OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following...

[RickB]

I listed something for my Son so he could sell it and save up money for a new Bugeye Sprite or an xbox or whatever.

So I go to all this trouble taking a bunch of pictures and crafting this sale page and all, and a few hours after listing it someone grabs it with Buy it Now.

WooHoo! Everybody is very happy!

Then today the buyer sends me this email:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]hi

plz do not send the psp cuz my mom doesn't want me given out address to strangers lol.

hope u understand deal is off
ty for business [/QUOTE]

HIS MOM DIDN'T APPROVE THE PURCHASE!!!
How did he get his own Ebay account?

Anyway, sorry for the OT - I'm just really PO'd right now.
In the future I will require immediate payment with BIN purchases.

 

[mccalebr]

I believe the appropriate thing to do would be to quote back the Ebay contractual agreement and request payment. If you meet resistance you should contact Ebay.

At a minimum, he...or MOM...should refund the cost of the Ebay listing and BIN option.

Ray

 

[RickB]

Yes,

I asked him to have his MOM contact me, but so far so silent.
I did contact Ebay, after telling the "buyer" the things you mention above. I relisted the item too.

 

[Morris]

Pretty sure eBay has procedure where by they will refund the listing fee if you can do all the red tape stuff. Probably easier to eat the cost of the listing and don't do BIN.

 

[RickB]

The biggest loss is that the item had already gotten the attention of watchers and potential buyers had asked questions.

This close to Christmas you can't afford to lose a day, even half a day with items like a Sony PSP.
Yeah, he cost me $5 for the listing - and several potential real buyers.

Still - it should sell and I am promising to move mountains to get it to the buyer before Christmas if they BIN & pay for express mail.

 

[msoylemez]

Definitely contact Ebay. They will help you sort this out. This is a big no no in their eyes, as it affects the integrity of the on-line marketplace/community they are trying to create.

 

[blkcorvair]

Rick I think we all give ebay bad press. I think ebay can be great for alot of things, but it also gives way for dishonorable people to take advantage of those just looking to do some business. Luckily like those above mentioned, ebay does have fail safes and while they are inconvienet they do work. The fact is we all just need to be safe. I always use protected purchase options like Paypal or my Visa card. Unfortunatally my father lost several thousand dollars in an overseas scam involving a wire transfer. Again not ebay's fault but of course that is always who takes the blame. Just yesterday I hit the BIN for an NOS grille for my Midg. and the seller emails me back with .."Oh sorry, I can't find the item..." What is That! How'd you take a picture of it. Got half a mind to leave negative feedback but than you know he'll do the same.

I guess Im saying, ebay is a great place to put us in touch with buyers and sellers we'd never have access to. The rest is up to us to make smart buying decisions... all just be careful out there.

 

[Branson]

yup. a bid is a legally binding agreement. buy it now is simply agreeing to bid a certain amount....like they say if you can't pay then dont bid.

If the kid won't come through with payment then I would deffinately contact ebay and/or leave negative feedback.

A little bit off topic but should maybe some of us BCF'ers put our ebay usernames in our signatures? I buy and sell misc. stuff on ebay all the time and I think alot of the guys on this site are stand up guys (and gals)

Just a thought

 

[RickB]

I completely agree guys, I've bought & sold a bunch of stuff on Ebay, not just LBC parts.

I've met good people there too - like you Scott, and a couple others here.

How do you get an Ebay account without being legally able to enter into a contract? Who knows how old this guy is: 12? 14?
Why dis his MOM let him have an account?
So many questions, so little time...

 

[blkcorvair]

My bro - in - laws kids are always on thier ebay acct. They laugh cause half the times they dont see they even bought stuff til thier credit card statewments come in. Scary this compouter age thing.

 

[RickB]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

Well this guy has an email id of:
marq2kool

His Ebay handle is:
domin8r666

I should have suspected something right off. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif

I guess I couldn't have prevented it, except by requiring immediate payment on BIN. That way no one can end my auction without paying first.

 

[regularman]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

I have never gotten any help from Ebay if something goes wrong. I found it totally impossible to speak to a live person, they just kept emailing me form letters, etc.

 

[tony barnhill]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]some of us BCF'ers put our ebay usernames in our signatures[/QUOTE]
I use "Autoist" everywhere - just different passwords for each location....but that doesn't stop people from bidding against me even when I post on MG forums that I'm trying to buy a particular item!

 

[RickB]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

Some of us would treat you more gentlemanly...
That is to say, ask you if you really want it and back off if you did. That is, if you found it first anyway! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

I'm RickB here & rbastedo there.
As a few of you already know...
Scott, Tony, Baz, others?

 

[Branson]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

I pretty much use the name nosnarb everywhere.

 

[mccalebr]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

One problem that comes to mind with bidder recognition is Ebay's recent change to hiding actual bidder's names to everyone but the seller. I have a bid in right now on an item and to everyone but the seller it is displayed as m***c. Makes it kind of hard to discern who that is.

Ray

 

[terriphill]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

I have never gotten any help from Ebay if something goes wrong. I found it totally impossible to speak to a live person, they just kept emailing me form letters, etc.

I am not sure how helpful E-bay is but I do know that if you buy using PAYPAL they are quite helpful. I have had them get me refunds several times by filing complaints. I recently bought a "horn assembly and adapter" for my midget's nardi steering wheel and all I got was the adapter although the austion clearly stated it was the entire assembly. The guy wouldn't repsond to me or my phone calls, so I dfiled a claim against him. PAYPAL puts a freeze on their account when you do this and it got his attention. He offered to refund my money if I would remove my claim. I refused and PAYPAL actually refunded me my money + what I had paid for shipping when he didn't respond to them. (It took some time, but I got everything back)
We have had several people buy and not pay and we ALWAYS leave negative feedback for a non-paying bidder. I don't think they can leave negative feedback on you. (We are still at 100%)
I do hate that the hard to deal with people can leave negative feedback on me if I leave it on them. I buy, I pay...they don't ship or whatever and if I leave negative they can too? what's fair about that?

 

[aeronca65t]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

Kids:

Just a friendly reminder:

So far on this thread I think all comments have been fair.

But many of you know that Basil has issued an edict that we avoid negative comments about specific e-Bay sellers. And I agree 100% with that edict.

So.....just reminding everyone not to stray into the area of complaints about specific sellers on e-Bay (That should always be done via PM and not in a public forum).

So far, no harm, no foul. Just want to head off any discussion that may lead that way.

Thanks

 

[bugimike]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

Good point Nial, but I think everyone has been pretty good on this thread so far! I don't think anyone has been specifically identified and the discussion has been more about recourses one may have available on a bad deal. I for one appreciate some of the input from the more experienced ebayers here!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif

 

[Branson]

Re: OT: Ebay rant - please forgive the following..

Sorry to revive an old topic but I have a handful of sprite related stuff for sale on ebay so please excuse the shameless plug:

https://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnosnarb

thank you.