eBay buyer rant

[nostatic]

So I've had good luck on eBay selling stuff. I always ship quickly and insure things (fedex). I sold my iPhone 5 and the auction closed on the 13th. They buyer paid with an eCheck via paypal, so I had to wait until it cleared to ship. I get email saying it cleared on the 18th, I send it out via fedex ground on the 19th (thu) fully insured and submit the tracking info to the buyer. Today (mon the 23rd) I get email from eBay saying a case has been opened by the buyer since they haven't received the phone yet. Tracking shows it left CA on the 19th, no scan since then. Not surprising this time of year. Buyer said is was an Xmas present and why is it still in CA, and she feels like she got ripped off.

For some reason the auction said expedited shipping with usps (I never ship that way) but even then it says 4-7 days. I responded to the open case but now PayPal has pulled the funds back from my account.

Wtf is wrong with people? If she was in a hurry she should have used a quicker payment method. She is complaining about paying $20 for shipping, which is what I charged, and in fact it cost $21 to ship.

People...

[jwgn777]

I have always used USPS 2-3 day and have had good luck with it. Hope you have better luck on you next sale. There are some unreasonably people out there.

[MMiller]

The updates ebay has made to the shipping really sucks. They are trying to force your hand to use/charge for a service I don't want to provide. Like you I use fedex... create a bill of Laden from desktop drop at fedex...no lines no conversation...pkg on the way.

I'm ready for a legit competition to come to market to compete with ebay...

but agree.....some people??

regards,

[Baz]

FWIW, I have had a Paypal account for more than 10 years and always have it tied to both a bank and credit card account. When I send payment I want it to be instantaneous.

But I made a couple eBay purchases earlier this year that I paid via Paypal - and it went the e-check route - unintentionally.

Maybe the credit card expiration date was expired - I don't remember - but it was resolved and now it's back to making instant payments, the way I prefer.

Maybe that is what happened to your buyer.

In any event - you did everything you could. Your buyer could have at least communicated with you the urgency of the transaction - or paid with a quicker method.

Maybe it will arrive today.

Hopefully.

I agree - humans are problematic.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by nostatic

People...

...are stupid. That is the basic problem. They don't have the mental capacity to reason through a situation ahead of time and make the appropriate choices. They also fail to communicate, so that generally prevents you from doing their thinking for them.

I try to make my dealings with the world at large idiot-proof, but it takes all my time.

eBay sucks, as does Paypal. My sympathies to you.

JR

[sammyg2]

People suck more than anybody.




One time I bought a base on e-bay and it didn't even come with frets. it was heavy too.
It plays nothing but blues and Elvis but the girls don't seem to care tonight.


I know huh, but it's X-mas eve and I'm pretending to be at work for 2 more hours.

[RANDY P]

Call up and get it reversed. I've done it. Ebay goes into knee-jerk mode to appease the buyers. If you call up and explain you shipped it ASAP and the rest is because of delays beyond your control you'll be OK.

They are counting on you to contest it- in other words, you have to earn your $$$$ from them.

PS- being a cell phone, make sure you follow everything and take plenty of pictures, and being an AAPL product, take it to the APPL store and get them to diagnose it, and give you a receipt showing a clean bill of health. I sold an Macbook on Ebay back in 2010, and had it fully tested with receipt and of course it passed.

Scumbag buyer paid too much for it, I bought it for $400, used it for a year and she bid $600+ and it was worth about $400 on Ebay. Anyhow, she complained to ebay that it was misrepresented, didn't work right, shut off and on, etc. I had to point out the Ebay that there was a receipt pictured on the original ad, showing the clean bill of health from AAPL themselves. Sent them a .pdf copy, and that ended that.

Another situation, I bought a used car stereo amplifier that was represented to be working. I got it, it had 3 dead channels. I complained, Ebay gave me my $$$, then the seller complained, said I took it apart, they gave the money back to him, I complained again, showing what I "took apart" was just a fuse I replaced, and I got my money, and got to keep the amp.

In other words, Ebay just refunded me out of their pocket...

rjp

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by javadog

...are stupid. That is the basic problem. They don't have the mental capacity to reason through a situation ahead of time and make the appropriate choices. They also fail to communicate, so that generally prevents you from doing their thinking for them.

I try to make my dealings with the world at large idiot-proof, but it takes all my time.

eBay sucks, as does Paypal. My sympathies to you.

JR

werd.

[gacook]

On a semi-related note...USPS sucks.

I bought a new (old) 'Vette last month. The hood struts needed to be replaced so I ordered some new ones. Seller sent them out via USPS. I watched the tracking info as they went from Illinois to Arizona's sorting facility (2 hours from my house, so about a day's journey, typically)...and then 5 days later they went back to Illinois! Contacted the seller through Amazon and they informed me the product had been returned to them for some lame reason. Sent it back out to me 10 days ago, and I still haven't received them. I know this is a hectic time of year, so not TOO concerned about it being 10 days with no package, yet, but the history of this item does give me pause that maybe USPS screwed up again...

But yes, people can be idiots, and this time of year really seems to bring out the worst of them. My wife's a manager at a retail store (Bath & Body Works), and she's very much looking for the holiday season to end. Not a day goes by that she doesn't come home *****ing about how nasty people are this time of year.

[greglepore]

I would never ship until an eccheck clears, and paypal even tells you not to. ***** to ebay, its a shame you need to go thru the effort.

[Drdogface]

I'm also fed up with ebay as a seller....the demand to use Pay Pal is a real burden. Just sold a $600 spotting scope and PP won't release the funds until buyer OK's it but she said she has no hold on them...just PP siding with the buyer. I may not get $$ for three weeks...screw that.

[1990C4S]

Karma. It will get her. You will escape unscathed. This time.

[stomachmonkey]

We've been using our local Facebook trading posts.

If you are on FB look for one in your area.

They all have their own rules but basically operate the same.

The primary one for my area has few rules.

1st one to express interest in an item gets dibs. If deal falls through next poster is next up. Deals need to be completed in 24 hours. No public haggling, if you want to offer less it has to be in a PM.

All transactions need to occur within a specified geographic area. If seller is out outside of area they need to meet buyer somewhere within the boundaries. Unless of course the buyer agrees to travel.

A ton of stuff is done as Porch Pickups. You see an item you want, express interest, seller PM's you with address, you stop by, item is on the porch, take your item and leave the cash under the mat.

Did a porch pickup a week ago for a nearly new mini fridge for my upstairs bar. $40.00.

So far most of my gets have been within 1 mile of my house.

A lot of times items are still NIB.

Think of it as a more personal craigslist with pictures.