# Ebay Seller Warning and venting .....



## RjGall (Jun 16, 2008)

Fellow LJs I just wanted to warn you about a very *Rude and unreasonable **Seller* on Ebay = 
*His user name is Film4*. 
First off let me fill you in on my Ebay info.. I have 398 Plus purchases with 100% positive feedback and have only had 2 issues with sellers (about 3 years ago)! 
This time I purchased a Amboyna burl cap 14"x10 1/2"x 3 1/2 " . I have been waiting along time for a great deal on some and as most of you know how much it goes for , its not cheap! Well I got this for $56.00 and I jumped all over it . Here's the link to my Ebay purchase http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350278463803&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
On Satureday I recieved an empty box with a note inside (From USPS) stating the box wasn't sealed and no contents inside .
What the seller did was ship the piece in a box that was 13 5/8"x11 7/8" x 3 3/8" In transit it busted a perforated seam on the flap.. "GO figure" its like fitting a Bull in a china cabinet !!! 
Well I contacted the seller and he replyed (In an email) I should go to the post office file a claim give them pictures and have them hunt it down. I as a customer feel I shouldn't have to take the time to do this and its the sellers responsibility to make sure its packaged properly and insured or at least give me the option to insure it ??
I sent him an email back asking him to contact me by phone so we could discuss this further ,He called back Yelling "I might say" and telling me how it is and that he will only give me half of my money back , In my books that is just wrong sooooo I'm filing a dispute to get my money back (Ebay & PayPal Insures this problem) and for the first time will have to give a seller Negative feedback .


----------



## Ronluc (Oct 4, 2009)

Let the buyer beware! I feel you were in the right here but he has the upper hand as he has your money
follow through with your dispute and hopefully you will win, he does not want a negative feedback!!


----------



## cabinetmaster (Aug 28, 2008)

I have to agree with Ronluc.


----------



## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

Touch wood… I have not had a problem as yet with Ebay or any other dealer.


----------



## pommy (Apr 17, 2008)

go through ebay they have rules and ways to resolve this without it getting nasty i'm sorry you had a bad time with this but we all should know the risks on buying on ebay these are people we have know idea of who they are i'v heard plenty of scare storys over here in England of scammers who would sell you wind if they could good luck with this one

Andy


----------



## RjGall (Jun 16, 2008)

I'm not really worried about getting my money back (Its only $66.75 & life does go on ). PayPal and Ebay both insure against this type of transaction besides Ebay doesn't want a buyer beware issue and frowns on it . 
I'm sure all will agree you don't put a heavy piece of wood in a box that is slightly smaller than the item , he listed the size of the item and USPS lists the size of the box.

Sometimes your the statue and sometimes your the bird **oP""""


----------



## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

He seems to sell a lot of wood and have satified customers (for the most part) I agree he either needs to track it down or give you 100% refund. You can take your money back through PayPal, very easy open a case in the "resolution center". I see no point in bashing him here though (don't know the guy, so that is not where I am coming from) 5550 sales and 99%+ feedback I would say he is not a ripoff artist. Maybe he was rude and didn't handle the prompt refund-like I would have because I insure everything I ship…even though UPS and USPS have screwed me and I ended up eating a couple, but that is the price of internet business. Maybe he is still checking into it and will come around ?

On a side note I have been backcharged on 2 items that the customer DID receive over the years. One was a $300 curly maple slab 24" wide and 72" long…dude just took the money (or tried) without offering to ship the lumber back…he got kicked off of eBay and PayPal gave my money back. It's guys like that we internet sellers have to constantly cover out backs against.


----------



## jockmike2 (Oct 10, 2006)

Don't give in. Sellers should be responsible for the merchandise they sell. From the time they get your money till you get your product and are satisfied. Ebay didn't back me once on a bad deal and I haven't been back.


----------



## RjGall (Jun 16, 2008)

Daren Nelson I understand where your coming from , but if you are in the buisness of selling just as in any buisness anywhere internet or not you should be prepared for the risks and try to protect yourself from them =Making sure the packaging can handle shippment and insuring it or offering insurance with an extra fee applyed. We all know there are a few bad apples buyers and Sellers out there but as an Honest consumer and most of us are If every seller acts in this manner then they would have no customers or not my buisness anyways . Yes he has alot of sales and most go through without issue but say your the honest consumer that has an issue would you want a seller to act in this manner. He has these #s from sales and does have some negatives in the past 6 months . I figure with my score being all buys at 398 and no negative feedback I'm a good apple he should look into that before calling me a liar.

Jockmike- from now on I'll make sure they put insurance on anything I buy from now on Ebay or other.
notottoman- I feel its my duty to report bad buisness so others can figure it out for themselfs, if you have a problem with this guy watch out you'll have to eat the loss be yelled at and called a lier. 
Thanks guys for confirming my exact thoughts!


----------



## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

Reread my response…I said I would have refunded you 100%, immediatley ! Even if I had to eat it. Like I said the price of internet business and shipping. I am not defending the guy.


----------



## RjGall (Jun 16, 2008)

Daren I know you weren't defending the guy . I would have handled buiness the way you would.
Sorry if I made it sound that way I'm just venting .

Just for the record fellow LJs I've never posted my grivances about bad buisness but this guy was way out of line! 
I just figured it would be alright seeing how others have done it before about wrong doings.
I also felt it my duty to let others know when they might have problems purchasing from a seller or buisness.

I feel I've said all there needs to be said on this issue… for now {)

GripOn very true although I have made Great contacts on Ebay once I buy something I try to purchase outside of Ebay, I've acquired quite a few contacts in other states to get me supplies at a much better price than I would have to pay locally and usually its top notch .


----------



## griph0n (Mar 31, 2009)

I haven't found ratings very much use. I've had lots of dealings with excellent sellers with excellent products (goldsmith69 has excellent rehabbed planes and fixed a shipping problem with a broken tote on a plane by simply sending me another). The "excellent" feedback really stands for basic service, I've left it myself many times. I'ts not a reliable or usable rating. The losses I've had came from sellers with a few bad feedback sales and lots of excellent ones. I've had problems maybe 4 times out of maybe 50 buys. I try to stay away from sellers with even one bad rating, but sometimes I'm just too greedy. I haven't found the resolution process worth my time. The distraction wasn't worth the few hundred dollars that I didn't get in the end. There are some very honourable sellers on ebay, and some who are simply dishonourable.

*Ebay is in no way personal. It is not like buying from a local small business. It's more like finding a good knowledgable employee at a big box store.*

I don't look at it as buyer beware, but as rolling the dice. If I can't get it anywhere else, I'll try ebay. I'm far more likely to buy from Lee Valley, Tools For Working Wood, Lie-Nielson, or some other small business that looks at the internet as being a way to be local to me in Whitehorse.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

If I remember interstate commerce law correctly from college ownership of an item changes to the buyer at the moment the item is in the shipping companies possession. That is why insuring shipments is so important, it protects the buyer.

The gray area here is that the item may have been improperly packaged thus leading to the loss. Proper packaging is the responsibility of the seller but I'm wondering if that shifts the liability back to the seller. Might have to prove it was improperly packaged.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Oh and I wonder if interstate commerce law even applies to eBay.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

And I agree, eBay's feedback system has become basically useless. They've diluted it so much by not showing lifetime stats that it hides negatives unless you're willing to read through all the feedback. There should be an option that would allow you to see all negatives a person has but eBay won't do that because that might reduce sales and that would then lower the amount of money eBay makes off commissions. So in essences they're protecting bad sellers.

They also have or did have, don't know if they still do, a mechanism where you can get this third party company involved and if you're the one with the negative in essence pay them money and the negative will go away. I got caught up in the once when I had problems and posted a negative. I fought it but it's hard and in the end I think the best I could do was to mutually agree to pull the feedback. So giving negative feedback means nothing anymore because they have methods to remove it.

eBay seems to be protecting their cash cows and if a few occasional buyers suffer a loss, oh well….


----------



## SteveMI (May 19, 2009)

RJ - can you tell if the wood was every really in the box at one time? His eBay description had to be off in order for the box to even be used. 14 - 13 5/8 = oops! I just measured one of those boxes that was sent to me and the inside length is only 13 1/2".

Did USPS have a weight on the shipping tag?

I've had great eBay experience with people of less that 20 sales and never had one where they questioned my later complaint.

I bought a paper bound text book one time that came with CD, really I only wanted the CD, it came in plastic bag package that normally would have been sufficient and the CD was cracked in half. Sent an email, got apology and replacement in two days. That is what customer service is about.

Steve.


----------



## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

When I want to buy something off ebay now I goggle the sellers name in the rip off reports. I started to buy a camera on ebay and decided to see if he was in the rip off reports even though he had a decent feedback,..whew! a bunch of unhappy customers on that dude so I found another buyer with one and did ok with her. I trust ebay the company about as much as I do a politician. They're after the money and couldn't give a hoot about the buyers. I know that from experience but their other company PayPal did get my money returned on a purchase from a thug of a seller and he's still selling and making ebay money, to heck with the buyers loss from him.


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

I've had e bay remove negative feed back on a terrible seller because the seller paid a fee to have it removed.


----------



## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

BlankMan - I don't know how interstate law looks at this, but I do know that when an insured USPS shipment is damaged, USPS pays the sender. So you still have to trust the seller enough to give you the insurance money if your item is damaged.


----------

