Ebay question...

[Abbie]

I'm not a big ebay person, have only bought maybe 30 items over 5 years and don't know all the ins and outs. But is it common to be harassed by a seller?

I purchased an item last week, a light and motion ornament. I had a question about whether it had all the pieces and was assured it did, so I bid and won. When it came, I found it did not have the specific piece needed to make it work, the one I had asked about. AND it was broken besides. It reeked of smoke (but it didn't specify a smoke-free home, so my bad) and I suspect that it was broken prior to shipping but was sent anyway. There's no way to repair it since the broken piece is inside a plastic case.

I emailed the seller and politely explained it arrived damaged and with the missing wire and I want to return it for a refund. He immediately said "no refunds" and then sent me seven more emails, one after another, calling me a "crybaby" and telling me that he has kids to feed and I'm complaining about a broken ornament and that I should just display it on a shelf somewhere and beg God for forgiveness.

I took the high road and ignored all the jibes (that was hard! ) but reiterated that the item was damaged and I wanted a refund. He sent a few more emails, then said he refunded my money and keep it as a "gift". When I checked my paypal acct. it did say it was refunded (along with a note at the bottom "just keep it crybaby!") Is this as off the wall as I think it is??

 

[DMRick]

That is crazy. I would send her emails, with the headers to eBay. If eBay agrees that she is being hostile to you, they will suspend her. What you can do if she continues I would send one note saying you have reported her to eBay and if she doesn't stop emailing, you will send a note to her ISP, the US mail reporting her for mail fraud, and her local police force, letting them know that she is harrassing you. Then I would act on it, if she continues harrassing you and you want to persue it.

What I would do myself (above is what you can do, this is what I would do) is report her to ebay, and then never open up an email from her again. Just ignore her and if they want to persue it, let them take care of it.

 

[OK!]

Wow, that definitely seems like an overreaction! It sounds to me like the guy was hoping to pull one over on you and assumed you'd think it was too big a hassle or whatever to deal with trying to get a refund. When you (rightly) called him on it, he got hyperdefensive. Craziness.

But hey, at least he did refund the money! Now you don't have to deal with ebay's review process which, in my experience, is almost a bigger PITA than dealing with defective merchandise in the first place.

 

[JessicaR]

Totally and completely off the wall! I they refunded your money, move on and be thankful. I have been on ebay for many years and the nuts thankfully are far and few between.

 

[karensi]

YIKES , it sounds off the wall to me.
Like you, I buy on e bay once in awhile and have never had anything like this happen.
Just last week, I bid and won a Nerf Armor case and car charger for the DSLite. I knew, from the sellers description, it was used, but in good condition. When the case came a thin piece of the plastic that runs around the front of the case was broken, I really don't think the seller was aware when she shipped it. Anyway, I contacted her, told her of the problem and she was very nice. She refunded half my money, I kept the car charger and the broken case (although I threw that out). The seller said she wouldn't ask me to go to the trouble of returning it (very nice of her, I think).

Anyway, looooong story short, I had a problem and it was taken care of in a very acceptable manner.
I think you should report this seller to PayPal, or ebay. Others with more experience can probabaly tell you who to make a report to. But, yes, I think this seller is waaaay off base.

 

[JR6ooo4]

In my experience, you never win when deabting "crazy" folks.

You got your money back, that is better than most. heheheheheee

Mikeeee

 

[merryweather20]

Unfortunately no. I was once harrassed by a seller for bidding on someone else's item (this was before they hid bidders names). She/he sent me a nasty e-mail that hers was priced lower, what was my problem etc. Well for starters you don't ship internationally...

Then there are all the sellers that badger you for feed-back.

Alot of the sellers seem nuts nowadays.

 

[Wall-E1]

In my experience, you never win when deabting "crazy" folks.

You got your money back, that is better than most. heheheheheee

Mikeeee

I know that feeling.

 

[Macca1111]

I've only had one bad experience with a seller, whom I had bought Disney pins from several times. Each time I had ordered from her, I generally had one pin missing or damaged or something else wrong with the order. Each time she had done what she needed to do to fix it, but I felt like I shouldn't have to be double checking her work each time to get what I had won. So on the last occasion I gave her a neutral review, and basically gave my warning that everyone should check their orders carefully because there was always something wrong with mine. I got this message in return

I can not believe you left me a neutral for that. I left you a negative out of haste. most people on ebay would not have even corrected the situation. Not sure why i got a neutral. Alls I did was make a mistake and I corrected it righ away. Believe it or not a neutral hurts me. I am a single mom and need this. I did not even ask twice about it not arriving. I mailed it right out to you to fix the situation. That hurts.

Wendy

And then this

I am sorry for leaving a negative. I just do as much as i can for people who buy from me and get so annoyed when they strike against me for the wrong reasons. i am sending a cancelation for my feedback and again hope you will do the same. i am sorry for the mistake and think I corrected it in a timely fashion.

Wendy

So, I either had to retract my true, neutral statement or be left with a negative on my record. ebay got rid of this ability to punish the buyers soon after. I thought the whole darn thing was just craziness...and she wouldn't have lost a customer if she hadn't pulled this wackiness on me.

 

[terri01p]

Sounds like a nut job to me, I would keep my money and don't respond or look back!
I had a nut case trying to buy a cell phone about a year ago and truth me it was hard not to go off but I just moved on.
There are some real pieces of work out there.