10 Reasons Why eBay Sucks for Sellers
Nov. 20, 2009
116 Comments
Yes, I started my entrepreneurship career on eBay. My business was selling other peoples items and then taking a commission. I enjoyed making nice commissions and was even interview on television. I loved eBay then. Now I don’t. Here are 10 reasons why I think eBay now sucks for sellers.
Illegitimate feedback
If a buyer gives you a negtive feedback for no reason, you can’t remove it. There goes your entire reputation and sometimes your entire business.
Annoying rules
For example in the last 12 hours of an auction you can’t change images. A potential buyer emailed me to notify me that I had put the wrong picture on the auction page. There was no bid but because there were only 10 hours left, I couldn’t change the picture, and what do you know, no sale.
Bogus buyers
No more negative feedback for bogus buyers, meaning that buyers who don’t pay for their winning bids cannot be penalized by the seller. This too destroys the entire feedback system.
Fees
EBay’s sale commission is a good chunk plus you have to pay for every listing detail practically. Subtitle: $.50, picture: $.25, bold title: $1, etc.
PayPal
If you use PayPal which is very handy for eBay selling you’re going to be ripped off. They continually take more and more commissions. Plus eBay owns PayPal so you are charged 3 times, listing, commission and PayPal!
Refunds
Someone can buy your item using PayPal, receive the item, and then lie and say that it was not shipped. PayPal will then refund them the entire purchase amount.
Shipping
Everything relies on shipping. The postal service once lost a small expensive package I sold; the buyer had not pay for insurance. So I had to wait for weeks to find out what happened, and then reimburse the item from my pocket!
Free alternative, Craigslist
There’s just no incentive to sell on eBay when you have Craigslist. It’s 100% free, the buying market is huge, its easy, no shipping involved, door to door. What more could you ask for?
Terrible customer service
If you have a problem with a sale or purchase, you have to go through bots and finally days later receive a humans actual help.
Messy interface:
Every time eBay seems to update their interface and website it gets worse. No matter how many people complain the site just becomes worse.
So even though I started a successful eBay business I have moved on. If you use eBay, let me know what you think.
In case you are interested here are some alternatives to eBay:
Feel free to share your experience with eBay below.
116 Responses to “10 Reasons Why eBay Sucks for Sellers”
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Nov. 23, 2009
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The fee’s on eBay is what turned me off.
Craigslist is where its at!
Yeah the fees are terrible, Craiglist is free it’s that simple…
Have the same feeling. It takes time to understand all the features on eBay and that’s a good chance for scamers to cheat on novice users.
Yeah its especially tough for those who aren’t experienced eBay sellers.
Fees…. Yes but I tried to close my good standing account and they are making me wait 30 days. I guess in hopes of me changing my mind. NO F- – -ING WAY!!!!
I also wrote the presedent of tHE company THAT WAS A JOKE! HE DID NOT REPOND! HE HAD HIS ERRON BOY RESPOND TO IT! TOTAL CLULESS GUY.
EBAY AND PAYPAL SUCK. BEWHARE DON’T USE THEM. I NEVER HAD A PROBLE IN 10 YEARS BUT BOY WHEN I DID I FOUND OUT THEY ARE NOT THERE TO PROTECT YOU. EVERY POLICY HAS A LOOP HOLE. BEWHARE AS I FOUND OUT. BUYER RIPP ITEMS OFF MY PRODUCT THEN SENT BACK TO ME.EBAY GAVE HIS MONEY..”yes his money” BACK TO HIM FOR STEELING MY STUFF. THEN BUYERS BUDDY BID ON ITEM AND LEFT NEGITIVE FEEDBACK THE SECOND HE OPEND THE BOX NOT TRYING TO WORK ANY THING OUT. AND BUYER SENT ITEM BACK AGAIN NOT PACKAGE CORRECTLY. IT TOTALLY DISTROYED ITEM AFTER ME PAYING FOR REPAIR FROM 1ST BUDDY BUYER. EBAY TOLD ME THAT WAS THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS! TOO BAD! I LOST APROX $ 275.00 AT THE HANDS OF EBAY… IF YOU HAVE MORE MONEY THAN YOU CARE TO HAVE AND LIKE LOSING YOUR MONEY THEN EBAY IS THE PLACE TO GO. PAYPAL WILL SUPPORT EVERY MOVE EBAY MAKES.THIS IS MY EXPERIENCE WITH EABY AND PAYPAL. 10 YEARS OF DECATION ON MY PART ( SUCKER) TO THEM AND THEY KICK ME IN THE OVARIES! THANKS EBAY AND PAYPAL! BUT THAT IS THE LAST SCREWING I’LL LET THEM DO TO ME. USED CRAIGS LIST IT IS FREE.
Check out Powabunga.com. It’s a brand new auction site. They don’t have listing fees. I’ve just started using it and it looks to be a true auction site. Bidders buy auction paddles which pay for the item. Once enough users have bought paddles for an item, the item is paid for and the auction begins. Only the users with auction paddles get to be in the auction. They use a weird virtual currency they call carrots to bid against eachother. I like it, there just doesn’t seem to be that many users on it. And you can search by location which I really like.
Let me know what people think.
Even I tried eBay and amazon but things never worked out for me,
Oh I’m sorry to Ricky. Regards.
I never tried using Ebay but I like classifieds. They’re personal, you contact the owner directly and you don’t pay dumb fees in between. I’ve sold and bought from classifieds for a years casually and I’ve enjoyed it.
Cheers,
Clinton
Yeah those can work out very well especially on Craigslist…
Ebay can be a pain up the ass at times. You have to pay all these fee’s for simple things like posting an image, and they don’t protect the sellers compared to the buyers.
It is, I remember that you had quite a bad experience on eBay, sorry.
I sell all my computer parts via other websites but ebay. I found they are too expensive to be listed there.
Thanks for sharing!
I have never bothered with eBay. Good call by me, I guess.
Yeah Alex, smart decision
i’m just wondering. Now that you think Ebay sucks, why did you still have that Template Optimizer ad on the left?
Wouldn’t it be ironic if you tell people not to use Ebay, but still having one your sponsors selling Ebay templates?
Just wondering
Hi
Well thats Google Adsense, which shows ads based on the post. Since this post was on eBay it ironically showed a Template Optimizer…
I have never used ebay in my life, but your article is eye opening. Which service you would prefer for online shopping?
I’m glad. For shopping I would always use Amazon.
I have never used eBay (or Amazon for that matter). I’m a non-US citizen and most of their terms and conditions are not-so-conducive for me.
I saw you recommending Craiglist above. But I have recently seen lot of spam floating there (even seen lot of crap like ‘Craiglist poster wanted’ etc on Digital Point Forum). Curious to hear your takes on it!
It’s hard for non-US citizens to use sites such as eBay or Amazon but Craigslist is quite easy for international users. Yes there is a lot of spam but as long as you verify that the seller is real you could make a lot of great deals.
I didn’t realise that Craigslist was good for international users. Though I doubt many Australians would use it. I could be wrong though. I will check it out.
I plan to use Ebay just to sell off some junk I’ve got lying around and I need some cash (just left my full time job to pursue a career online so may as well sell things I don’t need online)
From my understanding Ebay is pretty big in Australia – many many many people use it.
I would have thought if people don’t use registered post it’s their own fault if they don’t get their product in the post and they couldn’t try and rip you off saying they didn’t get the package. Maybe registered post should be compulsory!
Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com
I’m sure Craigslist is used in Australia… Well if you are looking for some quick cash eBay should be good for that, but still CL is better! Good luck.
I don’t like that people expect everything the day after tomorrow on there and if it’s not there they are asking where it is. People need to settle down on there. Sellers are at the Mercie of the buyers and it’s not right. I fully agree with all of your reasons as well. The fees were my main reason for leaving. And they don’t care about their customers on Ebay. I guess I could go on and on. I use buyitsellit.com now with my store. I love it!
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Yeah, sellers are really abused on eBay. They can’t expect to receive everything the day after, and misunderstandings happen! I hate the fees also, I’ll for sure check out buyitsellit.com thanks for sharing!
Hey Ben, good post; excellent points, however I can’t pass up the fact that there is an audience actively seeking the items I sell on eBay (yo-yos) and that it’s an excellent way to drive traffic to sites with relevant information (ie my own e-commerce store, but I would send them to a helpful blog post or forum topic to gain the users trust first.
Ultimately my yo-yo related website is still in development and I haven’t gone all out selling products on eBay, but I would love to post 25 items per week and automate it and simply have a link back to my site in each post, that way I’d be making money for advertising my website
Hey
Well for items like yoyo’s eBay is probably great, aside from all the other problems listed above. If you are interested there are some great tools such as auctiva, sellercircle, for eBay sellers.
Regards.
Ebay is something I use but as an affiliate partner not as an actual seller on my personal niche sites. Are you doing something similar?
Also, I just want to mention that in this week alone, I’ve moved 250 bucks on purchasing an iphone from a friend, selling for 450 bucks and now purchase an iphone from another friend and hope to do the same. I’ve made minimum week wage in less then a day’s work.
Tony | Seo Writer´s last blog post: Search Engine Marketing Software = Google Sandbox
I use Amazon for affiliate marketing. Yes I know you could make a lot from eBay, but overall its ineffecient and there are lots of problems (as mentioned above.) Kinds regards.
I do agree at 100%. eBay sucks. I can’t believe such a buggy, messy, confuse, user-unfriendly service has succeeded in getting the monopole on second hand buy/sell on the internet. I look forward the raise of some more userfriendly competitor.
Haha, thanks for the support. Well there are plenty of other great sites such as:
◦Amazon
◦Craigslist
◦Overstock
◦Ebid
◦Auctionaddict
◦Ubid
Regards.
Great post.
I like Preloved.co.uk myself, Ebay I always found disappointing.
Preloved is free and you can post a photo, though they have messed with the messaging system this last week and made it internal.
Hmm I’ve never heard of Preloved, I’ll go check it out. Thanks for sharing!
ebay owns %25 of craiglist incase you didn`t know
I didnt know that, thanks so much for letting me know
I just found this site: http://www.gravityauction.com
It’s a descending price auction site. The price starts high and drops until someone bids.
Their fees are pretty low (1.5-6%) and you apparently only pay if your item sells for over $10.
I’ve been waiting for something like this!
Wow I’ve never heard of such a concept, what a great idea. I wonder if it pays off… Thanks so much for sharing!
Yea, I just got hit with the Refund issue. Sold a brand new laptop battery(factory sealed). Buyer claimed it wasn’t new. eBay asked the buyer to send it back for a full refund. I get it back and the serial numbers don’t match. It’s obvious the buyer sent back his old battery. Before I could dispute the issue with eBay, they closed the case and ruled in his favor.
So, now i’m stuck with his old battery. I can’t return to the retailer because the serial numbers don’t match, and out the money(since it’s been already taken out of my paypal account).
I’m done selling on eBay
That’s such a pain, I can’t believe eBay would allow such a thing to happen. I definitely understand why you would be done with eBay.
the part about “refunds” totally happened to me today. some stupid bitch ripped me off and i KNOW she did, and of course, my bank account was lower when i got home. i tried disputing three times, even offered to show them proof that the item was sent, but got no response. the woman showed signs of “buyers remorse” DAYS after she won the auction.. i even had to send her invoice after invoice before she paid. i might as well have not even bothered because she got both money and jewelry.
what’s worse is that i live in a small town.. the nearest craigslist page is for 30 miles away, and very rarely gets visited.
I’m so sorry, it real is terrible when things like that happen. It’s very unfortunate that you can’t use Craigslist. Good luck!
Yeah ebay’s buggy system is a real pain, sometimes it takes hours to put right when it goes wrong – especially the bulk editor.
Dave´s last blog post: Start selling on your WordPress Blog with WP Auction
Agreed, thanks for sharing your opinion Dave.
So would you think it is a bad idea to get into a business where you sell items for people via Ebay?
Well I went through it, I wouldn’t say that it was bad, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant at times.
I would absolutely say stay away from a business selling on eBay for others, unless it is selling for other businesses (over stock, closeouts, discontinued items etc).
I owned an eBay drop off store in 2005 and was amongst the hundreds of such people to lose my shirt.
There were only 3 in Staten Island including myself. All were seperated from each other geographically – so we were not on top of each other. All three went out of business.
I started selling for businesses including an Appliance Company and eventually worked there full time and took over the marketing of their eCommerce site.
It worked out well in the end, I certainly learned a lot and feel compelled to share my experiences with others.
Interesting story. I’ve heard so many people who have similar stories with so many problems with eBay.
Each marketplace has Its own strengths and weaknesses.
There are a lot of problems with a business selling other people’s stuff on eBay.
I recommend strongly against doing so as it did not work out for me and most others. Do not want to give all the problems in this comment.
There are better alternatives. Sourcing your own stuff even from flea markets , thrifts etc is better.
In the past few months, I have found that eBay no longer enforces its own rules on buyer’s remorse–a buyer can get his money back in full no matter what. Also, buyer’s no longer are required to file an insurance claim with USPS, Fedex, etc. and eBay will still refund all their money–eBay might as well be picking the seller’s pockets. Of course, eBay and Paypal keep all their fees in both instances. I am no longer going to sell anything but junk on eBay. A shame since I was a Powerseller for a very long time and did quite well when Meg was running eBay.
Yeah they are hurting the sellers so much by always going in favor of the buyers. That’s interesting that you did well while Meg was the CEO, I never sold during that time period. Thanks for sharing Ken.
Donahue is doing to eBay what Keyes did to Blockbuster (replaced a good CEO) which is expected to file bankruptcy this year and then be gone forever. With any luck, the same will happen to eBay so a better company can take its place.
Very true. I wonder what would replace eBay, for the time being I’m going to have stick with Craigslist.
The problem with ebay is they have lost sight of what’s important. The golden rule of sales. “If sellers can sell, buyers will buy”. Ebay is too distracted with profit chasing and as a result, they are chasing away their sellers.
Insertion fees are insane. Final value fees are impossible to calculate and scary. 10% of this amount plus 5% of that amount plus a surcharge, plus a kiss my ass fee!
They are caught in the corporate profit trap. More, more, more! They need to start over and simplify everything, not add more layers of confusion and stress. Sellers are leaving. I think about ebay almost everyday but I don’t list any items! It’s too difficult and too intimidating. Every decision I’m forced to make is painful. Fees, fees, fees.
The amazing thing to me is that the executives over at ebay have no understanding of any of this. Where did these nut jobs come from? The culture at ebay is broken… It’s like NASA a few years back. Push the launch button because no one has the balls to say “stop and fix it!”
All answers stem from this basic truth… “If sellers can sell, buyers will buy!”
I fully agree with “If sellers can sell, buyers will buy!” As long as eBay keeps preventing the sellers from selling because of their insane fees, their want be any more buyers. eBay has clearly become to greedy, to accommodate its sellers.
Has anyone seen the new “zero Insertion Fee” policy for items under $1 over at ebay? I can’t wait to get started on this sellers miracle. WOW…. happy days!
If only I could justify researching, photographing, cropping, photoshopping, AND spending 30 minutes putting up an item w/description, for sale at .99 – Hmmmm maybe I’ll just wait for the next amazing ebay offer!
Ebay seems to be chasing after the low-end junk, but that doesn’t even make sense. Not sure what they are up to wih this.
How true tho Peter (if sellers can’t sell, buyers have nothing to buy)
thanks and good luck to all
I haven’t heard about that. The profit margin on an item under $1 is so low that it wouldn’t be worth for me and for most people unless they’re selling by the hundreds or thousands from China.
Not sure what’s going on with eBay either. Good luck to you too!
Sold a $4500 item, buyer tried to hustle for a $1500 refund claiming it was rusty, buyer filed dispute with ebay, buyer refunded in full from seller paypal account without having to return item. Now out both $4500 and item.
That’s terrible, I’m so sorry. I read your full story on your site, I can’t believe that happened.
You mean to tell me, you didn’t get anything back? That would be against the law, and not even eBay is above that. Something about your story, does not add up at all. You are clearly lying about something.
NOTHING BACK. I’ve involved the police department in the city the buyer lives, the Kentucky attorney generals office and a lawyer. I’ve been told it’s a CIVIL matter that must be settled in CIVIL COURT. Ebay certainly believe they are above the law. Read the posts here to confirm that.
What DOESN’T add up is me spending $15.95 per month to host lies. I pulled up ALL messages and accounts on my computer and took picures of them EXACTLY as they appear on my computer. No fudging emails, doctoring accounts and/or editing messages. People see EXACTLY what I see if they were sitting in my chair.
My civic duty warning others of my nightmare will not deter eBay in any way. They are a planet to themselves and any member is but a grain of sand on that planet.
Ebay is a nightmare. It costs and arm and a leg and the buyers are terrible.
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At times, it is…
I know alot of people don’t like eBay, but you guys only focus on the negative. Yeah, bad stuff happens in every business, it is the nature of the business, take your lumps and move on. eBay gives you access to millions of buyers, if you don’t want to sell to someone, block them and stop complaining.
You definitely have a point. I could write a post on the positives of eBay but I decided to focus on the negative though.