Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it. • Hacker News Board

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#61

Post by rtkwe » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 11:53 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #33

bduerst wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with that is that they can forward it to a collection agency, whom when told to screw off, replies by screwing with your credit score.

So at that point you repudiate the debt again, this time to the collections agency. If they insist on unilaterally publicly claiming you owe money without any sort of actual proof, take them to court for slander. Clearly the buck stops somewhere , as I can't just call up a collection agency and tell them that bduerst owes me $1 for responding to his HN comment.

The proof is that you listed the items which is clearly logged and visible.. The charge is for the listing not successfully completing an auction/sale.

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#62

Post by jkubicek » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 11:54 PM UTC

mcantor wrote: post #55

hkmurakami wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of buy it now, I find it moronic that the buy it now button disappears when even one bid has been entered for the item. This weekend I bid for an item, then 1 hour later decided that I wanted to pay the 10% extra for buy it now, discovered to my dismay that the buy it now option was gone, thought that the seller had manually removed it, got annoyed and retracted my bid, then saw the buy it now button come ba…

It's to incentivize buyers to Buy It Now. If you know that Buy It Now disappears as soon as someone bids, then you're more likely to Buy It Now because if you don't Buy It Now, you can't buy it later; you can only bid on it later, and then you might not get it. So if you want it, eBay wants you to Buy It Now. Buy It Now.

I had no idea eBay worked like this. The whole strategy doesn't make much sense if buyers don't know about it.

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#63

Post by DanHulton » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 11:55 PM UTC

excerionsforte wrote: post #46

DanHulton wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here. Glad eBay is working out for you! Honestly, there are a lot of tools and useful techniques for sellers to get a positive experience, but they're just hidden or you only seem to learn them after you've gotten burned already. As a seller who hasn't been on eBay for many years though, it's just a very harsh experience filled with hidden pitfalls. And I was able to submit unpaid item disputes successfully for th…

So wait, you basically got around $68 back and you posted this blog post ABOUT losing less than 5% (around 3%) from a failed transaction? Whereas there are other people who have legitimate complaints having lost >50% of their item value along with fees. Wow..... I really do want to understand the rationale behind this. Explain.

So wait, you basically got a full story about my frustrations and issues with a major company and you posted a comment about the least important part of the story (the $ value)? Whereas there are other people who have legitimate complaints about being lied to about >50% of campaign promises along with facts. Wow... I really do want to understand the rationale behind this. Explain.

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#64

Post by vl » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 11:58 PM UTC

fafner wrote: post #35

hcayce wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A big problem with casual selling on ebay is you don't know what you don't know until you've already been screwed. Most of the big online sites (Paypal is the worst offender, but the others aren't much better) favor buyers over sellers. Amazon certainly works that way, and, as a result, I'm mostly use Craigslist to sell computers and cameras/lenses. I don't sell all that much stuff, though I do it for family members…

> or in police station lobbies I've never used Craigslist. But is it really common or advised to meat with the buyer/seller in a police station lobby?

Common thing for a large transaction is to meet in a bank.

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#65

Post by DanHulton » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 12:00 AM UTC

excerionsforte wrote: post #59

ckrailo wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he did it for all the time wasted and dealing with such a horrid experience on top of the $2. It's also opened up a discussion here where people have had even worse experiences. I think it's a great discussion to have.

Realistically, how much time did he waste over the benefits of the actually selling the item to someone who pays for the item. You take a risk when you enter into a contract without knowing what you are doing. How bad was the experience really? He said he got back MOST of what he wanted, but it appears that he needed to get $2 more in order to close this case, but they would not refund an unrefundable $2, that I woul…

So let's say you sign up with a hosting provider and they are just terrible. Your site's down all the time and FTP is slow as molasses, etc. You go ask for a refund because not only did they not provide the level of service they advertised, they actively wasted your time. You'd be just fine if they said "Sure, but only most of it because of reasons"?

There's a lot of people echoing my experience here. So if there's a lot of people selling on eBay and getting nothing out of it but losing small amounts of money each time, I'm cool if that's something I prevent.

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#66

Post by jkubicek » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 12:00 AM UTC

Scammers, confusing auction settings, limited integration with paypal despite owning them, terrible invoice generation, image uploads that don't work without Flash, etc. I despise eBay.

That being said, I'm surprised nobody mentioned selling on Amazon. Blindingly easy to setup your sale, if you choose the lowest price on a popular good someone will buy it within the hour. Amazon will generate an invoice and mailing label for you, plus deduct shipping charges from your payout. Scammers are mildly annoying, but they waste very little of your time and don't cost you any money.

I've sold a few iPhones and an iPad on Amazon and it has been great. I'll never sell items anywhere else if I can possibly help it.

Edit: in addition to the iPhones/iPad, I've sold a few games and other electronics on Amazon. Out of maybe 10 sales, two were "bought" by scammers. Amazon sends me an email saying that someone purchased my item, but they may be a fraudulent account. Do not send anything until Amazon confirms that they are valid. It's such an easy, friendly process.

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#67

Post by DanHulton » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 12:01 AM UTC

jkubicek wrote: post #66

Scammers, confusing auction settings, limited integration with paypal despite owning them, terrible invoice generation, image uploads that don't work without Flash, etc. I despise eBay. That being said, I'm surprised nobody mentioned selling on Amazon. Blindingly easy to setup your sale, if you choose the lowest price on a popular good someone will buy it within the hour. Amazon will generate an invoice and mailing l…

I never even knew you could.

Guess I'll check that out.

Thanks!

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#68

Post by brigade » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 12:02 AM UTC

nym wrote: post #60

benguild wrote: post #8

Yup, I've been writing about how eBay's gone to shit on my blog. Furthermore, between PayPal and eBay's fees, it's like 10% of your sale price now! … Better just to sell via Amazon and use their fulfillment service.

Pretty sure you can still get charged back with Amazon.

Of course you can. But for now, scammers seem to be relatively rare compared to eBay. And maybe, just maybe Amazon has better dispute resolution and anti-scammer policies than eBay/Paypal.

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#69

Post by excerionsforte » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 12:03 AM UTC

DanHulton wrote: post #63

excerionsforte wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So wait, you basically got around $68 back and you posted this blog post ABOUT losing less than 5% (around 3%) from a failed transaction? Whereas there are other people who have legitimate complaints having lost >50% of their item value along with fees. Wow..... I really do want to understand the rationale behind this. Explain.

So wait, you basically got a full story about my frustrations and issues with a major company and you posted a comment about the least important part of the story (the $ value)? Whereas there are other people who have legitimate complaints about being lied to about >50% of campaign promises along with facts. Wow... I really do want to understand the rationale behind this. Explain.

How does this contribute to the discussion at all? Answer the damned question. The immaturity that emanates from this is amazing. :) Go troll somewhere else. EDIT: Sure this could have been phrased better had the parent poster show some respect. I said I wanted to know the rationale behind the post, he chose to add an empty post, so yes this is warranted. I did not say anything vitriolic enough that warranted the parent post. If you didn't like the "explain" portion, that's fine, point it out and respond appropriately.

Re: Fine, eBay. Here’s your $2. I hope you choke on it.

#70

Post by DanHulton » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 12:03 AM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #43

DanHulton wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that they only offer phone support is not a company doing its fair share to try to connect with me over problems. It's them putting up roadblocks to try to avoid having to deal with me. Given that, I don't feel I have the obligation to attempt to sit through their various roadblocks. It was honestly far easier and satisfying to just give them the two bucks and then report the facts of my experience onto the…

The choice you made was between the two options they gave you. Either outcome is part of their system, and perfectly fine by them. There was also third option wherein you notify them that the debt is invalid because no services were rendered, and that it is not your responsibility to convince their systems and processes of that fact.

Yup, and in the end, I'm fine with the choice I made - pay them and then let people know how awful the experience was. This has been worth $2 for me, I hope it was worth $2 for them.