Ebay's new policies.

Apparently Ebay has changed their policies lately. If you cancel over 2% off your transactions they will put you as having a "below standard". I have talked to support and they agree some buyers have odd buying habits and I consider it higher risk. Since my lower cost coins were not priced to include tracking, I cancelled transactions I considered high risk like a buyer that does not confirm receipt through feedback. Ebay doesn't really have "seller protection" as they claim and it is easy for some to simply claim they never received the coin. I tried to come to some sort of compromise and offer free shipping just to those who "are good Ebayers and leave feedback" get free shipping but that will affect my listing ranking under the "lowest price" sorting. Your money is also held if you hadn't sold in 90 days. What do you think of the new polices. It is too late for me. I am "below standard" with 100% positive feedback with excellent reviews.

 

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So, what do they do to buyers who cancel more than 2% of their transactions? You don't really need to answer that....we both know....

 

Transactions shouldn't be cancelled by either buyer or seller. A contract is a contract. A seller definitely shouldn't cancel because they think a buyer may or may not lie about getting a coin. If it's an issue, put tracking on it or take the risk of a loss. There is no requirement for a buyer or seller to contact or leave feedback.

 

Same thing that happens when the claim they didn't receive more than 2% of their purchases. If a buyer purchases 28 things in a month and can only leave one negative feedback, I cancel. Not worth the risk. Maybe with tracking which just went up.

 

I listed buy it now. As far as the "contract", Ebay knows that you can't force a person to pay for or sell something. That is like having a store and say it is a contract exists that you must sell to anyone that walks in no matter if there is a risk they may rob you. There is a compromise, charge for shipping with tracking and invoice people you can offer free shipping to or tell them to make an offer.

 

Actually, that would be illegal. It's discrimination. You are allowed to discriminate, but the people denied the service have the right to file a lawsuit...and they would win. You can't convict a person for a crime you think they may commit. Now all that said, I'm generally not a fan of ebay changes. They take some getting used to, but they are supposed to make it a safer environment.

 

Actually what Ebay is doing is forcing sellers into the precise mold of full-fledged businesses, a model which works not at all for anyone with a sales volume lower than a retail store.

 

Are you a lawyer? How do you know? We are not talking about denying service due to race, we are talking about behavior. That sounds like rubbish. It is not discrimination if you show up a PM dealer in dirty clothes with a hood over your head, and they don't buzz you in.

 

Race isn't the only protected class. If the person has directly harmed you, then you have the ability to not provide a service to them. You are denying to someone based on what you are inferring from a transaction(s) you were not directly involved in. You are denying service because you think they might not follow through...that is not protected by ebay for a reason...it's discrimination.

 

I agree.

 

I totally get what you're saying. A buyer with a bad habit is likely to continue that bad habit. I think if you state in your listing what would cause you to cancel a listing, you may have a little more pull with ebay. You are likely fighting an uphill battle, but you should have some say without being trashed by ebay. It's really tough, but they are trying to make rules that can be equally enforced without allowing for loopholes. I agree with you in principle, but I also agree with ebay on this one. And in no way did I mean any disrespect...wanted to get that out there.

 

Definition of discrimination: the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individual. I was looking at individual buying behavior. I have had people claiming they did not receive a coin even try to open a case a couple days after shipment. These individuals all had strange occurrences in their buying behavior and never acknowledge receipt publicly. They other option is of course using tracking on everything which went up or only use tracking with some individuals. I have cancelled all my listings till I can come up with an acceptable solution. I mostly sell for a hobby to pay for some coins so I am no power seller.

 

I've been in your shoes, even been called by sheriff's dept accusing me of not sending a package...really not fun. I would recommend using tracking on all sales. If an item isn't going to make you money with that added, you might not want to sell it through ebay. Sometimes you're in a no win situation, but you need to do what's best for you. Good luck, I hope you find a solution that works.

 

Hogwash. The only protection sellers on Ebay have is canceling a transaction when something doesn't seem or smell right. It is not discrimination it is just smart. Ebay doesn't protect sellers unless you make them millions a year, everyone else they just say too bad and blame you for getting scammed. There are countless stories of buyers getting refunded and not even having to return the item or demanding discounts ect.

If Ebay wants all sales to be followed through on then maybe they should actually implement policies to protect sellers from being scammed. Maybe one day they will figure out that polices for 3 dollar trinkets and 5 dollar dvds don't work for items of value, as of now they seem to think a one sized fits all approach is best. The truth is it probably doesn't even matter anymore, they damage has already been done to them where sellers will always play it safe knowing how they operate and a lot of material that would have been listed there a couple years ago is finding other venues.

 

No. I do not sell to people all of the time. Not selling to someone has nothing to do with discrimination. Discrimination is the act of consistently treating individuals in a group differently because they are in that group. Treating someone differently because of how the individual THEMSELVES behave is not discrimination. If someone does not pay their bills and have bad credit, I discriminate against them all day long. Similarly, someone on Ebay has lots of negative feedback and canceled transactions, the seller should have every right to not do business with.

Seriously, online, where NONE of the protected classes are knowable by either party, should be the LAST place "discrimination" is claimed.

 

If you can not afford to lose money from them not confirming receipt, you should not be in this business (and you would only lose money if they said they DIDN'T get the coin, they do not have to "confirm" through feedback that they got it). Either have enough profit from each coin to pay the tiny extra charge for tracking, or be willing to take a loss on a really cheap coin. You are not looking at much money either way.

 

That's a truth which indicts a lot of Ebay sellers. The reason you can't buy that inexpensive stuff online from retail outlets is because it's not profitable for them to sell it. If it ain't profitable for them to sell, it ain't profitable for you to sell. It boggles my mind how some sellers don't bother with that cardinal rule of retailing, to sell only stuff you can make money on.

 

If I am not mistaken, tracking is free now. Also, I have bought something on EBay which tracking has said was delivered but was never delivered. Due to tracking, I could never prove it was not delivered. I lost that case.

 

It is standard for the labels, it is built into the cost though. Ebay also managed to lose their shipping discount again, who ever is in charge of getting that is all kinds of incompetent

 

Tracking is included if you print is first class package which is now $2.60 plus the cost of the mailer. You can't use a regular envelope, post office will lose that. Since dimes, nickels, and cents are small, you can always use a stamp and tape the 2x2 to the receipt and fold it up. That is risky and can't do it with everyone. I agree with what you said, the only real seller protection is if you protect yourself from transactions that don't feel right. If you get a case or a message where they didn't say they received something it will be the one that bought 50 coins this month, is a new member or hasn't bought in a long time, and never left a feedback.

Apparently you don't care if people steal from you but I do. You probably have not sold enough coins to know some people are more trustworthy than others on Ebay while others are more likely to say they haven't got anything. It isn't your call who is in what business but no business likes loss from theft. The PM dealer I go to buzzes you in, why do you think that is?