A Different Set of Complaints about Ebay

[fohat.digs]

I am seriously irritated about 2 cell phones I just "sold" on ebay.

My kids' Galaxy S3s which I upgraded to S5s for their main gifts (nice Dad, right?) and I put the old ones up for sale. Both were in excellent condition throughout, surprisingly, with original boxes, accessories, etc.

Ebay offers "choices" and "selections" which they really don't want you to use, and it is a perpetual whack-a-mole to try to keep them in place. For example, I believe that when you back up, change, or edit completely unrelated things, ebay takes the opportunity to reset other, off-screen selections to their preferred defaults. I perceive it as part of their grand strategy to screw sellers at every opportunity.

For example, I always make a point of checking "immediate payment required for Buy-It-Now", yet a woman in Texas supposedly "bought" one of the phones 4 days ago but still has not paid. This listing is down and ebay wants their fees from me. I opened a complaint and got an automatic reply that nothing could be done until 7 days had passed. WTF? What does "immediate payment" mean? All I can figure is that ebay de-selected my choice after the fact.

I did not want to get too involved with international shipping, so I excluded everywhere with the exception Europe. Today I turned on my computer and saw that the phone had been bought and paid for by someone in Morrocco. How?

It would seem that ebay would honor the wishes of sellers, even when it conceals the choices it doesn't like and makes them hard to find and select.

These things irritate me more than money-related aggravations like rapacious fees.

[tp4tissue]

This is why I just give all my old stuff to my long list of kid cousins..  they don't care if you give um 1yr old phones.

[hwood34]

Well about the international shipping, they can still buy the product, but you only have to send it to ebay, they ship it for you.

[fohat.digs]

Well about the international shipping, they can still buy the product, but you only have to send it to ebay, they ship it for you.

How does that work? I have always just done everything the old-fashioned way.

[hwood34]

They just give you the address to a CONUS shipping center. All you have to do is send it to them and they take care of the rest

[fohat.digs]

They just give you the address to a CONUS shipping center. All you have to do is send it to them and they take care of the rest

So how do I make this happen?

[hwood34]

Literally just mail it to the address they give you

[fohat.digs]

Literally just mail it to the address they give you

So how do I get them to give me an address?

I can't find any of this stuff on the site.

[hwood34]

Literally just mail it to the address they give you

So how do I get them to give me an address?

I can't find any of this stuff on the site.

It should be the default address they send you once the person pays

[fohat.digs]

Never mind. I created a dummy sale to look at the info and FAQs.

Morocco is excluded.

Cell phones are excluded.

Did I mention that this is a complaint thread about ebay's obstreperous attitude?
 

[jalaj]

generate the USPS shipping label through ebay's website, it's one of the options available for your sold items.
edit: or UPS via eBay, depending on your preference, price, etc.

[SpAmRaY]

So is it possible to limit a sell to  CONUS only and avoid 0 feedback buyers?

I've always been hesitant to sell on eBay but have been considering trying it out.

[fohat.digs]

So is it possible to limit a sell to  CONUS only and avoid 0 feedback buyers?

I've always been hesitant to sell on eBay but have been considering trying it out.

You can make exclusions for everywhere in the world, by continent and/or country.
Just be careful, because ebay will reset your exclusions to "off" at any opportunity.

You cannot block buyers except ones with negative feedback. That is bad.

[berserkfan]

This is why I just give all my old stuff to my long list of kid cousins..  they don't care if you give um 1yr old phones.

Chinese have a 'long list of cousins' Weren't you born in Beijing in the 1990s ie after all the horrible birth controls? I am surprised that you even have one cousin.

[berserkfan]

So is it possible to limit a sell to  CONUS only and avoid 0 feedback buyers?

I've always been hesitant to sell on eBay but have been considering trying it out.

You can make exclusions for everywhere in the world, by continent and/or country.
Just be careful, because ebay will reset your exclusions to "off" at any opportunity.

You cannot block buyers except ones with negative feedback. That is bad.

fohat, you have complained more than once and I have always commiserated.

But don't expect Ebay to change its attitude. I am waiting for Alibaba to do something about this. Only free market competition will change Ebay's attitude. They were MUCH nicer in the 1990s when they were new and there were many competing auction sites.

[fohat.digs]

They were MUCH nicer in the 1990s when they were new and there were many competing auction sites.

I did not start getting cranked up until maybe 6-8 years ago when they changed many of their policies for the worse.

Fees doubled or tripled, Paypal became the only payment option, sellers could not leave negative feedback on buyers, buyers with low feedback could not be excluded, return/refund/shipping requirements for sellers became more onerous .....

My first big round of selling several hundred collectible LPs around 2003-05 was generally pretty pleasant.

A few years later, when I started selling again, the landscape had changed drastically.

But ebay remains "the only game in town"