eBay's buyer protections are eroding as well.

I bought a phone on eBay last month. The seller insured it with USPS. When the phone arrived with a cracked screen (the listing had photos of a not-cracked screen) I photographed the damage and submitted a return request with eBay. The seller then filed an insurance claim with USPS.

USPS sent me a letter, requiring me to present the damaged package (and its contents) to my local postmaster. I documented this to the seller via eBay, but complied with the government authority -- I didn't want the seller to lose his insurance claim because I didn't comply. The postmaster kept the package, saying it was a requirement.

Once the phone was out of my hands, the seller denied the return, keeping my money, while presumably keeping the money from the USPS insurance claim.

I have no recourse with eBay.

I've come to the conclusion that anything under about $500 isn't worth trying to sell online anymore. eBay has eroded as a marketplace for sellers.

For anything higher value, I have hobbyist forums I have 20 year memberships on where I can spend the time to due diligence individual buyers and transactions thoroughly. Even here I often don't get maximum dollars as I may have 3 offers and go with the person I am most comfortable transacting with.

And even on the higher end, it's easier to just do a trade in at a retailer instead of trying to extract maximum value doing business online.

On the lower end the problem is it's not worth the time to do the due diligence, and there are a tremendous number of time wasting tire kickers for lower value items. So I end up giving stuff away or just holding on to it, which is a shame.

As an ethical buyer, it's incredible... but I'll be damned if I ever take the risk of selling anything on eBay.

ebay seems to scam buyers too.

I was looking for a phone. Lots of sellers will list things as brand new which should imply new in box (unopened packaging). After you carefully read the listing, they actually mean open box which is far more variable.

Ebay does not care at all. It makes the search basically useless.