Imagine having a shop on the high st where customers can come in and take things off the shelf but then not pay for them for a week or week. Imagine then the same customers having made you wait for your money then stand outside your shop with a big sign saying "very slow to deliver", "not as described" or worse.
I agree with what you are saying here. We have an ebay shop and though we list items in the shop format (i.e.10p per listing per month), the profit margins are quickly brought down by costs for final value fee, Paypal fees, packaging and postage costs, not to mention the fuel used to take the PO and the admin costs, oh, and don't forget the monthly fee.
We had a problem with the DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) wherein the buyer gives 1-5 stars for 1, Items as described, 2, Communication, 3, Dispatch time and 4, Post and Packaging charges.
Our problem was 4, the P&P charges. We literally charged the Royal Mail cost of postage and that's it. But, our stars were declining. When you reach a certain level below average, you start getting warnings to say improve that area or your account will be restricted. Our solution was to add a little on to the purchase price and offer free P&P which brought our star rating back up but - at a cost. However, we didn't add on the actual postage cost, we were still losing out on packaging costs and our Final Value fee and Paypal fee rose because of the increase in initial cost.
Asking the opinion of ebay users, the general answers were that they didn't realise the impact the star rating had on sellers. Some said that they simply clicked any star rating just to complete the feedback process and were not strictly the real opinion of the 1-5 stars. Why on earth did they have to introduce the DSR in the first place is questionable. The wisest thing to have done would have been to increase the space for feedback comments if the customer was dissatisfied and chances are that they would still have left a positive or at worst, neutral FB.
The other factor with ebay is that sellers are not able to leave adverse feedback for buyers, only positive or none at all. Again, unfair to the seller as the buyer could be the worst in the world and the most you can do is make a comment to that effect but then it looks bad on you to people reading the comment.
I had an issue about a year ago with a seller who didn't list his item correctly and when the item arrived I emailed him to say so. He refused a refund for return so I ended up with an item that was useless to me and I left negative FB. As he couldn't leave neg for me, he bought an item from me (a brand new in bag teeshirt) and then left me negative FB saying it was used and dirty. I should have cancelled the sale but not having done that before, I didn't understand the process and thought he would still be able to leave neg FB so I sent the item.
I argued the fact with ebay saying that he had bought the item to maliciously defame me but the best I got was the comment removed, the neg FB remained and has only just cleared after 12 months.
One other thing is that if the buyer is not happy, you are expected to cover the cost of return postage and replacement and sending out another item if that's what they want. They also still have the opportunity to leave negative FB and low DSR's if they choose even though all turned out well in the end with their item purchase.
So, on the whole, ebay is the buyer's best friend and what of the seller. 'Pft to them, they are just sellers and we get their money' says ebay.
Anyway, I started up another shop with a different company and product to run alongside the first shop to try and make some money somehow. Our first listings were restricted to either 300 items or £308.67 (?) per month, which was to include a combination of sold and listed items for that month. You can request an increase by clicking a link that takes you to their phone number. You call them and they tell you that they will review it in a month's time. What's the point of calling them then?
Back to websitehandyman's comment though, you might as well just employ someone to stand outside your shop and do the dirty work of defaming and robbing your shop because you make just about zilch from it.
