Have you ever had trouble with people on Ebay?
By Link
@BambooPanda13 (867)
United States
November 22, 2009 11:59pm CST
If you sell stuff on Ebay, have you ever had trouble with people saying they didn't receive their items or you received something broke and they didn't want to refund?Anyway, just need to vent. This is all over $8 but it is the principle that matters to me and I will probably stop using Ebay after this.
A woman who bought something from me contacted me on Oct. 23rd to tell me she needed to pay later. I said it was okay. She paid on Oct. 27th. I sent the package out (along with others) on either Oct. 28th or Oct. 29th. My other buyers received their item on Nov. 2nd. Since Oct. 23rd I have not heard from this woman about whether she received the item or not so I believed she received it and all was well. Guess not, since on November 20th she wrote and just casually asked for a refund saying she didn't receive the item. I explained to her that it was suspicious that I hadn't heard from her in over 3 weeks! And even that if she had been waiting 1 week for the package to arrive, there was still 2 weeks that she never contacted me to say the item was missing! She didn't contact me at all. Her excuse was that she had work and that the other people who received their items probably didn't have jobs or anything to do and that is why they were able to receive their items so quickly. That obviously sounds very childish to me so I explained to her that it just seems even more suspicious that she did not check her mail for over 2 weeks! And that someone who uses Ebay frequently wouldn't want to check their mail often if they knew they had a package coming so they know it was there on time.
Well tonight she opened up a dispute. Two MINUTES after that she escalated it! She did not give me time to respond, leave comments, show any evidence or anything! Then she tried to write 3 comments like she had posted them over a period of time or something and make it look like I didn't respond, except that you can see the date is all from this evening and the time stamps show the posts to be from 1-2 minutes apart each!
Well, now I cannot send any evidence and the only options are to submit a tracking number (which I do not have because I never use them, I think they cost extra anyway or something), to say that I did not send the item and refund the money, or to give proof that I already gave her a refund.
Well those are not options! I DID send the item. No I don't have a tracking number but I have never used one before anyway. And I am not giving her a refund voluntarily. So of course if I do not respond with one of those answers before Dec. 2nd they will just give her the money anyway.
I have proof of all of our communications which show that she did not contact me at all since she asked to pay late. I have a feeling she just needs some money and is trying to get it back in any way that she can.
What do you think I should do? I am going to contact paypal tomorrow since it isn't fair that I can't submit any evidence or post any responses since she escalated the dispute 2 minutes after she opened it.
What is your take on this situation!!
2 people like this
9 responses
@madteaparty (2748)
• Japan
24 Nov 09
Wow, some people are really the worst. I'm so sorry that happened to you :(. Do you still have the paper that the post office gives you when you send an item? You can show that as a proof of purchase.
I have had problems with buyers on ebay too, so I know the feeling :(
@theweerouss (982)
• United States
24 Nov 09
It really burns me that people are so dishonest on eBay sometimes! I sell a lot of things on there and I've had a few people claim they haven't received items that shipping confirmation tells me they have! I have pride in the fact that I would never jip one of my buyers, and I want them all to be happy. I don't understand why some people don't have the same courtesy on the other end, to not try to jip me out of the few bucks plus shipping.
Ugh. So frustrating!
I think in your situation you should absolutely contact PayPal. They will likely defend you as a regular seller, and hopefully you won't have to deal with this awful buyer or her feedback again!
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
23 Nov 09
Hi Panda
I buy of Ebay very regular and have my Favourites on there
I have had a couple of incidents where I contacted the Seller because the Item had not arrived after a week and it was always sorted as they asked me to wait another week and it arrived in that week which I then let them know
I have never had an Item not turning up
The way I look at it you sent all Items on the same Day and only one Person did not receive it, what has working got to do with her not receiving her Item, it takes 2 minutes to log on and send a message and as for what she did with the Complaint to me is already proof that she just wants her money and has got the Item
Do not let it ruin Ebay for you because of one Person
Good Luck on this
@smileonstar (4007)
• United States
23 Nov 09
Hello,
My husband used to do some out side job on ebay. He made pretty good money on that but sometimes it was just something like you said. sometimes, she already got the item but then she realized she doesn't need it and then asked for refund back.
well, if it is just $8 then, you should give it to her and let it be cuz that's how the real world is. They really do something that we can't think off. but in the future... you have to use tracking number cuz if you deal on ebay then you will face this almost everyday. hope thing solve and dont feel back, it is not you
@AndrewFreyne (6281)
• United Kingdom
23 Nov 09
I would love to start selling things on ebay myself although I have not done that as yet. I have bought quite a few things from sellers though and I have only ever bought from sellers that have a one hundred percent reputation rating. I have received very good service from them as well as quick deliveries. Anyway, it sounds to me like you have been messed around by this lady and she sounds wholly irresponsible. If you have done your utmost to appease her and keep her happy then there's no more that you can do. Just try and do everything that ebay asks of you including providing evidence, although I know you mention that you are unable to provide this right now. I hope that it all works out for you. There is something you can do on ebay though and that is, you can block this buyer from ever buying from you again. Do this and you won't have any further bad experiences. It's unfortunate as she may give you a negative rating as a result even though it's not your fault. Stay positive though and don't stop selling on ebay as a result of this one bad experience. Good luck. Andrew
@JennyMarie (366)
• United States
23 Nov 09
I stopped selling on ebay for this very reason. I was scammed too many times and I had tracking numbers and proof and the buyers will still refunded the money. I now sell stuff on Craigslist and do much better.
I do buy things because everything on ebay is in the buyers favor so if I don't get an item I know I will be taken care of. But I would never think of asking for my money back when I had also received the item. That is called stealing
@MoonGypsy (4606)
• United States
23 Nov 09
maybe it was just my luck, but based upon my past experience with buying from ebay, you will win. ebay never gives people back a refund, i heard. i brought a computer for over $200. the seller said that it was ready to use right out of the box. instead, it crashed right out of the box. yes, it got on it right away, and did take it to the next level. i guess i did not give the person a chance to respond either, but hey, i was out over $200! that is alot of money for some people, you know. i did not have that kind of money to play with. i was getting that computer for someone as a gift! yes, i was very very disappointed, and felt duped. me and the person did message each other through out the process. the person said they wished i would have given them a chance to fix it. i guess that meant that i had to send back the item, and let them send it back to me. another 1 or 2, no computer, and still out $200? anyway, i did not want to take the chance that this person was a scam artist, and i did not want to chance that i would not get my equipment back, or my money. in the end, ebay denied my claim faster than i put it in. i had to spend an extra $300 to get another computer. when i took the old one in, the computer guy said that the hardware was not compatible with the OS. they were selling shoddy equipment, and apparently getting away with it.
so, i don't know it is very hard for buyers to get justice from ebay. this is not to say that you did anything wrong. like i said, my experience was different. i had a valid beef. i have never again brought anything ONLINE period since. it had been my first and last time. just keep checking on it, and talk to ebay like you said. explain your case. they seem to be already on the side of the seller, automatically.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
23 Nov 09
I used to sell children's clothing in ebay but the last time that I posted items for sale, I encountered problems. The first questioned me for asking her to pay a shipping fee of Php100 (around $2) when in fact it was written there that a shipping fee will be paid by the buyer. She did not pay me and I did not send her the item. the second problem I encountered was a joybidder. She won 8 items and did not bother to contact me nor to pay me. I also did not send the items. There are fake transactions in ebay. ..
@wlee9696 (595)
• United States
23 Nov 09
Ebay will do nothing. With all the rule changes there are so many buyers who are scamming you out there it isn't worth it. Ebay continues to make rules that are totally one sided and sets the sellers up for crooks like this to take advantage of. You have no recourse at all. You can't even leave honest feedback for them so that the next seller can beware. If you don't give the lady a refund ebay will take it out of your paypal account and refund her anyway. You must use delivery confirmation or you will lost your cases. I had a lot of people who would want a "partial" refund. These were just more scammers who had figured out how to get part of their money back by claiming items were damaged. Assuming that packages were no longer insured since ebay now will not let you charge buyers for insurance. But I would insure all my packages anyway so when they tried to claim there was shipping damage I would tell them to take it to the post office and file a claim as all packages were insured. Then they would still leave poor DSRs. If more people would continue to write and complain as well as quit using ebay they may begin to make changes to bring the system back into alignment. Ebay built it's empire as the worlds biggest garage sale. Now all they want are retail sellers.
