A short eBay tale..

413x

413x

413x

Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
Posts
33,542
Location
Llaneirwg
I buy a camera lens

Camera lens arrives with a broken filter (genuinely believe it was in the post issue)
The seller is OK with this and says return it
But doesn't authorise the return

I file a case
Case concludes with no seller input

Ebay issue a return label (important.. EBay issue this)

Use the label, item arrives delivered, eBay say case closed...

Then the fun starts, they reopen it as seller claims not arrived. EBay get arsey with me saying I didn't use correct postage for the item cost even though it was provided by them.
(it's royal mail tracked)

Queue me calling and the cases going backwards and forwards between two departments.
I must have had 5 or 6..we will make a decision on 3-5 days
I even had 'closed on your favour' for it to be reopened

This was 2 months ago and I was about to go to my CC company.
Yesterday the case is finally closed in my favour.

Apparently they were doing a significant behind the scenes investigation.

This was a 1k item so not trivial money.
They did admit a "tracked" label with the proviso "use our label and got will get your money " for a 1k item was an error from them. As not on the same page as I was directed to was the clause.. "we require a signature for 750+ items". And tracked mail no longer requires a signature

I remember thinking when sticking the label on.. This doesn't seem right, but I Better use it than a method of my own

Who knows if they ever got the money back as it wasn't a reversal it was "eBay sarl" payment in my PayPal.


It's the closest I've come to being scammed on eBay
 
Last edited:
muon said:
Looks like ebay attempted to scam you cos they were gonna end up £1k out of pocket.
Click to expand...

Well I wonder if they concluded I'd win in a credit card company charge back? As I pretty much followed their rules to the letter
 
I can't imagine in a million years that ebay would try and scam someone. Can you really imagine a group of employees banding together and taking that decision?
 
They were always going to side with you when it come to the crunch, after all it's pretty obvious it was their fault. I suspect the protracted process was just in the hope someone might give up on it. And for a lesser amount I'm sure a lot of people would.
 
Clum said:
I can't imagine in a million years that ebay would try and scam someone. Can you really imagine a group of employees banding together and taking that decision?
Click to expand...

Scam is too strong a word. As the post above said. Maybe give up. Maybe they were reviewing their processes.
 
Clum said:
I can't imagine in a million years that ebay would try and scam someone. Can you really imagine a group of employees banding together and taking that decision?
Click to expand...

You haven't read my epic ebay monitor thread have you

the answer is yes, they do band together and scam you.....I actually have chat logs to prove it
 
Had my own issue with PayPal / eBay which concluded today but thankfully on my side, thought I was screwed. Sold a used 2tb hard drive back in January and a few days ago got a PayPal claim saying buyer wants a refund because the device is damaged. Think ebays maximum claim period is 45 days but PayPal have recently changed theirs to a ludicrous 6 months or so.

Anyhow just stated along the lines of it was a used electronics device, no warranty or guarantee was offered and it isn't or wasn't damaged given the buyer has been using it for 4 months. Buyer bought a used item and must weigh up the risk reward with buying a cheaper used item vs a new expensive item with warranty. It had likely failed as is normal with electronic devices, it hapens.

And amazingly and rightfully so PayPal sided with me.
 
gothic_hobbit said:
There needs to be a real alternative to ebay.
Click to expand...

Why? eBay isn't the issue. Dishonest people are the problem, when you're conducting high value transactions based on nothing more than trust with someone you have no prior experience with and that you're never going to meet then there will always be people looking to exploit that trust, whether as buyers or as sellers. eBay is just the medium being used for the transaction, you'll get just as many problems on any alternate platform.
 
kaiowas said:
Why? eBay isn't the issue. Dishonest people are the problem, when you're conducting high value transactions based on nothing more than trust with someone you have no prior experience with and that you're never going to meet then there will always be people looking to exploit that trust, whether as buyers or as sellers. eBay is just the medium being used for the transaction, you'll get just as many problems on any alternate platform.
Click to expand...

Exactly.. In my ten years of using eBay (and circa 1,000 transactions, with a 50/50 split of buying and selling) I've not had one issue I couldn't resolve myself.

Take the necessary precautions and follow the steps (as OP did) and you won't go far wrong. Situations like this do happen, they're bound to on a site with that much traffic.

For me, eBay still represents the best (read, lucrative) way to sell most things.
 
AHarvey said:
So it arrived with a broken filter?

So did you send the entire lens back or just the filter?
Click to expand...

The entire lens of course.
Problem is that with a lens who knows what damage might have happened in transit.
Must have been a bit of an impact
It was also stuck on the lens. As in cross threaded or something.

With an item that expensive it was easier to send whole thing back.
 
wingman said:
Exactly.. In my ten years of using eBay (and circa 1,000 transactions, with a 50/50 split of buying and selling) I've not had one issue I couldn't resolve myself.

Take the necessary precautions and follow the steps (as OP did) and you won't go far wrong. Situations like this do happen, they're bound to on a site with that much traffic.

For me, eBay still represents the best (read, lucrative) way to sell most things.
Click to expand...


Same as me. Bought and sold combined about 800 items
I always follow procedure to the letter.
I also didn't jump on the Internet when the obvious buyer scam happened.

I cooperated, and was always civil on the phone.

I also didn't mind the wait as it is a high value item. They may have got in contact with RM, but really, I think the main error was with an eBay internal system generating an insufficient label for the item.

One advisor did say that shouldn't have happened.
 
kaiowas said:
Why? eBay isn't the issue. Dishonest people are the problem, when you're conducting high value transactions based on nothing more than trust with someone you have no prior experience with and that you're never going to meet then there will always be people looking to exploit that trust, whether as buyers or as sellers. eBay is just the medium being used for the transaction, you'll get just as many problems on any alternate platform.
Click to expand...

Lack of competition is never a good thing.

Ask most sellers and they will complain that the selling fees are too high.
 
gothic_hobbit said:
Lack of competition is never a good thing.

Ask most sellers and they will complain that the selling fees are too high.
Click to expand...

The selling fees are high. But if you look at the MM even with fees you get a better deal

Sell 5 computer parts on eBay and even if you lost the money on the 6th you would probably still be "up" over all vs MM

The fees are high, and although large market share is usually bad it correlates with large buyer base which offsets the cost

I have very poor sales on Gumtree as it's local only. I've sold everything for an OK price on eBay.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom