I too feel your pain as I am so close to getting rid of my prequel stuff I can taste it.
I have an ebay venting thread I started to make me feel better so I don't go nuts on the tools I have found on the bay.
If you find a good alternative I would love to hear of it as ebay is gonna tank if they continue their buyercentric vision. No seller in their right mind is gonna put up with that type of abuse.
Don't do it tamer. It's so not worth it.
Someone can now say that your figures are "bootleg" and get all their money back instantly, with no proof. This is how my account got killed.Yeah. After eight years of problem free selling, over 200 auctions a week minimum, they killed my account, and what's worse, it's because of
their mistakes and twisted way of "policing." Since 2008 I've had an average of 4 non-paying bidders and two false-claim attempts or "give me my money back or I give you a negative" threats for every 100 items I sell.
A buyer bought six items in one transaction from me,
but never picked them up from the post office for over a month. I get hit with six Dispute Claims, instead of the one that eBay's automated system should allow. Since he filed the claims on a Friday night at 11pm, I didn't see them in my inbox until work on Monday at 8am. By that time, eBay had found against me, and my bank account had been pinged for over $500+... the buyer went to go pick his winnings at the post office on Monday,
so he got his items AND his money back, before I even had a chance to read the email and provide tracking! Another month goes by, and I get an email from him, saying I should "send him $50 via Paypal in 24hrs or get six negatives." I contacted eBay support immediately, with no replies on the phone or email. Since I didn't give in to the guy's threats, he gave me six negatives (even though this whole mess should have been counted as *one* transaction.) I spent all this holiday on the phone instead of with my family, and could find no one within eBay, Inc. willing to correct the mistake. After three months of trying to fix this, I just gave up.
Then another buyer two weeks ago buys some loose figures from me, and says they arrived "completely broken" - which has never happened to me once, with any collectibles I've ever sold since 1992. Stuff sometimes gets damaged but not "completely broken." But if they're damaged then I'll of course give him his money back... so I asked for a picture of the broken items, at which time he opens a claim, now saying they're "bootleg items" - and again, within 24hrs of the claim, they just give him all his money back, and hit me with a "copyright violation." I look this guy up on toolhaus, and he's filed a complaint or negatives for every single thing he's bought for over eight months.
So I'm out figures AND money AND get hit with a violation, all without any way for me to even explain my side, or provide evidence that refutes these people's claims.
I can't see how anyone can really sell something and not fear buyer fraud anymore. I stopped selling stuff over $1,000 in 2009 because of their chargeback system (which with the change allows some people in certain states to sue you in addition to getting their money back, and there's no real way to fight it without a lawyer.) There's no way for a Seller to sell something and be done with it.
Now it seems you can't even sell someone a loose figure for a buck without fear of getting kicked off of eBay because the Buyer could be dishonest and say it's bootleg or broken with no proof. Someone can buy two items from you, say they're bootleg, with no proof whatsoever, and you will get permanently suspended. I could deal with the jokers every week who would lie and say stuff didn't show up, or arrived damaged (but can't manage to find a digital camera... hm...) but when you aren't even given a chance to reply...
So yeah, any alternatives are most welcome.
I'm thinking of eCrater or Etsy, does anyone sell their stuff through them?
