Ebay question: seller is now no longer registered user

[jeepgirl30]

I am so frustrated. This is the second time this has happend to me. I bought an item on ebay and used bidpay (first time for that). I didn't receive the item after a couple weeks, sent the seller an inquiry and got a nasty response they only ship 2 days a week and would let me know when it shipped. Still nothing. I went to leave feedback and now the seller is no longer registered. This happend once before but the seller did finally send the item but i could not leave feedback.

Do I have any recourse or am i just SOL?! Can this person re register and continue to sell?

This is twice in 3 months. I'm starting to get a little nervous about ebay now. If there is no recourse then what is to prevent more people from doing this? I now see that the effective date for being no longer registered is May but i won the auction Aug 3. So if ebay was aware of the problem how could this seller continue for so long?

 

[IStoleMyKidsPins]

How did you pay for the item?

 

[jeepgirl30]

I paid via bidpay this time because it was the only method the seller would take. I contacted bidpay but they will not refund. If i attempt to get credit from the credit card company bidpay will come after me for the money.

 

[Feralpeg]

I had a similar experience last year. I won an auction and paid using Paypal. I paid over $150 for the item. I didn't hear anything or receive anything for awhile, so I tried contacting the person. I tried giving them a little while to get back to me. Nothing. I contacted them again and told them that I was very unhappy and was going to contact Ebay and Paypal if I didn't hear back from them. Sure enough, he was no longer registered on Ebay. I tried contacting Paypal, but they said I waited to long and there was nothing I could do. At the time, the item they were listing was very hot. I bet they did this to multiple people and just kept changing ids. It is very frustrating. I really think Paypal needs to allow longer than 45 days for you to make a protest. That isn't very long when you are waiting for responses.

 

[ceecee]

What kind of feedback did these sellers have? I will not bid on an item if they don't have high feedback. Because they can just re-register and start again. I wouldn't wait 45 days, you need to contact Paypal sooner especially if the seller does not respond to emails after a few days.

 

[vascubaguy]

I had something like that happen to me a few years ago. I used a credit card thru paypal and I filed a claim with paypal but they said they couldn't do anything because the person had already cashed out their account. I contacted my credit card company and they credited the money back to my account. I would go that route. In my opinion, companies like bidpay and paypal need to provide better policies for maintaining the transactions. It would be very easy for them to take the money and put it in the sellers account but require a wait time for it to stay in that holding account before the seller can cash it out. That way if there is a claim, they can pull that money back for a refund.

IMO 45 days is enough time. If you pay for the item and don't receive it in a week or 2 at the most, start the claim process. There's no excuse for the exchange to take any longer. Certainly at the 30 day mark, you should have a claim going with Ebay and Paypal/Bidpay etc... as a last resort, contact the credit card company and get your money back. Bidpay is going to discourage you from filing a claim with you credit card company because if you do, they are out the money because they'd be tasked with recovering it from the seller. I believe the worst they would do is close/cancel your bidpay account.

Before you buy, always check the persons feedback! If they have lots of negatives, skip it. If they have very little or no feedback for selling, skip it (especially if it is a larger purchase). Also, if they are charging really high shipping/handling, my experience has been that you should skip it - sellers that do that typically pretty shady. I mean $30 to ship a small item that would only cost $3.85 via priority mail!

good luck!

 

[dadtoagirl]

I cancelled my paypal account this week as it is defintely geared to the advantage of the seller and with the new rules forcing one to accept credit cards with a paypal account it is going to become the new hub for ebay fraud.

 

[Aliki]

One way to protect yourself from bad Ebay sellers is to only buy from people with a good reputation, i.e. 25+ feedback and 95% positive or higher. Look at the feedback and see if they have had bad reviews in the past.

If they are no longer registered, it could be either (1) they unregsitered themselves, (2) they didn't pay the listing fees to Ebay so Ebay unregistered them, or (3) they got 3 or more negative complaints lodged with Ebay, so they were suspended.

 

[poohj80]

You can file a report through eBay and I would definitely challenge the charge on your credit card. So what if Bidpay contacts you for the funds - tell them you'll reimburse when you receive the item.

We had a similar thing happen and we had paid via Paypal from a checking account. Paypal refunded us the entire amount when they couldn't get a response from the seller either.

 

[yooperfan]

I was thinking of putting a few things on ebay, but if you don't recommend a person buy from anyone without a feedback, how are you supposed to get started?

 

[Cinderella_68]

Yooperfan, start out small. Otherwise you can buy some things, first. That is what I did.

As for the OP, when I bought a stroller 18 mos ago and the seller took my money via Paypal but did not deliver the stroller nor respond to my emails/phone calls, I placed a claim with eBay. It took a little effort, but I got my money, less the S&H.

 

[vascubaguy]

I was thinking of putting a few things on ebay, but if you don't recommend a person buy from anyone without a feedback, how are you supposed to get started?

I agree the best way is to start by listing just a couple of items. The red flags should go up if they are new sellers with 0 feedback that are listing high dollar items (especially multiples of the same thing) or just a bunch of items at moderate prices that all end around the same time. By having them all end around the same time, they can get all of the money coming in at the same time, then close the accounts and move to the next screenname. I guess these people don't realize that with enough complaints, it won't be long before the FBI will track them down.

 

[magiroux]

This happened to me several years ago at X-Mas, the favorite time of year for eBay Fraud I later found out. Ebay and PayPal, both NO help at all. My attitude is, if you can't make they least effort to protect your customers, which they don't, I will not use your service. I think crooks are catching on that eBay is a perfect vehicle for their crimes and it will be their down fall eventually. I also think eBay is way too "seller friendly". There is no balance on the side of the buyer.

Oh, by the way, not only check feedback, but also check the items that they have sold to obtain that feedback. In my case he/she had feedback that he/she had been building up through the year but thoses items were all small money items. Then, WHAM. All of the items were collectables @ $200 or more. One week after I sent my money I rec'd six emails from people that were waiting over three weeks with no response. Then,just like you, the user was now "unregistered". Too late to do me any good. Just from the people that contacted me, looks like the crook ran of with over $1000.00.

 

[lbgraves]

Yooperfan, start out small. Otherwise you can buy some things, first. That is what I did.

As for the OP, when I bought a stroller 18 mos ago and the seller took my money via Paypal but did not deliver the stroller nor respond to my emails/phone calls, I placed a claim with eBay. It took a little effort, but I got my money, less the S&H.

Just curious why you weren't refunded for the S&H too.

 

[poohj80]

I was thinking of putting a few things on ebay, but if you don't recommend a person buy from anyone without a feedback, how are you supposed to get started?

I agree with those who recommend buying a few things first to start your feedback. Do realize that, unfortunately, not all eBayers take the time to leave feedback so you may need to request it.

Also, you might want to include in your description that you're new to eBay but want to assure any buyers that your lack of feedback isn't due to previous bad transactions. If you're up front about it that may ease some concerns. Everyone was a beginner once.

 

[drakethib]

My rules for Ebay or any auction site.

1. I only buy from people with 99% or above feedback.

2. I use paypal only and that is charged to my credit card. If I don't get my package in 2 weeks max, I contact the seller, ebay, paypal, and contest the charges on my credit card.

3. On feedback, I am very hesiatnt to buy from anyone with 20 or less feedbacks, even if they are 100% positive.

 

[muffyn]

My rules for Ebay or any auction site.

1. I only buy from people with 99% or above feedback..

this is where you need to use some sort of "thinking"

myself I don't buy much & sell even less, but have over 300 comments in my feedback,,,,,,
but I am ONLY at 97% because some idiot on half.com wrote a negative for me , because "I" did not send him a positive feedback ( I mean,,, cripe, are they forcing you to send feedback now? especially when you got hohum service?)

I almost sent someone a neutral feedback, because they stuck a breakable item in a box with NO padding.. just empty space all over,, wonder it didn't break!....... but when I read his feedback, seems like he sends EVERyONE who mentions anything he doesn't like a nasty negative!!! if I would have sent that feedback I'd probably be under 90% ( & I have some stellar feedback notes) so, sometimes you need to see why a person is under 99% before you decide.

 

[magiroux]

this is where you need to use some sort of "thinking"

myself I don't buy much & sell even less, but have over 300 comments in my feedback,,,,,,
but I am ONLY at 97% because some idiot on half.com wrote a negative for me , because "I" did not send him a positive feedback ( I mean,,, cripe, are they forcing you to send feedback now? especially when you got hohum service?)

I almost sent someone a neutral feedback, because they stuck a breakable item in a box with NO padding.. just empty space all over,, wonder it didn't break!....... but when I read his feedback, seems like he sends EVERyONE who mentions anything he doesn't like a nasty negative!!! if I would have sent that feedback I'd probably be under 90% ( & I have some stellar feedback notes) so, sometimes you need to see why a person is under 99% before you decide.

This is something that has always bugged me about eBay. The buyer wins a bid, replies and sends payment immediately. They have now completed thier end of the transaction in a positive manner. Why is it, at that point, the seller does not leave positive feedback? No, they wait until the buyer receives the item and leaves a positive. And from your post, and many other's experience with this, it sounds like whether you are happy or not, it better be a positive....OR ELSE!!!! It just seems like black mail to me.

 

[etwinchester]

This is something that has always bugged me about eBay. The buyer wins a bid, replies and sends payment immediately. They have now completed thier end of the transaction in a positive manner. Why is it, at that point, the seller does not leave positive feedback? No, they wait until the buyer receives the item and leaves a positive. And from your post, and many other's experience with this, it sounds like whether you are happy or not, it better be a positive....OR ELSE!!!! It just seems like black mail to me.

Some sellers may get tired of leaving feedback from bidders who do not do the same.

I know that when I buy things on ebay, I've had some sellers tell me that they will leave feedback for me when I do the same for them. Also, they may do this to make sure their are no disputes about the item (broke, etc..)

This is just a thought...

 

[seashoreCM]

If you are lucky enough to see a seller go non-registered or accumulate relevant negative feedback (about non-shipment) before you pay for an item you won, be leery about paying ahead of receiving the item. The deal will probably immediately die, and you may let it.

Some fragile items are actually better off shipped surrounded by air. Blown glass items sold at WDW including at one shop on Main St. are an example. The item needs to be fastened securely from a more sturdy part of it such as its base, so the fragile parts never touch anything.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm