… and I wonder why we bother even attempting to do business there.
Honestly — this advertisement is just begging buyers to file fraudulent claims. 
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It stems from the issue in the west that the buyer is above the seller in every way possible. If you are buying a product you have about a million rights that allow you to return products ‘just because’ and as a seller you basically have nothing because you are beholden to the buyer.
That is totally fine if you are talking about big businesses, the major issue is ebay adopts this same policy despite being made up of both big business, medium business, and regular joe blows like most of us hobby sellers are. Most of us barely sell 50 items a year through eBay, some not even 10. eBay SHOULD have different policies depending on what sort of seller you are, but they won’t and never will.
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I think I read somewhere that eBay decided to change it to 30 days since that’s what a few big retailers offer and they felt they should do the same.
At least it isn’t as bad as PayPal’s. They changed it from (45?) days to 180 a few months ago.
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the fees on eBay are ridiculous also.
Ebay was just following suit. Customers got use to the big retailers 30 day return policy and started expecting it everywhere.
The one way sellers can protect themselves is if they deal off auction via paypal gift payment. Always offer a deep discount to buyers that agree.
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Ebay is ridiculous in a lot of ways. But it’s one of the few ways we have to sell stuff and sell it at least semi safely. There isn’t a whole lot we can do about it until someone sets up a site for trusted sellers.
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You really do just have to account for who your buyer is. Here’s an interesting look at something relevant:
I started selling digital Star Wars goods. The goods technically couldn’t be proven to have transferred in a way that satisfies eBay’s conditions, so I would immediately lose any case that was filed against me. Now pushing 50 sales: no issues. Not a one. Buyers are respectful, they work out issues they have via message, they always follow my instructions in the description, and they’re grateful.
Pokemon: Physical goods. Can be proven. And I have had two issues out of the last 20 sales. That doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but a 10% increase in issues isn’t happenstantial. I have issues with people being frantic, people being paranoid, unreasonable expectations, and so much more in Pokemon. But Star Wars - nothing.
I blame that on the younger crowd with the Pokemon collectibles. These kinds of policies are risky for our types of goods, but I completely understand it for eBay just because it’s not majorly like that. I really believe the majority of people just get their goods and move along. That’s all there is to it for the average buyer. But we deal in a demographically fringe good that has inherent problems.
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It is definitely the younger crowd. A slowpoke could quantify the patterns between age and purchase pattern.
One thing I have noticed is that selling PSA cards typically hit the “older” collector market. I have had more issues selling raw cards, granted condition is more subjective, but I would assert that graded cards tend to attract either more serious and/or older collectors.
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This, as well as older sets. WOTC cards seem to hit an older collector crowd. So PSA WOTC card sales are pretty much hassle free;)
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Definitely! I had a one off scenario with someone and 1st ed graded base cards, but it was not indicative of the standard. First Edition Base cards transcend the hobby, as well as some older japanese promos. They attract collectors who might not be avid pokemon collectors, but would want the original set. As far as set cards are concerned, there is no safer bet.
So subtle.
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Ebay man…