eBay transactions gone bad

Anybody here have a bad experience on eBay? Most of my experiences have been good; however, in recent weeks encountered some eBay sellers that left somewhat to be desired. Consider the following examples:

1. I purchase item A from seller B. Item arrives damaged (it is not in the condtion seller described it in). Seller requests that I return item and will refund my money. Okay, no problem but it is kind of a hassle having to re-package the item, purchase a box/labels/tape, make an extra trip to the post office (in 105 degree heat), etc.

What I find annoying is that before placing a bid I specifically asked the seller "does the item have any chips or scratches". The seller replied "No". The item arrived full of chips, scratches and scuffs. Good grief.

2. I purchase item C from seller D. Today after work I receive a message from seller stating that item was put in the mail Monday but was returned today due to insufficient postage- he now needs to pay an extra $10 to get the item shipped here to Arizona. One of the reasons I purchased the item was due to the very reasonable cost of shipping. I am tempted to tell the seller to honor the transaction and pay the extra shipping (or split the extra cost 50/50).

Thanks for listening; guess I really just need to vent...

My wifes second transaction was like that. She ordered a board game for our son, and paid like $8 for shipping. After 2 weeks it had not arrived, she e-mailed the seller 3 times over the next week and never got a response. After 3 weeks with no product she left negative feedback (it was polite). The seller finally acknowledged her at that point and called her derogatory names in his response. The item finally arrived almost 4 weeks after the purchase date. The reason for it being so late you ask? The seller had completely messed up our zip code and the product had gone to a completely different state.

Quote :

2. I purchase item C from seller D. Today after work I receive a message from seller stating that item was put in the mail Monday but was returned today due to insufficient postage- he now needs to pay an extra $10 to get the item shipped here to Arizona. One of the reasons I purchased the item was due to the very reasonable cost of shipping. I am tempted to tell the seller to honor the transaction and pay the extra shipping (or split the extra cost 50/50).

If this dude had promised you delivery of an item and had not charged enough to cover the shipping costs, then he is responsible. Most sellers on eBay charge enough to cover shipping PLUS their eBay fees. I'd make this cat eat the costs simply because it was HIS error--not yours.

If you pay via PayPal, make sure that your address on your account is right. Then, if the seller makes a zip code mistake or house number mistake, then you have legal recourse. If you don't receive your goods as promised, be sure to leave feedback and alert eBay as well. Feedback isn't enough. Also, do whatever you can to get your money back. These people are running a business through eBay, and they need to be held to the same standards as you would expect from Wal-Mart, JC Penney, Target, or any other "brick & mortar" stores out there.

If you don't pay with PayPal, you're just asking for trouble with eBay.

I never felt to go to eBay to buy music.
Still think there are a lot of users who have stuff on eBay you never get.
Maybe not a good attitude, but I don't think I ever will buy or sell my Cds via eBay.

I've had a lot of good experiences with eBay over the years. I've only had a couple of negative situations, and one of those I brought on myself. I simply forgot to pay for something. I hadn't logged into my account for some time and just failed to pay for something. I took the negative feedback and just let it go. It is what should have happened.

I also had someone sell me an illegal copy of a DVD. Oh, it played fine, but you could tell from the cover and lack of a bar code that it was a bootleg. I demanded my money back, which I got, and then reported the guy to eBay. Needless to say, his account was closed in just a couple of days. I got a message back from eBay saying that they had gotten several reports about this guy and that they took care of it. They were going to start a class-action lawsuit and wanted to know if I wanted to participate. Since I got my money back, I declined.

Dynamis wrote:

1. I purchase item A from seller B. Item arrives damaged (it is not in the condtion seller described it in).

What I find annoying is that before placing a bid I specifically asked the seller "does the item have any chips or scratches". The seller replied "No". The item arrived full of chips, scratches and scuffs. Good grief.

I'd at least inform Ebay of this if you still have his reply. You're still out the return shipping cost if nothing else.

Quote :

2. I purchase item C from seller D. Today after work I receive a message from seller stating that item was put in the mail Monday but was returned today due to insufficient postage- he now needs to pay an extra $10 to get the item shipped here to Arizona. One of the reasons I purchased the item was due to the very reasonable cost of shipping. I am tempted to tell the seller to honor the transaction and pay the extra shipping (or split the extra cost 50/50).

It's all on him. Period. If he doesn't agree, report him. I've underestimated my costs before but it's my loss.

I have had a few bad transactions over the years, but nothing major. Some guy forgot to pay for an item.

I wonder if Ebay does anything about those sellers obviously trying to sucker people? I see really cheap Buy It Now prices with incredibly expensive shipping costs, which some people may not bother to notice.

eBay has cracked down on that a little bit, but the site is just too big to police everything. A lot still gets by them. If a posting has exorbitant shipping costs, then I just don't bid.

Staybrite wrote:

My wifes second transaction was like that. She ordered a board game for our son, and paid like $8 for shipping. After 2 weeks it had not arrived, she e-mailed the seller 3 times over the next week and never got a response. After 3 weeks with no product she left negative feedback (it was polite). The seller finally acknowledged her at that point and called her derogatory names in his response. The item finally arrived almost 4 weeks after the purchase date. The reason for it being so late you ask? The seller had completely messed up our zip code and the product had gone to a completely different state.

Two very important things...

1) In a situation like this, always communicate through eBay, not through e-mail. eBay won't do a thing to support you if your communication is outside their system.

2) If you have communicated through their system and the other party is insulting or profane, report that individual. It may very well be grounds for suspension.

There is no excuse for the behavior of the seller you described above. Problems may arise, but it's up to a seller to apologize and make it right. And it is up to a seller to communicate, no matter how ominous the potential of having to offer a refund.

avdb11 wrote:

I never felt to go to eBay to buy music.
Still think there are a lot of users who have stuff on eBay you never get.
Maybe not a good attitude, but I don't think I ever will buy or sell my Cds via eBay.

I hope you'll be able to work past your worries, because you can find some amazing out of print music on eBay, music you'll never find anywhere else. And you can find it for really, really good prices. You might be taking a bit of a chance, but typically things work out well. 99% of my problems are from buyers, not from sellers--although I'm very diligent about checking a seller's feedback rating and feedback comments from other buyers before I buy.

topshot rhit wrote:

I wonder if Ebay does anything about those sellers obviously trying to sucker people? I see really cheap Buy It Now prices with incredibly expensive shipping costs, which some people may not bother to notice.

Yep. If you see something like this, report it. It's a bit subjective, but if it seems outrageous then report the listing. They've got a specific term for it which I can't remember. But they will make a point of removing that listing and warning that seller. I remember seeing a collector's edition piece of software I wanted a while back for a great price, but I checked shipping and handling and the seller wanted between $50 and $60 for the cheapest possible shipping rate. He was gouging on shipping to offset his low price. eBay considers this deceptive and won't tolerate it. I reported it and the listing was pulled.

Of course, it has to be reported by someone, and a lot of people just don't bother. And sadly, a lot of people get suckered before they spot it.

Unfortunately, sellers like that have led eBay to take steps that are seriously sticking it to the rest of us sellers.

Thanks for the input everyone. I just sent the guy an e-mail via the eBay system that he would be responsible for the extra cost of shipping.

Andy

The eBay seller sent back the following sarcastic response:



"thanks for being so understanding and reasonable ....."

If it wasn't his mistake maybe he'd have a beef, but....

I'd reply "why should I pay for your error?" It's possible it was a legitimate oversight on his part, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to squeak by hoping USPS wouldn't catch it.

Good point. I thought about sending a response stating it is his responsibility to get the shipping calculated correctly in the first place.

It's best to use as little correspondence as possible, especially if one message resulted in a sarcastic reply. It can generate some ugly comments otherwise, and even though, as a seller, he can only leave you positive feedback (courtesy of eBay's latest efforts to hose over the sellers) he can still find creative ways to leave positive feedback that casts a negative slant on you.

Try not to send him any more messages unless he fails to follow through on his end.

Avoid him as a seller from now on. It can be easy to forget who a seller is over time, so you may want to make a note somewhere not to buy from such-and-such again in the future.

It's a seller's responsibility to get shipping right in the first place. If he makes a mistake, it's his responsibility to cover the difference. And if he ships with insufficient postage because he had the incorrect total figured in the first place, well... He just doesn't know how to use the postal system or at the very least how to weigh a package. He needs to learn a few a things before he sells on eBay.


I'm sorry you had to deal with this seller, Dynamis. I hope it doesn't jade you to the eBay experience. I promise, not all sellers are like this. A lot of us try very hard to make the buyer's experience a great one, no matter what it takes, even if it means we have horror stories to share because of it.

I sold an item there once and when the buyer got it, they said it was different than described. They sent me a letter through Ebay asking me to refund their money. I told them to return the item and I would.


Two months later I got yet another letter requesting that I refund the money, and again I replied that I needed the product returned FIRST! As it turned out, they just wanted the item free.

They then filed a claim with Ebay, telling them that I had sold a bad product. Ebay sent me a letter asking me to refund their money and then suspended my account until I had refunded the loot. SO, I sent a letter to Ebay and told them that I would gladly refund the money the second I received the item.

It only took another 2 months for the buyer to return the item. At that point I returned the money and my account from Ebay was unlocked.

The point is, if you want action, REPORT THE SELLER TO EBAY! Ebay will suspend their account and they can't sell ANYTHING!
It was an inconvenience for me to have my acct. shut down, but nothing major since I don't sell often. BUT, for someone who sells a lot and makes their living from Ebay, filing a complaint will get them shut down as well. That will MAKE them do right by you. They will do whatever it takes to get their account opened so they can sell again.

It's worth to check it out I am interested in cool OOP or very rare bands.
But my problem is when I login on eBay to register I don't get the American eBay but the one in my own language and that's not what I want so I quit.
Maybe I need a little help, because some things are not easy to figure out when you have an other native language.
I still have the hope to find the other albums of A.N.D.

I'm curious, I'd never do this myself but have any of you ever checked out instruments on ebay? I love nothing more than drooling over and early selmer baritone saxophone but even with some of the good prices I just don't see how some people can go for instruments like that without trying them first.

One of my pastor's daughters bought her clarinet from eBay with the case. She got the whole thing for about 1/3 normal cost. All she did was go out and buy a new mouthpiece for it as she didn't really want to be sticking her mouth over some stranger's mouthpiece. All I can say is that she is still very happy with her eBay purchase.

I've looked and bid on several musical items there, but I've always been outbid. What is sad about some of those auctions is that some of these people end up paying new prices for used gear. Not me!

That's the same with any auction. It's easy to get caught up in the moment.

I didn't realize sellers had no option to leave negative feedback now. I knew changes were made but that's pretty drastic. Sort of neuters the feedback system. I didn't like the old system of not removing unwarranted negative feedback though either. Never had an issue, but it's clear the system could be and was abused by some.

The whole system has gotten pretty messed up recently. eBay implemented the no-negative policy for sellers early this year. It drove a lot of sellers away and created a half-baked boycott. Some people can successfully find other venues. I don't really have that option right now. But not being able to leave negative feedback leaves us (meaning any of us who sell) wide open for fraud. Up until now that's been our one way of ensuring people will work with us until things are worked out. I've had to use the threat of negative feedback to get people to pay for items they were deadbeat'ing on many times. And I've had to use the threat of negative feedback to get people to back off when they were raising a stink and threatening to go to PayPal and force a refund when it had been less than a week since their items had been mailed. People who don't understand the postal system or even the eBay system can now have their way with us and we are helpless. [I had one character e-mail me the day after he had snail-mailed his payment demanding to know why his CD wasn't at his house yet.]

It's even worse in that fraud can run rampant now. You see, eBay created that absurd star rating system a year or two ago. It's all "anonymous" so we can't see who rates us or know why. Someone can tank us for no good reason at all. [I had someone in Canada get angry with me because her package, which I mailed immediately after receiving payment, took 2 weeks to reach her--so she tanked my stars by giving me 0 stars on everything for 2 listings. It took me a LONG time to get my shipping cost star rating back from 4.7 to 4.8, and my other star ratings have never gone back up from 4.9 to 5.0, which is where they would otherwise be. I know it was her feedback because I was keeping close tabs on all feedback on a daily basis at that time.]

But here's the kicker. Now, with eBay's new policy, if any single star rating for a seller drops to 4.5, eBay can force that seller to accept only PayPal as the form of payment, and PayPal can place a hold on that money for 21 days.

And a buyer can go through PayPal and say he or she never received an item that was received, and PayPal will default to supporting the buyer. PayPal will pull that money right out of the seller's account. In the eBay forums a link was posted to one buyer's feedback page, and it was astonishing. This buyer had perfect feedback up until the day this person discovered the chargeback method with PayPal. After that time the person forced 12 chargebacks with PayPal, insisting that each item was never received. PayPal gave the money back to the buyer and stiffed the seller. This buyer was left negative feedback every time (because it was before the new policy) and yet the buyer was STILL registered with eBay. Now, with the new feedback policy, buyers like this can get away with it and sellers have no way of warning other sellers.

It's hard for me not to get upset about this. I've worked really hard building up my feedback on eBay, and it's outstanding. Knowing that at any time someone could buy one of my items without reading the description and think he's getting something else, then leave negative feedback without working with me--and I have no recourse--really gets to me.

I try to remind myself not to worry about what tomorrow will bring. If my eBay status gets tanked, I'll deal with it then. For now, just keep selling and getting by.

Had no idea it had gone that far to the other extreme. I don't sell all that often and now I'm not sure I want to since I have 100%.

Disposable HERO wrote:

But here's the kicker. Now, with eBay's new policy, if any single star rating for a seller drops to 4.5, eBay can force that seller to accept only PayPal as the form of payment, and PayPal can place a hold on that money for 21 days.

I don't recall them doing this either (4.5 limit). I often only give 4 stars unless they truly deserve 5. It's pretty rare to find a 5-star on shipping costs, which to me is doing it for very little above cost.

I forgot to mention that, when any single star rating drops to 4.5, they will begin placing your search results (for store listings) lower on the page.

I will always give 5 stars for everything unless it is drastically deserving of less. Having sold on eBay for more than a decade I've come to recognize just how much more there is to shipping and handling than the cost of postage, so I'm even willing to give people room to breathe when they add $4 or $5 handling (assuming I'll even buy the item with that much handling added to it--and I usually won't). [And before I forked over bucks for my own quality digital scale, I can't tell you how many times I shot myself in the foot by underestimating shipping. There were a few times I basically paid people to take my stuff. ]

My rating is 4.6 (15 votes) and I only charge actual postage cost plus 25-75 cents. I guess people expect you to lose money to ship something. Anyone who charges much more than I would gets 4 (or fewer) stars. Anyway, this has nothing to do with the OP.