I am DONE with eBay!! Egg sellers BEWARE!!

[punk-a-doodle]

eBay has just gotten worse and worse for sellers (and in my opinion, buyers, as ebay has made a point to highly favor large sellers only...who sell things I can buy at the store or elsewhere for the same or a lower price than they are asking for). Definitely not the same site I used to use years ago for unique items and good deals. I am not at all surprised to hear displeased stories from sellers. :/. Do you do better business of your website, or on eBay? If your website, I'd focus on promoting and selling from that. If eBay, I'd at least give another auction site a try and compare.

I would also appreciate a pm with this person's name so I don't make the mistake of buying hatching eggs from her.

As for packaging eggs...gyroscope egg crates anyone?

 

[wolftracks]

eBay has just gotten worse and worse for sellers (and in my opinion, buyers, as ebay has made a point to highly favor large sellers only...who sell things I can buy at the store or elsewhere for the same or a lower price than they are asking for). Definitely not the same site I used to use years ago for unique items and good deals. I am not at all surprised to hear displeased stories from sellers.

. Do you do better business of your website, or on eBay? If your website, I'd focus on promoting and selling from that. If eBay, I'd at least give another auction site a try and compare.
I would also appreciate a pm with this person's name so I don't make the mistake of buying hatching eggs from her.
As for packaging eggs...gyroscope egg crates anyone?

 

[littlethorn]

Unfortunately I have to agree with everyone regarding ebay. It's really gotten to the point where it's not worth it for small sellers and pretty much only large businesses can afford to take the risk of selling stuff on there because they don't even look at the case and will always side with the buyer regardless even if there is fraud going on (i.e. buyer has clearly switched out the item).

I used to do business on there periodically as well selling costumes but stopped when it got so that every time I shipped something it would turn into a nerve wracking experience hoping I did not get ganked by a dishonest buyer. It just wasn't worth the headache.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Thanks everyone! I used to do about 75% of my egg sales through eBay, but I'd say it's been closer to 50/50 between here & eBay this year. I'm trying to transition to more sales through my website or BYC. I also have tried a few of the other auction websites but didn't have any luck on there.

 

[cskotek]

At the end of last month, I had an auction on eBay for 6+ hatching eggs. The lady emailed me and wanted me to lower the price (this should have been my first warning that she was a nut job) and said she was concerned about the trip across the country. This was her email:

Really interested in these,But concerned about the long trip to NC.The
price is a little bit high for the risk.Any way you can do any better?Hope
you dont mind me asking.

I told her no and pointed out that $24.99 was nearly 50% less than I sell the same eggs for on my website. I told her I ship all over and have excellent fertility rates with shipped eggs. She bid and ended up winning. She paid right away and I shipped the eggs that same week.

When I shipped the eggs, I emailed her to let me know if there was issue with them because I have 100% positive feedback and I'd work with her to resolve an issue, should one arise.

Her response was:

Good luck keeping the perfect feedback.You will need to hand deliver and
hatch all the eggs for people.LOL. Ebay has the rules so messed up sellers
dont stand a chance.Thanks for the heads up and I will let you know how it
goes.

A couple days later, I got this email:

It got here.The carton opened during shipping and somehow crushed eggs
without crushing the box much.Box looks like it was stacked between heavy
boxes.Its a flat crush.Was able to wipe egg yoke off of 5 of them.Have not
candled them to see condition inside yet.You just have to love the PO!.LOL

I responded and told her I was sorry and to let me know how they looked at candling and that we'd figure something out if we needed to.

She responded with this:

I am excited now!!! One egg did not appear to have a broken air sack. So
are the hens still laying? I would like to at least get a few of
these.Please let me know what you can do.

I didn't get the above message until Friday night (I had have guests at my house all week and we had my daughter's 1st birthday party with 35 people on Saturday)--so I've been a little busy....

I responded and gave her two options:

#1 = Refund the price of the eggs, but not the shipping
#2 = Replacement eggs, she pays shipping (this is usually my course of action).

Next thing I know, she's opened a case against me in eBay--demanding a full refund and listed the reason as "item not as described." I responded again and pointed out what it says in my auction:

Additional Shipping Info:
Each egg will be individually wrapped to prevent breakage while they are in transit. I will send any/all extras just in case any of the eggs do crack or break. I will ship the eggs as close to the beginning of the week as possible (I ship on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & sometimes, on Thursdays) so they will not sit at the post office over the weekend. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me, I will be more than happy to answer you! I ONLY SHIP WITHIN THE U.S., SORRY I CANNOT SHIP TO HAWAII OR PR.
Fine Print:
I guarantee fresh and fertile eggs of the breed auctioned. However, I cannot guarantee hatch-ability due to many variables out of my control after the eggs leave my farm--such as shipping & handling, incubation equipment, and incubation methods.

She then escalated the case to eBay for review.

I in turn, reported her for offering to make a purchase outside of eBay, for the feedback comment and I wrote another email to customer support about her not using the "buyer protection" correctly (I included all of the correspondence between us) and I pointed out what my auction states as far as eggs not hatching. I don't know of anyone who will issue refunds if the postal service breaks air sacs. That should not be my responsibility.

Just needed to vent. I think I'll stick with BYC auctions and my own website from now on. There are way too many idiots on eBay.

Did she send pics of the crushed eggs? It seems she got the eggs and the money, like as if she did it on purpose. Id be more then mad. Esp. with emails like that!

 

[cskotek]

Have you looked into www.Frankstrade.com ? I personally never used it, but it seems like a popular site for selling of animals/egge/ect.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Did she send pics of the crushed eggs? It seems she got the eggs and the money, like as if she did it on purpose. Id be more then mad. Esp. with emails like that!

No, no photos were ever sent...

 

[cskotek]

No, no photos were ever sent...

I would have demanded photos. for all ya know they where all completely fine...

 

[myfinefeatheredfriends]

When I saw this I had to comment because this is something I deal with on a regular basis as an ebay seller of hatching eggs. It seems like the complaints I get fall into three categories: newbies who don't understand the risks involved in hatching eggs, old players of the game who understand how to abuse the system since hatching eggs are - unfortunately - a gamble to both buy and sell. Then there are the inexperienced hatchers who buy many different types of eggs at one time and try to hatch them all in the same incubator, more eggs than their incubator can hold, then blame the sellers for low hatch rates. Ebay has never backed me, always the buyer, no matter what the situation, even though I put "I cannot guarantee hatch rate due to too many factors beyond my control". It's as if they don't even read my side of the story. About once every six months or so I'll get a complaint. 99% of the time I satisfy the buyer. The other 1% I get negged and my money taken from me. It's not fair.

 

[ruby m w]

i you sure she could be lying
or is that my crazy imagination

hope it goes a bit better
i always stay with my countrys ebay (UK for me)