eBay Corruption

Story by: Ming The Merciless – a featured blogger on sites like www.auctionbytes.com and our newest contributor to www.mysoapboxrant.wordpress.com

What ebaY doesn’t want sellers to know about scam buyers

Part 1

Many ebay sellers have already learned the hard way just what a buyer cesspool ebay has become. Aided by ebaY’s ongoing roll out of one set of anti seller policies after another, buyers can easily file false claims against a seller that can result in either the seller losing both the payment and the merchandise or the seller having to accept a return of item that wasn’t the item purchased or shipped. Contrary to what ebaY and PayPal want sellers to believe, sellers do have recourse.

When ebay sellers evaluate any ebaY policy, it’s crucial to keep uppermost in mind that ebaY policies are designed to protect ebaY’s best interests and profitability — not the best interests or profitability of its customers, the sellers. Once that is understood, then why ebaY behaves in the ways that it does becomes crystal clear.

When a seller is defrauded, ebaY and PayPal normally refuse to admit that the buyer has committed the crime of fraud and, in some cases, more than one unless the media becomes involved. The reason is that in most disputed cases the seller cannot recover the original payment reversal or the final value fees so ebaY and PayPal have no vested monetary or ethical interest or incentive whatsoever (1) to proactively protect sellers before the fraud occurs, (2) to have in place an unweighted dispute resolution process that’s equitable to both parties after a dispute has been filed, and (3) to admit buyer fraud when it occurs and return confiscated funds to sellers.

In fact, ebaY benefits monetarily (this is what ebay calls “monetizing” the site) by creating a dispute process whose default position favors the buyer therefore encouraging buyers to file complaints. PayPal profits by collecting interest whenever they remove and hold a seller’s funds while the dispute is open. When a buyer initiates a legitimate or fraudulent chargeback, PayPal benefits because they remove and hold a seller’s money until they’re compelled to reimburse the credit card company or return the money to the seller’s account. They refuse to reimburse the seller for lost interest and instead keep the interest money to enhance their revenues.

EbaY’s and PayPal’s goal is to transfer as much of the liability and expense as possible for any transaction to the seller from beginning to end while maximizing their earnings for the transaction from start to finish including the dispute process. The quaint concept of business ethics has little or no relevance to ebaY’s e-commerce model.

What can seller do when a buyer files a bogus not received or snad complaint and the seller has complied with all ebaY/PayPal requirements and still lose a dispute?

What can a seller do when the buyer returns a rock instead of the $3,000 laptop the seller shipped?

What can a seller do if ebaY and whoever they choose as a consultant determine that a legitimate branded product that the seller obtained legally is a knockoff, allows the buyer to keep the item or instructs them to send it someplace for “destruction,” and removes the entire amount including shipping from the seller’s account?

Read the answers in my next blog comments here. Believe me, sellers can fight back and be very “noisy” doing it.