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Mich-Seite: krautinjapan ( 6262Bewertungspunktestand von 5,000 bis 9,999) Mich-Seite

10.02.12 06:57:40 MEZ

The Cover Exchange - Worldwide Postal History

Welcome to my eBay page

 (Updated Jan. 15, 2010)

Thank you for taking your time to visit this page & say hello to me. Me, that's me, Götz Heermann, long-time resident of Japan, professional philatelist as well as interpreter for local law enforcement agencies. I am currently working out of my office in Sapporo, Japan's fifth largest city on the northern island of Hokkaido, about one flight hour north of Tokyo.

I DO NOT SELL ON EBAY ANY MORE

These are the reasons:

1) In early 2008, ebay took away sellers' ability to leave negative feedback for bidders that truly deserve it:

a) Non-Paying Bidders

b) Bidders who make it a habit to file malicious chargebacks

c) Bidders who make it a habit to file fraudulent chargebacks

In all three cases, fellow sellers deserve to be warned. EBay, however, thinks otherwise - their "all buyers are good" philosophy includes con artists and thieves. As long as they use Paypal, they can't be bad...

I have never been afraid of feedback retaliation and have always left honest feedback. Now, a seller can't even file an unpaid item dispute without having to fear negative feedback.

2) Third-line forcing of PayPal

In summer 2008, eBay announced, that checks and money orders will be banned (even though eBay keeps accepting those oh sooo risky payment methods...).
Even a lot of my buyers in the US have always used checks, MO's and even cash (those little pieces of paper that have words like "Legal tender" on them...), just because they do not trust online services with tons of their private data, and don't want to give third parties access to their bank accounts.
Most buyers in the Euro zone prefer fast, safe and free bank transfers over slow, unsafe and not always free (even for the buyer, who may pay hefty exchange fees) non-bank transactions.

In other words, eBay takes long-time regular buyers away from me by "outlawing" these buyers' preferred payment methods.

I have been selling successfully on Yahoo Japan for the past seven years, and I will soon restart selling on Delcampe, which is a Belgian site dedicated to collectibles (mainly stamps and coins) - an area, that eBay now gives up in favor of large retailers of cheap Chinese imports and knock-offs with very low sell-thru-rates. And an area, that made eBay grow, and has sustained eBay's growth over the past decade.
Both sites do not force their sellers and buyers into certain payment methods. Maybe this is why both have been growing (remember, eBay Japan had to close shop in Japan in 2003 already, and Yahoo Japan is still successful and growing...).

So, as a seller and former PowerSeller, it's good bye, eBay - it was fun while it lasted, but you've gone too far.
Once back on a pre-2008 rule book, I might consider coming back. Till then, no calls, no emails, no snail mail from eBay sales reps please, if the purpose is to lure me back into selling. I get more money from more satisfied buyers faster and at much less cost and hassle on other sites. EBay now doesn't even qualify as a loss leader... ;-).

And my own web shop is under development, too. ;-)

ADDENDUM 1

To clarify the exchange fees levied by PayPal - THEY say it's 2.5%, but in reality it's closer to 5%, if I apply the exchange rates my German bank uses.
If I owe 500 Euros to a seller, who needs to be paid in US$, PayPal would charge me 2.5% over their rates, which would be 12.50 Euros. My bank in Germany would charge me 4 Euros to send a US$ denominated check with a US routing number to my seller, who could deposit it in his bank account and have access to his funds almost immediately (even a few days waiting for the check plus a couple of days till the check clears beats any PayPal "hold" by weeks, if not months!!). If the seller would rather take PayPal instead - too bad, as he'll lose 3.9% for that privilege, and my bid would be low enough to reflect my extra expenses, so it's a compounded loss of >6.4% for him! Now do the math & translate 6.4% for two weeks into the applicable APR... ;-). IF the seller is granted access to his money by PP that fast... ;-)

And don't talk to me about "buyer protection"! For once, my more than a decade long tenure on eBay, plus my ability to decipher all 26 letters of the alphabet even when strung together to form words, gave me the tools needed to read and understand feedback and auction terms. And then
-> I would never buy from someone, who I feel the need to be protected from!!
-> What weighs more? 20 Euros a year lost on lousy merchandise, or 500 Euros a year saved on fees by not using PayPal? Do the math...

ADDENDUM 2

Reports have it, that PayPal started introducing "21 day holds", that were supposed to hit newbies and lousy sellers only at first, on a broad scale in December 2009, and sellers who have complained to PayPal about their money being held hostage despite perfect performance records, were / are being told that the holds will eventually be applied to all sellers.
For those who have been in business in the real world longer than just a couple days - what does it tell you, when a debtor who, even with occasional hiccups, used to pay fast, all of a sudden tells you he needs time to pay?? A reason for me to keep my PayPal balance at $0.00 at all times and to not accept PayPal payments even from most trusted friends!! I've been in business for almost 30 years now, I've seen a lot, and alarm bells are ringing!!
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