If you only buy from Top Rated sellers, then you're going to have a lot of trouble finding people to buy from. Because of some changes to eBay, a lot of Top Rated sellers have lost their status, even though they are good sellers. eBay's new system automatically opens an Item Not Received case if you just ask why your item is late. So by default, a lot of Top Rated sellers are getting black marks on their history because now just asking a question about your item opens a case against the seller. If you are only buying from Top Rated sellers. a lot of the people you used to buy from won't be Top Rated anymore. I know several Top Rated sellers who lost their status because customers kept opening cases every time they wrote to ask a question. If your item is a couple of days late and you press "I haven't received my item." that automatically opens a case against your seller and freezes the funds in their Paypal account. Unless you actively hate your seller and want to shut their business down, it's better to select "Other" on the contact form.
Ebay has become more and more problematic in my experience. I used to use eBay a lot to buy random things, and when I used to purchase things, like cards, it was not a problem. However, that was like 5 years ago. I've tried to buy ear buds recently, and the quality was so bad. It wasn't like the price was very cheap either. I try to avoid eBay now, unless I am buying from a top rated seller.
I'm not much of a fan of eBay and after my first accidental purchase I stopped. I made the honest mistake of hitting the "Commit to Buy" button on a product thinking that the shipping would not be much of a problem. It was really annoying but it's all my fault but still, not a great start.
I go to Amazon for all my online shopping, I don't trust eBay anymore. But I did order an iPod from eBay once I was so happy because I got it for a steal and then I realized how much I should pay for the shipping.
Former Ebay Power Seller could not handle the fees anymore I used to be a Power Seller on Ebay and had 99% feedback with over 54000 items sold. Then ebay started to up the fees more and more. I design and manufacturer Custom Window Decals and sell them at a fair price generally between $4 and $5 each for a normal size decal and I offer free shipping. The problem arose as ebay fees increased more and more then the PayPal fees increased. It just got to the point we were working 10 hours a day for under minimum wage lol. It really got annoying. We quite selling on ebay and now sell on a few other venues including our own website. We can afford to keep our prices the same around the $4 to $5 mark and offer free shipping and keep our customers happy.
I have bought items on Ebay for my uncle's gift shop. Everything I ordered was pretty much up to standard. The biggest product I ordered was WebKinz. That was very popular 6-7 years ago and everything came proper. If it was listed as new it came as new with the tags and everything. I also ordered a credit card processing machine. I had to drive 2 hours to pick it up but it worked properly and I got it at a good price. I have never sold anything on Ebay though.
I have never had a bad service so far. I always end up buying from different people each time I am on the Ebay site. The only thing that people have to watch for is read th e fine print and also be aware about the shipping cost.
