Before you read my post, allow me to give you a little of my background. Hopefully, it will help you to decide whether my opinion is worthy.
At age 22, I opened my own retail clothing store for women. I provided quality customer service which allowed me to have a thriving business with 1,000's of repeat customers for 22 years. With that said, let me tell you how I rate as an Ebay seller.
I decided earlier this year to work from home and Ebay was my choice. Salehoo taught me everything I needed to know and I started my business.
In just a couple months I had to call Ebay a couple of times to tell them I wasn't receiving my messages from buyers. The Ebay tech told me he could see the problem and that he would "refresh" my account. Meanwhile, a buyer had sent a question about her shipping cost. I didn't get the message. The buyer left me neutral feedback and very low detailed seller ratings. This affected my account status horribly. I sent the buyer (ginasamarotto) a message telling her what happened with the missing messages & asked her to reconsider. She refused. She posted that "communication with this seller is difficult". I called Ebay for assistance, since they clearly knew I didn't get this buyers messages. They said that feedback is the "expressed opinion" of the buyer and they apologized for the glitch, but couldn't help me. Ebay told me to add this women to my "blocked buyer list" so she could not purchase from me again. Then the Ebay rep told me to work harder to bring my ratings back up so that I could get a discount on my seller fees. Thanks, Ebay.
A few months later, a novice buyer with only 4 Ebay purchases bought a sweater from me and didn't like the way the top fit. The measurements of the sweater were in the listing. This buyer (660126892) left me low ratings & negative feedback. The buyer's comment read, "the sweater is much larger than shown. I look like a gangster". I immediately emailed the buyer telling them they should have contacted me because I would gladly take the sweater back. The buyer refused to retract their feedback. Again, I called Ebay for help or assistance. Same answer. Can't help.
Can Ebay see this buyer never contacted me? Yes. Can Ebay see that I put the measurements of the sweater in the ad? Yes. Does Ebay know I ship items within 24 hours? Yes. Does Ebay know I do not profit on shipping charges? Yes. Do they know I answer all buyer questions within 24 hours? Yes. Does Ebay know I email all customers the minute their item is shipped? Yes. Can Ebay see the level of professionalism and customer service I provide? Yes. Ebay can see everything SELLERS do. Do they care? NO, not unless you are a BUYER.
So, if you have any thoughts about starting an Ebay business, do not expect Ebay to support you, the seller, in the event an inexperienced buyer or someone with buyers remorse, files negative feedback & scores you low ratings with no justification. Ebay leaves the seller with no recourse to maintain the status for which they worked so hard to obtain. Without this status your listings are put lower in search results leaving you at a major disadvantage.
How is it that a company the size of Ebay with their marketing sophistication and business savvy, fails to find a way to support the very people that lure in their perspective buyers? There needs to be a system in place to protect the hard working sellers from buyers that have no basis to the claims they put forth. Until such a system is put in place, you as a seller, are at the mercy of any individual who may just not like what they purchased.
Today Ebay took away my "Top Rated" seller status because of the feedback and ratings of inexperienced buyer 660126892. So, if you're thinking about an online retail business, I would closely consider the other selling sites before you commit your time, money and energy to Ebay. This too, could very well happen to you.