I bid on (and won) a book that cost, with shipping, $6.45. I sent payment via PayPal the day after the auction ended, and later that day, $3.45 was returned to my credit card. I sent the seller an email yesterday asking him what the story was, and haven't heard back from him.
On my My Eb*y page, I accidentally deleted the item before I could leave feedback. I can still reference the item number for feedback, but how long can I do that? Also, how do I get my three bucks back?
Am I overreacting? As a relative novice to online auctions, is there some intricacy that I overlooked? I don't want to badmouth the guy if he doesn't have it coming.
Give him a few days to get back to you first... was the book or the shipping $3.45? If the shipping, perhaps he is shipping it at no cost to you...right, & pigs might fly! Main thing...over only $6.45...ahem, now $3.00 don't get excited yet, wait & see what he says, I had an old lady in England Refund me over half the price of an item & the shipping because the dear soul only wanted to get a certain amount for an old cartoon book of her grandsons & felt I had paid way too much...truth is it was worth five times what I paid to me. :-)
On 16 Aug 2004 17:58:29 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Phil Crow) calmly ranted:
I get email notices from the seller, Ebay, and Paypal when I win something, Phil. Look at one of those. If you don't have any of those, you're probably SOL. It hurts when you don't pay attention, huh?
My worst experience was when a lady sent me a Stanley #4 with a broken part. To her, a two-piece tote was "crack in handle" and she had bad enough photography to hide it. She also "forgot" to ship it for a week and gave me a bad feedback (my only one) for calling her on it. She broke Ebay's rule about vengeance feedback.
--============================================-- Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ---
Well, that just doesn't make sense. Why would he cheat him out of $3.00, but not the whole $6.45? It has to be a mistake of some kind. Lots of people don't read their email daily.
Paypal's dispute resolution process is very clearly explained on their website. I like to use paypal for payment because I get automatic protection for value up to $500. If you follow the process, it could ultimately lead to Paypal covering your loss, instead of the seller. Many legitimate sellers quake in their boots when you mention "Paypal dispute resolution process". They know its in their best interest to play fair, rather than chance the bad ratings and possibly getting kicked off ebay.
How long has it been since the auction ended? Some people may not check email daily or he/she could be out of town.
You can search by bidder including completed items and locate the item then save to favorites. You can reference and leave feedback for 90 days or more so there is really no rush.
Not necessarily. It may be only three bucks but eBay is based on trust and a dishonest seller may be screwing a large number of buyers. On the other hand, I don't know why he would only keep part of the money and return the rest so I would guess that there is some explanation for this. I'd give him a day or so to reply then email him again - the first one may not have gone through or may have been deleted by mistake. If he still doesn't respond, read up on eBays and PayPals policy for dispute resolution and notify both - they will notify the seller. You have plenty of time so don't rush and do something you may regret - negative feedback is detrimental and eBay won't remove it if you post in error. Good luck and let us know how it comes out.
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 20:48:18 -0700, Larry Jaques vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:
remove ns from my header address to reply via email
Which is? Sorry. I had a crap deal from a (commercial, not private) vendor. I posted facts about equipt failure, and was branded an "unsatisfiable customer".
This was discussed recently. Most vendors will not post feedback until the buyer does. I post neg feedback, so does the vendor. I have no further fecirse to stating my views. Where does "vengeance" start?
***************************************************** Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so that neither of them can do what they want to because of the other one.
Yea, actually, Ebay has NO rules about "vengeance feedback". they supposedly have this "hands off policy" about feedback that means that they have no responsiblity for its content. Of course, like ignoring it when someone farts in church, this is a polite fiction, because they DO have the power to remove and edit feedback, and, some primitive guidelines as to what sort of speech is NOT allowed - and they DO use those powers.
Yea, I have posted some essays both here and in the feedback forum on Ebay (which by the by, is worth reading, as a LOT of folks are frustrated by the current way feedback is handled). I have gotten some serious arguments from sellers both here and there because of the changes I advocate in the feedback system, but, most of their arguments are based on a self-serving and incorrect interpretation of what the feedback system was designed to do, and how it works. DAGS to find my suggested changes to the system. I, for one, thought it was a reasonable change, and, I have gotten a number of replies indicating that OTHERS think so too. Now...as for being screwed on Ebay... It depends on how much of your life you are willing to burn for $4 or so. At least, you can file a complaint with Ebay against the vendor. If you want to push it a bit further, you can file a fraud complaint with the State Attorney General's office in the state where the vendor lives. However, for that amount I can promise that the BEST you will get is a polite letter from the bureaucrats, saying that you are welcome to show up in their courts, with a lawyer, and pursue the matter further. It does happen now and again, and ranges from never getting anything, to getting the totally wrong thing, to finding that what you got had carefully concealed flaws. As an example, I just bought a "network card and Postscript ROM for HP 3si/4si printer". Granted I got it pretty cheaply. However, alas, the network card was not the Jet Direct card I thought it was, and, the Postscript rom will ONLY work in a 4SI printer. My fault, though, as I did not check things out QUITE enough. However, the description given by the vendor DID say it was for the two printers (I have a 3SI I wanted to use the ROM in) and, the picture looked like a jetdirect card, but the name was in enough shadow that I could not see that it was a JetXPrint card (which would "work" but needed special setup software that was not included). I did send the vendor a couple of testy messages, though, suggesting that the next person might not be quite so willing to allow him to avoid being dinged with a negative. "Let the buyer beware" is VERY true on Ebay as well as in many transactions in our lives. DO the best you can, and expect to get burned now and again. Regards Dave Mundt
Ebay does not really care. If you are willing to pay them $20 they will remove negative feedback but thst is about all I have seen them do for anyone. As long as you understand Ebay has about the same customer protections as you can expect in a 3d world straw market you will be OK.
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 18:04:22 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@esper.com (Dave Mundt) calmly ranted:
Not any more, evidently. They used to have those specific words in their feedback policy overview. It probably wasn't PC, eh?
At the vendor's response to a negative IF the buyer's response was warranted. But it's only the bad vendors who come back with negatives. Good guys come back with an "I'm sorry and I wish you'd contacted me first. I'll fix that immediately." It's absolutely in their best interest.
I read those and agreed, IIRC.
Right, and hope it's minor, as with all things negative.
--============================================-- Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ---
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 15:39:30 -0700, Larry Jaques vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:
remove ns from my header address to reply via email
Replying to Dave and Larry....
I had already been through the p4rocess of returning the goods. They were "inspected" and returned to me. I was not about to throw away more postage costs, by trying again.
It may be sensible, but there seems to be a _lot_ of vengeance feedback by vendors. It almost seems standard.
It's a pity Ebay does not take more care of its customers. I did one deal there that was really worthwhile, and the vendor and I patted backs publicly and privately. It worked, we were both happy. Then the next two went sour, and there's nothing I can do as far as Ebay goes.
As you said, Dave, I could go to the authorities, but they don;t give a damn, unless you want to do the job for them.
Will HAL.
***************************************************** Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so that neither of them can do what they want to because of the other one.
eBay did/does have a policy prohibiting "vengence feedback". And their feedback policy is pure, 100% BS. My only negative was from someone the entire rec.crafts.metalworking group knows and avoids (they spent a couple of years making a game out of spotting his latest eBay user name...he was kicked off under at least 15 different names) and it was after I filed a mail fraud complaint AND WON IT. eBay kicked the user off the group but left his retalitory feedback. Strangely enough, another user I had dealt with (without any problems) who left me positive feedback was kicked off by eBay and his positive feedback was changed to "neutral" by eBay. So, take eBay feedback with MANY grains of salt as it isn't worth the bits wasted on it.
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 23:52:38 +0800, Old Nick vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:
remove ns from my header address to reply via email
Shit! Even _I_ have no idea where "fecirse" came from! And I was sober! :-<
Svyis;;u. O tr,r,nrt s dyptu snpiy s yu[ody ejp ypivj=yu[rf s ejp;r ;ryyrt pmr lru yp yjr tohjy! >H?
***************************************************** Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so that neither of them can do what they want to because of the other one.
I've been out of touch since last Wed (BIL's 21st birthday--in New Orleans; a good time was had by all) but I sent the guy another email today and hope to hear back soon. If that yields nothing after a few days, it's on to Ebay and PayPal.
Larry, I got no notice from Ebay or the seller, just PayPal. That's why the spidey-sense started tingling. Also, you're right--I wasn't paying all that much attention, but my three bucks is my three bucks.
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