Our eBay store
My seller's profile at eBay (with all customer feedback)
Our online store at Yahoo
Our eBay
store
My seller's
profile at eBay (with all customer feedback)
The following article was written for GoTo Auctions (formerly known as AuctionRover). The rights have reverted to the author.
When you go to a physical store, you know who you are buying from -- either a local proprietor or a well-advertised, well-financed chain. Either way, you know with some degree of confidence that if something goes wrong, the store will make good.
The situation with online auctions is analogous to buying at a flea market or through classified ads -- the vendor is an individual or a dealer who probably doesn't have a store front: a total stranger. Yes, to do business with this person you need a physical address -- a place to send your check/money order or the merchandise. But this person may be on the other side of the country or in another country. So if something went wrong, it could be awkward and time-consuming and costly to try to set things right.
So to stimulate business, the online auction companies have gone out of their way to set things up so 1) bad things happen very rarely, and 2) both parties feel very comfortable that they have recourse to simple and effective remedies and know that even if they can't trust one another, they can trust the auction company as a fair arbiter.
For instance, the elaborate and well-established feedback/reputation system at eBay helps make the community self-regulating. Building lots of good feedback helps establish your credibility, and hence, if you are a seller, increases the number of bids you get, and how high the bidding goes. Bad feedback is extremely rare, because savvy sellers and buyers go way out of their way to avoid it, striving to resolve any disputes amicably.
Also, eBay provides free insurance, covered by Lloyds, for any buyer "in good standing." "Good standing" means that your net feedback rating is zero or above and you've provided accurate contact and identification information. If the winning bid was greater than $25, a buyer is insured up to $200 (minus a $25 deductible) if after sending the money to the seller he/she does not receive the goods or receives something that differs significantly the item description. There are exceptions. For instance, if the merchandise is lost or damaged in transit, that is the responsibility of the shipping company. But this policy seems to cover most instances in which a buyer would have serious reason to complain.
For sales above $200, eBay recommends using their escrow services. The escrow company, i-Escrow, acts a bit like someone who holds the money for two people who have made a bet. The buyer sends a check or money order to i-Escrow rather than directly to the seller. i-Escrow holds the money and only forwards it to the seller when the buyer has had an opportunity to inspect the merchandise and okay the payment. Likewise, a seller can use i-Escrow to have an opportunity to check a returned item before the refund check gets sent to the buyer.
In addition, eBay has a SafeHarbor staff dedicated to dealing with issues involving possible fraud and trading offenses. And they are now conducting a pilot program that will let eBay buyers and sellers use SquareTrade's service to resolve disputes for sales greater than $100.
And, physical world remedies still apply -- for instance credit cards. If you pay by credit card and you are dissatisfied with what you received, you can call your credit card company and the item will be taken off your bill, pending investigation. Merchant credit card accounts are very important to business people, and hence they go far out of their way to avoid jeopardizing those accounts. Also, credit card companies make it time-consuming and costly for a merchant to resolve disputes, so merchants have good reason to avoid disputes and keep their customers happy.
Services like Billpoint (offered through eBay) make it far easier for sellers to qualify to accept credit card payments. There's no application fee, no set-up fee, and no monthly fees. Sellers get charged a small amount per transaction. And buyers can buy with confidence that the usual credit-card-related recourse applies if anything should go wrong.
In other words, even if you as a seller do not offer refunds and guarantees, your customers seem thoroughly covered and should be able to deal with you with confidence.
Other auction articles by Richard Seltzer
Can we help you build an Internet business? Richard Seltzer is an independent Internet writer/speaker/consultant. Click here for details. or send email to seltzer@samizdat.com
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