the solution isnt to leave ebay.
the solution is to not buy from power sellers.
they do not do this for the little sellers. far more of them on there.
I’m a Top Rated Plus Power Seller who has never had a single negative feedback. There’s a reason for that. Once I decided to open an eBay store I knew customer service would be key. I have worked hard to protect my eBay reputation and I expect my employees to do the same. I give full refunds with no questions asked. There’s no reason for a single buyer to be unhappy. I know I’m occasionally taken advantage of because of the way I operate, but that’s simply part of being in business. I know on occasion I have items that are essentially rented. That said, my return rate is less than 1%. And almost all of those returned items are later resold, so it’s just not a big deal.
And by the way, they will indeed side with buyers against a power seller. It happens all the time. If you search you can find scores of forum threads, YouTube videos, and podcasts from eBay power sellers complaing about how eBay sides with buyers. In fact, eBay will occasionally tell larger sellers they are siding with the buyer because the seller sells so much they can afford it.
Sometimes eBay issues a refund to a buyer out of their own pocket. I had that happen recently. I had a lady buy a pair of shoes and shipped them to her the same day. Two weeks later she emailed wanting to know where her shoes were. It turned out she had moved without changing her eBay address or providing a forwarding address to her old postmaster, so the shoes were lost in the mail. Once I figured out what happened, I called eBay. They told me I had no responsibility to issue a refund as I did what I was supposed to do. Even though she was clearly at fault, eBay ate it and gave her $80 plus the shipping.