Ebay Buyer Frustration

I still like buying on ebay and have been for 15 years. The vast majority of my buying transactions have gone well. It's just been in the last 6 months, I have experienced more problems as buyer. Don't know if it's bad luck or if some of these seller's high feedback is overrated. As I mentioned before, one newer very low volume seller with 100% positive feedback received a negative feedback (and the information in the negative was very valuable to me as it pertained to an item I was interested in) and a few days later the negative feedback disappeared and the seller now has 100% again.

I pay with a credit card instead of with PayPal. In every event thus far, the seller has cooperated with a return/refund. Is the event of a no seller cooperation, does the ebay resolution center and a credit card company usually rule in favor of a buyer?

If sellers know about buyer protections, I still can't understand why unscrupulous sellers would engage in poor selling practices. Does a seller get paid immediately and the money is cheaper than a payday loan?

I don't like the ebay feedback system either, but I think buying from a seller with 95-96% is asking for trouble. Often a seller with low feedback is new to selling and is struggling and the Feedback sample is low and 1 or 2 negatives can bring the % way down. If the seller is a large seller and has 95% that means there are a lot of unhappy customers. I would avoid both situations.


As a seller I look at the Feedback # of my buyers and if it is less than 30 I think the bidder is a newby and may need some TLC, but I don't click on the Feedback to see the % unless there is a problem. Having 100% as a buyer is meaningless because it is impossible for you to have anything less. A bidder bought 6 items from me for $1300 and never paid, and then opened new accounts to circumvent my block and stiffed me some more and he still has 100% Feedback. It is a useless system, except as mentioned above.