Minor eBay rant

[raz]

I sold mom’s old iPhone SE rather than recycling. Buy it now for $20 plus shipping. It went in a day. Fine.

Got a message from the buyer about how desperate they were since their old phone died. So, I ponied up a few bucks tor priority mail.

Got a message from eBay with a dispute from the buyer. They could not get a SIM card for the phone. WTF?

So, eBay puts a hold on the cash and I have to spend money for return shipping.

30 days later, they still have not mailed it back. eBay releases the funds (including the return shipping)

Why do I bother?

[Acer]

"Releases the funds" Do you mean to the buyer, or back to you? I assume the worst...

That's a tough market to sell in. Clueless buyers, scamming buyers, clueless sellers, scamming sellers, topped off with arcane rules about unlocking and compatibility out of control of both the seller and the buyer.

[ArtP]

I sold mom’s old iPhone SE (on ebay) rather than recycling.

You could have listed it on the "middle side" - For Sale and Free Items area with less issues probably?

[Michael]

It's strange.

I bought a pair of golf shoes that were listed and described 5 times as 11M. Turns out they were 11W. The seller didn't respond to my email about them being the wrong size so I did a dispute with a picture of the size from the inside of the shoes. EBay sent me a return label and also refunded me immediately before I shipped the shoes back. I thought it was strange because presumably somebody could just keep the shoes or send a box of something else back and it looks like they seller just takes it in the chin.

I imagine more and more people will just decide to not sell on eBay anymore.

[Gareth]

Michael wrote:
I thought it was strange because presumably somebody could just keep the shoes or send a box of something else back and it looks like they seller just takes it in the chin.

It's possible if you never ship the item back, eBay would re-charge your card. Although the box of rocks return is an issue that I'm not sure how the seller fights.

[rz]

Yeah, that’s one of the reasons I would never sell on eBay anymore.

[Grateful11]

Wife still has a minimal $5/month store and doesn't have many buyer issues except in the last week she's had two cancellations luckily before they were shipped.

[lost in space]

A few years ago I bought a camera from eb that wasn't as described. I did the return thing with eb and was told I didn't have to return the $400 camera. The issue with the camera was an honest oversight, so I sent it back anyway. Scary for sellers.