New eBay issue to watch for

[disneysteve]

So apparently even if you uncheck the box to Accept Offers when placing your listings, eBay ignores that and still puts it in for you to get offers.

I started a bunch of auctions yesterday and have already gotten 5 offers on things. One was for half of my starting bid. If I was willing to accept that amount why wouldn’t I have just made that my starting bid?

I want the auctions to run for the full time. No, I don’t want offers. That’s why I didn’t check that box.

[msomnipotent]

I noticed that before. Every time I changed anything, like I was almost done filling out my auction page and noticed a typo in the title, ebay would check all the boxes I unchecked like the offers and international shipping. Can you update your listing to not accept offers?

[creditcardfree]

Yes, I've become aware of the same issue. Definitely frustrating. However, I do use Best Offer about 50% of the time, simply because the item it not super unique, nor in demand. It has helped me to get an item sold and out of my house. But yes, certain auctions I know exactly the minimum I will take, so not Best Offer is utilized.

[msomnipotent]

I have done a few best offer Buy it Nows. I countered a few that were too low and all of them accepted the second price. Win/win.

[disneysteve]

So I sort of need to retract my complaint. I ended up going ahead and selling 4 items based on offers. One I accepted the initial offer. The other was a buyer who put in offers on 3 of my items (all related items). I sent a counter offer which he accepted.

I'm quite sure I could have made more money letting the auctions run, but I'm satisfied with what I made and that's 4 things out of the house. I'll pack them up tonight and ship them tomorrow.

So I guess the offers aren't necessarily a bad thing. I just need to be careful on future listings to set an acceptable offer price. The first offer I got (not one of the above) was for $3 on an item that I listed with a starting bid of $6. Why would I possibly accept that? If I was willing to take $3, then I would have made that my starting bid. That made no sense to me.

[~bs]

ebay quietly made large changes to return policy effective june 1 as well.

[disneysteve]

ebay quietly made large changes to return policy effective june 1 as well.

I don't do returns unless they can prove the item is damaged in shipping. I never misrepresent anything so I will never accept that excuse.

[~bs]

probably should be thankful you don't deal in any high dollar items or categories with higher instances of returns. If a buyer (or scammer) wishes you to accept a return, you will, regardless of what you stipulated in your settings.

[creditcardfree]

probably should be thankful you don't deal in any high dollar items or categories with higher instances of returns. If a buyer (or scammer) wishes you to accept a return, you will, regardless of what you stipulated in your settings.

Wow! So eBay has gone the way of Land's End...anything can be returned for any reason and you must refund the money? Buyer must receive item first though correct?

[disneysteve]

Wow! So eBay has gone the way of Land's End...anything can be returned for any reason and you must refund the money? Buyer must receive item first though correct?

If somebody wants to return an item to me in its original condition, and they pay the return postage, sure, I'll accept the return. Otherwise, nope. Not happening if it will cost me money.

[greenskeeper]

I always use “best offer” on my listings. If nothing else, by leaving a pending best offer in que it puts some urgency into other potential buyers. Especially useful to leave “clown offers” pending for that effect.

[rennigade]

If somebody wants to return an item to me in its original condition, and they pay the return postage, sure, I'll accept the return. Otherwise, nope. Not happening if it will cost me money.

On paper that sounds wonderful...but you've probably heard enough stories of scammers sending back random items of similar weight. Some were even nice enough to send the seller a brick. Its then your word against theirs. They have proof they sent you a package (assuming they did the tracking or signature required.) Doesnt matter what was in that package.

Like ~bs said...you'd be nuts to sell items of high value. If you're selling a $12 book...chances are there arent a lot of people looking to scam you.

Try to sell an xbox one, cell phone, ipad, etc...good luck. You're rolling the dice.

[~bs]

On paper that sounds wonderful...but you've probably heard enough stories of scammers sending back random items of similar weight. Some were even nice enough to send the seller a brick. Its then your word against theirs. They have proof they sent you a package (assuming they did the tracking or signature required.) Doesnt matter what was in that package.

Like ~bs said...you'd be nuts to sell items of high value. If you're selling a $12 book...chances are there arent a lot of people looking to scam you.

Try to sell an xbox one, cell phone, ipad, etc...good luck. You're rolling the dice.

Yup, that is one of the most common scam technique.
- Claim item not as described
- ebay sides with buyer regardless of return policy
- buyer ships an empty box, brick, or whatever back to the seller
- tracking shows item was returned
- buyer gets full refund from seller AND gets to keep the item, regardless of the seller's claim that the buyer didn't really return the item.

I will say that the majority of ebay users are honest. Sellers can't neg bad buyers, but recent positive transaction history is probably the best indicator if a buyer is fraudulent or not. Certain categories of items are at much higher risk than others as well.

Edit: oh and btw, in these types of disputed cases, the seller pays for shipping, not the buyer. This is regardless of whatever return settings you have set up. As a seller, you should provide the shipping label for the buyer to use. If not, the buyer can ship the item using whatever method and speed they want, and the seller will reimburse for it. So if they decide that $10 book needs $30 express shipping, its the seller that will eat that shipping cost.

---------------

My brother actually got a scammer to pay up the money even after the buyer won the dispute as mentioned above. The buyer was a college student living in the dorms, and was (not) bright enough to use his college dorm address. After constant "harrassment" by my brother including police reports, USPS inspector general complaints, and calling the school dean to file an misconduct claim against the student, he finally relented and paid for the item again.

I think the guy was most afraid of disciplinary action by the college than anything else, and decided all the crap he's going through isn't worth the $100.