shafted on ebay - again!

[proteus]

i sold a figure on ebay , to a guy in australia, i sent it to him very well packed in a very strong box

after 2 weeks, it was returned to me - having been damaged in the post- it was taped up with a letter of appology from the mail company.
the figure was badly trashed, so i refunded the buyer and claimed the money back from the mail- although this was less than the item sold for as the item did not have extra cover.

a couple weeks later i found another identical figure at a yard sale- i emailed the buyer and offered it to him if he sent the money for it again.

he was happy to do this and so i sent the item- and now he says it hasnt arrived and he has had many items go missing

what would you do?

[bowspearer]

This sounds weird Proteus, very weird. I've had plenty of stuff get to me here in Australia without being damaged through the transit process. Incidentally, what were the first three digits of his post code?

[proteus]

i will look it up - i must ADD that the first parcel did not even leave the country having been trashed in a sorting office- the letter from the postal company explained this so i am satisfied that the buyer wasnt involved in any way- however with the second one going missing this is going to have cost me a lot of money.

[BoogDoc7]

International post can take awhile at times because of customs. Honestly, give it a month or so.

[bowspearer]

Actualy Boog, that's the thing, unless it's been sent by seamail, you're looking at around 3 weeks for most things to get from the UK to most Australian metro/extended metro areas (I've had Royal Mail items turn up in the space of 2 weeks). Now unless this guy lives in some remote regional centre or rural area then it really shouldn't take any longer than 3 weeks.

[proteus]

im just wondering how many of the ebay rules people have to break in order for ebay to act?
i know this is a subject that comes up all the time,- this time im talking about unfair feedback.so get this people...

i sold some old hard back comic books, over here in uk we call them annuals cos they always come out at christmas.
anyway i sold loads of them aroung 50,and i sent them all the same way, in a strong envelope designed for sending books with the edges re-inforced etc.
i also clearly listed them at 13-15 day delivery, as i live in the countryside i have to make a car journey to post stuff which i do once a week - so the time scale easily covers that.

so, out of the 50 books, i get 49 positive feedbacks with 5 stars, except one!............
theres always one you cant please.

and this was mine- his book cost him 99 pence- thats one dollar fifty.

so after four days of the books selling - they all sold together, this one buyer tries to open a dispute for non receipt of the goods, ebay wont let him because its well within the stated delivery time.

so i post it as soon as i can and it arrives with him after 5 working days- remember 15 was stated in listing. the guy emails me saying the item had arrived and was badly packed and every page inside was torn-(this is rubbish i checked them all they were all in fabulous condition) and he states i took 10 days to post it- wrong again, he doesnt ask for a refund but says he is merely stating his opinion...

so i reply stating that i did check all the books, however if he wants a refund i am more than happy to do so if he returns the book.

THE GUY IMMEDIATLY GIVES ME NEGATIVE FEEDBACK - MY FIRST IN 6 YEARS OF EBAY RUINING MY 100% RECORD.

so i email again what is his problem? i have offered a full refund - i tell him he can keep the book and i will refund him too- under ebays advice i ask him to revise his feedback

he refuses.

you see- theres always one. lol

ebay says to try and negotiate with the guy- ummm how can i make my offer any better?

so anyway despite offering to refund the guy his 99pence and postage, this guy leaves negative feedback, so thats unfair, right? also he lies in it saying i took ten days to post- no it was half that, and that the item was badly packed - no it wasnt as every other 5 star feedback shows.

so you would think ebay unfair feedback rules would apply, right, they do have a policy on malicious feedback, so i email them

this doesnt fall within our criteria for feedback removal they say.

ummm so what does? if leaving a negative for someone who immediatly offered a reund, and then lying about the details isnt malicious im wondering exactly what you do have to do before ebay enforces its own rules?

Once again it makes you think, that Ebay is just one big risk isnt it? if you sell, the buyer can claim the item never arrived and get the item and the money back, if you buy, the seller can send you a heap of crap and say it was ok when he posted it- it is just fortunate that most of the people on ebay are honest cos there seems to be no enforcement from ebay at all.

[BoogDoc7]

Sorry about your frustrations. I've taken a couple of frustrating unfair hits over the years as well, but as long as you stay above 99%, you should be fine - and people will generally see that you performed and that the other guy is a jerk.

Make sure you respond to his negative on the feedback so everyone can see your side of the story. Leave a "soft positive" for him, and block him from bidding on all your stuff.

[bowspearer]

Proteus, just a quick question - how were they actually packed- we're talking about box and not a padded envelope here right?

Just wondering if there's been that one time with a padded envelope where what could go wrong has gone wrong, or if he really is that big of a douche (clearly to some degree he is one even if you had things go wrong) and just looking for excuses and lying through his teeth.

[proteus]

they were sent in specially purchased book mailers- like a big card envelope with re-inforced edges, it cant bend and the corners are all protected.- its not a bubble mailer.they are sold for mailing documents and books.there was no way it could bend or be damaged- the guy is just vindicitve.

[bowspearer]

Yeah just double-checking. Totally sounds like he's just being a douche for the sake of it.

The whole of eBay is just a mess these days. The problem of course is that there are alot of sellers out there who abused the feedback system to the point where the dodgy ones have ruined it for all sellers on there.

There needs to be some way to find a workable middle ground instead of the loophole filled one which used to be there, but I honestly reckon that eBay simply doesn't care enough to implement it or even attempt to.

[proteus]

thanks a friggin bunch ebay- really i mean it thanks a whole heap for helping some asshole rip me off for $30.

i sold a statue on ebay packed it very well and sent it off- the guy says its broken, he wants to send it back

theres no dam way its broken!

so i say yeah ok man send it back---i hear nothing, until today im trying to buy my baby girls christmas present and my pay pal accounts frozen because this B**TARD has opened a dispute! and because there was no actual funds in my account they have given me a minus balance and frozen my account-

the ony way i can un freeze it is to refund this guy - who HASNT returned the item, and Hasnt entered tracking details- but i have had to refund him so i can buy my babys toys

thanks a whole friggin bunch EBAY - yet again!!!!

[BoogDoc7]

Sorry on that - ebay has a rep of almost always erring in the buyers' favor. I'm a little surprised that there wasn't as much detail he could provide - was there any official channel either of you missed?

Also, what was his name?

[bowspearer]

Proteus, I think the trick here is to demand insurance from buyers from now on. Make them have to go with a shipping option where the full value of the item is insured as a condition of them bidding.

Of late you've either had rotten luck with the postal service or had rotten luck in terms of disreputable buyers, and it's time to address the issue which has turned that into a headache- namely the apparent lack of insurance on items being sent..

For your own sake if nothing else, I think you need to look at insurance as mandatory from now on so at least you're covered if things go awry again.

[proteus]

yeah good point the uk post is insured up to 30 pounds- however it requires a lot proof from the sender to claim it - it also has to be claimed within 14 days.which is now past.the trouble with insurance in uk is that the only service that ebay will accept in a dispute -or that really insures anything over 25 pounds is called special delivery and thats a minimum of five pounds extra postage on every item and i have found that if you insist on this you just dont sell anything - people wont pay the extra.- and theres no service in uk that lets you insure items sent to the usa- they just dont do it-at all.

im really pissed with ebay it really spoils it for honest people.they guy did not return the item so i didnt refund him- and then pay pal freezes my account and now my daughters toys might not get here in time- well thanks a friggin bunch - i didnt do anything wrong!!!

[proteus]

btw the guy didnt even go through official channels to start with, boogdoc7, he emailed and said it was broken and i said return it -that was it- a week goes by the item isnt here and i go online and my pay pal account is suspended - why because the guy has opened a dispute on the item and as there were no funds in my account pay pal has given me a minus balance - in case they find in his favor-to argue the dispute would have ment several days of suspension while we argued and ebay decided- and i had toys to buy.

[bowspearer]

Dec 16, 2010 7:22:29 GMT -6 proteus said:

thats a minimum of five pounds extra postage on every item and i have found that if you insist on this you just dont sell anything - people wont pay the extra.- and theres no service in uk that lets you insure items sent to the usa- they just dont do it-at all.

Depends on the item though. If shipping was going to be about 15-20 pounds on something to Australia for example (under 2kg), it honestly wouldn't bug me because that's generally what I pay for something from the US anyway.

The question is, whether you want to be an easy mark for dodgy buyers or maybe wait a while and have a safe transaction.

Yeah but you're also in a rut. We've all had them one way or another. Heck check out my early feedback when I started- it was full of retaliatories back when that was allowed. Other times in smaller ruts, I've even had things like contact details splashed over listings as retaliation for a paypal dispute and neg feedback over an item that was opened but advertised as sealed. Those bouts of bad luck do pass though.

Ultimately this string of bad luck can only go on for so long. Hopefully it ends real soon for you.

Dec 16, 2010 7:22:29 GMT -6 proteus said:

they guy did not return the item so i didnt refund him- and then pay pal freezes my account and now my daughters toys might not get here in time- well thanks a friggin bunch - i didnt do anything wrong!!!

I have a thought on that one. Does your gf/wife have a Paypal account or a credit card in her name (which could be used for her own Paypal account?

Because it's technically not you, there'd be nothing stopping you in similar situations from putting your purchases through her in this kind of situation and that way you're not put out because of some dodgy buyer pulling a fast one.

[BoogDoc7]

Dec 16, 2010 7:26:25 GMT -6 proteus said:

btw the guy didnt even go through official channels to start with, boogdoc7, he emailed and said it was broken and i said return it -that was it- a week goes by the item isnt here and i go online and my pay pal account is suspended - why because the guy has opened a dispute on the item and as there were no funds in my account pay pal has given me a minus balance - in case they find in his favor-to argue the dispute would have ment several days of suspension while we argued and ebay decided- and i had toys to buy.

Not that you can do much about it now, be suggestion for the future - don't do any dispute correspondance through email channels - use the ebay message system to at least reply (if not cut and paste their message).

[Megatron]

Hey Proteus I had someone do that to me as a seller..I needed to update my personal info as a registered user because It lapsed for ONE day that I was no longer a registered user and the guy that bought the figure from my that I already shipped got my account in the negative (Thank god I took the money out of the account) and it was like that for almost 3 weeks when I got it back I closed my account and opened up a new one because not only did he get my paypal account screwed up but he bought some other items before and I got some strikes against my account to the point where I said I had to go and had enough of this shit! and when the prick finally got it he couldn't even have the balls to give me a positive OR and e-mail saying he was sorry....

Dec 16, 2010 7:26:25 GMT -6 proteus said:

btw the guy didnt even go through official channels to start with, boogdoc7, he emailed and said it was broken and i said return it -that was it- a week goes by the item isnt here and i go online and my pay pal account is suspended - why because the guy has opened a dispute on the item and as there were no funds in my account pay pal has given me a minus balance - in case they find in his favor-to argue the dispute would have ment several days of suspension while we argued and ebay decided- and i had toys to buy.

[BoogDoc7]

Am I the only guy that seems to not have negative experiences on ebay? I think the last one I had was several years ago...the worst thing that happens to me is the occasional ding on stars.

[bowspearer]

Hard to say Boog, but hey, if you've had no negs, then the system is actually working for you as it should be.

I think alot of it to be honest is that you're honest and upfront and when there's a problem, you're actually interested in fixing it in a reasonable manner.

I'll refer back to that trade we had where you accidentally overcharged me on shipping. There are alot of sellers out there who would simply have given the buyer the finger rather than being accountable and fair in how you handled it. Not you though- you handled it in the way which was nothing short of fair and reasonable. That makes a huge difference where there are problems when you have a seller actually acting ethically.

At the same time, clearly dodgy buyers recognise that you're not an easy mark so I'd say you're dodging a fair few bullets there.

Honestly Boog, I'd put as more of it down to what you're doing right rather than luck.

[victoryleo19]

same thing happened to me. I mailed a guy the wrong figure by accident, actually it was a DCUC Build a figure. That particular figure had sold for 30 dollars and I had mailed THAT guy the wrong item too, basically i switched the two by accident. So one guy mailed me back the item and I refunded him. The guy who got the build a figure worth 30 dollars, which had originally only bought a 5 dollar item, never returned it. And ebay/paypal made me give the guy a full refund. Ebay paypal should have a MUCH better method of dealing with this.


They make it so difficult as a seller just to even FILE a complaint with them, that half the time I just walk away from it angry. Ebay/Paypal is a complete mess if you ever run into a problem.