Original Post
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I participated on the discussion board yesterday regarding the Fall updates. It's inconsequential to me that none of the staff responded to my thread, as I didn't expect it. Yet, with all of the impersonal, stock replies I saw copied and pasted by staff from thread to thread, it just really indicates to me how truly trivial the concerns are of small sellers.
Today a customer wrote to me telling me that her package wasn't delivered even though tracking indicates that it was. Even though eBay does not hold sellers accountable for packages that show as delivered, USPS has been making mistakes more and more frequently. I'm surprised that eBay hasn't yet started holding sellers accountable for these types of incidents (and perhaps I shouldn't give them any ideas). I offered the buyer a partial refund of 50%, because I feel that with all the errors USPS has made recently she deserves the benefit of the doubt. Despite my conscientious and generous efforts, the potential for negative feedback looms.
I revised my return policies recently to indicate that I am no longer going to be manipulated. Not in such words, but if a customer leaves a neg, there it will stay. I will no longer submit feedback revision requests or cave into unreasonable demands like free return shipping to due buyer remorse or error. My current return policy is as good as Amazon Prime -- literally -- and I ship nearly as fast. Despite this, eBay still allows some of these dishonest customers to slip through the cracks to take advantage of me and harm my reputation.
And what about this new policy that doesn't allow a description header/notes for new items? They state, and I quote: "New items should not need further explanation. If your item requires an explanation, you should consider a different condition value for item condition."* What, like "used"? The items that I sell are new, but the packaging isn't always perfect. How do I reach those sellers who don't take the time to read item descriptions? In Health & Beauty, I can only list an item as new or used. What about "new other"?
*Scroll to the question "Why do I not see the item condition notes field when I’m listing an item in “New”, “Brand New”, “New With Tags” or “New In Box” condition?" under Item condition notes.
Remember the slogan "If it's on your mind, it's on eBay"? I think that's a thing of the past. People who sell small ticket items, such as baseball cards, stickers, low-end coins, etc., simply cannot justify the expense of tracking and are being driven out. I'm not far behind those people -- most of the items I sell are low-ticket items and items that people only look for once in a blue moon. It isn't profitable to conduct auctions for many rarely sought after items, and I can't afford the recurrent .20 insertion fee every month. Just the other day I had to pull 30 listings.
I'm trying to figure out where eBay is going with its lack of substance where seller protection is concerned and all of these changes that negatively affect small sellers. I need to know where my future stands. Perhaps I'm naive. Any insight would be helpful.
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