Nonperforming seller, what are my options?
By thewatchlist
@thewatchlist (653)
United States
December 17, 2006 10:27pm CST
I bought a japanese version Playstation 3. The final price ended up about $200 less than retail for the US version (which is the only reason why I bid). As soon as the auction ended, the seller sent an email basically saying "thanks for bidding, but I'm not selling it that cheap, you can buy it if you are willing to pay me more, otherwise, thanks and goodbye"!!!
I reported him to ebay. It is someone in the US and they had no reserve set. Do I have any other options? I didn't send out the money because they responded so quick saying they wouldn't sell the item. What drives me nuts though is that profiteering jerks like this want to sell their item way above retail but think it is okay to back out on a transaction.
So, any advice on what else I can do? Has this happened to anyone else here? If so, what did you do?
GRRRR and blah!
2 people like this
18 responses
@misskatonic (3723)
• United States
18 Dec 06
All you can really do is alert ebay and leave negative feedback on the seller's page detailing exactly what happened. It stinks, but that's about the only options you have available. At least you didn't actually send them the money!
Good luck getting it resolved.
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
18 Dec 06
I've sent ebay copies of his messages and done their little complaint process. The negative feedback thing is risky because I have a 100% right now on more than 100+ different transactions. Too many times I've seen people with a negative left by crooks who leave a dishonest negative as revenge for the honest negative they got.
1 person likes this
@not4me (1711)
• United States
18 Dec 06
Ya, that happened to my husband a couple times because they thought he was selling something for too much. They were the high-bidder, didn't pay, and then left some screwball comment on his feedback. He doesn't use E-bay much so it took a while for his percentage to go back up into the 90's.
2 people like this
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
not4me:
It's terrible that even if ebay sides with you on the issue, the false negative feedback stands. Then everyone else sees that and all they get is the he said/she said out of the feedback.
@itsjustmeb (1212)
• Canada
18 Dec 06
Alert Ebay. You won the auction - the person HAS to sell it to you. That is against the Ebay TOS...
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
18 Dec 06
Legally they have to, but you'd have to take them to court to enforce it. I'm just glad that they were so quick with the email... Otherwise I would have paypal'd the cash and been in much worse shape.
@itsjustmeb (1212)
• Canada
18 Dec 06
Don't send the money until you hear from Ebay.
1 person likes this
@bam001 (940)
• United States
19 Dec 06
I would be pretty upset. I sell on e-bay and would think that I had to sell the item if you were the high bidder and I didn't set a reserve on it. I am glad that you didn't send payment for the Playstation 3.
On one hand, I would want to leave negative feedback, but at the same time, I am always wary of leaving negative feedback because I'm afraid the other party will leave me negative feedback solely based upon what I left them...even if my end of the transaction was completed correctly.
I am truly sorry that you had a bad experience. But, remember, there are a lot of us who buy and sell on e-bay who are very fair and try to give the best customer service that we can...I hope your next e-bay experience is pleasant.
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
Thanks for your comments. I agree that this is just one bad apple out of a bunch of honest people. As I have mentioned to others who have commented, the main thing that really burned me on this is that I've run into a few bad transactions as of late. I even had someone with 100% positive feedback with over 400+ transactions buy something from me and then tell me they weren't paying because their 9 year old changed their mind about wanting it for christmas.
@wolflvr (335)
• United States
19 Dec 06
I have never had someone not sell me something becuase the price wasn't high enough. Most are smart enough to start the bid higher or to put a reserve on the item. Legally you could go after them fto complete the sale but it seems to be more work than it is worth. All you can do is report it to Ebay.
1 person likes this
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
Thanks for the comments... It is a first for me too. I do agree that going after them legally is much more than it is worth. That sentiment gets a lot of these crooks out of any really danger.
@linns31 (213)
• United States
19 Dec 06
The only thing you can do is report them to ebay as you said you have done. When they get enough complaints about that user they will suspend them and they will not be able to sell or buy anything under that user name. I always send my payments via paypal due to their buyer protection. Never send a personal check as they can steal your account # fom your check.
1 person likes this
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
I agree with your comments on using paypal for account safety. I used to send money orders a long time ago, but after reading the details on how to recover a money order in case of a problem I quickly gave that up.
@jules99 (20)
•
19 Dec 06
I am very shocked to hear about what can happen on e-bay. I have bought about twenty items in the last few weeks from there but always bid on the last second and pay for my item immediately. Will think twice next time. You should get one of your friends who doesn't use ebay to bid on one of his other items and not pay, then leave negative feedback! only joking. It really annoys me that there are people out there that can do things like that and get away with it. Just be thankful you never paid!
1 person likes this
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
Thanks for your comment. It kinda threw me too. I've had more than 100 transaction (even mix of sales and purchases) and have really only seen a few problems. Up until about a month ago, the only issues I ever had were items damaged in shipping that were sent to me. UPS or USPS insurance always took care of this. All the sudden though this last month I've had multiple people ask for bid cancelations (including 1 after the end of the auction) and then this seller who is shady.
@MrsFrizzle (1963)
• United States
18 Dec 06
I do not know if their is anything else you can do. I would report it to ebay and posibly paypal if they use that service. I would leave negative feedback. However other then that you really do not have many options. I recently had someone do this to me for a dvd. It was not as big of an item but I was upset to have waited a few weeks for it only to hear the person was refunding my money because he did not have that item. Why did he sell it?
@rracers89 (3246)
• United States
18 Dec 06
You can file a non performing seller complaint on him then file a item not recived complaint, but theres no way you can force him/her to sell. Good luck and sorry your having a problem.
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
While it would be nice to get that Playstation for 200 less than retail, I have absolutely no interest in sending money to someone who is this shady.
Thanks for commenting.
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
18 Dec 06
I don't use e-bay. I did once, and it was horrible. I was trying to sell something. A few people bid on it, and the person that won the bid would not accept my payment terms (which I had posted on the auction). I went to the other bidders, but they had already gotten something else. There was a complaint I filed so that I wouldn't have to pay the fee for having the auction - since it didn't sell. I would think you could do the same thing from the opposite standpoint. I gave the person negative feedback, but I wasn't concerned because I wasn't going to do that again. Good Luck.
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
18 Dec 06
eBay needs to get involved a little more in helping deal out punishment to nonperforming sellers and nonpaying bidders. They really are the only ones that have the power to do anything about these scammers.
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
18 Dec 06
The trick with the negative feedback is then they return volley with a negative claiming you are a liar. I don't know about this seller doing that but I've seen other shady transactions... Feedback is king, and the bad apples abuse it.
@eldorvandfarion (73)
• United States
19 Dec 06
This is the number one reason I quit selling on ebay. All you can do is contact ebay. But it takes them forever to do anything. I have a question how many spoof emails do you get from ebay.
I use to get 50 a day. If it ever goes to your bulk folder do not open it.
From either paypal or ebay.
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
By spoof emails do you mean phishing messages? That's out of ebay's control since they don't originate there? Or do you mean people sending messages within ebay's messaging trying to point you to their site for sales, which is a violation of their terms?
I've really only had a few of those since they happen more when you are selling items, not buying.
@nhtpscd (1416)
• Australia
19 Dec 06
All you can do is report. The problem is that the cash didn't change hands so the transaction is incomplete. Yep leaving negative you will receive negative in return. Did you check his feedback prior tobidding a lot of people don't. Just leave a neutral with the warning. Best of luck
1 person likes this
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
Their feedback was fine. Apparently this greed and noncompliance with the rules is a new hobby for this seller.
@guitarkidwr (224)
• United States
18 Dec 06
I know what you mean. Buying and selling on Ebay can be good, but also very bad. I have had my account hacked into and had to change my credit card before. You should never bid if they don't have feedback or a bad score. Unfortunately, all you can do is report them.
1 person likes this
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
19 Dec 06
The crazy thing is that they had a good feedback. It's just that they were greedy thinking they could make big $$ on the playstation 3's and they jumped on that bandwagon a bit too late.
@shenzhouplaza (1676)
• China
19 Dec 06
Yeah, give him a negative feedback. If this guy isa long term seller on ebay. this will greatly influnce his reputation.
Of course. we do not want to settle the problem like this. but sometimes, we have to.
If this seller still do not want to sell it to you.just forget it. you know buying a electronic product from such a person. how can you feel assure about it quality?
@Iamh4b1t (121)
• United States
18 Dec 06
That's too bad, you thought you were getting a great deal and it turns out you got screwed. That has happened to me before too. As far as I know the only thing you can do is leave negative feedback and report him. Hopefully people will think twice about buying from him. Another thing you can do is track the other items he's selling and advised other people bidding on his items of what happened to you and be careful.
