. I’e been doing this for years and there hasn’t been a problem. Then, this week, eBay changed it’s view and search functions and all of a sudden my items are not appearing on the first pages of searches anymore and, in fact, I can’t find any search where they are being listed. This is one of the items that’s currently listed as Featured Plus: Introducing Lee Morgan, Savoy 12091. It’s a nice item, already over $100 by the way. Anyway, I’m posting this to see if anyone else is having problems with the new version of eBay, either in searching to purchase items or in listing items. I am a Power Seller, not that being a Power Seller carries that much weight, but I am curious if other people are having problems and if anyone is finding solutions. Also, if anyone can find a search where my Lee Morgan record appears as a featured item, please be kind and let me know. I don’t know about you, but I hate it when eBay tries to fix things that aren’t broken and winds up screwing up a perfectly good system.
This is the third post in a row with reference to your own auctions. It is beginning to feel more like a commercial site/store than a resource / blog for jazz collectors.
Al, I sell on ebay quite often; I have seen the inability to leave positive feedback for the buyer, and the search features dropping listings. Hopefully you got the ebay newsletter on the new seller system changes going in effective 6-15. In my opinion, ebay is really pushing fixed price over auction style listings, so a lot of small ticket items might go by the wayside.
big bear has no obligation to make bids or even to look at the items put on auction by Al.
The concern of Al is a concern of all sellers: the featured plus option does not give a plus anymore. They are honest enough to say that the featured item should ‘normally’ appear featured somewhere (without guarantee), but anyway, not on page one. The policy of EBay is getting more and more seller unfriendly. Everything is done to protect the buyer and Paypal. E.g. I had sent an album via registered mail, like I do for all Paypal paid packages. The package has never arrived. The buyer claimed his money back under Paypal’s buyers’ protection scheme. Although I had the proof, which I sent to Paypal, of having shipped the parcel, Paypal ruled that I had not delivered and they debited my Paypal account for the claimed amount. The contactual clauses in my sales conditions, that all shipments are for the risk of the buyer, were ignored by Paypal. They do as they like, but don’t care for the sellers. I am gettng fed up, but the bastards have a quasi monopoly. They also introduced this freight calculator, although not based in the U.S. they oblige me to calculate freight, as if I were based in the US. If I quote the freight from Europe to the US, they say too high (over $ 4.00) and I cannot list the item. If I list my items on EBay.nederland, -.france, -.italia, -.deutschland or -.italia, which average Japanese or American is going to see my items, because they don’t read Dutch, French, Italian or German. So I am forced to use EBay.com.
I have not seen yet the impossibility to leave positive feedback fo the buyer, but a non-paying buyer, cannot get a negative feedback, if he has not paid. The non-payment procedure is only aimed at crediting to the seller the EBay sales commissions.
Thank you for support, Rudolf. Yes, I do post about my problems with eBay because I want other collectors to share their problems as well. eBay, as I’ve said so often, has become the marketplace for rare jazz collectibles, so it is important that we all understand their policies and ideosynchracies. — al