Mad Doll Doctor

Has anyone else noticed how many great sellers are disappearing from Ebay?

In the past I have both bought and sold, but with the new changes I’m pretty sure my selling days are over and possibly my buying days as well. As of May, sellers will no longer be able to leave buyers, no matter how dishonest or deceitful, anything but positive feedback.

Paypal can also hold a seller’s money up to 21 days if they decide, (in all their infinite wisdom) that the transaction may not go smoothly….ahh, all those lovely fees, lovely interest. The monies are only released when the buyer has received the item and is “pleased”. Sellers are forced to ship goods without any payment, buyers are then free to complain about the item, get their money refunded, then send back an empty box and keep the item. Sellers have no recourse whatever.
Ebay has also recently begun encouraging buyers to leave unwarranted negative feedback against sellers by sending the “unhappy” buyer generous discount coupons towards their next Ebay purchase. And, per new changes, sellers with too many negative feedbacks will be forced to accept Paypal… ahhh, all those lovely fees, lovely interest.

Seems to me, most of the new changes were designed to force all sellers to use Paypal!

As a seller I bent over backwards to please my customers, and as a result I experienced a lot of great transactions. But there were also a few not so great experiences–buyers who wanted something for nothing, buyers who were simply impossible to please, buyers who started out with the intention to scam, to extort shipping fees, etc. For these minority of buyers, feedback was my only protection. Now, with the recent changes, Ebay is giving these buyers a license to lie and cheat and extort.

Does this seem fair to anyone? I’ve read that Ebay stock has been steadily dropping in value, I can’t help but think these latest changes will cause a further erosion in confidence…I’m no futures broker, but I think that the powers-that-be at Ebay have really screwed up this time.