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(This page best viewed at 1024 x 768) eBay Ethics How To Make eBay A Fun And Rewarding Experience by George Kelley 8 Year eBay / PayPal Member gpk9@hotmail.com |
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In May 2008 I will stop using auction-format and buy-it-now format to sell things on eBay. I will stay on eBay, but I will start using the classified ad format. This decision is based on recent eBay policy and fee changes that tilt the playing field against sellers, to the point where selling on eBay is no longer a fun and rewarding experience. Starting in May, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedbank, while buyers can still leave negative feedback. This new policy is grossly unfair to sellers. I have left only one negative feedback in my entire 8 years on eBay, and only one neutral feedback. The rest have been positive. There have been some negative situations along the way. In all but two of them I was able to communicate with the buyer or seller in a spirit of cooperation, and resolve the issue. We would agree to leave positive feedback for each other, or not leave feedback at all. I like leaving positive feedback. It's part of the fun of eBay, along with meeting some really good people here, both buyers and sellers. All of that is based on having a level playing field, where sellers and buyers have equal rights. The title above is "eBay Ethics - How To Make eBay A Fun And Rewarding Experience" I talk about ethical practices for sellers. I talk about ethical practices for buyers. I assume eBay themselves will do all they can to keep eBay a fun and rewarding place. Apparently I assumed wrong. This new feedback policy is unethical. It takes rights away from the seller, and tilts the playing field against the seller. Beginning May 1 2008 I will use only classified ads on eBay, becasue there is no feedback. It is the only way to maintain a level playing field on eBay. I will continue buying things on eBay, and will continue leaving positive feedback whenever possible... which is pretty much all the time. This decision to stop using auction and buy-it-now formats means I will or have already lost my eBay Trading Assistant status. Keeping that status requires certain amount of selling volume, which I no longer have. Now, back to your regularly scheduled program... eBay is a fun and rewarding experience when everyone operates with honesty and integrity. Follow the "golden rule." Treat others as you would like to be treated. Set Your Goal To Be An Ethical Seller: eBay may appear to you as just a website to sell things, but there are real living breathing people on all those other computers out there looking at your stuff. They want value for their money, and they want to be treated right. The biggest challenge for you as a seller is to strike a balance between your desire to make money and the need to treat people right. If you care only about money, and don't care about people, you will not do well on eBay. If you care about people as much as you care about making money, you'll probably do well on eBay. Being an ethical seller is just another way of saying that you care about people as much as you care about making money. Trufhful Accurate Balanced Description: Make your item description truthful and accurate, including as much detail as you can. Give a balanced description. List the positive points and the negative points. Don't Get Greedy: Greed causes problems with buyers. Problems with buyers are time consuming and can hurt your image on Ebay. Avoid the temptation to exagerate positive points, or leave out significant negative details, hoping to get more money for the item. The slightly higher bid you may get by giving a misleading descripton of the item is not worth the problems you will have to deal with, not to mention the possiblity of getting kicked off eBay if you establish a pattern of misleading item descriptions. When I sell an item my description is accurate, detailed, honest, and includes information buyers want to know. My pictures are clear, bright, and sized to eBay standards. Be Clear About Your Shipping/Handling Cost: If you charge actual shipping, state that up front. If you charge a flat shipping/handling fee, state that amount up front. When I sell an item on eBay I use the eBay shipping calculator and charge actual shipping cost. I have an Ohaus ES-50L commercial-grade stainless steel shipping scale that is very accurate. The photos in my eBay listings show the item(s) sitting on that scale. I take the weight reading from that scale and put it into the auction listing, with a few ounces added for the box, dunnage, and to cover the PayPal fee on the shipping amount. I also have a 60 cent handling fee in the auction to cover the cost of a tracking number on your package. I always put a tracking number on packages. DO NOT Pad Shipping Cost To Make More Profit On The Item: DO NOT add money to the shipping cost to make more money on the item. Sellers padding the shipping cost to make up for low bids is a major problem on eBay. Padding the shipping cost is dishonest, unethical, fraudulent, and is a violation of Ebay policies. DO NOT Impose A Handling Fee After The Auction Has Ended: If you charge a handling fee, state it clearly in the auction. Do not add a handling fee after the auction has ended. It is dishonest, unethical, fraudulent, and a violation of Ebay policies. NOTE TO BUYERS: Due to the tendency of some sellers to pad shipping costs, or add a hadling fee after the auction ends, it is a good idea to determine the total shipping & handling cost before placing a bid. Some auctions show a flat shipping amount. Some auctions have a shipping calculator in the listing where you can put in your zip code and get the total shipping & handling amount. If neither of these, contact the seller, give them your zip code, and request the total shipping and handling cost to your zip code, BEFORE you bid. Accept The High Bid And Live With It: If you set a low starting bid hoping to generate more interest from buyers, be prepared to accept a high bid that is less than you expect. Communicate With The Buyer: Say Thank You! Let the buyer know you appreciate their purchase. Keep the buyer informed on the progress of payment processing and shipping. It goes a long way toward preventing problems, and getting better feedback. Set Your Goal To Be An Ethical Buyer: Follow the "golden rule." Treat others the way you would like to be treated. When you bid on an item, honor that bid. If you win the item, pay for it promplty, take delivery of it, and leave positive feedback (if positive feedback is justified). If you place a bid, and later decide you don't want the item, but you win the auction, go ahead and pay for the item, take delivery of it, and leave positive feedback as though you did want it. It was your mistake, not the seller's. Be a mature adult. Take responsibility for your mistakes. You can always turn around and sell the item later. You might loose a few bucks overall, but you have done the right thing. Don't Be A Crybaby: Realize that things you buy on eBbay may not match up exactly to your mental image of them when they arrive. Photos and descriptions are good, but are not as good as having the item in hand to look at. Don't complain about insignificant things. Don't sweat the small stuff. Be a responsible mature adult on eBbay. Leave Positive Feedback Whenever Possible: I have always tried to leave positive feedback even an item did not live up to the mental image I had of it. If the flaws are insignificant, the item for the most part matches the description in the auction, and it appears that no fraud or deception was involved, I overlook it and leave positive feedback anyway. I LOVE to leave positive glowing feedback! I LOVE to heap praise on good sellers and buyers! It is the most fun aspect of being on eBay! Look on the positive side of things, whether on eBay or in life overall. Give sellers the benefit of the doubt. Most eBay Sellers are legit and honest. Mistakes in descriptions are just that... mistakes. If a Seller is moving a hundred items per month, mistakes in descriptions are going to happen. Resolve Problems - Avoid Negative Feedback: If you have a legitimate problem with an item or a seller, make a good-faith attempt to resolve it through communication. Use the Item-Not-Received or Item-Not-As-Described complaints if necessary. They give eBay people a chance to arbitrate the problem. Hold up on leaving negative feedback until all other attempts to resolve the problem have failed. There have been several auctions where I was able to resolve problems with good communication done in a spirit of cooperation, and end up leaving positive feedback for the seller or buyer. I personally wish eBay would eliminate negative feedback, because it cannot be retracted, and is so badly abused by crybabies and other unethical people. I would like to see eBay replace negative feedback with a count on each user's feedback page of lifetime INR, INAD, and UPI complaints filed, and the number unresolved. This would give a far more accurate picture of a seller or buyer's integrity, and could not be abused like negative feedback. I have sent this request to eBay and discussed it in the community forums. The people at eBay do a lot to make eBay a fun and rewarding place to be, but it's really up to us, the sellers and buyers, to be honest ethical people, and keep eBay a fun and rewarding place to be. I use PayPal because it gives a clear payment record for both buyer and seller. I never have payment problems when I use PayPal. In my 7 years on eBay the only times I had payment disputes were when I paid for an item with a check or money order. PayPal costs me a small amount on each transaction as a seller, but I view it as "smooth-transaction insurance." As a buyer PayPal hides my financial info. I never have to give out my credit card number when I use PayPal. That alone is the biggest advantage of using PayPal, and is probably why PayPal is the largest payment system on the internet, with over 100 million accounts worldwide. PayPal is also fast. As a buyer I can make payment and get the item on its way to me usually within 24 hours. As a seller I can get paid and ship the item usually within 24 hours. |
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These last three photos are the BLUE ANGELS in their AWSOME Kansas City airshow performance 9-17-06 !! |
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Photos and video simply cannot capture the power and beauty of the Blue Angels in flight!
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Nothing compares to the grace and majesty of their grand-finale horizon-to-horizon pass over the airfield in perfect wing formation through a full 360 degree roll! It really is enough to bring goose bumps!
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I do some flying of my own... on the computer... Microsoft Flight Simulator.
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