This information is provided for all of us who have bought an item on ebay.

There are two real scenarios in this ebay guide. This first auction transpired in the past prior to the current changes. The second auction transpired back in (9 - 2007).  Please note that as of 2012 some eBay images in guides do no longer appear.

The Nike Air Rift Running Shoes

I won an auction for a pair of running shoes. ($74.00 + $9.00 shipping and Handling = $83.00 total) from a Seller who sent me the wrong size. They were 1/2 inch too large. They were new Air Rift (yellow olive/pollen color) size 10 inch.  (This item is very popular with the movie stars of Hollywood, California)

I had to pay the full amount in order to ship them back to Texas as stated in his auction at the very bottom. I had no problem with shipping the shoes back. I did so with the United States Post Office using "Priority Mail". Paypal's policy states that the Buyer is responsible to pay for freight one way, not both.

Be sure to read all of the fine print of a auction. He stated on the bottom of the auction in font size 1 that the buyer had to pay for all return shipping charges.

• I emailed him asking for a refund.
• I waited, waited and waited. I filed a Paypal claim only to be told that I was too late.
• Paypal a ebay Company told me that the time limit to file a claim had expired!
• Claims must be filed within 30 days.
  

Upon checking his feedback profile, the latest three negative comments mentioned were:

• Owe me $350.00
• Immediate payment, item never shipped. Extremely poor seller.
• never heard from him after I paid!
  

I pulled his contact information via ebay, called his cell number which was not in service.
I emailed ebay with this information that his number was not in service.
I received a email out of the blue from him stating that his number was in service.
I called him in Texas. He told me to expect a refund of $74.00 in my Paypal account.
Another month went by!

Did I give up? No.

• I filed a case with the Internet Crime Complaint Center and since the United States Postal Service was utilized, I filed a case with the Unites States Postal Police.
• I called his cell number, left a message stating that he left me no choice. I wanted my refund.
• I finally received a full refund of $74.00 into my Paypal account from him.
  

The bottom line is that it took me 90 days to bring closure to the entire episode.

As a Buyer,  you must protect yourself. If you do not receive a item in 10 days (exception is for International sellers) do not wait. Of course, one has to consider how the item is being shipped. Parcel Post will take quite some time. Let us take the state of Florida for example if you live in the state of Hawaii. If you won an item from a seller located in Florida, it would be placed on a truck and sent to the state of California. It would then be placed on a ship and sent to Hawaii. Also, do bear in mind that what could possibly slow down a shipment is if the Post Office decides to wait until they have enough items to send by truck to its next destination which in this example would be the state of California.

International Sellers: 

I quote here ebay Seller xenalook from Canada:

"We ship everything within 24 hours (almost 100% via airmail) and yet it is almost the exception that packages arrive within 10 days to US and overseas destinations (2 weeks on average is about right). Often, this is due to customs involvement."

Other possible variables to also consider are when the seller sends your item to the wrong address. Take a look at this feedback left for me on my feedback profile:

Sorry about the slow shipping! Best Ebayer I have EVER dealt with!!!!!! A+++++++

I waited for the items and received a email from the seller stating that he shipped and went on vacation. When he returned, so did his shipment. He emailed me and told me what happened. He sent it to me Priority Mail. My feedback left for him:

Honest seller, 5 stars overall due to great honesty about shipping, RECOMMENDED!

The policy now is that you can open a dispute between 10 and 60 days. If you paid with a credit card you can dispute the charges with your credit card company and show proof you mailed the item back. A good idea is to obtain Delivery Confirmation or a Tracking number which will cost more. The Tracking number is a better system to go with. The policy now is that Buyer's ship item(s) back at the buyer's expense. So that is all buyers need to do is pay with a credit card and use Paypal.

Follow through. Contact your Seller to find out what is going on instead of waiting. Learn from my example. As of January 2007, Paypal doubled their maximum loss coverage to $2,000.00 but they make the determination if the seller can offer protection for the buyer up to the maximum of $2,000.00. If you look at the right hand side of a auction on the bottom, you will see the following:

Up to $200 in buyer protection.  See eligibility or Up to $2,000 in buyer protection. See eligibility
The words: See Eligibility are a link to Paypal's page that describes buyer protection further.

The Star Wars Miniatures Toys

I just recently filed a claim September 2007 for $227.09 on a auction of "HUGE Starwars Miniatures Lot; 6 near Complete Sets NR." 460 + pieces! Oh Boy! This sounded great! I truly was really excited. I had initially bid on the item when it was around $20.00. The Seller who is a ebay Powerseller sent me a email stating, "Thanks for bidding, hope you win! etc.." As soon as I won, I received emails asking for payment. He must have sent me at least six invoices in 48 hours. So, I paid two days later since he had another item that I was watching and had thought about bidding on.

I asked him to place Delivery Confirmation on the shipment. I was able to insure the shipment prior to paying for it, at least he told me that he was insuring it. Here we go again, after 10 days, no shipment. I don't expect a shipment in 10 days from Philadelphia since his auction stated "Flat Rate Shipping" which could mean that he sent it possibly Parcel Post or U.S.P.S. Ground but I do really have to wonder why I have received items from the East Coast Parcel Post, Ground and First Class in less time than this seller?

What is a PowerSeller?

• PowerSellers are eBay top sellers who sustain a consistent high volume of monthly sales and a high level of total Feedback --with 98% or better positive rating by other eBay users.
• Uphold the eBay community values, including honesty, timeliness and mutual respect
  

I recall that in the past, a Powerseller was a pillar and part of the foundation of the ebay community, at least that is what I had received in the mail back in 2003 when I qualified to be a Powerseller. As of 9-2008 my account qualified to become a Powerseller. Most ebay Powersellers are pillars of the ebay community. One must look at his past NINE negatives: (Sept 7th to Sept 18th - 2007) 91.5% Feedback Rating and he still was a Powerseller?????

• one month, did not respond to email. nothing recieved yet. do not do business
• Waited 1 month and never received item. Does not respond to emails.
• paypal claim to get money back, never received items, unanswered emails-lousy
• READ feedback before you pay. Paypal dispute was decided in my favor.
• PAID$227.09 REC'D NoThInG FILED PAYPAL CLAIM USPS POSTAL POLICE FILED FBI FRAUD
• Seller accepted payment and did not send item. Do NOT do business with them.
• 40 days, no merchandise. PayPal complaint filed.
• Have not received item a month after I payed for it, opened a dispute w/ paypal.
• 3 weeks after payment, still have not receieved item. Tried email no responde
  

I emailed him and received one reply that the item was shipped. 20 days later, no word from him. I called his number, no reply. Time for a claim. Paypal awaited his response. I don't really believe in negative feedback but if you look at my feedback left profile, (it is on page 58) one can see that I had no choice but to leave him one. This was the first negative feedback that I posted on ebay. I also noticed that all of his items on his personal website are on hold. My little nephew was really sad that he would not be receiving the items that he wanted. One must ask themselves, how many days would you wait for items totaling $227.09?

Here is the meat and potatoes of the email that I received from Paypal on 9-19-2007:

Dear darthoz,

After careful review, this claim has been decided in your favor and $200.00 USD has been credited to your account. This is the maximum amount covered by PayPal. If your claim was for more than the amount recovered, the outstanding balance is due from the seller and we will make our best effort to recover it for you. This case is closed. No further action is required by you at this time.

Will I ever see my $27.09? Time will tell. I would like to obtain it back from the seller and until I do, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ICCC) complaint will still be on file. I called Paypal and spoke to a real person on the other end of the phone. I was told that they will make their best efforts to try to collect the $27.09. This amount might seem small but in reality, one can buy nine gallons of gas for a car or a lot of other items, especially shopping on ebay. ;-)

As of September 19th, 2007 the seller is no longer a registered user with ebay. He is no longer a Powerseller either. Score one for the Buyers! Sure, I have a ebay store. I collect toys and I am also a Buyer. This is what ebay is all about, the Buyers!

One idea is that if you buy a big ticket item from ebay or any place online, prior to opening the package/shipment, you might consider taking images of what you receive.  You will have proof of what was sent to you if you have a problem with the shipment and/or are trying to prove that you received something other than what was described in the auction. So, this can be accomplished with a digital camera or a small cam recorder. Besides the date of the image, you can always take the latest edition of your daily morning edition of a newspaper with a date on it visible. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

(Please be aware that for some reason, eBay is removing images from eBay guides)

Ebay's changes to the feedback system (Important changes updated on this ebay Guide as of 8-19-2008):

The new D.S.R. (Detailed Seller Report) for all sellers on ebay consists of a star rating system.

• Item as described                       
• Communication                          
• Shipping time                             
• Shipping and handling charges 

(The example above is a perfect D.S.R.)

Any D.S.R. can be seen on any sellers ebay feedback profile page or ebay my world page

Buyers can leave one to five stars for the four areas of the D.S.R.

1. Item as Described     2. Communication     3. Shipping Time     4. Shipping & Handling Charges
 Ebay has stated: “As of November 1, 2008, sellers will need at least a 4.3 across all four DSR categories, over the prior 30 day or 12 month period depending on volume, in order to list on the site." Active ebay sellers have a seller dashboard which goes into detail with all aspects of their:

• Search standing   
• PowerSeller discount   (applies to those who have met the requirements)
• PowerSeller status       (applies to those who have met the requirements)
• Policy compliance   
• Buyer satisfaction   
• Account status

Any rating that falls below a 5 star rating severly hurts a seller on ebay contrary to what some believe. Some feel that a low rating in any of the categories is worse than leaving a negative feedback. If enough buyers rate a seller with less than 5 stars on a DSR, this will hinder the seller from selling on ebay in the future.

Item As Described:

Unless the item that you receive is significantly different than what is described in the auction listing, one should leave a five star rating. It is a good idea to READ a listing slowly. Absorb all of the information such as color, new, size, used, etc.. Take a good look at the image if there is one to make sure it matches the description. You can also search for exactly what you are going to bid on here on ebay to see the current market pricing.

Upon surveying buyers who bid at the last minute, we discovered out of 500 auctions, a very high percentage did not read but bid towards the last 30 seconds of a auction we had with our old ebay store: land of the jawas star wars toys. Sometimes we all tend to become really excited with: "Wow, that is a great deal.....look at that low price!" and we throw in one of what I call  the: "I just have to have it now!" bid.

Communication:

The time frame here for communication is 24 hours that a Seller should contact a Buyer. Some feel that they should obtain a immediate response from the seller. We have to remember that there are a lot of ebayers who work full time. Some might check their emails not as frequently as we like. We usually send a reply to the Paypal email that we have received your payment and that we will be shipping your item out to you.

We know that we have your funds, you know that we have your funds. A email is sent from us via ebay thanking you for your payment. After delivery, we add the Delivery Confirmation number to the ended listing(s). We send a ebay email stating that we have shipped, we add the D.C. number to both the ebay item as well as the Paypal payment.  Paypal sends you a email. Lastly, we send a email which clearly shows the amount the Buyer paid and the actual cost of the shipment we paid for at the local U.S.P.S. We do not hide any cost from the Buyer. We also include a link to U.S.P.S. so we can both track the shipment.


Shipping Time:

One of the four areas where Sellers receive less stars is the shipping time. This aspect of the D.S.R. should really be based on the amount of time it took the Seller from receiving the payment to taking the shipment to the local Post Office. Once you pay, we ship as quickly as possible. A quick concept to think about, we are receiving stars on how long it takes the USPS to ship the item to you. We cannot control this aspect of the D.S.R. What the Buyers are rating is how long it takes the U.S.P.S. to ship to the Buyer,  not the Seller??

Shipping & Handling Charges:

The area most severely impacted where sellers receive less stars is the Shipping & Handling charges rating. Let us take a look at this for a moment. One of the recent packages that we mailed out cost us $2.60 cents. Our shipping charge was $3.50. We do not charge handling at all and will gladly combine shipments when possible. The profit we made was .90 cents. One has to factor in the cost of the shipping mailer as well as the costs of gas it takes to drive to the local U.S.P.S. which at this time in the state of Hawaii is $4.25 +. Before you leave stars for the S & H charges, take a look at the amount charged on the auction(s) and compare it to what is on the label.

If it has a pre-printed label on it, you can always ask the Postal Clerk for assistance. To obtain a rough idea of what it cost the Seller to ship to you, take the parcel and ask the Postal Clerk to weigh it and give you a estimate of what it would cost you to send it to the Seller based on their zip code. Be sure to read if it is sent Parcel Post, First Class or Priority Mail. The price might not be on the label but the weight will be. This will give you a indicator of the costs. As mentioned above, to be fair to the Seller, one must factor in the shipping materials involved to protect your auction item. :-)  

Feedback is now calculated on a 12 month percentage.

So, please think clearly before leaving the orange star icons on each feedback comment for a seller.

Positive feedback , the  Green icon is what all sellers strive for on ebay. Each positive feedback increases the Seller's score by one point.

A Neutral feedback, the grey  icon is impartial. As of 8-19-2008, it will no longer affect the Sellers over all score or percentage. It leaves the score the same but indicates that the Buyer was not over all happy or satisfied with the transaction.

A Negative feedback, the  red icon reduces the overall feedback score of a Seller. Each negative feedback decreases the Seller's score by one point.

Repeat feedback is calculated as for each week (Monday through Sunday, Pacific Time) as defined by ebay whether it is positive or negative per transaction. Items have to purchases separately each week.

Once a rating is left, it cannot be changed, it is imperative that you contact your seller prior to posting feedback if you have any concerns or issues about the transaction. Some buyers were surveyed recently from sellers. We strive for total customer satisfaction! One buyer admitted that they gave their seller a  4    out of 5 star rating on some aspects of the D.S.R since they (buyer) believed that no one should receive a full 5 star rating. Another buyer left 1 out of 5 stars since he had the option to do so. When told that the 1 out of 5 stars would severely hurt the seller, he was confused. This is really bad since all it will do is hurt the seller who is trying to provide the best service on ebay.

As of August 19th, 2008, all neutral feedback left no longer is included in positive feedback percentages. Buyers will be provided with the ability to change feedback for their Sellers. Towards the end of October 2008, a new process is going to be rolled out which will enable a buyer to change feedback if a mistake was made or if the Seller is able to take care of the situation. Information will be provided in the fall.

It has come to our attention that several other Guides exist with some of the information as well as the images from this Guide. They have been reported to ebay for Copyright and Trademark Issues as well as Unauthorized Use of Images and Text.