Ridiculously anti-seller policies (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	21/11/08 (264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can sell to a wide audience

Disadvantages: The buyer is always protected, the seller has to go to expensive lengths to be

I am writing this review as a caution against some of the bad things that go on on ebay. I am presuming you can read other reviews to find out about how to buy and sell on the site.

Just two weeks ago, Ebay made it compulsory for all sellers to accept Paypal as a form of payment for sales. Paypal is an online payment account. It's a piggybank where you store your money online and withdraw to your bank account whenever you like. Unfortunately, Paypal can cause a real problem for sellers.

When you sell an item, the buyer is insured against the purchase (through paypal) for a full refund if it does not arrive.

So I sold an item on ebay (100 in past two weeks in fact) and sent it out 2nd class. The buyer said it didn't arrive, and Paypal took the money and put it on hold until I could prove it did arrive. I only sent the item by 2nd class mail, and can prove it was posted, but not that it arrived (I have proof of postage, but Paypal say they will give the buyer their money back unless I can prove it ARRIVED).

It seems to me that a buyer can wait for an item to arrive and, if it's not sent recorded or other signed for, can then assume they can claim their money back through paypal, KNOWING the seller has no proof of delivery.

This means that when you sell something you need proof of delivery, but recorded is not enough: it actually has to be a delivery method with online tracking that Paypal can check (online).

So this is a word of warning to people selling things: send it through a method where you have online tracking if it is of any value, else the buyer can claim their money back no problem. Yes, they can only do it a few times a year before Paypal stop this facility, but a buyer can build up good feedback buying a few cheap things, then wait for their £100 item to arrive untracked, and claim their money right back.

In the case above, I eventually got my money back, as they saw the buyer had tried this with numerous sellers and had had their account closed (I don't know why).

Ebay is possibly the best place to sell an item to a wide audience, but just use this review as a cautionary tale of how some buyers can play the system against you.

Summary: If selling, pay for online trackable delivery if item is of any value