eBay & Postage issue, need help soon.

[tokyoracer]

I did forget to add that I clearly stated in my listing that "I cannot be resoncible for any wrong infomation supplied by the buyer and/or if lost in post".
Though it's annoying that I threw out the reciept not realising it could have been important (and it was in this case). I guess I find it hard to take in that I REALLY did send the item.

Oh and I agree on the feedback front, eBay is a right farce now, it's a load of crap about sellers being dodgy, there's more dodgy buyers then sellers I am positive. If there are some nasty sellers out there the negative feedbacks will soon accumilate thus being banned. Also it's down to the buyer to choose a trusted seller. Even if it was the sellers at fault it doesn't justify removing the possibility to send negative to buyers to warn other sellers about them. This will be a ream come true for net ASBO's.

[arkanoid]

@amigadave: ah, you've yet to feel the frustration of dealing with an irrational buyer under this new system of "no negatives for buyers". In the past, buyers had to think very carefully before giving negs. Now they seem to be doing it at the drop of a hat and unfairly.

My mother recently sold a brand-new pair of Levi 501 jeans. The jeans were a labeled as 30inchs and so, naturally, she listed them as such. Anyway, some guy purchased 'em for £2.50 (a steal) and later contacted her saying they were too small for him. He claimed he had measured the waist himself and they were around 28inchs, not 30inches as described on the label. Anyway, he demanded a FULL refund, including delivery and return postage costs. This would have put my mother £8 out of pocket. She kindly refused and he gave her a negative. Totally unfair.

Just think about that, what was his basis for wanting a refund? That my mother didn't think to measure the jeans with a tape-measure? Of course she didn't, she listed them as described on the label. My mother is not a retail outlet, and she certainly isn't a dishonest person trying to "rip people off". She's just an individual selling the occasional item to make a little extra cash.

I think this new system is going to make selling on eBay a complete nightmare. People are going to give negatives for the most trivial of things and make unreasonable demands on sellers.

These types of people should not be purchasing on eBay. They should stick to retail outlets, particularly when it comes to items like clothing where they should really be tried on before purchase. If I were to buy cloths off eBay, I'd have the sense to realize that the _exact_ fit of the item is a game of roulette before you actually get to try them on and would not expect someone who listed "as described" to cough-up full postal refunds because I decided something was a "tad too tight around the waist"!

Yet this is the type of thing many private sellers are going to face from now on on eBay and if they don't meet buyer's petty expectations they'll get instant negatives.

[Boot_WB]

@Tokyoracer

Did you pay for the postage using a debit card?

If so, you may be able to get the post office to trace the transaction, (you can find out the time and date of the transaction from your bank) and hence (assuming it was recorded) the tracking number.

Personally, I always use recorded delivery, always e-mail the tracking number to the buyer, and always keep the receipt until after they confirm receipt of the item. That way, even if I lose the receipt, I still have a record of the tracking number.

I realise this is no help at this point, but £10 is a small price to pay for such a valuable lesson - it could have been a LOT worse.

Regards



Rich

[tokyoracer]

@ Boot_WB,

I think I did actually! Il dig up the info and I can use that to prove postage to the buyer. Thanks for the heads up.

[TjLaZer]

Just a heads up. There seems to be a lot of scams with "item not received"  Buyers claiming they never received the item, they then open a claim with Paypal and Paypal almost always siding with the buyer they get a refund.  Pretty nice...

[gklinger]

Add my name to the list of the disgruntled with horror stories to tell. I participate in quite a few different forums and invariably the discussion turns to eBay. What's interesting is that I haven't encountered a single person who is completely happy with eBay, hasn't been screwed at least once and wouldn't split if there was a viable alternative (we're looking at you, Google).

[tokyoracer]

Im all for Google Auctions.

[Skyraker]

Sorry to Hijack this thread but £50 for a game???

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-MOONSTONE-AMIGA-GAME-RARE_W0QQitemZ300229141659QQihZ020QQcategoryZ98929QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[stefcep2]

People this is how its got in retailing as well.  I work for an optical shop.  People come in, buy a pair of custom-made spectacles, don't like the frame shape or color after they've been made and then want a refund, complaining the glasses aren't fit for a purpose they never mentioned to the optometrist. Or they pay for cheaper single vision lenses then want more expensive multifocal lenses and argue why they now have to pay for the difference in cost in lenses.  The customer is not always right, but often a pain in the ass.

[Daedalus]

Well I've been on the other side of it. I ordered some car parts from a fairly big seller with around 99% feedback. He couldn't offer registered post even when I specifically asked him, and in the end the items never arrived. I opened a dispute and they basically said "sort it out amongst yourselves", even though he didn't have any proof of postage and started ignoring mails from both myself and eBay. I couldn't leave him negative feedback as I knew he'd leave me negative feedback, and it would be far more important to me with a low number an 100% than for him with his thousands...

In the end I had left it too long to reclaim the cost through PayPal, but even if I did, and even if the dispute had been awarded to me, I'm sure he would've left me negative once PayPal reclaimed the money. It's a harsh world really, and I know there are many, many genuine sellers out there, but I think neither feedback system works. As it was, the seller could withhold feedback, even after the buyer had done their bit, giving them unfair power over small-time buyers, but now it's the opposite way around. At the end of the day I've still got 100% for what it's worth, but took a hit of around €100 to keep it...