10 Reasons Why eBay Sucks for Sellers

Yes, I started my entrepreneurship career on eBay. My business was selling other peoples items and then taking a commission. I enjoyed making nice commissions and was even interview on television. I loved eBay then. Now I don’t. Here are 10 reasons why I think eBay sucks for sellers. I’m not the only one who hates eBay, so many people have eBay problems.

1. Illegitimate feedback

If a buyer gives you a negative feedback for no reason, you can’t remove it. There goes your entire reputation and sometimes your entire business.

2. Annoying rules

For example in the last 12 hours of an auction you can’t change images. A potential buyer emailed me to notify me that I had put the wrong picture on the auction page.  There was no bid but because there were only 10 hours left,  I couldn’t change the picture, and what do you know, no sale.

3. Bogus buyers

No more negative feedback for bogus buyers, meaning that buyers who don’t pay for their winning bids cannot be penalized by the seller. This too destroys the entire feedback system.

4. Fees

EBay’s sale commission is a good chunk plus you have to pay for every listing detail practically. Subtitle: $.50, picture: $.25, bold title: $1, etc.

5. PayPal

If you use PayPal which is very handy for eBay selling you’re going to be ripped off. They continually take more and more commissions. Plus eBay owns PayPal so you are charged 3 times, listing, commission and PayPal!

6. Refunds

Someone can buy your item using PayPal, receive the item, and then lie and say that it was not shipped. PayPal will then refund them the entire purchase amount.

8. Shipping

Everything relies on shipping. The postal service once lost a small expensive package I sold; the buyer had not pay for insurance. So I had to wait for weeks to find out what happened, and then reimburse the item from my pocket!

9. Free alternative – Craigslist

There’s just no incentive to sell on eBay when you have Craigslist. It’s 100% free, the buying market is huge, its easy, no shipping involved, door to door. What more could you ask for?

10. Terrible customer service

If you have a problem with a sale or purchase, you have to go through bots and finally days later receive a humans actual help.

* Messy interface

Every time eBay seems to update their interface and website it gets worse. No matter how many people complain the site just becomes worse.

So even though I started a successful eBay business I have moved on. If you use eBay, let me know what you think.

Alternatives to eBay:

• Amazon
• Craigslist
• Overstock
• Ebid
• Auctionaddict
• Ubid