What an awful experience trying to sell on eBay !! 12 months of trying different methods to prevent being robbed ... and I failed miserably. How easy it is for buyers to open a case against you AND.. how badly an opened case impacts on Your payment holds ...., is really unfair and financially crippling to be honest. Out of 200 + orders this month - 5 people opened 'Item not received ' cases within 5 days of dispatch and this is enough for ebay to shut my payments down for a week. I received 132 'excellent' , '5* seller' , 'excellent delivery time' sort of comments that don't count for anything . There is no statistic breakdown , no ratio to go by....there is no value to positive feedback when it comes up against an opened claim. Some buyers were so quick to open cases that I couldn't believe it was allowed. One guy didn't even pay instantly - his funds were held for 28 days. I had to pay (the minimum)£3.20 for tracked postage - in order to release his payment quicker . No sooner had the postman delivered it ... the guy opened an 'item not received' case. He done it faster than Royal Mail update their tracking system , therefore his payment stayed on hold . Even the next day when Royal Mail marked as 'delivered' it didn't matter..He got an automatic refund after 3 days of the case being 'unresolved' and I was told to contact Royal Mail. I also received a 'default' on my account, basically for making this man wait for his refund. This case was the start of a snowball effect ... I was hit with another 4 'item not received' cases - all in the same month and now my payments are on hold for 5 working days. All of these people received their items , one man already had his but apparently hadn't checked with his wife (chancer). None of these people officially closed the cases ...so I had to wait for ebay to close them after 5 days. I have got to the point were I can't afford to send anything else out now. I've spent all my money buying stamps and sending stuff out that I won't get paid for for a standard 3 days anyway (due to eBay's payout schedule). I even posted items that were ordered yesterday night - in time for the last post at 12 pm Saturday... only to log in to eBay this afternoon and find my account on hold. I now have no idea what I'm going to do for money through the week. I was banking on my eBay payout this Monday (they don't send payouts on a weekend either , so I was expecting 3 days worth of profit, most stuff has already been posted) I know this comment is huge but I really have tried everything I can to keep myself safe from post fraud, whilst also trying to keep buyers from complaining that 'postage is too high' ... I actually don't think it's possible to be honest. people who make a small fortune from ordering items online , then claiming they didn't receive them ... has been a worldwide issue since online shopping began .., but eBay give no space to sellers for this . One buyer told me that they "had no idea" how damaging an 'item not received' case is , so I looked into it. I found, that the first thing ebay ask you when you request a claim is ... "Have you tried to contact this seller before you open a case?" . Ebay then explain how damaging open cases are to sellers and can result in their accounts being closed ... they then give the buyer the option to message me first (for instance) , which needs a yes or no answer before the next page can load. So people do know how much trouble they are about to cause you . These kind of buyers know exactly what they are doing. They are ensuring that they get a refund if it's not delivered in 2 days (you can open a claim from midnight on the 3rd day)..... they never return the items either. These are Items that have 'proof of postage' receipts AND my return address on the back. Some people are just grumpy, possibly very selfish with no consideration, BUT !...they have waited an hour more than expected which means 'technically' they have every right. But some people deliberately look for sellers like me, who are using regular first class stamps ....and rob me for being stupid enough to do it. I can go to the post office for a 'proof of postage' receipt, but they are useless according to eBay, even though they have the buyers postcode on. I understand (if anyone is still reading this) that the solution seems obvious. I should just charge people £3.20 postage and explain that this is the minimum for a tracking number. I used to do this last year and got nothing but hassle .... ''Too much postage just for a tin'' ...was a regular type of message I received. Almost every time you sell something, you will also get a message from the buyer asking for postage discount..., It is very common for buyers to check the weight and size online (with the Royal Mail calculator ) and then contact you to challenge the price. Then there were parcels that had been left in different places (a signature was needed and the buyer was out). If this happens and the buyer claims to have 'not received item' ..., you lose money. It's instantly /Automatically taken whether your eBay account has funds or not. I regularly log on to find an overdrawn account or less money than I expected ,due to a request. For me, the most the most upsetting part of the postage saga, is the fact that eBay take fees from your postage charge (so do amazon to be fair ).. So if I want my buyer to pay £3.20 for 2nd class tracking , I need to either :- 1. Charge them an extra £1.10 (to cover Tax, Vat , selling fees and a listing fee ) . Or.., 2. Pay £1.10 out of the profits from my item (which is also going to be taxed etc ). Honest to God ! ... There has been times when I have lost all the profit from my sale and actually paid for the stamps myself... I did try to cancel and refund a buyer once - but she kicked off and left me negative feedback. There is also the fee's 😒... If I sell something for 3.50 , I will only have £2.70 in my account. If it's free postage then I have 2.70 to buy a stamp. A few weeks later , I will also receive a selling fee based on £3.50 . Which is around 1.25 .... So I have made around 50p for that £3.50 transaction. If you're only selling bits n bobs like me , this can spiral out of control so that when you get your monthly fee demand ..., you can't believe or understand how you still owe eBay 80 quid - for example. Then you think about how much stuff you would have to send out , to make £80 and you realise it's never gonna stop. Now I'm selling items to pay my eBay fees . I have now accepted that eBay is never going to work for me. I think , on a whole and in a nutshell.... Ebay the the modern day Black Market and there is no wonder in my mind anymore, as to why it's mostly full of fake tat with extortionate postage prices.... it's all a refund / tax swizz