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Replying To:
Ebay: the judge, the jury and the executioner[ Parent ] (none / 0) (#2)
by Anton7849 on Tue Dec 12, 2006 at 03:33:21 AM PDT

I have a better story to tell you. I have been suspended and reinstated on eBay several times. As a matter of fact, after four years with no issues/problems of any kind I just had my 3rd year anniversary of the 1st time I was suspended by them for some weird cause.

The beef that I have now with this monopoly is that they do not follow their own rules/policy. I am talking specifically about their "fair shipping" policy. You see, they shut down auctions right now if they "feel" that you charge too much for S/H fees. I have been suspended and reinstated and talked to 10 reps, (yes, literally ten eBay CS reps), and every single one of them gave me a different answer. Since some of them were talking to me from the position of power, they can do this when they are holding all the cards and have this type of leverage over you. They are the judge, the jury and the executioner of your sentence.
If you do not see the irony in that, and that there are no checks and balances in that system, it gets worse. I am talking about their "fair shipping policy".

Guess what?
1. They cannot give you a clear answer as to what "fair shipping fees" are. They say that it is written down and that it is "confidential information." And therefore cannot send me a copy of their policy! So it seems they would prefer me to violate their policy rather than educate me; they would rather suspend me, than make it crystal clear as to what the policy actually is.

2. The FAIR shipping fees that they have in their own eBay Shop are HIGHER than what they want their sellers to charge.

How does that work? Why do they want me to charge less than they charge for the same value item? They are a big company and charge more than what I charge, or what they want me to charge, for the same shipping service. Why the double standard? Maybe, because they cannot make money, or maybe the shipping charges are actually more than they want us sellers to charge, which forces us to lose money!

And guess what they sell in their store ~ You've guessed it, eBay promotional stuff. Why are they selling all this promo stuff anyway, they should be paying us to wear it and advertise for them, and then definitely ship it for FREE, or for less than I do.

3. Ebay policy requires any seller to have a phone number, but guess what? Their shop doesn't have one.

4. Ebay policy states that you cannot have your s/h charges as a percentage of your sale price. And yes, you guessed it again. They have that included in their sales prices as well.

I am not just complaining. No. I proposed many solutions to this issue and others as well (you didn't think there was only one?), they all fell on deaf ear. Do they not see that they are killing their own sellers. Or are they just scared that this won't last, so they are trying to get paid now. I thought they were supposed to facilitate win-win transactions between buyers and sellers and charge a fee for that. Instead they are trying to influence our behavior to maximize their profit. And doing it at all costs.

So, how can I listen to a company that violates its own policy and is trying to kill its base? I would guess that for 5 billion/year NET profit, they can hire someone to at least check on that part of their business, to have a discussion on how to improve it for all parties involved.

Oh, but I forgot, they are the judge, the jury and the executioner....

[ Parent ]


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