Another eBay buyers rant

Ken Ibold

Ken Ibold

Final Approach
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
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Jacksonville, Florida
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Display name:
Ken Ibold
What is eBay for? Buying and selling stuff, right? Why then, do people bid on things they have no intention of buying? I recently auctioned a high end pitching machine, with the winning buyer's profile saying he was a high school baseball coach. After the auction ended, nothing. Sent some emails. No response. Not even the courtesy of "oh heck, I changed my mind."

While this seems like kind of a petty thing to get upset about, to me it just represents another step down that path society is taking where people just do what they want and ignore the consquences to others. You know, the abdication of personal responsibility (and the ethical compass that guides it).
 
File the NPB and move on. I've been selling on ebay for 20 years. In almost every case I've had to relist, I've sold it for MORE the second time around.
 
flyingron said:
File the NPB and move on. I've been selling on ebay for 20 years. In almost every case I've had to relist, I've sold it for MORE the second time around.
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That's funny. You've been on ebay longer than eBay has been I'm existence. Did you invent the Internet? Lol
 
This isn't just an eBay issue, people in general now seem much less likely to do what they say.
The bad thing is if this eBay buyer has someone stiff him, he'll be writing feedback and getting all self-rightous!
 
Ken, agree completely.

And on the buyer's side, I've found some of the sellers to be involved with shills to drive up the price. When I suspect that's happening, I walk away. Burned once on that, not again.
 
mcpilot said:
That's funny. You've been on ebay longer than eBay has been I'm existence. Did you invent the Internet? Lol
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OK, shoot me, it's only been 16 years. Been on Ebay since 1997
Of course, it was an entirely different place back then. Got started buying and selling vintage fountain pens there.
 
Two weeks ago I won an auction for a powertow on eBay. Sent the money by PayPal as indicated in the auction. The next day I recieved a message from the seller that said my winning bid was refused as it was not meeting the reserve. Well, there was no reserve on the auction, had there been I would not have won. Still he refuses. I asked for a refund and am still waiting. I've filed a dispute with eBay/PayPal and am still waiting. First time in 15 years I've been screwed on eBay.

****ed me off, mostly because I'm out my money right now waiting on a resolution.
 
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pbramlett said:
Two weeks ago I won an auction for a powertow on eBay. Sent the money by PayPal as indicated in the auction. The next day I recieved a message from the seller that said my winning bid was refused as it was not meeting the reserve. Well, there was no reserve on the auction, had there been I would not have won. Still he refuses. I asked for a refund and am still waiting. I've filed a dispute with eBay/PayPal and am still waiting. First time in 15 years I've been screwed on eBay.

****ed me off, mostly because I'm out my money right now waiting on a resolution.
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PayPal tends to side with the buyer.
 
bartmc said:
PayPal tends to side with the buyer.
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Not Always.

wsuffa said:
If they even reply at all.
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I don't do email with PayPal, I always call direct and speak to a rep. So far, have had all my cases where the buyer was trying to misbehave found in my favor.

Latest batch has been buyers trying to file a SNAD and demand a refund, but never returning the item. I follow the eBay standard that says that refund only provided once item is returned in original condition.

eBay did hold the payment until the return time they gave the guyer lapsed, then found the case in my favor and released the funds.

Then the guy files a charge back against PayPal. As soon as I spoke with the agent at PayPal explaining my side and her corroborating my story with eBay, the funds were re-released and they are standing up to the charge back.

In general, the eBay system does work. But not as good as it was many years ago. The downhill slide started when sellers could not post negative feedback against deadbeat bidders. Since then the rules and requirements are making being part of the seller community very cumbersome.
 
I recently sold some aviation books on ebay.

I sent them media mail since buyers always want them shipped as cheaply as possible.

Nothing from the buyer for three weeks so I figure all is well.

The post office sends me part of my shipping label back saying it was found in a processing machine.

I email the buyer to check that all is well, now he says he didn't get the package.

So I start an investigation with the postal service.

In the mean time I refund 100% of his charges, because I was sure they would be found eventually.

After weeks of contacting different places in the postal service I find the package was delivered.

Now of course no answer from the buyer, he got over on me I guess.

Crap behavior from a pilot, even caught me by surprise. This Internet age brings out the worst in people.
 
I recently sold my old iPhone on ebay. The buyer sent me a message saying he was out of town for a couple days and wouldn't be able to pay until he got back. I was a little surprised given that he was planning on using PayPal but figured I didn't have much to lose by waiting two days. Sure enough two days later I got a message from eBay that said he'd made the payment and within minutes there was a message from PayPal titled "you've got a payment from...". Foolishly I then sent the phone to the buyer without checking the content of the PayPal message which I later found said the payment was by check and the check wouldn't clear for several days.

Things were starting to look bad but there's a happy ending, the check did clear a few days later (why in this world of electronic transfers and check processing does it take days to clear a check anyway?) and Paypal made the funds available to me. I guess I lucked out and was dealing with an honest person.
 
gismo said:
...why in this world of electronic transfers and check processing does it take days to clear a check anyway?...
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Unless the institution has to physically move the check through the local Fed, they don't. They just make money on the float. That stuff was almost all digitized into check images close to two decades ago. T

he rare small bank with no connection to a remote Fed branch still exists (ask Jay about buying his airplane) but the vast majority of it is keeping daily deposit balances high to loan out the other window at a 9:1 ratio.
 
Alexb2000 said:
I recently sold some aviation books on ebay.

I sent them media mail since buyers always want them shipped as cheaply as possible.

Nothing from the buyer for three weeks so I figure all is well.

The post office sends me part of my shipping label back saying it was found in a processing machine.

I email the buyer to check that all is well, now he says he didn't get the package.

So I start an investigation with the postal service.

In the mean time I refund 100% of his charges, because I was sure they would be found eventually.

After weeks of contacting different places in the postal service I find the package was delivered.

Now of course no answer from the buyer, he got over on me I guess.

Crap behavior from a pilot, even caught me by surprise. This Internet age brings out the worst in people.
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So........... You have an email from the buyer saying he/she didn't recieve the package :dunno::dunno:..

And the USPS says it was delivered :dunno:..

I say file charges against him /her..
 
pbramlett said:
Two weeks ago I won an auction for a powertow on eBay. Sent the money by PayPal as indicated in the auction. The next day I recieved a message from the seller that said my winning bid was refused as it was not meeting the reserve. Well, there was no reserve on the auction, had there been I would not have won. Still he refuses. I asked for a refund and am still waiting. I've filed a dispute with eBay/PayPal and am still waiting. First time in 15 years I've been screwed on eBay.

****ed me off, mostly because I'm out my money right now waiting on a resolution.
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Paypal will authorize the refund and eBay will nail the seller - they take seriously people who refuse to complete deals . . . if buyers get burned they don't to the site - if they don't - then unless stuff sells eBay makes no money . . . it is an incremental thing . . .
 
comanchepilot said:
Paypal will authorize the refund and eBay will nail the seller - they take seriously people who refuse to complete deals . . . if buyers get burned they don't to the site - if they don't - then unless stuff sells eBay makes no money . . . it is an incremental thing . . .
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Isn't PayPal and E bay the same company ???
 
N801BH said:
Isn't PayPal and E bay the same company ???
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Paypal handles the money - eBay handles the merchandise / service . . . yes - Paypal is owned by eBay but given the financial services requirements is still paypal, a legally separate company . . .
 
N801BH said:
Isn't PayPal and E bay the same company ???
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Part of the same corporate umbrella, yes.

But my recent interactions leads me to believe they try to operate as separate as possible.
 
bartmc said:
PayPal tends to side with the buyer.
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I have not have a problem with Paypal - everything I ship is trackable and if they get it they get it - and if they try to "I never got it scam" I just have sent in the tracking info - case closed literally. If it gets to their house they own it.

You need to read Paypal's rules and comply with them - if you ship trackable you are generally covered. . . .
 
comanchepilot said:
I have not have a problem with Paypal - everything I ship is trackable and if they get it they get it - and if they try to "I never got it scam" I just have sent in the tracking info - case closed literally. If it gets to their house they own it.

You need to read Paypal's rules and comply with them - if you ship trackable you are generally covered. . . .
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Except that some "sellers" are going as far as shipping empty boxes.
 
I guess I got lucky. I recently sold two classic cars and both buyers were reputable and the transactions went quickly and smoothly.
 
N801BH said:
So........... You have an email from the buyer saying he/she didn't recieve the package :dunno::dunno:..

And the USPS says it was delivered :dunno:..

I say file charges against him /her..
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I hear you. There is just a point where spending anymore time trying to recover $60 is insane. It bothered me so much I probably spent 10 hours messing around with it just to get that far.

My Ebay policy (now): ALL shipments will have tracking and insurance, period. If that's too much for shipping, to bad.
 
Alexb2000 said:
I hear you. There is just a point where spending anymore time trying to recover $60 is insane. It bothered me so much I probably spent 10 hours messing around with it just to get that far.

My Ebay policy (now): ALL shipments will have tracking and insurance, period. If that's too much for shipping, to bad.
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My eBay/PayPal policy. I don't mess with either.
 
bartmc said:
Except that some "sellers" are going as far as shipping empty boxes.
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personal knowledge or internet rumor? serious question. Hearing about a story from a guy whose sister knows someone who got scammed is not a fact . . . not that it has not happened . . .
 
mcpilot said:
That's funny. You've been on ebay longer than eBay has been I'm existence. Did you invent the Internet? Lol
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Yeah, I've noticed that before also. LOL. I have been there since 1999 and have 6k transactions over four main accounts. NPB is the exception. Most folks pay right up. Regarding the OP, who knows, maybe the guy got sick. Give him some time then file and relist.
 
I've been buying and selling with eBay and PayPal since they've been in existence...everything from $20 pre-owned shoes to automobiles. As in life, the vast majority of buyers and sellers are decent and honest. But there are a few scumbags out there. Curse them, forget them, re-list the item and move on. Not worth raising your blood pressure over.
 
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