This is ridiculous - filing complaint against eBay with state AG

[arcticdragonangel]

Filed complaint against eBay with state attorney general for not following their own policies and unreasonable demands.

I am sick and tired of the games Ebay is playing with my wife and me. They have restricted our seller account in violation of their own policies and reasonable business practices.  They are being quite unreasonable with our account because buyers didn't read the auction listings fully and Ebay decided to punish us for it. 

Chronology of events:

Sold items on ebay. Stated shipping dates twice in listing.

Buyers didn't read listing and filed "did not receive" complaints because they were not delivered by the time THEY thought they should arrive.

Ebay restricted our seller account because of these complaints. They demanded proof of shipping. We pointed out that they already had that information - we got our shipping from them. 

They next demanded proof of delivery - again, they didn't even look at their own records. If they had, they would have been seen that the items were delivered.  All claims against us have been closed in our favor.

Next, they demanded we prove that we bought the items via receipts of our purchases. We provided the receipts from an online selling platform showing that the items were bought legally from Mexico's equivalence to eBay.

Ebay next wanted to know whom the buyer was and their ID. We provided their ID and explained the buyer is our roommate in Mexico.

Now they want the Purchase Orders from our supplier on Mexico's Ebay to prove THEY got the items legally.

When does this end? The seller on Mercado Libre will not provide their invoices/purchase orders because it is business proprietary information. Ebay doesn't care. Even if I did get that, what will be next? Proof of how we got the money to buy the items on eBay's competitor in Mexico? How about a blood sample and other DNA?

[bonjourami]

I remember your other thread, I doubt the states AG has any power over Ebay, but I do wish you luck.You may want to go over the user agreement you signed when you began to sell on here.

[corvettestainless]

Seems you are selling a proprietary item that is registered/trademarked from a US company, but claim you got it in 'Mexico'. Items from other countries are often counterfeit, copyrights are igored etc. and therefore, Ebay asking for a legitimate PO for the purchase of these items to make sure they were purchased from the correct place and then your 'roommate' stating, or you, that where you got something is "proprietary" and therefore 'none of your business',  is not going to fly, and shouldn't. It is not against any policy for ebay to request this information and is actually protecting the community from fraud/counterfeit items.  

Regarding selling items that you are not 'shipping' until a certain date, it was quite simple. When listing, there is a 'handling' time that you need to put in (is the difference from the date of sale to the date you will ship out). You have 1 item that sold on 10/23 but are not shipping until 10/28. That item needed to show a '5' day handling time. If you did not, you are at fault, no matter what your listing description stated. 

Lastly, stating 'in hand' in the title, would make the average shopper, who may " know about this product and the fact it is collectable and has a release date", make them believe you are shipping immediately and not pay attention to the written description. 

Either way, complaining to the officials that you did, will net you zero, as you have zero case against anything that is being done. You need to read and understand the 'terms and conditions' to sell here. 

[emerald1830]

That's what I was thinking...my son had bought some Pop Funkos that were fake ones right at the Texas border...

[annadryl]

I remember the barbies thread too. You wrote in those listings:

Returns/Refunds

All sales are final. Please read everything and understand that we will stand by what is on this listing and not eBay's estimates on delivery. eBay does support sellers by what they put in their listings.

This sounds like "you don't get ebay's rules, you get MY rules. I wrote it, so ebay <supports?> it".

The AG, being an attorney, will first point you to ebay's User Agreement. They'll probably agree about the playing of games, but from the other standpoint.

But good luck~

[eleanor*rigby]

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@arcticdragonangel wrote:

They are being quite unreasonable with our account because buyers didn't read the auction listings fully and Ebay decided to punish us for it. 

 Sold items on ebay. Stated shipping dates twice in listing.

Buyers didn't read listing and filed "did not receive" complaints because they were not delivered by the time THEY thought they should arrive.

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@arcticdragonangel 

Unfortunately, that's not the way shipping and/or estimated delivery dates work on eBay. Generally speaking, the seller does not get to name the date items will be shipped, whether it's stated in the item description or not. (The exception may be pre-release or advance-sale items.) eBay establishes the estimated delivery date based on the following information in this help page.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/posting-items/estimated-delivery-dates?id=4086

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@arcticdragonangel wrote:

Ebay restricted our seller account because of these complaints. They demanded proof of shipping. We pointed out that they already had that information - we got our shipping from them. 

They next demanded proof of delivery - again, they didn't even look at their own records. If they had, they would have been seen that the items were delivered.  All claims against us have been closed in our favor.

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If/when eBay asks or asked for the proof of shipping/tracking numbers or the proof of delivery/tracking information for the items you sold, you probably should have provided the information rather than " . . . [pointing]  pointed out that they already had that information." It's usually best to cooperate when being investigated in a case like this. Did you eventually provide them with the tracking numbers?

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@arcticdragonangel wrote:

Filed complaint against eBay with state attorney general for not following their own policies and unreasonable demands. 

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Do come back and update us on how this turns out for you. Good luck!

[arcticdragonangel]

Funny thing for those that are saying that I have to follow eBay's policies and if I don't like it, don't use their services.  The State Attorney General's office just called me back.  They said that our complaint shows eBay is in violation of state laws.  I was told that if Ebay wants to do business in this state they need to comply with the laws of the state. 

The fact that all of the cases that were opened against us have been closed in our favor shows a lot, doesn't it?

"Hi ________________

We reviewed this case and have closed it without any refund to the buyer.

The case will not affect your seller performance. Any feedback left for this transaction will be removed.

We received tracking information that shows the item was delivered to the buyer's address."

Got that 4 times. 

[bonjourami]

just curious, what state laws is Ebay in violation of?

[yuzuha]

Sorry, but you were in the wrong on this one.  If you were not going to be shipping the items for a couple of weeks after the auctions ended, you needed to change your handling time to reflect that.  Otherwise, eBay and the buyers had every right to expect you to ship within the stated handling time.  What you write in the listing description doesn't matter, as eBay goes by the handling time you set for the listing.

Also, whether you intended it or not, your listings were deceptive.  By stating they were "in hand," you were attracting buyers who wanted to receive their items quickly-- collectors look to buy from sellers who have the items in hand for that very reason.  You needed to make it VERY clear to the buyers that you were not going to be shipping for a couple of weeks so that they had the full knowledge they needed to be able to decide whether they wanted to purchase from you or not.

[postingid2017]

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@bonjourami wrote:

I remember your other thread, I doubt the states AG has any power over Ebay, but I do wish you luck.You may want to go over the user agreement you signed when you began to sell on here.

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eBay is not 'shielded from State(s) AG - if the complaint is valid and submitted with proof, the person and/or entity will be investigated with further action if needed. 

[the_fancy_fox]

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@bonjourami wrote:

I remember your other thread, I doubt the states AG has any power over Ebay, but I do wish you luck.You may want to go over the user agreement you signed when you began to sell on here.

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You know, user agreements only go so far in protection for a company. Courts can and do set them aside. 

As for the AG just dismissing a complaint, probably happens and then again, when they get enough complaints.... 

[annadryl]

The bottom line is that there are too many INR's for the small amount of transactions here. Ebay sees too many unhappy customers. Since the account is only restricted, maybe when the kinks are worked out it will be reinstated. But customers need to have a much better buying experience, more transparency. Good luck~

[wesk_36]

In one of the other three threads you started about this you stated;
"The delivery date is still in the future (delivery by the 28th or shipped by the 28th depending upon which auction)."

Either way, buying on October 8 (the buyer that left the negative) with a promised priority mail delivery then waiting at least until 20 days later or possibly much longer to receive it ...why? You said you had the items "in hand" in the title and the description... why would you wait 20 days to send it if it was in your hands? Where in the listing did you say that you wouldn't send it for at least two or three  weeks?

As a buyer, I would think that "in hand" and priority mail means it's ready to go.

Also, all sales are not final if the buyer wants to return it.

You are right though, not every buyer reads the seller terms but they do read the expected delivery date.

[vintagecraze50]

I do remember the prior thread with these issues. The major problem that started this was people complained that they did not get the items at the expected time. That was becuase the OP created their own delivery estimate within the listing description but failed to change the actual estimate for delivery based on the HANDLING TIME of the item. You cannot disappoint a buyer by putting contradictory descriptions of when an item will actually arrive. This was like a pre sale situation, but the ACTUAL EBAY estimate was not pre sale. The buyer expected the items based on the handling time. You can’t violate those rules here. It creates a bad shopping experience and hurts the customer and Ebay’s reputation as well.

[yuzuha]

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@wesk_36 wrote:

In one of the other three threads you started about this you stated;
"The delivery date is still in the future (delivery by the 28th or shipped by the 28th depending upon which auction)."

Either way, buying on October 8 (the buyer that left the negative) with a promised priority mail delivery then waiting at least until 20 days later or possibly much longer to receive it ...why? You said you had the items "in hand" in the title and the description... why would you wait 20 days to send it if it was in your hands? Where in the listing did you say that you wouldn't send it for at least two or three  weeks?

As a buyer, I would think that "in hand" and priority mail means it's ready to go.

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Exactly.  I'm both a buyer and seller of collectibles, and saying that something is "in hand" means that you have it available to ship right away.  It's false advertising to claim that something is "in hand" if you won't actually be shipping it for a few weeks.