Have you ever had a product that wasn't sent to you on eBay? Or have you gotten a product that was nothing like it stated it to be? It only happened to me once. The product was never shipped but they had collected the money. I contacted Paypal and they were very efficient in dealing with the matter. It didn't take only before they refunded my money.
All of my experiences with Ebay, this far, have been fair, I'd say. There was one instance where I ordered a refurbished mobile/cell phone from a seller, and one of the most important features wasn't working - the wi-fi. She was professional and helpful, but just a little bit pushy, and did not want to pay for the return postage, which is something that is stated in her seller policy. She eventually paid it, but wasn't happy about it.
It's happened to me a few times. I used to use eBay a lot a few years back. Then, I got really tired of the outrageous fees that they charge. Plus, they actually own PayPal, the service that you have to use to pay for the items that you buy. Can we say, "overreaching scam?" Needless to say, me and eBay don't get along as much anymore.
I've had problems with some of eBay's fees and policies. It costs way too much to list an item and then Paypal takes a cut too. I've also had items arrive that smelled like cigarette smoke. Filing an Item Not As Described case is pretty quick and most sellers will work with you. I've had issues come up as a buyer and a seller but I tolerate it because I haven't found a real eBay replacement yet that gets the same traffic as eBay.
Yes, I have had quite a few bad experiences where the item wasn't shipped, maybe because the winning bid was too low, or the item that was shipped to me was a different item and not the one in the picture, which again, I suspect because of the low winning bid. I used to lose money when Ebay only had 45 days as their dispute timeframe. Now not anymore, since it has been increased to 180 days, so I'm surely protected.
I've had a few issues. The listings can be confusing and some buyers make silly bids which you have to answer. I used to do make an offer rather than a starting bid because some bids were not even worth the time to respond. Most sellers have been fine, I had one that was difficult to contact and when I went to his office to pick up the item, the receptionist said he was never in (serviced office) and when he was he was in and out. I still think it's a good system, but rating are important and can't be faked generally. This can be done, my ex asked me to give him a rating for a product to boost his score once, so it can be done.
I used to be a seller there. Though stopped cooperating with them since refunds were issued so easily, without much proof given from the customer whatsoever. I mean, I was forced to refund around $50 to a client who literally only showed proof that he wasn't in possession of the item. That's it. He was issued a refund. I don't trust Ebay, and at the same time Paypal, that much anymore.
I've never had a problem and I've been using it for years. No problems I didn't expect anyway. I've been using it for years and the only problems I had were with chinese sellers and the cost was so cheap, I decided it was worth the risk. Only a couple unsatisfactory items and not one no-show. Long waits I can handle and never hold against them.
@GeeCee eBay and PayPal are now separate companies. Ebay also does a lot to resolve issues, especially from the buyer's perspective. They have resolved a few issues I've had recently. I haven't had an issue buying, other than as @JosieP said, with Chinese sellers, and most of those are good, too, there are just a few who give everyone a bad rap. I had a nonpaying buyer recently, and wasn't thrilled about that, since I had to relist, and lost all of the watchers I'd had before the jerk 'bought' my item, but it still sold within a few days, and eBay credited me for the final value fees and selling/listing fees.
I am still kicking myself for this. It was back in 08 or 09. I had bought a DVD set for a TV series. We had sent the payment by money order. The first time they said it did not go through so we ended up spending 200 dollars. Eventually we had got a DVD set but it was a pirated version of the wrong series. I had reported it to Ebay. They said to send a certified letter. The seller received it but did not reply. The only other help I had gotten from Ebay was to report it to the police. I think what had happened was I never reported it because I did not think the police could do anything. Ever since then I have been kinda eerie about buying on Ebay.
I use eBay to make money, by buying large lots of things and splitting them up into smaller packages to make money from them. However, one issue that I have is when people leave negative feedback for no reason at all, as this can result in your overall ranking being damaged. Some people do seem to do that for fun, and it is a shame, because this is what I do for a living, and it seems as though some people don't care about that. So yes, that is the problem that I have had in the past with eBay.
We get problems in one of every 15 purchases roughly, every time ebay has resolved the problem in a quick fashion and we have never lost out. Occasionally the seller might give a refund or discount for the item (if it arrives in poor condition) to receive good feedback. Consumers have a lot of power on the site. Bad feedback can destroy an accounts reputation.
As for purchasing products, I only got burned once - on a bottle of cologne. But I didn't bother to report it because the price on it was too good to be true anyhow. Basically I thought I was buying a full size bottle of cologne for only $12 plus shipping, but what arrived was actually a much smaller size, like the ones you would see in a drug store, which also sell for about $12-$15. It was also partially my fault since the ad did state the correct size of the product, but the product image itself was of the full size bottle. As for selling, that's where I've run into more hassles.The whole user interface of the site is abysmal imo, especially when it comes to listing products and following up with potential customers questions. I also ran into a lot of headaches with the shipping labels. They offer to sell you the shipping from USPS via their site at a small discount, but in the lower left corner of the screen where most people probably wouldn't even think to look, there is a drop down menu where you have to select your return address. And instead of defaulting to your most current address, in my case for some goofy reason, it defaulted to an old address of mine from 12 years ago. Then when I got to the post office, I found out the estimated shipping cost and box size it recommended was way too small, so I had to pay even more for shipping. And as if that wasn't bad enough, when the USPS updated my shipping, they only insured the packages for $50, when I had paid for them to be insured for $200+ via eBay.
It is possible on ebay because it also happen with me. But ebay send me that product as well as coupon for their mistake. So it is nice experience with ebay.
Not with Ebay specifically, but with PayPal. God, I spent so much time trying to check out for a product I wanted to buy from Ebay I just gave up and bought from another retailer. Not worth spending countless of hours just for $30 worth of difference. Amazon all the way!!
I've had more good experiences with Ebay verses bad. The bad experiences that I have had with Ebay is buying a product from a seller that was broken, and not being able to contact the seller because their page no longer existed. Another issue that I have had with Ebay is receiving an item that doesn't look anything like the picture. Lastly, another issue I have had was ordering an item and never receiving it but I was refunded my money.
I think eBay has gone through growing pains. Initially, it seemed that sellers were the kings, and eBay upheld everything they did, so buyers weren't left with much recourse. There would be feedback wars, where the comments would go on and on with he said she said type conversations, and it was difficult to tell what had actually taken place, and who the bad guy was, when there were negative issues. Then, it seemed eBay swung over to the side of the buyers, and sellers were left were left out in the cold and had to pretty much take items back when the buyers changed their minds, or make good on fake claims of not receiving the items, etc. It seemed there was a lot of fraud and scams going on on the part of some buyers, and many sellers left due to that, as well as the increase in seller costs. Now, it seems eBay has sort of moved back toward the center of the aisle, and the site is pretty balanced. I both sell and buy on eBay, and am happy that they have cleared up a few issues I've had recently as both a buyer and seller. I think it's a good place to buy, more than sell, because the fees are much higher than on many other sites, but eBay has the numbers to command those fees, which is why people still sell there.
Not much, a few incidents. One was when I bought a laptop many years ago, I can't remember what was wrong with it now but I know it wasn't as advertised and I tried to get in contact with the seller and they wouldn't reply and I even tried ringing them and they wouldn't answer. Eventually I think I got a refund via eBay's buyer protection but it was a mess! Another time was when I first signed up for it in 2000 and I bought a CD and it was a homemade burn job not a proper CD that was advertised, I don't eBay's buyer protection policy was as good back then so I didn't get a refund :/ Other than that and maybe a couple of other minor incidents, I've had pretty food luck with eBay and seeing as I must have bought about 500+ things through there in the last 15 years, that ain't too bad!
