eBay UKReviews 195

I ordered some health product from ebay UK and it never arrived so I contacted ebay and they said that because I had done the transaction as a guest (not using my ebay account) they, according to their terms and conditions, have no responsibility to make sure that the product is actually real and delivered. They told me to call Paypal even though I do not have a Paypal account and paid for the goods with my credit card! Unbelievable that ebay can sell you something on their site and then, when the seller cheats you out of 90 pounds they say that they, "have no responsibility". If I did not know better I would think that I am dealing with the Mafia! Of course, Paypal does nothing so basically it appears that ebay conspires with it's sellers to cheat people! Do not deal with this company!

I have bought some good stuff through Ebay in the past. But of late I have been ripped off by rogue sellers on numerous occasions. Usually sub standard goods issues and even dangerous goods. Recently bought some rechargeable batteries that started to burn when I tried to charge them, just one of many problems. I find E bay try to deter you from leaving negative feedback so I dont even belive the feedback stats any longer. Too risky, I am an ex buyer.

Very hit and miss if you buy from ebay, there are some lovely genuine people selling but there are a lot of rogues, ebay do protect you to some extent but their policy is not great.
If you buy an item listed as genuine and you receive the item but it is a counterfeit, ebay will not refund your money until you return the item, you have to return the item at your own cost and you need to obtain proof, proof of posting is not acceptable to them (as i found out once when they refused to refund even though i had proof of posting that i had returned item) so you have to send at least recorded delivery which can start to get expensive, so the rogue trader receives their item back free of charge to sell to someone else and the poor innocent buyer is left out of pocket by £5 or £6 maybe more to sent a counterfeit item back to seller and buyer is left with nothing but a hole in their pocket.
I bought a set of pans for £30 supposed to be a good make and brand new boxed with tags, they arrived and were nothing like listing, they were rusty with non stick flaking off, i complained but had to return before i got a refund, they cost me £16 to return to get my £30 back so I was left out of pocket £16 through no fault of my own. I have had this problem several times.
It is about time ebay took the price paid plus return postage from seller if the goods are counterfeit or not as described and then refund full amount plus return post to the buyer once the goods have been received back.
I also find ebay getting expensive, if you search the internet you can find online shops selling the items same price or cheaper, people just presume ebay is cheapest, it's not, search internet you will get a better deal from a reputable seller.

I purchased an item from their site - they have 99% money back guarantee where they promise to reverse the transaction if something goes wrong. My item was not sent by the seller, i contacted eBay and asked them to intervene and they said that cant do anything about it. I was asked to directly contact seller and get a refund from him which was never going to happen since it was a dodgy seller. So question is when does eBay come in and intervene? Probably never?

An Ebay beginner's, beginners guide to Ebay

Yes, a site to find everything you need, everything you don't need and everything you didn't know you didn't need. I've used it for a little while now but am still on a learning curve; god how I hate that term!

Ebay is a wonderful institution but before we gaze lovingly in awe at its wonders, lets get the grey matter set. I have found exceptional bargains and not just by bidding but also in "buy now"(a phillips 920 shaver for £40.00, rrp about £160.00). Bidding for items indiscriminately can lead to disappointment, anger, less money and looking a pratt when your friends and loved ones find out. Do your research, check the cheapest price you can buy an item for. Set your maximum price and stick to it, if you lose that one, there's usually another around the proverbial corner; I've seen a "used" (one careful owner, used by a bread-hating little old lady type) breadmaker sell for a good deal more than the exact same new one would cost. Also, think postage! Sad I know but we must all think postage at sometime in our lives.

And finally, ever wondered what Ebay stands for? Go on you secretly have, haven't you. Anyway originally Echo Bay Technologies but the web name Echo Bay was taken, so second choice Ebay. Go on admit it you really wanted to know that.

Ebay sellers are currently fighting a losing battle against buyer fraud on Ebay, and why can't their be a rating system allowing sellers to rate their customers. A recent telephone conversion with a member of Ebays customer support team left me disgusted, I was told "their is no way that a system will be put in place to allow sellers to rate their buyers as we will loose buyers which happened before and is why the system was removed" If sellers do report a buyer an they are investigated, due to data protection they will not get any kind of feedback whatsoever regarding the investigation which may or may not have taken place.

Online selling across all ecommerce platforms knowingly is becoming increasingly competitive, more so on fee based shopping channels with their manipulating systems and high seller fees. Unfortunately Ebay only makes the competition that much harder as the non existent seller protection keeps ebays turnover from falling and the sellers taking the losses in their favour.

I believe their is a way we can allow sellers from all online ecommerce platforms to record and search for suspected dishonest buyer claims. Thorough a data base which would be accessed through registration, allowing for verification of the user and in line with the data protection act. Once live for a short period of time and presuming that people are willing to enter data in regards to buyer claims the data base will enable read outs on Usernames/UserID's, including information such as returns, lost parcels and a whole list of other similar statistics. It will grow to enable many other types of statistics to be generated within the unfortunate area of online fraud. The statistics which we are not informed of by many companies due to a potential loss of their customer bases will be readily available and could potentially be an invaluable source for many businesses with concerns in regards to fraud online. Your comments would be much appreciated regarding this and if you are a person willing to enter data in a simple way please say and thank you for your interest.

I used to like eBay, but those days seem to be a distant memory. Following a succession of changes that are now heavily balanced in favour of the buying party, adhering to the eBay policies to even register in searches is becoming increasingly difficult, especially if you register on a specific site but do not live in that country. For example, I live in Asia but have been registered on the UK site for about 10 years. The UK market is THE place for what I sell but now living abroad, it is impossible for me to offer a guaranteed next day delivery (minimum of 4 days from here). The consequence of this is that my listings, for which I pay the same as anyone else, is pushed down the searches in a kind of discriminatory fashion.

My service is and has been exemplary throughout my years selling goods on the site but now, I barely register in searches and this is wholly down to the ever changing goal posts of what eBay consider to the best service (fast=best).

Many people are happy to wait a week or two, if they know they are getting a better quality product - if only they could find it!

Never mind the madness of the feedback system that provides no transparency, and again is heavily tilted to buyers, to the extent that any negative comment in the direction of a buyer is removable - how do you advise others of a scammer or potential scammer now? Oh yeah, I forgot, eBay don't care!

We sold on ebay and paid for parcelforce tracked and signed to be sure it got there okay. Buyer claimed parcel was damaged and lots of goods were missing from the package - but she had signed to accpt it. Ebay took a full refund from paypal and they paid to return to us ( buyer had clealy justtaken out a lot of best items and kept them for free. Ebay said we had to refund the postage charge too which was £15 because it was heavy so we lost a lot of the items and were left £15 out of pocket. Ebay doesnt allow sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers either! Safe way is sell local and get cash on collection!