[GeekSummit]

Man, I feel you. Basically eBay is in the business of catering to ONLY the buyers and not the sellers. Plainly put, eBuyers are customers like any other... take them or leave them, let them change their minds... hell let them rip YOU off, eBay is still getting a percentage. as a seller, you are technically an employee, or self employed franchisee of ebay. By which you hold all liability of your items and shipping and any and ALL mishaps outside of the protection offerings of PayPal, that I can understand. eBay offers a platform for ANYONE to become a seller and make some extra cash, and pay fees, and have an I-9 Drawn up on your name and taxes.

As long as there are folks who need to make a little extra cash on the side... eBay will be there... Wherever there is Junk in a Trunk that needs to hit the road... eBay will be there... The demand for that platform draws in the unsuspecting supplicant to bear their home and expenses to the public in an effort to simply outsmart the present economy and feel like a wheeler dealer. Sound like a drag? That's the upside!!!

On the other hand you have the buyers... the aimless browsers, the needy collectors, the illiterate masses with an insatiable appetite for your stuff. They're everywhere, they are anybody, you have no choice basically who you are dealing with and that is the risk we take to try and make a buck. I listed nearly 100+ items just last week in an effort to dig up funds to make Christmas happen and for the most part it has been a surprisingly trouble free effort.

But then there's THAT guy... what a D¡@<. He outbids all my buyers on an item that ANYONE would have loved to have... And then like a fart on a beach... He was GONE!!!
I've sent a series of escalatingly less polite e-mails: "Hey Buddy"... "Hi There"... "Hello?"
to simply "Do you intend to pay for this item?" of course still no response. Then its not even worth pulling eBay into the mix to mediate. Their "forum" on resolutions is just about useless, their auto reply is absolutely incompetent, and then once everything is said and done... you get a survey on how you think things went. I always opt for the bottomless EXPLAIN-O-BOX.. (because I have a thing for lengthy e-mails) where I totally rip on everything that is wrong with their business practices and implied ethics. No follow up survey there.

THEN there's the neutrally imposing e-mails that you are "BELOW SELLER STANDARDS" which actually means 1 of 2 things (in my case). Either you haven't sold anything in a few weeks because your so FU@<ING disgusted with these *-Holes.. OR... your star count is less than 100% in the following fields:

•Breaking down item descriptions for MaMaw's understanding
•Sending e-mails that nobody reads
•Shipping BEFORE you are paid
•Giving honest shipping rates (I just give free shipping and eat the rest)
•OR the simple fact that some buyers don't care and Christmas Tree that entire empty rating system... why do they care? It doesn't make their rates go up!!

Yes, eBay... The Clamor to the Hammer... Playground to the greedy ignorant masses, The eHustle, I love it... There's something wrong with me.

Link Removed - Toyark Staff