ebay deadbeats

[briankeith]

I only buy replacement parts on EBay - NEVER EVER a phonograph..... NO WAY NO HOW. Been burned too many times

[brianu]

Brian, you may not be able to give negative feedback, but you can give him a non-paying bidder strike. And you can block bidders who have two non-paying bidder strikes within a month on all of your ebay ads. You mark that box in buyer requirements when you create your ad.

didn't realize that... thanks, I'll look into it for the future.

[ambrola]

I have had a terrible experience selling a high dollar Gibson Les Paul. The guy was in Hawaii, got the mint 1982 Heritage LP. This was a 4000.00 guitar. When he received it, he filled a claim with eBay saying I misrepresented the LP.
I returned his money and he sent a guitar back. But it wasn't the one I sent him. A 300.00 Fender. I spent hours upon hours on the phone with eBay, but he got me. Sellers are at the buyers mercy. This was the Guitar I sold him.

[marcapra]

Wow! That's a scary story! I guess that buyer found an easy way to steal. Does Ebay offer any insurance to cover a seller's losses in a case like this?

[outune]

Hi- I was just reading about the guitar story--- Several years ago I purchased a Phono Toy on Ebay-- The Fighting Roosters-- from a guy in Chicago. I paid for it but after 3 weeks, still had not received it. Emails and calls went unanswered. I was talking to a friend who told me my local sheriff's office had an "internet fraud unit". I called them and within about an hour a deputy was at my door to take my story and turn it over to a detective in the internet fraud office---- I was told that essentially any transaction that originates on the internet falls under their jurisdiction. Also-- if items that are sent are not what they are supposed to be, the Post Master General's office can get involved. For my situation, I was told that it was a "extraditable offense" --but in reality they wouldn't extradite the guy from Chicago to Virginia for a $400 item--- HOWEVER-- The detective I spoke with happened to have a friend in the Chicago Police Dept, who made a visit to my "seller" The detective explained to the guy that he was in trouble and may have to make an appearance in Virginia to answer the charges-- I had my roosters in 3 days!

You may want to call you local police/sheriff and see if there is any recourse--- can't hurt trying.

Brad Abell

[EarlH]

I sold an oak amberola 50 to a guy over in England about 5-6 years ago and he claimed he never got it and paypal gave him the $400 back almost the day he made the claim. The piece of crap then saw I was selling cylinders a few months later and asked if I had any Stephen Foster records. I told him that I would look, but it would be better if I had a picture of his machine so I would know if the records I had were compatible with his Edison. Of course the picture he sent was of "my" machine. I called paypal and ebay, forwarded them the pictures et. And they both said it was too late for me or them to do anything about it.

Holy cow does ebay get an earful when they ask me to sell stuff internationally, and I've had them call me a few times and ask me to allow that. There are a few guys over in England that I dealt with before this mess and I have them on my exception list. But all the other deadbeats are on that list to include that guy. I hardly sell anything on ebay anymore and it's mostly because as a seller, you are the enemy now. They don't even ask me to do their stupid survey's anymore either. Too much negativity I suppose.... Ha!

I also got so that when I sold a record that went for more than $25 I would record it. I had a guy try to send me a moldy cylinder back claiming that he got it from me. He "remembered" which seller it came from when I mentioned to him I'd made a recording of that record and was going to call ebay about it. Good thing he didn't take me up on that one I guess.

I wish ebay also had a list I could put bad sellers on so I didn't accidentally bid on their items. Nobody can know everything about all the items they are selling, but there is a big difference between an honest mistake or oversight and just plain lying about what your eyes should be telling you. That business with the guitar is just beyond belief but I'm not totally surprised. And they wonder why they are losing so many of their good sellers.

[Chuck]

Micamonster sums it all up very well with
his statement that mental illness is a part of
the Flea-Bay Universe.

In fact, that is the understatement of all time!

[VintageTechnologies]

And they wonder why they are losing so many of their good sellers.

I think that eBay really does not wonder or care. The buyers or sellers that abandon eBay are a drop in the bucket compared to the volume of business they do. Sadly, some companies prosper in spite of themselves.

[snallast]

I too have one of these - recent - stories, The customer complained, and immediately ebay ruled in his favour. "Money back gurantee" goes through paypal.
I´ve given up paypal, they´re too greedy, they handle my money like it´s theirs etc. The customer used this "guarantee" simply to con me out of a machine. Whatsmore - communication with them is too Kafka for me, hours and hours on end waiting for nothing.

In the future if I want to sell something over ebay it will be at a fixed price and never paying through paypal. This way deals can be made where trust has to be based on something other than the nonchalant attitude one is met with through ebay/paypal. Like direct transaction - or even better like Raphael suggests:

My approach is to use eBay as a cheap advertising medium. For less than a dollar you can get to a world-wide market. Then, try to steer potential customers into a direct sale. I actually consider it a failure when something of mine sells on eBay; between theirs and PayPal's commissions a bite of up to 15% comes right off the top.

Raphael

Snal

[orpington]

Ebay has turned into a huge conglomerate. Like anything else that is "corporate America", they don't care about you or I, it is all about profits. The few folks they lose due to dissatisfaction with the company has no bearing on their bottom line.