Hi Friends,
Im speaking about a very common issue faced my quite a number of eBay buyers recently, and tht includes me! I want everyone having a similar experience to share their woes, and ring the bells here for the community!
Ebay has put in place strict timelines for item delivery (5 days for shipping + 7days for transit), but due to what I'd call 'lack of foresight', the system is manipulated to obtain a bonus delivery time of whopping 18 days!!
In other words, a guaranteed harassment, fluctuation of blood-pressure, inflating of phone-bills & ofcourse ur credit-card bills (banks dont care if you've raised a claim ๐ )....all because you've got it from the 'wrong guy'!
There is no system in place, (except the ones Powershipped by ebay) to verify whether at all an AWB (courier tracking
no.) is legitimate. For who didnt know, all you gotta do is put ur ex-girlfriend's nickname in that column and ebay grants it as "Item Shipped"!! Dont have a gf? No probs!! Just key in another consignment no. meant for Hercules, and LO!! the buyer keeps running around chasing a wild goose which wont even lay him eggs! sounds funny but true.
Im sure eBay didnt anticipate this when they brought in the system a year back! Im sure they'd argue that no-one can get away with this, but frankly can you afford to fool around with a business that's based just on something so crutial as trust?
What is necessary is enforcement, and it comes at a price! As if 5+7 days weren't enough, sellers earn an additional 5 day period to ship since the claim is filed!! If there is no penalty if you dont "ship" on time (and I mean actual shipping, not just keying in a text), how can we expect sellers to follow timelines!!
eBay community has been advocating ever since on the value of Feedback, but for buyers new to ebay its merely a percentage which doesnt matter as long the Deal is mouth-watery!! Power-sellers on eBay earning scores of Negative Feedbacks due to their lack of seriousness in this online marketplace neither cuts any of their priviledges, nor do they ring any bells for 'policymakers', do they?
I leave it on eBay India to be the best judge to decide what should be done....but whatever needs to be done, has to be done really fast, or else it would be shattering to the mutual fiber of trust for this Online Community!
Regds
Santanu
