How do you view buying/selling on ebay?

[PBO]

Originally Posted by TexasSP

Anyway, opinions please.

Ebay is full of delightful people who are as you've described...armed with a sliver of information/education they bid on junk they know little about & get upitty when they receive goods they feel or ultimately realise they shouldn't have bought

My wife sells 'collectables' on ebay as a hobby. She views these people as a cost of selling on ebay. And then there are always those who think they can weasel the goods for free & hold the seller to ransom over small issues

Brief scenario; my wife lists an item using phrases such as 'like', 'style' or 'appears' to describe something she can't positively identify as a certain make or type. Buyer knows a little (enough to be dangerous) & thinks they've found something incredibly valuable. Buyer gets greedy & bids to win. Buyer receives item & promptly takes it to a valuer, only to discover it not a 'whatever make' but is in fact valued at the price point they paid (amazing how the market knows that!!). Buyer gets back in contact making all sorts of accusations, demanding a full refund & my wife panics a little & misses an early opportunity to shut the stupidity down...goes backward & forward, ebay sits on the fence & does nothing, buyer become a PITA quickly, cost more in return shipping than the goods are worth from the buyers country...purchase price is refunded less shipping. Net result = buyer gets item, seller gets zero

Ebay is full of these people, some countries have more than others & my wife now includes the line "item listed elsewhere, seller reserves the right to terminate auction early" just to cut the nut bags out of the loop - should she need to because ebay don't or won't do much to assist even though they make good money from my wife