Wednesday Rant eBay Sellers and Buyers

It’s Wednesday, time for a rant.  This one has been bugging me for a while.  I used to love shopping on eBay and I was constantly on the site looking for the best deal. eBay used to be a civilized service where most sellers would make deals and people were honorable. It used to be fun to put in bids and even get into a war over something; when you won you felt proud, like you had done something great.

Now I get on the site and it’s either full of fakes or the sellers’ are trying to scam the buyers. The latest scam is putting an item up with a $1 buy it now, but also putting the shipping at like $200 dollars.  What happens is Mr. Buyer comes along and see the insane deal, uses the buy it now and now he’s owes $201.  Some people could say this is fair and the buyers should read the whole auction before they bid. That’s correct but most people are caught up in the $1 deal that they jump on the item before anyone bids. That’s what the seller counts on and hopes the person doesn’t read all the details.

The other problem with eBay is there is too much buyer protection and the sellers are getting screwed.  I don’t know how many times a buyer has made up something and I had to suffer the consequences.  I would even present solid evidence and eBay would still rule in their favor.  eBay values the buyer more than the seller.  I can understand this because most sellers sell fakes, sell items and never ship them and bid shill.  Bid shilling is when the seller sets up another account and increases his own bids to create a larger amount.

You just can’t trust anyone on eBay anymore.  There are too many fakes and too many shady sellers. eBay used to be the epicenter of the home garage sale. A place where people could take the old gently used items and make more money then a pawn shop would offer.  I was hoping things would get better but every time I go back to eBay and look around, I am reminded of a better time that is long gone.