William Leides

From Scott: “…sellers…know if something goes wrong with just one sale on eBay they may have to pay an unjust cost in the form of lowered search standing.”

Or even worst, in the form of temporary SUSPENSION.

For a low volume eBay Trading Assistant consignment seller, it’s embarrassing to have to explain to your consignor that you can’t list their items now as promised because you are temporarily suspended from listing on eBay until your 4 star Shipping DSR improves. In the consignor mind, they’re thinking a 4 star hotel is pretty nice, so what’s the problem!!

I’m glad you’re blogging about customer service.

In a competitive environment, good customer service tips the scale and makes sales!

Linda

Recently I made a one time payment to eBay to ensure that my account was current. This was mainly due to the fact I failed to update my credit card which had expired. Yes it was my fault for not keeping it up to date.

So, I paid my eBay bill on December 2.

On December 12, eBay rebilled my updated account for the DOUBLE the amount I originally owed and PAID on December 2.

I called eBay Customer Support on Friday December 12 and was told that yes in fact there had been an overlap due to my onetime payment. It was explained that eBay bills in batches, which are created 15 days in advance of them actually being processed through PayPal due to the sheer volume. The CS rep advised me that a refund would be processed immediately. I was told to monitor my PayPal account to ensure the refund appears.

When by Saturday afternoon the refund had not appeared, I again called CS and was told by that representative that the refund could take up to 5 Business days to be processed. Note that this is a direct contradiction from the information I received from the first CS rep.

So, I got to thinking about this matter and on Tuesday December 16th, I called CS again to express my dissatisfaction regarding this situation as I felt 5 Business days was excessive.

The CS rep I talked with this time tells me it may take up to 30 days to receive my refund! He also tells me that the first two CS reps gave me the WRONG information. I am also told that this situation is MY FAULT because I made a one time payment to ensure my account was current. I was told I should never make a one time payment.

Now, if I as a seller told one of MY eBay CUSTOMERS it would take up to 30 days to issue a refund, all hell would break loose! eBay would probably restrict me, PayPal would restrict my account and I would certainly receive Negative feedback!

No where in the eBay User Agreement or anywhere else on the site does it tell me that eBay refunds will take 30 days!

I asked the last CS rep to direct me to that specific policy and he was unable to provide me with this information.

In my humble opinion, I am eBay’s customer! Buyers are not eBay customers, they are the sellers customers.

If I provided the same Custopmer Service eBay does, I would be banned.

I suppose I could go into the long list of complaints about “Best Match”, Third Party Checkout, Finding 2.0, and other aspects of using eBay as a Buyer. Like the fact that you do not receive the same quality of communications from sellers on eBay as a buyer as you do from any of the 3 customer service winners I mentioned above.

eBay has tried to remedy much of the communications problems by limiting how and when a seller can communicate with the buyer, and by punishing the seller when they do not communicate fast enough, but in the real world, these changes have not effected the marketplace much.

I purchased and paid for a Blackberry cell phone on eBay 5 days ago (my only eBay purchase in the last 2 months) and as yet have not received a single email from the seller. Nothing that eBay or PayPal itself did not generate. Very little information about when my package shipped, when it will arrive or any other information regarding my purchase.

I do not feel as secure in this purchase as I have with the Amazon, Zappos or even Sears purchases this holiday season. Therefore I have not gone back to eBay to buy anything further.

The sellers have been battered by the venue, they do not want to break any of the multiple rules and regulations, they do not understand DSRs and they know if something goes wrong with just one sale on eBay they may have to pay an unjust cost in the form of lowered search standing.

As you know, I have spent the better part of the last 10 years of my life working with, within, and for eBay as a seller, a consultant, a designer and a third party software provider. It pains me to make these observations, but they are valid observations just the same.

Unless and until eBay does something about the crisis in customer service they they have created, I just do not feel as though the site as a whole will rebound.

I know and appreciate the great work you do on the site Cliff. You have a great niche market, fabulous hard to find items and give your very best to your buyers. You are exactly the kind of seller that made eBay the success that it is/was. I wish they could see that more clearly.

One thing I take issue with is you examine Amazon, Zappos and Apple as a customer of each, which is great, they’re all known for their excellent customer service, but you look at eBay from the perspective of a seller on the site–a customer of eBay’s sure, but for the other companies you’re talking about the purchasing procedure, whereas for eBay you’re not.

While I’ve had my frustrations with eBay as a seller in ’08 I’ve been quite pleased when buying from the site and after adjusting to the initial change find the current checkout system much easier and more intuitive. My only gripe with eBay’s purchasing procedure right now is the monkey-wrench third party checkout continues to toss into the mix.

Thanks, Cliff