eBay

sodelight · ‎12-18-2018

Made what I thought was a simple purchase of 2 bags of cat food on Sunday. Used a $10 off $30 coupon. Just a few minutes later I receive a seller message which states first they found the cat food to be defective when preparing to ship and then that they had returned all the cat food to the distributor due to being defective and didn't know when it would be available again. They asked me if I wanted to cancel.

I told them I would not initiate a cancellation and if they selected buyer cancellation as an option I'd contact ebay. I knew they were trying to avoid an OOS defect. I asked them what the defective bad issue was and called them out on their opposing excuses. I quickly receive a reply stating they found another distributor (on a Sunday) and would be processing my order after all. They failed to address my questions and left me the canned 'have a nice day' response. I knew this seller was lying about everything and making up reasons as to why they didn't have the product to ship.

Monday shows tracking input. Today (tuesday) I'm awoken by packages being thrown on my porch. I think, "Wow! They really did ship my cat food". I opened the door and saw a plain white truck pull away. The boxes were from Walmart.com, I was perplexed since I didn't order anything from them. I see the tracking number on the label matches the seller provided tracking. I open up the packages shocked and appalled to see they shipped me 2 4# bags of Kibbles n Bits DOG food and NOT the 12# Fancy Feast CAT food I ordered. I knew they did this on purpose just to mess with me and create a hassle, but needed to be sure it wasn't a warehouse fullfillment mixup. I confirmed this with a call to Walmart, who this seller dropshipped from. This seller did in fact order the Dog food shipped to me. I then further confirmed this by seeing Walmart is OOS on the Cat Food I ordered! This proved 100% the seller did this on purpose! When I messaged them about what I received they continued to lie, claiming Walmart filled the order wrong. This was 100% invalid!! No matter what, this seller wouldn't admit to lying through this entire ordeal.

I phoned ebay throughout these issues. I then had to file a return. Of course I knew the seller would agree in order to avoid the defect they tried to avoid from the start! So minutes later I received a return shipping label addressed to Walmart returns center. I confirmed with Walmart that this seller did in fact expedite a return and Walmart supplied a label. Walmart was appalled that any anyone would do this type of thing to a buyer on purpose.

The shipping label kept printing blank! It required me to download the label versus a direct print option. It wasn't my error, I printed something immediately after to check. I had to phone ebay yet again and spend a half an hour to get a workable label. The Ebay CS rep lied stating ebay supplied the label when I questioned why I was given a label with a return address to Walmart. There is no way ebay supplied that label, they didn't know where the seller was shipping this bogus item from! I don't understand why the seller was able to get away with this. I'd expect the return would have to go to their seller account address and not a third party.

If sellers wonder where all the buyers have gone they only have other sellers to blame!! All I did was purchase 2 bags of cat food to feed my rescue cats, immediately paying. That should have been it. Instead this has been a nightmare ever since I pressed the purchase button!! While the horrible seller sits at home drop shipping items galore, a buyer is left holding the bag having to make constant phone calls, having my monies out there and having to go through the PITA return process. Not to mention I lost the $10 coupon I used to purchase from this awful person. Ebay claimed they were immediately reissuing it to me, but of course they failed to do so!

This seller is the absolute WORST I've ever come across. The intentional fraud they've perpetrated is simply disgusting! Next time you wonder why ebay has to believe the buyer over the seller as to what they received, think about this post! Ebay continues to let these type of sellers chase away the buyers!

ersatz_sobriquet · ‎12-19-2018

So the situation was about the lying more than out of stock, which to me proves that it is ebay's defect system that is flawed, otherwise the seller would not feel the need to lie to preserve what may very well be their livelihood. A purchase that should not end up being an emotional experience became just that. I can understand a buyer being emotional over that rare hard to find antique not being shipped or arriving broken, but purchasing cat food should not end up an emotional experience. (I sell antiques and never drop shipped in my life). To me that leads to that ebay buyers may end up more upset about the methods these drop shippers will go to in order to avoid defects, which could mean that ebay is hurting itself with the severity of the defect system. Ebay could lose buyers over the sale of cat food. Not good, imho.

sodelight · ‎12-19-2018

Believe me I wasn't happy with the OOS, but the obvious opposing lies in the original seller email just made matters worse. I've experienced OOS cancels before as a buyer. They simply apologized and filed a cancel. Some saying I asked to cancel, others being honest. This was when ebay didn't require a buyer to say they had requested the cancel I think they require the buyer to confirm now.

As a seller, I've had a few item issues prior to shipping. I was always honest with the buyer. I either adjusted the price or substituted a similar item. Buyer was always happy! This seller could have done the same, they have the smaller size bags available to (drop) ship. They could have offered a better price on them as a substitution. I purchase larger size because its lower price per pound. They offered me nothing but the wee 5% discount on a future purchase. Well, they already do this in their store when buying more than 1 item. Like I said, the discount would amount to 80cents! I'd never deal with this seller again to save 80 cents!! I wouldn't even deal with them if they gave me an item! A part of being a good seller is having credibility and great customer service. This seller failed miserably.

Thank you for your thoughts on this topic!

castlemagicmemories · ‎12-19-2018

I think it's a smart thing to do to avoid lugging those huge bags!

castlemagicmemories · ‎12-19-2018

@sodelight wrote:
@terrycanarsky wrote:
The problem is - the seller did tell you they were OOS and did ask you if you wanted to cancel since they did not know when they would be able to ship. You refused, going on the defensive with the assumption they were trying to avoid a demerit. Maybe they were, we don't know. But it is not "seller biased" to give someone the benefit of a doubt, especially since we don't have the other side of the story.

Doesn't excuse IF the seller tried to retalliate with sending you the wrong stuff, of course. But this is not intentional fraud. It is a case of a seller failing/forgetting to mark something OOS, trying to explain the problem, your refusing to understand and work with the seller for resolution, and the subsequent hard feelings all the way around.

I'm having trouble figuring out why you are so vehement, even understanding how frustrating this must be, or how you do not realize you also share responsibility in this string of events.

~M
Hi, You certainly have a right to your opinion. But if a seller is OOS, they don't need to ask a buyer if they want to cancel, they should make them aware and then file the OOS cancellation. The end. You don't lie to the buyer with contradicting reasons. Just like a buyer shouldn't lie to a seller about reason for return. I'm so sick of all this lying going on regarding internet purchases!

Purposely shipping me items the Opposite of what I ordered IS Intentional fraud, how could it not be! They had my money for purchasing something else and made the decision to send me something else. The knew what they were doing, they knew I didn't order 4 pound bags of dog food! They selected it in order to pretend they filled my order and have tracking to upload and show delivered to ebay. That's intentional. I provided ebay with the W order number in the returns case, all anyone has to do is phone the W company and they will confirm the person indeed orders 2 bags of inexpensive dog food. W has no reason to lie!

A buyer who sends make something else or a bag of bricks isn't committing fraud. They are. Fraud is the intent to deceive, deliberate deception. Everything this seller did from the email message on was deliberate deception.

You may feel I'm vehement, it's the seller who was. I had no intent to cause them harm by making a purchase. I've been ripped off and defrauded more times than I can count in the past year. I'm tired of it! I'm tired of the constant lies in society and the attitude that no one else matters. Do right by me and I'll praise you, try to scam me and I won't take it. Too many people just walk away and let these people pull the same thing on someone else. Sometimes it's not about the easiest thing to do, it's about the right thing to do. Only I can make that decision for myself. If a buyer has to deal with lies and retaliation when making a purchase than what's the point of buying here at all!

Had the seller simply filed the OOS cancel we wouldn't even be discussing this right now.

I understand but some take the point of view that since it didn't happen to them, you must be wrong or at fault somehow. Denial.

castlemagicmemories · ‎12-19-2018

IMO, Ebay is just trying to put an emphasis on OOS as a serious issue so that it can cut down on the instances of this occurring. Buyers understandably don't want something cancelled as buyer request when it wasn't. That is why these situations frustrate buyers. They not only don't get their product, they get the run around, and then the blame.

sodelight · ‎12-19-2018

Precisely!! Well stated.

castlemagicmemories · ‎12-19-2018

Thank you! I've had this issue myself.

castlemagicmemories · ‎12-19-2018

Having said that, I don't want to paint all sellers with that brush. There are some good sellers here as well. But when you do all you can to avoid a problematic transaction, and then find yourself in one through no fault of your own, with a request to cancel, it's just aggravating.

blueeggsandspam · ‎12-19-2018

@mg152 wrote:
@blueeggsandspam wrote:
Yeah, it was easy to figure out the reason for the coupon, and I certainly took advantage of it. I wish this account had received one, as well. Wouldn't you know I found some more stuff to buy? I bought it anyway. I found something I had been looking for since the mid 1980's. Giddy describes my reaction. Nearly fell out of my chair.
You have to tell us what wondrous thing you found. This is what I love about eBay, finding the unfindable (is that a word?). 😂😂

This is going to seem silly, but it's the middle bear in the set of three below. I've had the other two since 1984. I almost didn't find her this time, because the seller didn't have the bear's name in the title. Lots of information on the maker, but not the bear's name. On the off-chance I would find a listing simply mentioning the bear, I clicked the search description box. And there she was! Her name was at the top of the listing, but not in the title. First granddaughter gets the set, so get busy kids!

Anonymous · ‎12-19-2018

@mg152 wrote:
FYI according to eBay employees dropshipping is only allowed if the seller has already purchased the items before listing. Now I have no idea how that would work but that’s what @Anonymous said. Ami right this time Trinton? 😀😀

Hi @mg152, dropshipping is allowed when the seller has an agreement with the supplier to sell their products or when the seller owns the products prior to the buyer making their purchase. We do not allow for sellers to list items on eBay and then order the product from another site to be shipped directly to the buyer after a purchase is made. More information about our policies on dropshipping can be found here and here.

tunicaslot · ‎12-19-2018

Maybe if the OP can provide us with the item number - then I'll research it. Usually, with a food product - it is recalled and had the seller said so and so has been recalled and is not available because they found such and such - any reasonable person would say - sure - just cancel the order and thank you for letting me know.

It seems the OP's seller did too much dancing around and thus gave the OP an indication that they were OOS.

sodelight · ‎12-19-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
@mg152 wrote:
FYI according to eBay employees dropshipping is only allowed if the seller has already purchased the items before listing. Now I have no idea how that would work but that’s what @Anonymous said. Ami right this time Trinton? 😀😀
Hi @mg152, dropshipping is allowed when the seller has an agreement with the supplier to sell their products or when the seller owns the products prior to the buyer making their purchase. We do not allow for sellers to list items on eBay and then order the product from another site to be shipped directly to the buyer after a purchase is made. More information about our policies on dropshipping can be found here and here.

@Anonymous Trinton, thank you for clarifying this. This particular seller has absolutely no agreement with the business I received the wrong product from. This has been confirmed by them. In fact, they're now investigating them. I can PM you the info I was provided if you like.

terrycanarsky · ‎12-19-2018

I think the OP said "Fancy Feast" (correct me if I'm mis-remembering). FF hasn't had any recalls that I can find, so not sure why someone would try to claim the food was somehow defective and had to be returned to the distributor.

~M

sodelight · ‎12-19-2018

@tunicaslot wrote:
Maybe if the OP can provide us with the item number - then I'll research it. Usually, with a food product - it is recalled and had the seller said so and so has been recalled and is not available because they found such and such - any reasonable person would say - sure - just cancel the order and thank you for letting me know.

It seems the OP's seller did too much dancing around and thus gave the OP an indication that they were OOS.

Hello, I prefer not to give an item number. I don't need trolls contacting the seller.

I assure you it hasn't been recalled, defective or anything else. They never had the product to ship. They refused to file the OOS cancel. They told me first they had it and it was defective and then they didn't have it cause it was defective. I'm sorry you missed me stating this. I realize this is a lengthy thread. Thanks!

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-19-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
@mg152 wrote:
FYI according to eBay employees dropshipping is only allowed if the seller has already purchased the items before listing. Now I have no idea how that would work but that’s what @Anonymous said. Ami right this time Trinton? 😀😀
Hi @mg152, dropshipping is allowed when the seller has an agreement with the supplier to sell their products or when the seller owns the products prior to the buyer making their purchase. We do not allow for sellers to list items on eBay and then order the product from another site to be shipped directly to the buyer after a purchase is made. More information about our policies on dropshipping can be found here and here.

@Anonymous Perhaps I'm missing it but I don't see where in those policies it says that the seller is not allowed to list items on eBay and then order the product from another site to be shipped directly to the buyer after a purchase is made. It seems that there are quite a few sellers doing this so I'm curious if that actually rule is stated somewhere.