Ebay rant

[BeenDown139]

If this is inappropriate, then please remove it.

a tale of woe...

i recently sold an instrument on ebay.  it got there, the buyer was pleased as punch, left me positive feedback.  so i go to paypal to transfer the funds to my bank account so i can pay my taxes which are due in a day or two, only to find out there's a 21 day hold on my funds.  So even though the transaction completed sucessfully, and even though i've sold instruments on ebay before and have 100% positive feedback, because it was a higher amount than usual, they put a hold on it because  (quoting exactly from an exchange with customer service) " it promotes best shipping practices where you grow your credibility as a seller and gain buyer confidence". 
ebay has built an inpenetrable barrier to speaking to a live customer service person, not to mention one in the united states.  You can only communicate with them through their chat line and it's manned by a boiler room of human robots overseas somewhere who can do nothing for you but read from a script and tell you they can do nothing because the computer algorithms set the policy.

IMHO if they really wanted to eliminate some fraud, they could start by going to ebay.com, doing a search on "alembic bass" and then going after all the sellers listing the same instrument with 10 different prices from 10 different places.

so i think that this is finally it for me and ebay after a 25+ year relationship.  i can see why why reverb's eating their lunch for musical instrument sales, and i will never again put another instrument up for sale on ebay.

this normally wouldn't be such a big deal, except i put myself in a slight liquidity crunch due to purchase that i made on reverb earlier this month (post on that to come at a leter date).  it's all gonna work out ok because i can move some money around to cover it, but i shudder to think if i was in a situation where i really needed the cash now.

so is it just me, or has ebay gone to the dogs?

[elwoodblue]

I concur. sorry to hear about the hassle.
Woof!


(I joined ebay around 2001)

[hankster]

I’ve done two transactions on eBay. 1.  My Alembic bass which I love and which was a great deal but very nerve wracking. 2. Buffer pads for a floor polisher which never showed up. Colour that 10 bucks gone. Really glad it was not other way around. I am also done with eBay- don’t want to press my luck!!

[edwardofhuncote]

I bought a Persuader five-string offa' this Ebay crook one time. All of its original electronics were gone. Six years after these nice folks helped me straighten it out... I am still here. And a few more Dragons seem to have taken up residence around the house.

[lbpesq]

21 days? That sucks!    I’ve purchased plenty of guitars and music stuff on eBay for years without any problems, but I’ve never sold.  I do have a shop on reverb.  Apparently they handle the money quite differently.   When I sell something, they let me know when the payment clears and only then do I ship it out.  The money then shows up in my bank account in a couple of days.

Bill, tgo

[paulman]

Sorry to say, eBay was great in the 2000's (Bill got a couple great and rare 🎸s from me through there, still got the Bond?). These days they are only good if you are buying so.during fairly low cost.


Reverb is much better for selling music items, I concur. 

[rv_bass]

I just got an email from Reverb stating that in August they will be increasing their selling fee from 3.5% to 5% 

[pauldo]

Ugh.
I feel your pain BeenDown139.

You would expect that with technology on our side that these 'systems' that are controlling our consumerism would start working FOR us instead of against us. 

It feels as if our hands are tied, there is sooo much that can no longer be purchased locally, yet the convoluted tasks/ hoops we jump through and delayed deliveries to buy on-line only creates more frustration... like when you request a replacement Diverter Valve for a shower and instead they send you a Shower Head!!!   <- ask me how I know...   

[gearhed289]

ebay has built an inpenetrable barrier to speaking to a live customer service person, not to mention one in the united states.  You can only communicate with them through their chat line and it's manned by a boiler room of human robots overseas somewhere who can do nothing for you but read from a script and tell you they can do nothing because the computer algorithms set the policy.

This part is especially true. ^^^ I had some hassles getting paid recently, and I had the same experience. I've been on eBay for over 20 years, and have had some great transactions. But I've been disappointed lately and will probably just use Reverb going forward. I did get the aforementioned notice of fee increases, but I can live with that if the service and overall experience are better.

[lbpesq]

Unfortunately, reverb, IMHO, has gone in the wrong direction since its recent acquisition by etsy.  Especially in the customer service department.  They used to have an easily found telephone number that was quickly answered by a real live person who actually knew what they were doing!   Alas, no more.   Good luck finding a telephone number for reverb these days.

Bill, tgo

[gtrguy]

I find it amazing how companies that have our money can tell you how they will handle it and what they will do with it. That used to be a recipe for failure for them, but these days that seems to have changed.
Service companies provide a service and when it shifts over to those companies instead providing problems consumers should be able to find a competing business. I guess voting with our dollars is not as effective these days.

[hieronymous]

Just don't complain about eBay or they might come after you!

6 eBay Executives And Employees Charged With Sending Threats, Bloody Pig Mask To Natick Couple

[BeenDown139]

maybe that explains some of the weird phenomena that's been happening around here lately.
i thought it was my vindictive harpy ex jacking with me again 🤯

[lbpesq]

Do any of you have any experience buying/selling on Gbase?

Bill, tgo

[gtrguy]

That EBay thing is scary, especially when you consider it wasn't just one person doing it.