BuRR

I'd just like to offer a word of warning to any of you who may be unfortunate enough to deal with someone such as the one I have recently. I've been an eBay customer for a number of years, and have amassed a feedback rating of about 300 or so from private transactions.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was selling a BlackBerry Bold 9700 handset. It was my own handset, one which I looked after as I'm a bit of a fascist when it comes to damage - I hate any kind of scratch to the screen - so I can honestly say the handset was in almost mint condition.

Anyway, I sell the handset for £102 and despatch it to the winning bidder, who had paid by PayPal. I'd also been selling a number of other electrical items (having a clear-out)

Two weeks later, I had received feedback from all my other purchasers, however I had not received anything from this buyer, so I sent a brief eBay message asking if they'd be kind enough to leave feedback.

they sent a message back: - however still didn't leave any feedback.

anyway, two weeks after this - out of the blue I receive an email stating that the phone is faulty - it drops calls and is sluggish when sending messages with blackBerry messenger.

I attempted to help the person resolve their issues, explaining it was more likely to be a network issue (T-Mobile) - I suggested a battery pull, trying a different SIM, location, etc. I've worked with phones a lot in my career over the last 10 years or so, so I had a good idea that it was more likely to be user error rather than the handset at fault (the phone was in perfect order at the time of sale).

Anyway, the next thing I hear is that they've raised a dispute with eBay and my PayPal account is suddenly £107 in arrears as the money has been recalled into holding pending the dispute being solved.

he issue is raised with them complaining I have made no attempt to resolve the issues, nor have I made any contact. The eBay messaging service showed this to be absolute rubbish, but as I had to wait 7 or so days to attempt to come to a mutual agreement, I went through the motion of being nice to her and again attempting to solve the problem rather than offer a refund.

After 3 days, the very brief messages from them dried up, so I wrote a lengthy response in an attempt to offer help to fix the problem, which was likely to be them being stupid (not quite as blunt as that, but I'm now pissed off)

Anyway - a week later, there's been absolutely no contact from them, so I ask for the case to be escalated and eBay to act as judge and jury

Within 2 hours, the whole case has been decided in their favour. I have to now receive the item back and issue a full refund.

to say I'm pissed off is an understatement. That phone was almost perfect when I sent it off. she's had 2 weeks (at least) of use - no doubt bouncing it around, etc and I'm now likely to get a brick back - Luckily I've kept the IMEI so I'll be able to tell if they've tried to pull a fast one. Knowing my luck, she'll have dropped it down the toilet or something, and so will now be water damaged.

Apparently, if that is the case, I'll have to raise a counter-claim and go through all this pain again.

SO....

In a nutshell, please be careful when selling on eBay. Apparently even though you're a private seller, you're bound through distance selling regulations and have next to no protection in law, and in the land of eBay.

I'm now considering deleting my account - not that they'll care. *sigh*

jimmy77

iTrader: (1)

ive got 300 feedback's first negative yesterday sold a set of alloys and tyres stated on the add collection ONLY from s.wales will not post ect.. some guy from Italy buys them says for me to wrap them and take them to a courier. i refused and got neg feedback . what annoys me you can not lead neg feedback on buyers

john banks

In setting up a new business Ebay could have been a good way to reach customers, but these and other stories put us off. Many times people have said that Ebay doesn't look after small sellers.

addi monster

iTrader: (6)

When you recieve it back contact ebay and tell them its come back damaged, they will then give you the sale money and you will still have your phone, i did this as it actually happened to me, i sold a gold chain stating we did not know the weight and a case was opened ect ect,. upon return the item was squashed which i told ebay, within an hour i had the money back from the sale and i had the chain without supplying any evidence of damage, i think they do it like that to keep peace lol,

The Pink Ninja

iTrader: (23)

Always tends to be the same items that the problems come back on you, ie Moblie Phones, I've got over 1000+ positives from mainly selling vintage/rare records and Scooby bits I no longer need, However I have sold about 6 phones over the years and nearly every one has been bought by a dumb ****.

BuRR

I agree. eBay is hurting the people it should really be trying to nurture.

I'll let you know what it's like when I get it back. Did you raise a new incident?

Unfortunately, the dregs of the gene pool (ie. Jeremy Kyle subjects) tend to be attracted to such items.

addi monster

iTrader: (6)

No i simply replied to the case stating it was returned damaged, tbh i could not believe the outcome,.

smithy86

ive had the same as this when you state no overseas bidders...he even asked for my bank details so he could transfer the money.there are allways a few that try to pull a fast one or try to knock you down when they turn up to collect the items.

Flaps

iTrader: (1)

I've fallen out with Ebay too for selling now. It cost me £5 to list some golf clubs a few months ago and there was no real interest until the final few minutes where people obvioulsy were using the sniping programmes to try and outbid the other buyers but still get it cheap by doing it all last minute. It didn't end up hitting the reseve and the email asking me to re-list suggested it would cost another £5. I ended up selling it elsewhere. A lot of my mates now use Gumtree instead.
I only use it for buying small things like guitar strings/phone accessories etc. now.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Remember kids - you must offer PayScam to buyers, it's the safe way to pay and protects our revenues... sorry your pocket.

5t.

Saxo Boy

Ebay really is terrible these days. In our experience of selling various odds and sods over the years we have concluded that 50% of all buyers and sellers are hard at it in some way. It's scam heaven.

We now send everything recorded. It is no joke that 80%+ of the non-recorded items we sent (all low value fwiw) never turned up. Each time we had to claim the money back from Royal Mail. I found it disheartening how many 'random' uk purchasers were willing to lie about the arrival of <£20 good in order to effectively screw the Royal Mail out of a tenner or so.

The other big problem with ebay/paypal are the fees. By the time you advertise, sell and dispatch your good you are lucky to get 75%. Often, it just doesn't seem worth the hassle.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Heres a PCB from a engine ECU I purchased off a ebay seller descirbed as in "full working order":




The burnt/destroyed bit of PCB track is infact the main earth connection for all of the fuel injectors. With it in this state no fuel would be injected. Its physically impossible.

Anyhoo, I repair it and low and behold it works (the Transitors that operate the injectors on these ECUs are pretty bombproof - thankfully). Only to find yes the car runs, but the fueling is all over the place, probably due to a MAP (internal) sensor fault (sticking), or another component is fried.

Lucky I didn't pay too much for it hence tried repairing it. But there is no way this ECU ever worked when he sold it.

Ant

This why with mobile phones I take the hit in price at places like cex or to friends. So much less hassle and don't get robbed on fees

Mifo

iTrader: (10)

The main problem is paypal themselves, they always favour the buyer and always give them the money back.Also you cant leave negative feedback for buyers which is stupid.

The best one I had was I sold a jacket for £40 to some guy in italy. No sooner he gets it he opened a paypal dispute saying it was damaged. Didnt even contact me or anything.
I then contacted him and said Id refund him on return of the item but no he wants the money up front. I refused.
The paypal thing escalates so they have to deal with it.
They make him send it back and he must show proof of tracking.
He gives them the tracking number and that day got his money back!
about 5 days later I get an empty envelope from italy!

How you like that!

forgot to mention I then scanned the envelope and emailed it to paypal and didnt even get a response.

Luan Pra bang

Pay pal is like a whole scam on its own I cannot believe that all you mugs continues to use it then complain when you get conned. Its hardly a secret now is it.

CrisPDuk

Paypal have taken the internet/postal scamming thing to a whole new level

To be honest I say fair play to them, if people want to keep using Paypal knowing they're likely to get robbed, more fool them

euan_r

iTrader: (29)

Can't understand why they took the decision so sellers can't leave negative feedback either.

stedee

iTrader: (4)

i dont buy or sell much on ebay anymore because a/ sick of fees from paypal and ebay plus as a lot of said no seller protection

madmerlin

iTrader: (14)

sorry to hear this fella, im going through the motions right now, long story short....
i sold a set of bug sti headlights
buyer emails me to say the one is damaged,
i ask if there is any damage to the box as they were perfect when i sent them
no damage to box he replies
i let him know i have cctv video of myself boxing up lights clearly showing they were mint, hence only way they were damaged is either from delivery company or him
all of a sudden he realises there are 2 big holes in the box - lmao
tell him he needs to return the light so i can confirm it was the one i sent out, reminded him that i security mark everything i sell
no sign of the light
put a claim in with parcelmonkey, they say it will take 28 days to resolve.
3 weeks later they email me... wont pay out as they are headlights and as a result glass isnt covered
tell them they arnt glass but plastic!!!
still wont pay out...
ebay informs me of a claim
paypal have taken large wad of cash out of my account to put on hold. (why have they put on hold 100% of the cash when only one light was allegedly damaged?)
Still ongoing... still no sign of the light...

I WILL take this further, and i will get my solicitor involved if i have to!!!!!

i will not be tucked up by some cheating scammer, dont care if it costs me money!
still waiting for the return of the light,,,

End of selling stuff on ebay for me....

Yellow R

iTrader: (2)

Ebay are ***** simple!!!

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

On my seller page i put "returns not accepted" would that not stop what happened to the OP ? Or does it just mean i have to refund money with no return ?

Also i put on any listings that i wont be responsible from any lost items , if they want to do recorded , they have to pay the extra with 1 day or its getting posted standard. Wont mean much in a dispute , but makes buyers think twice (hopefully)

CrisPDuk

I believe a good way of preventing Payscam from reclaiming payments is to keep your balance around zero, and link it to a bank account with a low balance and no overdraft facility.

Never done it personally though, so I don't know how successful it is

Jamescsti

Wouldnt help, returns not accepted means they can't return because they don't like something, doesn't cover damage faults etc.

I send everything recorded and charge the buyers for it, reason being i sent an original Xbox years ago as unrecorded, buyer said they didn't receive it and I was screwed. Had to refund.
I claimed compensation from royal mail but it didn't cover my loss.

I don't really sell on eBay anymore, I've got a car on at the moment but it's cash on collection and eBay don't force you to use PayPal on cars.
My old phones go to CEX, mazuma or clasifieds at work.

hodgy0_2

you don't have to use paypal to accepts payments

I have bought a few things off ebay recently, some I have paid cheque, some cash, some paypal and one a simple bank transfer

I am amazed when people actually stipulate paypal though, even when I have offered cash!!!

but this must not be confused with ebay selling fees, which I am told are quite high, I have not sold anything on ebay for a few years.

I only really sell something I would otherwise drive to the dump, so fees would not bother me too much, but if you are selling on a commercial basis they must be hurting

Maz

iTrader: (34)

Ebay and Paypal are under the same ownership. Ebay charge a ten percent final value fee as well as a listing fee and Paypal charge 2.9 % PLUS a nominal fee.

BuRR

I did that. It took my account £107 into the red. They didn't take the money from my CC or bank, as they need permission to do that. Be careful to cancel recurring paypal payments AND don't make any paypal purchases, otherwise they'll attempt to drag the money from your account to cover the payment AND the outstanding balance.

I was told that you're bound by their distance selling regulations, despite being a private seller - which means the buyer is protected MASSIVELY and has up to 45 days to return the item. This sucks for things like mobiles - I'm expecting it to be knackered if and when I get it back.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

I listed a cycling top, three photos including the labels, it was brand new.

Soon as the fella opened it he logged negative feedback that he didn't like it. I contacted ebay and they said its up to the buyer, I asked them if I posted negative feedback saying I had hurt my foot whilst walking to the door to receive the parcel if they would remove it ? No they said.

BuRR

Cheers for the support, chaps. Sorry to hear so many people having similar problems.

Funnily enough, eBay have just sent an email asking for feedback....

.../cracks knuckles and dives in

SRSport

Im pretty sure that if it was an auction and a private sale then the distance selling regulations do not apply.

As for Paypal, I clearly state in my auctions that I do not accept PP due to the lack of security they offer. I went through a phase of buying pens for £60 off WHSmiths (they were seriously underpriced) and selling them for £100. All pleasant transactions completed with bank transfers.

If I had an issue with anyone and received negative feedback I would have just stopped but at least I wouldnt have lost any money. As it was I just kept going and all was well. Im not prepared to try and get an extra £10 by appealing to the wider audience by offering PP as it is not worth it plus the fees make it an even less appealing proposition.

tony de wonderful

Ebay are utter ****e. I lost maybe £200 on a bike because the auction froze over the last 20 mins and they just stonewalled me even though I got screen grab evidence from 3rd parties. Plus the fees are sky high.

Paypal is heavy biased in teh Buyers favour. I suppose that might be necessary or people won't trust it but that is the way it is.

I've sold a few thing lately. I take photos of stuff packed up ready to ship, and get recorded delivery.