eBay has recently notified sellers with the results of its new “Report a Buyer feature”. The feature was initially brought in to protect sellers from unjustified negative feedback. This means that the ratings of over 60,000 sellers have been protected. Conversely, 54,000 buyers have had their accounts suspended over the course of the 2013, because they were in breach of eBay’s policies. No doubt some of these purged sellers also happened to be buyers (but we already know that it’s not advisable to buy and sell on the same account).
Coinciding with this news, eBay has also reminded sellers of the difference between PayPal Seller Protection and eBay Seller Protection. It’s also important to remember that eBay can open an eBay or PayPal claim. It can get confusing sometimes because the policies are generally the same, apart from one very important difference.
PayPal Seller Protection claims
If you want to win a PayPal claim for non-delivery, proof of delivery with a signature is required. This applies to orders over £250, which seems reasonable enough.
eBay Seller Protection claims
If the buyer decides to open a case on eBay, the rules are different. In this case items with a value of over £750, a signature and proof of delivery are protected.
What should we make of this? Well, you might want to ignore eBay’s £750 limit and pay for a signature delivery on items with a value of over £250. Of course, this won’t affect all sellers.
Many sellers would like to see the policies on eBay and PayPal brought in to line. eBay said it is working on aligning these, but we don’t have any hard facts about when it will come into effect.
