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where-fading-princesses-live · 1 year

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eBay Rant

Boy, oh, boy do I have a juicy eBay rant coming your way.

So, I’ve been buying on eBay since 2016 and never run into major issues with sellers.

The stupidest seller I ever came across was one such person who thought it smart to ship me a *porcelain* doll in a cardboard box with no outer protection, and of course, she broke into a million pieces and I basically got her for free, lol. I never thought anyone could be more stupid than that.

But this one takes the cake. 🎂

So, I’m looking at this from two sides—as a buyer and a seller. I’m also a part-time seller myself. I don’t sell very often because I don’t have too much to sell; but if I want to downgrade and need the money, I’ll part with a few items in my own collection. I usually sell occasional doll items and have never had a major issue with buyers (I’ve had more issues with Facebook Marketplace than eBay), but naturally, if a customer had a complaint, I would not have responded in the way this bloke did.

Well, there’s a first for everything, right?

I’ve been buying and collecting high quality photos of old Hollywood stars for some time now and I purchased a Don Knotts photo on Sunday, January 1 (Don Knotts is one of my faves and I have quite a collection on him). The photo finally arrived on Monday, January 9 but unfortunately, it was not the high quality I expected. The seller claimed in the item description that the photo was from an original negative from a film print of a Steve Allen show episode (which are hard to find; only a few episodes exist on DVD). But naturally, the old Steve Allen shows (as most old tv shows back in the 50s) were not on film. They typically ‘’filmed’’ live using a process called kinescope, which is not tape or film, and the quality tends to be very low (you’ll notice any Steve Allen show episodes uploaded to YouTube are very poor quality, because that was the low, cheap quality they processed the show to be shown on the very small tv screens; there is no high definition version that exists, even with restoration. The quality looks worse on our big flat screens, something that was not very noticeable back then on small tube television sets in the 50s). But judging by the seller photo, it looked like it might be a higher quality glossy that I’m used to. I’ve also purchased some photos from the Red Skelton Hour that also used the same process of The Steve Allen Plymouth Show, but they were actual stills used to advertise the show in the newspapers at the time, so the quality was better. So, that’s what I was expecting, more or less.

But I get a photo that looks like this:

And to be fair, that is the quality of the videos you will see, but the seller photo just made me think otherwise. Normally, I don’t buy items from sellers who are too cheap to afford a basic scanner to scan their items, because it’s hard to rely on crappy cell phone pictures that don’t determine what the photo will look like in person, but I decided to take a chance, because you know… I’m a simple man. If I see Don Knotts, I click, lol. And I’m a big fan of The Steve Allen Show.

The seller, despite only being on eBay since January 2022, also had good reviews from buyers (I always review their profile and reviews before buying, if I haven’t bought from them before just to make sure they’re okay). He was at 100% when I bought the photo but more on that later.

So, to make a long story longer, I requested a refund on the day of delivery (January 9). I stated why I was returning the item when I opened the refund request. The seller responded on Tuesday, January 10. First red flag was that he did not use pleasantries. ‘’Hi, how are you? May I ask why you are returning the photo?’’ That’s how I would respond.

No, here was his abrupt response. And terrible grammar to boot (no punctuation at the end of his sentence, but I’m not here to be a Grammar Nazi).

‘’What is wrong with the photo?’’

(And I’ve blocked my name but really this seller does not deserve to be protected for privacy reasons; he is a cautionary tale for anyone on eBay.)

But another thing that was strange, too, was that I have returned some photos before in the past or requested refunds for photos that were not to my standards, and the sellers were always polite and very rarely ever asked questions about my returns. They always refunded me promptly. There’s really no reason for a seller to ask, ‘’What’s wrong with the photo?’’ Buyers don’t necessarily need a reason for a refund; sometimes they change their mind. Yes, I’m aware of buyer scams, but I’ve cancelled orders before for buyers who just had their own reasons for no longer wanting the item. It isn’t my business to ask. For instance, someone wanted to buy an American Girl Doll from me and changed their mind at the last minute because they had a surgery coming up. Understandable. I moved on to the next interested buyer. The less you ask of your buyers, the better. They don’t need to explain themselves. If they don’t like it or it doesn’t match the item description, they have a right to return it.

I wanted a refund for an item I thought was going to be higher quality, but I got a very fuzzy, blurry photo. It wasn’t the seller’s fault; it just wasn’t what I expected.

Well, this guy has only been on eBay since January 2022 (and he’s not just a seller, but also a buyer; in fact, he has more reviews as a buyer than a seller, five pages worth, and he only had seven reviews as a seller at the time I bought the photo), so I should’ve known right off the bat he’s a newbie who isn’t familiar with the standard eBay procedure in how to deal with customers.

But in my experience, the sellers NEVER directly message me to ask me questions about why I’m returning the item or requesting a refund. I always state why when I make the request.

I always maintain cordiality no matter how rude the person I’m dealing with (I’ve worked customer service for years, so I’m used to it), so I just responded with an honest answer. I always try to treat sellers the way I would want my buyers to treat me. Most buyers would just yell at the seller for no apparent reason.

The seller seemed to soften after I kindly explained the issue and only then, did he start to use pleasantries. Because see? Niceness goes a long way. Usually if you’re nice about it, they’ll be nice right back. Usually.

Well, he clearly stated that I did not need to return the photo and that he would give me a full refund on Wednesday evening (January 11). Good. I thought the matter was solved and I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I received a notification via email that the seller accepted my return. eBay did send me a shipping label to return the item, but again, the seller told me to keep it, and I did not want to waste more money sending it back anyway (the item was $10, and shipping was $10. With tax, the total came to be $20.84, for a photo that was not very good to begin with), so I hoped the seller would keep his promise and refund me ASAP.

Come Wednesday evening, there’s no refund. I waited a few days and heard no response from the seller, so I reached out again on Monday, January 16. Most buyers wouldn’t even wait this long.

The seller did not respond so I reached out again the following Wednesday, January 18. I never heard a response. Again, the seller promised he would refund me LAST Wednesday. It had been over a week now. I think I gave him more than enough time to issue me that refund. I also saw him listing new items on his store between the time I messaged him three times, so he was clearly more preoccupied with his own business than actually assisting a customer. He was ignoring all my messages. I was not a priority to him.

I wasn’t sure if I should wait for his response, but I was starting to think I was never going to see that $20 again. My first mistake was not asking eBay Customer Support to step in, but they gave me a message on the 9th when I opened the case that they would only be available to help until January 13, so it was already past the window for me to contact them, and I couldn’t figure out how to contact them through the website directly anyway (there was a number to call which I should have tried, and their live chat wasn’t very useful either). In all my years buying on eBay, I never had to escalate a return case to eBay Customer Support because the sellers always resolved the issue in a timely manner and never ignored my inquiries. Frankly, I just wasn’t sure what to do next. This seller was purposely giving me a hard time.

So, I was admittedly losing patience now and reached out to PayPal directly on Wednesday, January 18 (PayPal always refunds me for merchants who refuse to do so). I gave them all my documentation. I explained the issue and provided them with screenshots of my eBay order, the conversation I had with the seller showing that he clearly promised me a refund, and an Account Statement that detailed my credit (showing date of purchase, the order ID, and the card I used to pay for the item).

On Thursday, January 19, I left a negative review for the seller because he ignored all my messages and I think I waited long enough for him to respond, and if he just issued me a refund in the first place like he said he would, I wouldn’t have to be going through all this. This is also the first negative review I've ever had to write up simply because I never had to before. I prefer not to write them if I can avoid it, but this experience has been very trying. Most buyers would just go straight to the reviews and start lashing out at the seller before contacting the seller first, but I think I followed all the steps. I contacted the seller first, chatted politely with him in private, and agreed to settle the issue, so there was no reason for me to write a negative review, and that’s usually how I go about it. I’ve only written maybe two neutral reviews (which one seller had eBay remove and another asked me to change to positive after he refunded me the difference for overcharged shipping), but otherwise, I try to avoid it. I’m not out to ruin a seller’s perfect 100% rating on purpose. But this seller did not handle the issue properly and I think I gave him a fair chance. I also worded my review as kindly as possible despite my frustration. His rating is now down to 99.1% (not counting the false positives he’s received as a buyer from other sellers but more on that later).

After reviewing the details of my case, on Tuesday, January 24, PayPal denied my case because I accidentally deleted the PayPal receipt, and I wasn’t able to recover the file from my email because it was more than 7 days ago. PayPal did give me from Tuesday, January 24 to Friday, January 27 to provide them the additional documentation of my receipt, but there was no way to recover it. All I had was the Account Statement to show proof of credit. They said ‘’because we never received documentation that proves you are due a credit’’ they unfortunately had to deny me. Because I reached out to PayPal, the Return was automatically closed on eBay on the 18th. Well, I was a little disappointed they didn’t see my side. It was the first time PayPal denied me.

It’s mostly my fault because it’s the first time I’ve failed to save the PayPal receipt. I usually always archive them in my emails when I place the order and save the receipt until the order arrives in case I need a refund, but I guess I just wasn’t thinking. Oh well. I had 10 days to appeal my case to PayPal, but since I can’t recover the receipt, I decided not to pursue the refund further and let it go. Sure, I’m short $20 now but I know for the future to just save the receipts and ask eBay to step in first. It’s not really a big deal, just a lesson to be learned.

I thought about disputing the charge directly through my bank or credit card company, but it’s such a hassle to go through all that for $20. If the charge was more, I would consider it, but I also don’t want the bank to think I’m attempting to commit ‘’friendly fraud’’ so again, I just decided to let it go. Life’s too short to worry about stuff like that. It’s not worth the aggravation and I have more important things to worry about.

On the same day PayPal closed my case, I did manage to reach out to eBay Customer Service via Facebook messenger (which I should have done in the first place) to just to double check if there wasn’t anything more they could do. They were very sympathetic to my case, but they explained because ‘’a dispute was opened with PayPal. Once this happens, it would take precedence over our claims process, and we would no longer have the ability to issue a refund on the order. It definitely isn't that we don't want to help, our hands are just tied. If you haven't already, I would encourage you to reach out to PayPal and see if the case can be appealed, or what other options they may have to help. We hope this is resolved soon.’’

So, that was that, and I just decided to let it go because there was nothing else to be done, and I didn’t think more of it. That was four days ago.

BUT WAIT... THERE’S MORE

So, this morning, I see the seller messaged me at 11 AM, practically harassing me over the negative review I left for him. Like I need more stress in my life, lol.

Sorry, I’m lmfao right now, this is so rich.

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

And, oh the awful grammar. Dude, please do yourself a favor and go back to school. I’m losing brain cells trying to make sense of this.

Something’s wrong with me? Mmkay. No, I think something is wrong with you. I asked you three times for a refund, and you chose to ignore me. You do realize it’s been three weeks, right? Or can’t you tell time?

First off, I did not ‘’keep the photo free of charge.’’ lol what? 🤣 I paid appx. $20.84 for the photo that you NEVER REFUNDED, so you basically kept my $20 for yourself. Even if I printed out the return label to ship it back to you, you probably STILL would not have refunded me, and I would have been short even more money than I already am right now. (I’d return it now, but I no longer have the shipping label, and I doubt anyone would want this crummy photo. The 2 bids you see were both placed by the Gixen Mirror service on my behalf. There was no other competition.)

Also, sorry I wasted YOUR precious time sending you three messages, two of which you ignored, and having to go through PayPal and having them review my case for an additional week. Yes, I clearly wasted YOUR time. 🤣 Dude, really. It’s been 20 days since I opened the return on the 9th, and it’s been 18 days since I last heard from you. I gave you more than enough time to refund me, which you failed to do.

I’m sorry, I just can’t right now. XD I honestly think this guy is brain damaged. Ngl

(Also, a funny thing happened when he shipped me the item. He assumed I was married (for some reason???) and addressed me on the envelope as ‘’Mrs. So-and-So.’’ Like… you *never ever* assume a woman’s marital status, or *anyone’s* marital status for that matter, like for real… I didn’t let it bother me, but still, it was hilarious. I don’t think he’s very smart.)

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

In all seriousness, I did not think my review was unfair. I only stated I'd been waiting for a refund the seller promised since January 11. I understand, of course, if he was busy filling other orders, but I gave him more than enough time to refund me and sent him two additional follow-up messages, one on January 16 and another on the 18th and he never responded to my inquiries. He's just now responding.

I just think it’s ridiculous that I’d been waiting for him to refund me since January 11, and, even if he was busy, he could have temporarily set aside his orders for a measly minute. I’m sure it doesn’t take nearly as long to send a refund. It took him six days to ship my order, so he’s clearly in no rush to fill orders. There was no reason for him not to take two minutes out of his day to issue me a refund. Most sellers I’ve dealt with in the past issued me a refund in no more than three days at most. He intended to drag this out longer than necessary. Also, the cordial thing for him to do, if he was so busy, was to reply to my messages explaining he would get back to me as soon as possible, and I would’ve understood. I’m aware sellers have lives outside of eBay, but usually if there’s a delay for whatever reason, a *good* seller will always keep me informed.

A *good* seller cares about customer satisfaction, as in responding to customer inquiries at your earliest convenience. If it were me filling a refund request, I would not wait weeks and weeks to get them their money. I would do so right away. And if life happens, just reach out. I basically did all the work messaging the seller regarding the issue. He did not have the common courtesy to reach out to me and explain why it was taking him so long.

One time, I messaged a seller to ask when they would ship an item after a week had gone by since placing the order, and they responded by saying their wife had suddenly passed away and there would be a slight delay in shipping, and of course I understood, and wished them sympathy and simply told them to take all the time they needed. Another time, a seller informed me they were out-of-town on vacation and would ship my item as soon as they returned, and I wished them a good trip and there was no rush. I received both items as promised from these sellers who were kind enough to take the time to explain the delay. This seller, however, did not bother telling me he was busy filling other orders, so how was I to know? Also, a few more reviews were left for him from other buyers a few weeks AFTER I opened my return case, so he should have refunded me first before he filled other orders. Why keep me waiting? And he only had until January 31st before eBay closed the Return. Why wait until the last minute? I feel like he was doing so on purpose, lol. There was absolutely no communication with him. Most sellers will ghost you if you agree on a refund. Sometimes, they say they will refund you and never follow through, and just keep your money, so naturally I assumed I’d been ghosted.

Again, he just didn’t go about this the right way. If you say you will issue me a refund on January 11, but there’s a delay for whatever reason, he should have reached out to me. Again, I waited several days before reaching out to him, trying to give him time to respond. I tried to follow up with two additional messages which went completely ignored, so at that point, there was no more excuse. The fact that he’s just NOW responding to me on Saturday, January 28, 11 days after the Return was closed by eBay and four days after PayPal closed my case, it just says enough about this seller in general. Obviously, a procrastinator. It shouldn’t take you nearly a whole month to give a customer’s money back. JMO

I always maintained cordiality and never resorted to threats, so I'm not sure why he feels the need to threaten me now. I have since blocked him, but I did reach back out to eBay Customer Support on Messenger and showed them this seller is going out of his way to harass me. I've been buying on eBay since 2016 and never encountered a character quite like this one. No buyer has ever left me a negative review either because I always try to be reasonable and understanding. I don't want to cause any more trouble, I'm just letting them know this eBay seller is prone to harassing his customers and I just hope he doesn't treat other customers in similar fashion in the future.

So, eBay did respond and said, ‘’Thank you! You're completely entitled to your feedback, and you don't have to delete it. We'll go ahead and report the seller on our end so our Trust team can take appropriate action based on their findings. On your end, I recommend not engaging with this user further. Please keep us in the loop and let us know if you run into any other issues, we're here to help.’’

So, I hope nothing more comes of this and this guys just quietly goes away.

BUT WAIT... THE PLOT THICKENS

I did investigate him further and found out, as a buyer, he has several false positives from other sellers. He’s had at least four complaints from four different sellers for failing to pay for items, despite their constant notices and reminders. I wish I looked into him further before buying from him, because obviously, if he has an issue paying sellers, then he surely has an issue refunding his customers. But I probably wouldn’t have taken that into account, since I rarely request refunds and rarely experience issues with my items. I’m not sure if anything was done about it, apart from the orders being cancelled, or if these sellers tried to contact eBay’s Trust team to report him, but I’m just putting it out there. Unfortunately, sellers cannot leave negative feedback for buyers, so if a seller experiences an issue with buyers, and they leave a review, it will just be counted as a false positive. I wish I’d read all the reviews thoroughly. So, despite his generally positive reviews from other buyers, I wouldn’t let this deter you. He clearly has issues when it comes to money, whether it’s paying on time or issuing a refund.

If you ever deal with him, proceed with caution.

I will say this whole experience has given me weeks long headaches and an upset stomach, but I also won’t say it wasn’t at least remotely entertaining. Shakespeare would’ve loved this kind of drama.

#personal shit

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