Pandemic alters sales strategy.

[Garth E.]

Right from the get go, I didn't mind E-bay.I shop there a lot. As I would go to lot's of yard and garage sales also I sometimes got a bargain just like on e-bay. I also frequented antique stores and the odd estate sale. What I see happening now however is a lot of these small shops must sell their treasures on e-bay as customers aren't allowed in the stores due to pandemic restrictions. So they take not so good photos of their items and hope someone will buy on-line. I've seen lot's of antique stores selling items on e-bay over the years so I think generally there are lot's of honest sellers out there. In 20 years I have never had a problem. What a great market e-bay has become for the little guy who isn't allowed to have customers shop in his store. For the little guy who has a hard time with computers and all the crap you need to know just to make a few bucks. This pandemic doesn't miss anyone.

[jacobsaunders]

My goodness, you’ve got the addiction badly. I hope you have some room in your garage

[Garth E.]

3 minutes ago, jacobsaunders said:

My goodness, you’ve got the addiction badly. I hope you have some room in your garage

Ha Ha, nowadays I just give stuff away...less hassle.

[Violinjon]

Ebay is definitely on my bad side now. Sorry to rant (I've done it before) but you'd understand if you went through what I did. I used to buy some good stuff off of Ebay (mainly German violin bows).

This summer I moved to a new rented flat (I live in East Asia). The week I got my new internet service installed I got an email from ebay stating

"Hello jontheviolinist,

It looks like your account jontheviolinist is associated with another account, bluedistri0, which is currently restricted on eBay. As a result, we've restricted the jontheviolinist account until you can resolve our concerns."

 

I'd never heard of this other account and sent Ebay a message to that effect, mentioning that I'd just moved and maybe my new IP tripped something. They responded by saying

 

"After reviewing your overall account information, I found that your account was suspended because it exhibits a risk to eBay and to its community

As eBay is an internet-based business, and its members are our customers, we have to carefully weigh the risks involved in allowing users on our site. From time to time, we find accounts that present a level of risk that is unacceptable, and are therefore suspended.

Please bear in mind that as your account is suspended, you won't be able to buy or sell on eBay or register a new account. You'll still have to pay any fees you owe to eBay..

I understand you want a detailed response with regards to the suspension of your account. I am afraid we cannot be more specific of the exact reasons for this suspension and I hope you understand that we are limited to the amount of information that we can give members when their accounts are restricted.  By revealing further information, we could help member’s intent on circumventing our policies to avoid detection.

For your account there is no appeal on this decision. Although we will read any future appeals you send, we may not respond to your inquiries regarding this restriction.

From this point forward, in order to conduct business, you will have to find a different venue."

 

And after this they never responded to further inquiry (I even tried writing on their Facebook page etc etc, only to get more or less similar copy and pasted responses). I had an account for around 15 years with 100% positive feedback, almost exclusively as a buyer. I definitely don't think eBay is a great place for the little guy... they'll ban you for no reason for life. It's scary!

 

 

[Garth E.]

3 hours ago, Violinjon said:

 I definitely don't think eBay is a great place for the little guy.

I guess e-bay can be a lot of things. You've had an unfortunate experience. The gist of my rant was that the little guy has to now sell on e-bay because the pandemic restrictions will not allow customers to shop in his store.

Hope you can work things out on your end with e-bay.

[Rue]

I use eBay, albeit rarely.   It may have started out as a good idea, but now it's become yet another oversized, impersonal organization that apparently may have more crooked vendors than straight.  It's like a mine field.  You never know what you're going to land on.

The little guy can set up any number of e-commerce sites.  There is absolutely no reason anyone has to use eBay.

I just bought a hoof knife off a little grassroots company.  I had no trouble finding them, making the purchase, etc..  The owner even sent me an email to make sure everything was alright.  Lovely.

[Garth E.]

36 minutes ago, Rue said:

There is absolutely no reason anyone has to use eBay.

Very true Rue, although I think I was pointing out that e-bay has become the alternative to selling in a shop as these small shops aren't allowed to have customers shop in-store due to the pandemic restrictions.