Buyer protection against sellers and eBay, the intermediary
Summary: berri-52 raises concerns about sellers on eBay, criticizing misleading product descriptions, inadequate responsibility for shipping issues, and insufficient customer service. berri-52 also highlights eBay's inadequate mediation in disputes and its protective stance towards sellers, which might discourage buyers. lingma85 acknowledges these issues but points out that sellers also face challenges with problematic buyers. The dialogue further discusses how eBay's policies can negatively impact sellers financially during disputes. Both participants agree that better enforcement against problematic buyers and sellers is necessary for improvement.
The sellers:
-Insufficient, incomplete, or even misleading product descriptions. Photos are not enough and can even be used to hide major defects. E.g. 8/8 flattering and practically identical photos to mask the essentials.
-Too many sellers ignore the details requested of them and do not reply to messages.
-Too many sellers consider themselves freed from responsibility as soon as they have shipped the goods. The seller is responsible for tracking their goods just as much as the buyer until receipt is confirmed by the latter. Too many sellers hide behind tracking information saying that the goods have been delivered, which is not proof but at most the beginning of proof. Too many goods never reach their recipient, who the seller then considers to be a cheat-liar as soon as a claim is made. When you look at sellers' neutral or negative feedback, you are struck by the number of goods that never arrive at their destination.
-It is not normal for the seller to be paid before the goods are even received, which only reinforces their lax follow-up. That is not the case on other sales platforms such as Le Bon Coin.
- Sellers should be encouraged to provide at least two shipping options so as to give the buyer a choice and thus share responsibility for tracking; failing that, the seller who imposes a carrier and the related fees is solely responsible for shipping until the goods are made available at the delivery address or home delivery is confirmed.
-Sellers are solely responsible for the content of the listings they post on eBay and are contractually required to respect them in full.
-Sellers are required to comply with strict rules of courtesy in their exchanges with buyers. We are puzzled, even very worried, when we look at their feedback and some of their reply messages. (aggressiveness-violence-contempt or even cynicism)
eBay:
-By overprotecting sellers at the expense of buyers, eBay exposes itself to the risk that buyers will no longer want to sell or resell on the site: no goods = no more sales, which is borne out by the fact that there are no more great items on eBay, to the benefit of other sites and antique dealers.
-eBay, which charges fairly substantial fees for its operation and for the insurance of the goods entrusted to it, is failing in its mission by almost systematically refusing to reimburse goods not received by the buyer, thereby leading people to believe ipso facto that the buyer is a liar-cheat and, at the same time, reinforcing sellers' negligence and casualness.
-eBay must verify the content of sellers' listings when a dispute arises and make sure that the seller has properly fulfilled their contractual commitments.
-It is worth reminding eBay of the urgent need to sanction sellers who behave badly: terse messages that are confusing and disrespectful to the other party, an authoritarian and directive attitude that leaves no room for dialogue, barely concealed aggressiveness leading to disputes and conflicts. Without blindly siding with the buyer, it should be remembered that THE SELLER PROPOSES and THE BUYER DISPOSES, especially since the buyer is at the end of the chain and has very limited means to assert their rights, especially when eBay arbitrarily closes the dispute in the seller's favor by refusing to examine the file carefully.
-eBay's method of analyzing feedback does not seem clear to me. Why do some sellers' feedback disappear temporarily? Why are some relevant and non-hostile feedback comments simply deleted?
-It is not normal not to be able to contact eBay by phone in the event of serious disputes.
As for me:
My long-standing experience as a buyer on eBay allows me to say that, as things stand:
-I am not inclined to sell anything on eBay and I will reduce my purchases as much as possible ,
-I am not willing to accept and thereby validate the aggressive behavior of certain people. In a store, in a face-to-face seller-buyer interaction, some sellers would surely be more accommodating and less arrogant. It is so easy to heap blame on others behind a computer.
I have lost my money several times on eBay purchases that never arrived and that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. MY FEEDBACK SPEAKS FOR ME.
B.R 05/09/2026
lingma85
·1 month ago · EditedHello @berri-52
You're right about all the cases you list...
BUT
on the other hand... sellers can also list a whole bunch of problems coming from buyers who have the site's blessing... and the most obvious one would certainly be the ban on leaving a tomato for a sneaky buyer...
So you could say it's almost one apiece and the ball is back in the middle... except that the seller often ends up being the fall guy.
Best regards
.
berri-52
OP1 month agoI’m not saying that all sellers are careless and/or aggressive, but when they are, it’s better not to deal with them. I can even say that some sellers are remarkable enough that I’ve become friends with a few of them. If, as you say, the buyer is usually the seller, then the ball isn’t in the center. In any case, it seems to me that eBay does not properly fulfill its role as mediator in disputes, even though it now imposes buyer protection fees. If eBay were to shut down the few accounts of bad sellers just as it does with bad buyers, everything would become very simple. Thank you for your message. Let’s hope eBay takes our comments into account. Kind regards. B.R
lingma85
·1 month ago · EditedYou’re taking me to task on this----> "If the pigeon, as you put it, is most often the seller, then the ball is not in the center."
I was just trying to point to a fact->
on the complaints side... it works both ways... and it is indeed in the center
But the "foolishness" is found at this level--->
if the seller is forced to refund a transaction for one reason or another, they lose the amount of the shipping costs because the carrier will not reimburse them since the transaction was cancelled...
And +.. they also lose the fixed part of the commission...
and I suppose that didn’t catch your attention.
Have a good rest of the evening..
Best regards