Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

[esell-resell]

Has this happenned to anyone else?

I sold a Computer Server to a buyer on Ebay, this guy phoned me, we discussed everything about the server and shipping. Now this guy was cheap I could tell just by him whinning about how much the shipping would be and how long it would take.

So me being a nice person and I know what it is like to have to wait and wait for my package, I told him to send me $90 and I would express ship it out to him and he would have it in 3 - 4 days. He agreed and sent me the extra $90 plus I gave him a deal on the server $169.99 , when I could have easily got $200. The server weighs 70lbs and is 26"longX19"highX9"wide and has to be shipped in it's proper sitting place so I had to label it with THIS SIDE UP stickers and also HEAVY stickers (70lbs) and alot of FRAGILE AND HANDLE WITH CARE stickers. It cost me $280.00 to ship it to him (no lie I have the receipt from UPS on my account) and only charged him $90. When I packaged the server I did it at the UPS office that I go to all the time and the UPS agent helped me actually. I wrapped it in packing cardboard and used a bubble packing envelope for extra cushion on the back of the tower server so that none of the conections would be broken. It was then triple wrapped with cardboard boxes customly made top fit tight around the server and several layers of red Tuck Tape were used to seal it all up.

The buyer received it I believe 6 days later because some of the paperwork for the border ( Canada to USA) were not proper so it took a few more days. When his even NORMAL shipping, like the cheapest from Winnipeg Manitoba Canada to New York USA would have been $133.00 and would have taken 2 - 3 weeks to get there. Remember he only paid $90?

Anyway 3 days after he received the server he sends me a message that it was damaged during shipping because it was not packaged properly and he wants all his money back and also the shipping money. In my listing I had listed no returns or exchanges. I want all of you to know that I have sold many of these units and I always, ALWAYS run a system check on them before shipping them out and I have never had a problem. So I replied to him that I most certainly did package it properly and I asked him to send me pictures please and I also asked him why he would accept a package that was damaged. He would not respond or nor did he send any pictures.

Yesterday I received a buyer complaint thing from Ebay and Paypal puts a $179.99 hold on my account. I responded to the complaint and explained everything in detail and informed the buyer that I would be contacting Ebay and UPS this morning.

This morning I woke up a little later than usual 11am and noticed that the buyer had already escalated the complaint with Ebay at 6am. I immediately phoned Ebay and spoke to someone in the Ebay Buyer Protection department and I explained everything to the rep and also that I packed it in front of the UPS agent who helped me and that the buyer would not send me any pictures, and I expressed to the rep that I think what the buyer did was buy a different server locally because I noticed on his account that a few days after he bought my server, he was buying Tape drives for a completely different server, and after speaking with him on the phone he had said that he was in need of a server badly because they did not have one.

So here is what the Ebay rep did during the phone call I had with him. He ruled in the buyers favor and now the buyer can take 7 - 14 days to ship it to me and he can send it anyway he wants, so I will be waiting for 4- 6 weeks at the very least to get back a BROKEN server that has now cost me 280.00$ in shipping and is probably now worth nothing because here is what I believe happenned the buyer found a server locally and then read the buyer protection policy and then damaged the server ON PURPOSE then filed the claim. I know I cannot prove it 100% but I know that is what happenned.

So now I am out over $550.00 and apparently there is nothing I can do about it. I am sooo tired of getting ripped off on Ebay by buyers that LIE and Ebay rules in there favor all the time. I have 2 kids and this is christmas time and this extra money is for gifts for them, I am so UPSET right now with Ebay that I am about ready to quit selling on here completely.

I go out of my way to ENSURE that items are packed EXTRA well so that damage does not happen, and now I get ripped off by some goon that uses the policy to get away with it.

BEWARE SELLERS this can happen to you.

I think Ebay needs to wake up and change some of this NON-SENSE policy loop holes that these scammers use to scam you out of money. Oh and get this that buyer can now leave me NEGATIVE feedback but I cannot do the same to him, I can either leave positive or no feedback!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

[imdesperadotoo]

Insurance. It's cheaper than refunding. Then it's USPS fault and they don't fall for the oky doke.

[kraftykara1967]

Amen! I'm tired of those buyers leaving negative feedback. Privately. No way to know who left what. They don't contact Me. Just secretly give low rating. I always fix problems even if I take a loss.. tired of the silent bashing.

[hansonfleming]

as i know the folks at ebay are reading these comments aswell haha ill tell u yes ebay JUSTdid th same thing to me today i have a company that went under as my printer for my company broke but is worth a good penjy to some one who could afford to fix. so anyways iget this buyer from canada (im in oregon in the states) hits me up threw an online forum we exchange nums text a bit we go to ebay for him to buy the printer he agrees to all shipping and crateing costs, he pays me, i crate per his instrouctions, he goes threw a non ebay approved second hand shipping co the shipping co tells buyer he has to pay out another 100 or so to have it profesinolly crated he then canceled the shipping order and requested a full refund of 3500 when he canceled his shipping order he than breeched our contract and the contract on ebay i get an email from ebay saying there refunding his money so i call an they tell me "contract or not how would you feel if the thing you bought wasnt ready for shipping so we r ruling in the buyers favor" (direct quote from Dave G ebay resolution manager) so now im sittin with a packed up printer for 22 days that if never packed i could have still been useing to cut vynil and as well didn get my rent paid and my sons now gonna have a **bleep**pppppy xmas aswell. So I feel for u man, what i am doing about it is i am taking ebay to small claims for there facilitaion and enforcement of buyers breech of contract as ebay also has seller protection buy that whole commitment to buy link evey one has to click on leaves ebay fully liable. i know it wont make my sons xmas good rite now but as im aquirein losses my attorney says i got a full on case u should take em to small claims aswell if u have the footing to and in small claims it makes it so they cant have a lawyer but ya after this is all said and done i willlllll NEVER use ebay again and this is my first time evvvvver selling on here biggest waist of my time ever second to my x wife lol any ways hope goes better for u hope u have a better holliday ps sorry iv been holding that rant in since this morning

[ramjet2573]

I agree with you why do we sellers let ebay make all the money and treat us like **bleep**.

[cynthiapolaris]

It's a love/hate relationship. As a buyer, I still love shopping on eBay, but I absolutely hate selling there. WAY more sellers scammed by buyers than buyers scammed by sellers. I have a hard time saying "no" although, if my positive rating wasn't being ransomed, I would at least try.

[bettybiscuitxx]

This is happening to me right now for the 5th time! But it looks like the choice is already made before even reading anything.

I sold a pc to a buyer an old one but in working order, clearly stated all updated, Bios everything. buyer reported it to ebay 4 days after receiving, saying it does not work. so i replied to them explaining i sent them a message stating i was taking the 2 working days to fully test the item and safely packaging it and i said it was fully working. They then said that the fault was CMOS CHECKSUM ERROR and they found the error installing windows xp. He also tried windows 7, however i had already sucessfully installed linux Pear OS without a problem over the 2 days, Updated the bios it was perfect. Anyway i told him that, and i offered some advice to try and get by the mess, so he proceeded to check off the list saying nothings working, i thought ok i will test to see if he;s really checking, so i said is the chipset fan installed correctly, and he said yes its installed working fine... I NEVER SENT IT WITH A CHIPSET FAN... so i confronted him and he later said he made a mistake he meant case fan... what? Anyway, i told him that i had great suspicion that he created the fault messing with the bios setup or general setup as many things can cause CMOS ERRORs. Long story short i dont want to receive faulty pc back where a possability all parts could have been effected in the damage caused and now papal have held 77 gbp, and i don't run a shop.. so i am going to take the issue further with my bank account because if the funds lift it will bounce and charge my account. This has happened 1 too many times and the 4 times before i have let it go. I am on Benifits and tried to make some extra money for my sons christmas.. at least if it gets legal i have aid, thats a plus. There is a video of the computer fully working on my youtube account which i will be keeping as evidence, with me typing the date into the notepad, also upload time and date.

[ramjet2573]

i agree.... wish facebook would start an auction site

[ginia7400]

I am kind of going through a similar ordeal. I always sale my items as is. This over bears anything the buyer ha to claim. The buyer then is responsible for all faults of item. Did you indicate as is when selling item?
I escalated dispute when buyer claimed item is not as described providing eBay with snap shots of all emails and entire posting of item. Also, the buyer put in claim after two days of picking up (in my case). I provided eBay with that evidence. Some buyers are not honest and want to either get stuff free or don't pay attention to detail, make a mistake and try to use the resolution center to rectify their inability to pay attention to description when item is being sold. We have rights as sellers by adding "selling as is" and keeping all evidence, just in case. Did u receive the item back from buyer? That is not fair to you.

[sd70mac12]

To help protect yourself from paypal TAKING funds from your checking account, notify your banking institution that you DO NOT want "ANY AMOUNT"  withdrawn by PAyPAL. It cost me $29 to do this . It works!!

[dr.fp]

As long as we keep selling on Ebay then Ebay will keep abusing sellers, Ebay is the middle man and has been able to convince the US Gov they have no responsibility and they can regulate the Market as they see fit. Ebay does not have to answer to US laws, with Pay Pal they can steal back the money and give it to the buyer with them keeping the item, if Ebay demanded the item sent back with proof then it would not be stealing and a refund, but that is not happening. Another thing is the overseas sellers are getting tens to hundreds of negatives in so many months yet due to the large selling accounts get ignored by the US based Ebay and allowed to continue to sell inferior merchandise to US customers, A US seller who has just a very few negatives in years of selling is sanctioned by Ebay

If Ebay reads this, head the warning all great companies have their day and in my lifetime I have seen great companies wither and die for shortcomings. Ebay you are creating your own downfall.

Require buyers to return merchandise before refunds
Require proof of not as described

[misfitdostilerium]

Really, they broke 2 cast iron chimenea's that I was having delivered to my house. They broke the first one and left it behind my garage. No where near my front/back door. We called Arctic and they sent another using UPS again. They broke that one too and again placed it behind my garage.  The final one was send via FedEx and arrived intact. Please don't tell us they aren't barbarians at times. They are underpaid drivers that have to haul around heavy items ALONE and work until 8 or 9 pm. They break things often and then hide them. They have also delivered our smaller non breakable packages three doors down, 3 TIMES. So not only do they break things but the obviously can't always read the proper address.

[towerista]

If I am selling ANY computer component I will always (assuming it's compatible) stick it in a working machine and run an SIW or Speccy indepth report on the pc hardware and save it externally.  The in depth report almost always includes stuff we can't even see on the components, ie serial numbers of individual parts.  I include a copy of this report with my despatch confirmation email, so the time and date of sending cannot be questioned;nor can the validity of the components and the fact that they were fully working in a pc at the date of despatch.  I make a statement at the bottom of the page for any PC component auction stating that I always do this as protection for myself.  Before I thought of this I used to do ultraviolet pen marks or similar.  Why?  Because I've lost count of the times that blatantly obviously scams have been attempted on me.  I'm tired of this scenario.  Although feedback used to be a good indicator it's now virtually pointless.  After all, I CAN'T neg someone who has tried to scam me; even more unfair is the fact that if I EVEN DRAW ATTENTION to the fact with a neutral and factual comment regarding their dishonesty then guess what ?  They still get to NEG me with revenge feedback when all I've done wrong is point out their game plan for other sellers to heed the warning.

I very very rarely sell on eBay now.  It's simply not worth it.  I still buy (after all, it's a buyers' heaven!), but I'm now more likely to buy on Amazon.  It's consistently cheaper and ALWAYS trouble free.  Oh yes, and no shenanigans (or the fear of) with the Paypal racket.  I only came across this thread after a phone call from my daughter in distress saying "Mum, someone bought my old iPhone etc. etc.".  Grrrrrrrrrrr.  How dare they rip my baby off.  Someone tried to rip my son off once.  ONCE!!

Thank you for reading my rant and I sincerely hope things change for the eBay sellers, or a workable and fair alternative becomes a viable option.  Because, like all unfair and corrupt institutions, eBay are doing little more than plotting their own inevitable downfall.

[justcruising_2008]

Ebay is guilty of a mass crime- its called accessory after fact -thats when when someone knows of a crime and provides material assistance to the criminal.

 EBay's action, or lack of action, when informed of a fraudulent/false claim of "Not As Described Return/Refund" by a Buyer and issues a refund to such Buyer directly without any authorisation fits this crime. And worse does not ensure that the seller recieves the goods back.
It's a corrupt way to get paid fees multiple times actively encouraging fraudulent claims by Buyers.

It is well past the time that the government watchdogs need to investigate Ebays practices

[coldnaps]

When someone says the item was not as descroibed as in damaged, always ask for photographic proof. If they don;t orovide it, insist the oitem be returned for a full refund. Surprising how many buyers suddenly withdraw complaints

[strictlyjs]

buyer said the shoes i sent him were fake. i know they are not but ebay sided in their favor. buyer sent back a worthless pair of shoes which were totally different than the ones i sold him. called ebay and they said i am SOL. they said sorry but its the cost of doing business. sometimes you lose money. unbelievable. its so easy to rip off people on ebay. it makes me wonder why i work for when i can take advantage of innocent people and get away with highway robbery.