Quote Originally Posted by Feanor
I certainly do see your point, GB. However I think the "retaliatory" feedback problem was the bigger issue.

As seller I don't not ship until paid. I have had a couple of slow payers but they paid in the end; nowadays on eBay I stipulate PayPal and that payment must be made in three days. I haven't had the return problem you describe because I sell everything with "no warranty of any kind" and I ship it FOB shipping point.
Well, my friend, I have some BAD news for you.

I have been selling on EBAY for years, and just thought I would point out a few potential problems with your above post.

1. You are in Canada. If you use paypal, and ship to the US, you are a fool to be selling A/V equipment. PayPal is a joke, and offers NO protection for international sellers. If your "customer" pays via PayPal (from US or any other country other than Canada), gets the goods, and THEN intiates a chargeback...guess what. You are screwed. PayPal doesn't offer ANY seller protections for international purchases.

2. You can stipulate ANY payment timeframe you want. If your customer doesn't obide by them, it really doesn't matter. EBAY will not process a complaint for non-payment for 7 days. Cry about it all you want, but the CUSTOMER has 7 days to pay. Per EBAY.

If you sell to another customer after 3 days because thats your "policy", you can be reported by the original buyer for violating the auction, and you risk potential suspension, or becoming NARU (Not a registerd user).

3. By accepting PayPal for purchases, you are FORCED to accept returns. If a customer doesn't like what you sell, they can report it "SNAD (significantly not as described) and PayPal can FORCE you to accept the return. It doesn't matter that you stipulate it in your auction. PayPal will overrule you every time. As an added bonus, your customer can then initiate a chargeback with their visa/mastercard that funded their PayPal purchase, and keep YOUR goods, AND get their money back.

If you don't believe me, go here:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=97

Post any questions you may have w/regards to PayPal here.

It's only a matter of time until you get burnt. And now that you won't know who is a bad buyer, good luck. Ebay just killed one small way sellers could protect themselves.

As far as feedback extortion goes, this recent move by Ebay has only made the buyers have the upper hand. Now they can pass out negative feedback for ANY slight they may have with the seller. And the seller is SCREWED.