Ebay Accuses Amazon of Poaching Sellers

AlphaAtlas

[H]ard|Gawd
Staff member
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Messages
1,713
On Monday, Ebay accused Amazon of illegally poaching sellers from its platform. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, about 50 Amazon employees sent "sent more than 1,000 messages to sellers" on Ebay. One of the sellers reached out to Ebay after allegedly being contacted by Amazon "under false pretenses".

"We have uncovered an unlawful and troubling scheme on the part of Amazon to solicit eBay sellers to move to Amazon's platform," eBay said, adding that it had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Amazon on Monday. "We have demanded that Amazon end its unlawful activity and we will take the appropriate steps, as needed, to protect eBay," the company said in a statement.
 
Yeah, I absolutely cannot afford to use eBay. Have you guys sold anything there lately? Last few years? Perhaps longer than that. The last time I sold something I was charged over $50+ dollars. Absolutely ridicules. Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Back in the day it was affordable. I cannot imagine what it would cost to sell a car there ... over $1,000 dollars?
 
I will NEVER sell on ebay again. Sold a videocard in perfect condition to some guy who gets it and says i doesn't work and wants a full refund. In his request for refund he admits he took it apart, changed the thermal paste, and the card didn't work. According to the ebay refund policy you cannot modify something then ask for a refund. They gave him a refund anways. I had to fight it for 2 weeks to get them to reverse the refund. Just not worth it, the whole ebay refund thing is bullshit. It might be fine for large multi million dollar sellers but I couldn't imagine being a small business and putting up with that shit everyday.
 
i think i have paid close to 2k in ebay fees so far. you would think ebay would be happy and want to keep me as a seller but no my account got suspended from the selling volume being too high (the fuq) and ebay demanded abunch of information. that was the last time i sold on ebay and it was around a year ago.
 
it's actually more expensive to sell on amazon.

and if you wish ebay would die, lack of competition would fuck us even more.
 
Last time I sold on ebay fee's were 52 bucks and sold the GPU to someone in Brazil.They tried to claim the GPU was not as stated but I ended up winning the case.
Also got ripped off 579 bucks for a GPU that never arrived and paypal only refunded me 100 bucks.

Still though I love those ebay sales 15%/20% off and can not help myself of buying stuff.
 
Is that even illegal?

Sorry man got a better offer to sell my stuff on their table.

They are using ebay's platform, so ebay is paying for it. I'm not sure if it is legal but it wouldn't amaze me if it was illegal. At the minimum it is highly unethical on Amazon's part.

Ebay can fuck right off. They have been chasing off sellers for years. I'll use literally any other platform to sell something.

Isn't Amazon worse now? If I recall the forced return policy on Amazon is worse and they're essentially forcing you to ship quickly like Amazon prime. Probably explains why everything is more expensive on Amazon. I've looked up dozens of items on ebay/Amazon, they're always cheaper on ebay by ~15-20%. The only exceptions are commonly stocked items sold by Amazon.com or official stores for certain companies.

Last time I sold on ebay fee's were 52 bucks and sold the GPU to someone in Brazil.They tried to claim the GPU was not as stated but I ended up winning the case.
Also got ripped off 579 bucks for a GPU that never arrived and paypal only refunded me 100 bucks.

Still though I love those ebay sales 15%/20% off and can not help myself of buying stuff.

Use Global Shipping Program or exclude foreign buyers. With GSP you're covered to Kentucky. After that the buyer has to pay import fees, taxes, customs and their courier is responsible for any damage. Assuming your package arrives in Kentucky (or wherever they may change the GSP center to) you're good. One of the few good things eBay has going for it.


Details about it are below:

Besides making your items available worldwide, there are a number of benefits to using the Global Shipping Program:

Benefits:
  • If an item is lost or broken during international shipping, eBay Money Back Guarantee cases will be resolved in your favour, and your seller performance standards won’t be affected
  • When you provide free domestic shipping to the shipping center, you’ll automatically receive 5 stars for shipping costs in your detailed seller rating
    • If you charge for domestic shipping to the shipping center but receive a rating below 5 stars for shipping costs, it won't count against your seller performance standards
  • You’ll automatically receive 5 stars for shipping time in your detailed seller rating when you ship with same business day or 1 business day handling, upload tracking information within 1 business day of receiving payment, and deliver the item to the US shipping center within 4 business days
  • Any negative or neutral feedback that can be attributed to the Global Shipping Program from item handling during international transit will be removed

Absolutely do not sell electronics to foreign buyers without GSP. Actually, don't sell anything to foreign buyers without GSP. I've sold numerous model aircraft to people around the world with no problem. I pay ~$3-5 in shipping and never hear about it again.
 
Last edited:
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
it's actually more expensive to sell on amazon.

and if you wish ebay would die, lack of competition would fuck us even more.

The total cost of selling on ebay generally runs me just about 13% + cost of shipping (and insuring packages - where necessary). Amazon fees have a much wider range, but are also more convoluted and average closer to 15% factoring in referral (again before shipping and insurance). One vs the other makes more sense depending on the cost and quantity of items you are selling.

The downside to ebay is that they have become steadily more buyer-focused over time (I've been selling there since 2004). It has gotten bad in that regard, in the past year I have had multiple customers demand discounts and/or returns months after purchase on items they had destroyed or damaged. Your then left to extortion - you decide between bad feedback or giving funds back in return for an item the buyer has somehow trashed. There is also the problem of zero-feedback buyers who are actually underhanded sellers trying poach your actual buyers by removing competition with an unpaid item case. Amazon could give a shit about buyers or sellers, so long as you are not a seller who is trying to game the rankings system with fake reviews.

Anyway, selling on either platform has definitely become more difficult. IMO the biggest problem for both ebay and amazon is the prevalence of low-quality knock-off/counterfeit items and all of the bogus drop shipping going on. The common thread between both is that these counterfeit and drop shipped items are both usually coming from somewhere overseas (*cough*China*cough*).
 
Yeah, I absolutely cannot afford to use eBay. Have you guys sold anything there lately? Last few years? Perhaps longer than that. The last time I sold something I was charged over $50+ dollars. Absolutely ridicules. Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Back in the day it was affordable. I cannot imagine what it would cost to sell a car there ... over $1,000 dollars?

I have had more problems with Amazon when dealing with fraudulent problems than Ebay. Even had my Amazon Account Hacked. Yes problems Exists on EBay but I am more protected by using Paypal over there than using my credit card on Amazon.
 
I dont sell used stuff, i either give it away or put it in storage for a rainy day, and so when i have build my new computer i will scrap my old dualcore Opteron 185 machine, only its PSU and case will be recycled for this current core I7 i will be giving to my friend.
The opteron machine have been collecting dust for 7-8 years.

I might keep the CPU as they was codenamed Denmark, so might be a keychain hanger. but i am not going to do that too with my 3.2 GHZ northwood CPU, that one lie in a drawer with a lot of other stuff and tools.
 
Amazon needs to be prosecuted for this and broken up. They're crushing industries.
I will NEVER sell on ebay again. Sold a videocard in perfect condition to some guy who gets it and says i doesn't work and wants a full refund. In his request for refund he admits he took it apart, changed the thermal paste, and the card didn't work. According to the ebay refund policy you cannot modify something then ask for a refund. They gave him a refund anways. I had to fight it for 2 weeks to get them to reverse the refund. Just not worth it, the whole ebay refund thing is bullshit. It might be fine for large multi million dollar sellers but I couldn't imagine being a small business and putting up with that shit everyday.
Same thing happened to me with an audio card. I had well over 10 years of feedback and hundreds of sales, the buyer flat out lied, told eBay/PayPal it was broken, but told me before he just wanted to return it. I told him no. eBay/PayPal refunded him. The product was still working.

I stopped selling on there for years, but Amazon has the same "buyer is always right" return policy. I've been screwed there, too. They also have restrictions on creating/modifying categories.

...and let's face it, eBay changed their policies to compete with Amazon.
 
Using the Ebay PM service to do it is the rub here.
Really an amateurish move by Amazon. Was their email server down that day?

might be the rub but doesn't make it illegal. A theater might toss you out for breaking their rule of now talking during a movie, doesn't mean you will go to jail over it. Just like getting banned on here for breaking a rule.

unless there is a law out there about offer competing services using your competition's platform. Meaning that twitch can't have ads on YouTube and vice versa. Or they can't reach out to people to bring them over to their platform.
 
I sell on ebay from time to time but I limit my exposure as best as I can. Low cost, high profit and if I lose the item? Oh well.
 
Amazon needs to be prosecuted for this and broken up. They're crushing industries.
Same thing happened to me with an audio card. I had well over 10 years of feedback and hundreds of sales, the buyer flat out lied, told eBay/PayPal it was broken, but told me before he just wanted to return it. I told him no. eBay/PayPal refunded him. The product was still working.

I stopped selling on there for years, but Amazon has the same "buyer is always right" return policy. I've been screwed there, too. They also have restrictions on creating/modifying categories.

...and let's face it, eBay changed their policies to compete with Amazon.

That's good feedback I didn't know. I guess I will just sell my shit on craigslist. Meet at starbucks or the buyer's house, pay cash, no returns.
 
Back
Top