How Long Should I Wait for Shipping

[TelePlay]

This is a case of what I call "Creative Listing."

I've been looking at a lot of junk coming up on eBay (phones) lately with carefully crafted words describing the item including disclaimers and carefully taken photos, or limited photos not necessarily always in focus. It's a dicey thing to go after one of these. I've gotten stuff for cheap that was a find and then paid more than I would have for less than presented condition but upon seeing the problem, have found it was covered in their photo, if you look closely, or re-read their description after getting the item.

That clock is not one of those cases. You have a good case there against the seller. Today, it really is buyer beware or are you feeling lucky. One can win or loose in either case.

Hope you get satisfaction on that clock.

[Doug Rose]

Doug,

Here is the original eBay listing: ebay listing.  The seller conveniently left out pictures of the broken side.  The clock, in person, looks much dirtier than the pictures show, but it should clean up.  I did already ask her for a partial refund.  I am not giving her positive feedback.

Larry

Larry...it is a beautiful looking clock. Being a seller on eBay, I got "item not as described" because of damage by the USPS to CHINA and the buyer refused to go to the PO. REFUSED. We opened a claim, but they had to see the phone. Wouldn't take a picture. Drum roll........Paypal sided with the buyer, I am out the physical phone, and I have to reimburse shipping and the price of the phone  to CHINA!!! This being said....item not as described though eBay is the way to go.  Transaction price plus shipping will be froze on sellers paypal account and if they do not answer, you get the money back. At that time strike a up a partial refund, you are in control so get what you want. I am a seller and honestly this seller deserves negative feedback after you get your money. Unless you find a piece in the box, this is a total misrepresentation of the clock. I thought these dark days of eBay were gone and sellers like this gone. Sellers like this give the 98% of honest sellers a bad rep....Doug

[wds]

I have always read that telephones are on the list of items that are banned in China.  (our phones are imported from china, but they don't want to import ours).  Banned items are subject to confiscation, so the Buyer may never receive it.  I have sold several items overseas, but I always block Asia just to be safe.  

As far as the clock, I always try to give a seller every opportunity to make a transaction right, but not responding to email is an automatic neg. feedback in my opinion.  That always gets they're attention, and you can always change the feedback when they do make things right.  

[LarryInMichigan]

I didn't realize that feedback could be changed.  That should be helpful.  For what it is worth, here is the text of the seller's last message to me:

Sorry for the experience you encountered I will take a look at the pictures of the item because I normally have more pictures taken of the complete item. I look at the item before it was ship and honestly did not see any chunk of any sort or any abnormal thing wrong with the item. If you want to you may send it back to me and I will offer a refund with no problem. BUT I WILL NOT PAY FOR SHIPPING OF THE RETURNED ITEM.

But then, the previous week, she told me that she had resent the clock to me on Monday and sent me some money, but the clock was not shipped until Thursday, and she did not send me any money, so I am hesitant to believe anything.

I would prefer to keep the clock with a partial refund because I hate to have to pack and ship it, and I am afraid that she will claim that she didn't receive it.  I normally avoid things with breaks like this though.  I might research methods for patching the ivory plaskon.

Larry



Larry

[wds]

The proper way to return something is to open a case.  Ebay (Paypal) automatically creates a shipping label complete with tracking.  Once the package is delivered, it doesn't matter if the Seller denies receiving it, you get full refund including shipping. (original shipping, not return shipping)  I have always used this method to prevent the seller from playing games with the refund.

[wds]

Also, opening a case is another good way to get the Sellers attention - you can do this before you leave the neg. feedback.  I don't think the Open Case has any effect on the Sellers rating, so it's a good way to get attention without damaging the Sellers rating.  

[LarryInMichigan]

Dave,

Thank you for all of the advice.  I have never had a bad experience go this far before.  The few times that I received damaged items (most of which were damaged by poor packing), The sellers gave me a partial refund or offered to pay for return postage.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

The seller and ebay have been giving me a big hassle over this.  The seller has repeatedly ignored my requests for a partial refund and is demanding the clock be returned.  He begged me to change the negative feedback though.  Ebay agreed to pay for return shipping, BUT only if I drive to a UPS facility, AND.  I am currently on hold with an ebay rep in the Philippines who cannot understand why I don't want to drive to a drop off location.

Larry

[canuckphoneguy]

What a fiasco - it's good you left negative feedback - other ebayers need to be wary of this seller. Thanks for keeping us up to date too. Hope it's worked out soon.

[LarryInMichigan]

Well, I found out that the USPS will pick up the package from my doorstep, so I didn't have to drive somewhere to drop off the box, but I did have to repack the clock and print the shipping label.  Supposedly, ebay will refund my money once they receive verification from UPS that the the package was delivered.  Unless this seller decides to do something other than beg, I have no intention to change my feedback.  I cannot imagine what his/her problem is, but this has been one of the strangest experiences that I have had.  This $36 purchase has cost me something like $100-$150 of my time.

BTW, as far as I am aware, by US federal law, there is no obligation to pay for an item which was not ordered (and I did not order a broken clock).  I had planned to dispute the charge with my credit card company if i did not get a full refund from ebay.

In the future, I will be very hesitant to believe anything stated in an ebay listing which is not shown in pictures.

Larry

[southernphoneman]

as per ebay policy, a seller has 3DAYS to ship once payment has been cleared.i recently tried to use a BAD seller named ironbuck that seemed to like to make up his own rules. won bid on friday and paid right away,3 days went by,emailed politly asking about status of shipment, email ignored, email number 2, ignored,email number 3 came with a warning saying this is my final email to you,that if you do not respond your feedback will suffer.finally he emails me back 6 days later stating  some phony excuse,saying do i want my items or a refund? i went on ebay to have him ship the items, and got to ebay and the idiot cancelled the items. his feedback did suffer. when i was done with him his feedback went from 100%to 95.5%. since then, someone else left him negative feedback, it is now down to84.5%, you see i hate leaving negative feedback, have only done it one other time,and i WILL NEVER DO NEUTRAL it is positive or negative and if someone gets negative its because that person put themselves there.my number ONE rule is communication. when a seller ignores a customer the sale is doomed.

[Doug Rose]

A seller works hard to earn 100% feedback and the rules of eBay lean heavily towards the buyer. Everbody has personal things that come up in their lives. As a collector/buyer first and a seller second, nothing upsets us more than a negative. They are easy to give, only if you are a buyer, eBay's version of fair. darn near impossible to remove. 

eBay always sides with the buyer, that is a fact. I have had buyers take a phone apart and send it back in pieces, well most of the pieces. eBay sided with the buyer.

Yes ....there are bad sellers on eBay. Yes.....There are also  bad buyers.

It is hard work to sell on eBay. The only ones who think it is easy, are the ones who do not sell on eBay. Word up!

NO, I am not an expert on everything we sell. Hell, I am not even an expert on telephones. I have buyers all the time telling me I don't know sh*t about telephones. That shouldn't be on there.  I do not believe that your phone is authentic in its composition.  Everybody is an expert....but me. Thirty six years collecting and everyone knows more about phones.

I sell what I don't keep. I used to sell to buy more phones. Now I sell to make ends meet. A negative doesn't effect your selling one bit, unless you get a lot of them....but it sure nicks your ego. "what did I do wrong?"

NO, I do not have time to research everything we sell. I actually have a full time job and eBay is my second job. What is free time?

I'm just takin' what their givin' cause I'm doing eBay for a livin'.

I will now step down from my soapbox....Kidphone