Anyone else have any eBay nightmares?

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by b4cz28, Sep 17, 2010.

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  1. fiveninerzero

    fiveninerzero New Member

    Most of the stories I hear are about disgruntled buyers. But believe me, as someone that does both relatively frequently on eBay (325 positive feedback) it goes both ways.

    In the past week, I have had 2 deadbeat buyers. The first was a gentleman that decided to bid on my truck, drive down after the auction just to tell me that he changed his mind due to his wife. Instead of cussing him out like I felt like doing, we ended up agreeing on him paying my $200+ eBay listing fees and me losing 10 days of selling time.

    As if that wasn't enough, this past Sunday, my motorcycle sold on eBay, but when I contacted the winning bidder she said that she didn't notice that I lived 20 hours away from her house. Really? $125 down the drain.

    When it works, it works great, but man, when people play around it really hurts!

    And +1 on PayPal. Never put trust in them like a bank by letting your balances remain overnight. They have been known to freeze funds for no reason (security they claim.)
     
  2. rickyjo

    rickyjo New Member

    @Five:
    Wow, that's a nasty piece of business. At least the truck purchaser tried to make it right.

    @Maniac:
    I've seen this insanity workout of which you speak. Let us know if the infomercials are accurate.
     
  3. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I haven't been able to try it because I my apartment is in the middle of some maintenance work :mad: However, the formula is very simple, move your body quickly, intensely and with minimal rest for an hour straight. The only failure I can conceive is if I find it boring and just can't find myself doing it several times a week. I hope that's not the case, I need SOMETHING to do other than just jogging for exercise and I can't get myself to be consistent with my resistance bands.
     
  4. rickyjo

    rickyjo New Member

    For exercise I fidget nervously in my chair while visiting degreeinfo. I also get my daily caloric burn by throwing unneeded items across the room and away from my workspace. Finally I really get my temperature up by dreaming up new political posts to argue about with B4 :). Thanks B4, it it wasn't for you I would be total fatty.
     
  5. kbrooks323

    kbrooks323 New Member

    My friend being the buyer was once scammed on Ebay. He stated that he was never using Ebay again. He collected some fees on his account because of this.
     
  6. fiveninerzero

    fiveninerzero New Member

    While I cannot excuse the behavior of a few, it's been my observation that most problems could be prevented by a bit of buyer self-education / prevention.

    This goes for all private party transactions, not just eBay as well.

    Most buyers google something that they like and land on an eBay ad, tending to look at the picture quickly and fall in love without reading any of the description. They then proceed to quickly sign in and bid on the item without even bothering to research the information presented by the seller and eBay.

    Once they bid on the item (which eBay clearly states binds them into purchasing the item legally) it shows up and because they didn't read the terms, they realize that the item is missing something that they assumed was included, but since they didn't bother to read, they then raise up a hellstorm with the seller for example. Can't do nothing for you.

    Another scenario is when people don't bother to research a sellers history / track record / feedback. eBay clearly presents a forum in which to leave feedback on sellers. If I recall correctly, every bad experience I have ever had on eBay was with a low / negative feedback seller.

    I also have done a bit of business on craigslist. Before I waste my time driving to someone's house on the other side of town, I call, ask lots of specific questions and get quality pictures via email. Once I get there, I inspect whatever I am buying throughly before cash passes hands. The only times I have had problems was when I got lazy and didn't give a good look at what I was buying.

    I've bought over 10 vehicles over the years used through classifieds / eBay. I am pretty much anti-dealership. I'm just careful and I make sure that I know what I am getting, saving thousands of dollars in the process.
     
  7. Gizzmopanda

    Gizzmopanda New Member

    Buying electroics from China Via ebay

    I have had over 600 transactions on Ebay and apart form the odd scam or two it has been a relatively good shopping experience.

    My worst transaction came recently when I purchased a very expensive Solid State Hard drive from China with a written guarantee that it would work.

    The feedback from the seller was not all good news and I saw some indications of a language and communication problem but having exchanged several emails with the seller it was not bad enough to put me off buying the item.
    How wrong could I be !
    When the item arrived I paid a competent engineer to install the hard drive in my laptop but it didn't work because it was faulty.
    The whole experience of buying the HD for £70 + another £95 to have it fitted left me out of pocket.
    What is even worse was the HD was shipped via a slow boat from China so the 40 days has elapsed from the date of purchase and I lost my money.
    So I am now £165 out of pocket and no help from Ebay or Paypal who tell me I am out of time to claim.
    The company is called Ventures_cn1 so if you are considering buying a hard drive I would avoid them like the plague.

    The company obviously do not check their products to see that they are working prior to shipping, leaving the buyer to pay the price.
     
  8. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I have used ebay and paypal for many years with no problems.
    However all I buy and sell are bicycle parts. I believe I can tell from the descriptions whether the seller knows what he is selling or is a flake (or thief - several high end components have been recovered by the police after a stolen bike or frame was advertised).
     
  9. philosophy

    philosophy New Member

    I agree that Ebay and PayPal aren't the best places to do business with anymore. I liked it back in the good old days when I would be able to sell something and for payment I would ask for a postal money order (the reason is because a person couldn't stop payment on it for 60 days). You could go to your local post office and cash it in right away and then ship the product directly to the buyer.

    Unfortunately what happened was that you get some bad apples that ruin it for everyone else. In example, people would send a payment to the seller, and some sellers would actually never ship a product to the buyer after they had received a payment. Or, the buyer would send a payment to someone and the seller would try and trust someone and ship the product to them and discover that the check or money order (not a postal money order) would have either a stop payment (majority money orders) or the checks would be no good and come back insufficient funds.

    Thus, eBay made it mandatory that pretty much the only acceptable payment method was using their platform and then you had to use credit cards, checks (which have so many days to clear) and so forth. While it was suppose to make it easier it has made it rather difficult. In other words, say a seller sells an item to a buyer. The buyer makes payment. However, the seller has no access to the monies until the product has actually been delivered to the buyer. Even when delivery confirmation has happened they still make you wait so many days and actually I remember having to call in to get them to release the hold on the funds. Otherwise it would take forever to get the funds released.

    I remember selling a cell phone to a customer. He said that he didn't like the phone. I had sent it to him without it being messed around with. Here he doesn't like the phone but winds up making changes to the phone and does a complete factory wipe on it which if he knew ahead of time that he didn't like the phone, why would he even bother to go through all that trouble? I told eBay about it and they said that if he did that it would be in violation of the terms. Later I was advised that because the fact that it is an electronic device that there would be no way that they could prove what was on it and that it wasn't a violation and that I would have to refund the buyer everything. To me, that is a bunch of crap. If someone changes something that should be wrong and the buyer even admitted that they had done so.

    It would be no different if a person bought software from you which was unopened and then opened it and returned it. They essentially have the programs, they just returned them. There is so much that isn't right about the whole situation.
     
  10. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I've never bought or sold a single item on ebay. I'm sure there are millions of satisfied customers but somehow I've got the sneaky suspicion that I'll be the one to get ripped off. I know a guy who collects antique fishing lures and he buys and sells on ebay all the time. He's told me that he's been burned a time or two, despite his best efforts. It's an intriguing process but I'm not encouraged to become involved.
     
  11. bazonkers

    bazonkers New Member

    Paypal and eBay are strongly on the buyers side, not so much on the sellers side.
     
  12. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    I wonder if this is human nature at work, or does the Internet bring out the worst in some people, who would otherwise not have done these nasty things?

    In the days when we had a fair-sized candy-by-mail business, there were quite a few people who bought a box or two, and either claimed they never got it or, more commonly, said they were returning it for a refund, but we didn't get it. But even more common were those fine people who never purchased from us, but then wrote demanding a refund. We learned then that some of the big mail order companies routinely send refunds to such people, unquestioning, because it is cheaper for them then entering into disputes, small claims actions, etc.

    But nothing topped the time we got an order for a 5-pound box of chocolates, from Russia, complete with payment in US currency. We dutifully sent it off, insured . . . and when it finally arrived . . . it seems that the law then was that one could only ship 2 kilograms of candy into Russia . . . so those very clever customs officials opened the box, ate about a pound of the candy, and sent the rest on to our customer, who was not disappointed.

    --John Bear, former co-owner, Flying Bear Candy Company
     
  13. frankcwn

    frankcwn New Member

    Ebay...worst then a nightmare

    Here's my nightmare which till today remains un-answered by Ebay personal!

    Ebay Transaction listing no.****** Reference to Mr. Karl ***** aka: Member id ***** accusations directed towards me in this request to cancel transaction case, and the purchase of his Icom R70 shortwave receiver::

    Everything Mr. ***** has said here is untrue and he continues to make up fictitious stories on why he illegally refunded my money after the close of this auction when the item was fully paid for.
    Before I bid for his item during the first stages of his auction, I had asked Mr. ***** that since he claimed his product was trouble free and working flawlessly, would he consider extending a few days warranty in case there was a problem with his vintage equipment, in hopes that he would stand behind his claims of his product. He immediately accused me of not having trust in him, and that his profile ratings speak for themselves. Then he asked me why I would ask for only a few days return guarantee. I explained to him that 90% of the time, if anything goes wrong with vintage electronic equiptment, it usually happends within the first few days of putting it back into a steady regular operation.
    He refused to extend any type of guarentees, yet still tried to convince me how great his radio receiver was. I ended the conversation with him stating I would wait until the right one comes along that may have some sort of a sellers guarentee. His response was that his receiver is the right one for me, and that in his listing under shipping and return, that he would guarentee it not to be "dead on arrival"
    I gave it some thought for a few days, and decided to take the chance and bid for his receiver. I sent him an email before the close of the bid, telling him I was going to trust his accessment of the receiver and place my bid.
    I woke up at 4:45am Sunday morning 5/20/2012, minutes before the end of the bid, to place my best price, and ended up winning the bid.
    That morning after breakfast, I made an instant paypal payment to him for the receiver and the cost of shipping. I then sent him a message, requesting for him to forward the tracking number for the shipment as soon as possible, explaining to him that in the past I have had shipments stolen from my door step, and have made it a habit to have all my shipments intercepted and delivered to the local UPS or Fedex locations for my personal pickup.
    His response was that now he was freightend because I had told him this. I responded back that he would have no worries, and that all he needed to do was contact me with the tracking info, and I would do the rest.
    Then, I asked him to atleast insure the UPS package containing the receiver for the price I paid for it, in the event they either damaged or loss the shipment, protecting me from any loss, and he agreed to place insurance on the package. He again assured me the receiver is in good working order and I would have, QUOTE: "No Worries". Then goes ahead and leaves me possitive feedback saying, QUOTE: "Quick Payment, Great communication! Excellent Buyer!" End Quote...
    That was the last email that morning from Mr. *****.
    That evening I returned to ebay after an enjoyable evening out with my wife, to find a shocking message once again from Mr. *****, accusing me of not trusting him, because I asked him to place insurance with the freight carrier, and that he felt, QUOTE:"I WAS A LIABILITY TO HIM", so he went ahead and cancelled my purchase, refunding my money through paypal, and selling the receiver as a "second chance" offer to someone else! He stated on the paypal refund that, QUOTE "I think not, Your too much of a liability" end Quote. Then he states on his request to cancel this transaction that he cancelled it because I had made, QUOTE: "unrealistic demands". I don't feel that because I had asked him if he would consider extending a few days warrenty, or to place insurance on the shipment "Unrealistic".
    I paid for his receiver the day I won the auction with an instant payment through paypal, and he refunds my payment with an "echeck", placing my money on hold which took till now, 5 days to clear!!!!
    I never had any issues with the final sale or requested any refunds! As a matter of fact I was excited to receive the shipment and add it to my collection of vintage radio gear! He took it upon himself to cancel the sale, without even emailing me back to clear up any misunderstanding he may have had with me. Again, NOT FOLLOWING EBAYS POLICIES!!!!

    He broke ebays policy by reselling my receiver to someone else, which I rightfully owned at that point, through ebay second chance offer! Ebays policy on second chance offers clearly state, If you, the seller, are not able to complete the sale with the winning bidder or if you have duplicate items for sale, you can send a Second Chance Offer to anyone who bid on your listing.
    It goes on to state , Or your original buyer didn't pay.

    NEITHER OF THESE REASONS APPLY!!!

    Mr. ***** canceled my purchase illegally, because his fellings were hurt, or for some other personal reason he will not admit to.
    I am hoping my 30 minute conversation to ebay via the telephone two days ago about this transaction will result in some sort of a concequnce placed on Mr. ***** for his un called for actions, and be banded from ebay for a certian time period. Sellers like Mr. ***** need to learn to put their personal feelings aside, and act business like towards their prospective buyers, and keep a professional stature.
    I will not be leaving any positive feedback to Mr. *****, rewarding him for this horrible transaction, which took days to receive my refund. If my feedback blemishes his positive record, so be it. Others will benifit from knowing what they may be getting themselves into by dealing with this gentelman.
    I am requesting ebay to do something about this, and not ignore and let this transaction slide without any radification.

    This has forced me to question whether or not I want to have any dealings with eBay anylonger. They simply don't care, and offer not protection to anyone. You can call them till your blue in the face and get nowhere. Even with an email address they gave me to send this detailed explaination, I get no response.
    But, Im not done with them yet!
     

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