Originally Posted by
daf1009
With eBay...and I do a lot of dealing there...it is NOT 100% buyer protection as many of you are claiming. Now, in any given situation, it may be that way...but...it is not 100%.
If you always ship with tracking numbers (and signatures for items above $100), then, more often than not, eBay is pretty fair to the seller...you have proof that the item arrived...that is what they look for. I have had several times where the buyer claimed that they did not receive the item...and eBay, while not "siding" with me as the seller, did not make me pay for it either...I guess they actually gave the buyer their money, but they did not take it out of my account.
Also...the current buyer scam is to want a partial refund. Simple...just say no...tell them to ship it back to you (at their expense, per eBay policy) and you will give them a full refund. I have had several people try this...and when I said no, they simply went away. If they then want to leave negative feedback (one tried this), eBay stepped in and did away with their feedback.
I have a friend that just got scammed on the partial refund deal. She sold a sweater, and buyer claimed it had a stain and wanted a partial refund. Like you, I advised my friend to just go with a return instead.
Well, she caved into the partial refund, sold a sweater for $30, gave the buyer $15 back. Three days later, she sees the same sweater being sold by that buyer, no mention of any defect, for $200.......
To the general question, I don't eBay has changed that much. Its just a service. What has changed is that active sellers have wised up. In addition, people in the past that just used it rarely to sell some oddball item have now either wised up with experience, or given up on selling on eBay.