Foo - Ebay Dilemma

I recently purchased (or so I thought) something on Ebay to finish off a project I've been working on. Payment was made immediately at auction end and I anxiously awaited delivery of the final part I needed. When I came home from work, in my email inbox was a Paypal refund from the seller and a second email explaining that one of their mechanics had scavenged parts off of what I won and the seller was refunding my money and asked me to cooperate in their filing of a "buyer/seller mutually agree to end transaction" (or whatever Ebay calls it). I responded by saying that I wasn't happy and that their screwup caused me to miss out on other auctions (that I passed up in favor of theirs) where I might have gotten what I wanted - never got a reply from the seller.

My dilemma is this: I am not happy with what happened and I am not happy that the seller didn't even try to make it right, e.g. offer to substitute an equivalent or better item and I don't want to go quietly into the night - I want to feel like I was treated fairly. On the other hand, the seller is obviously not into customer service so I don't trust them if they were to come back with an offer now to resolve things. Do I cooperate under duress or ignore the request to agree to end auction or file a complaint with Ebay?

While it might be a genuine SNAFU at their end, even if they are just simply treating you badly there is pretty much zero you can do about it via ebay.

I'm presuming that this is not a stock item they can get another in for you, so...

Suck it in, smile, agree to end transaction, get your money back and keep looking (oh, yeah - and wish a heap of bad karma on them!)

If I were you, I would take your red stapler, some lighter fluid and some matches, search out the sellers shop and satisfy yourself in the cleansing and equallizing power of fire.

I've had it happen.

The last shop I worked at sold a lot of stock on eBay. A snowboard was listed and when the auction closed I looked for it...and my co-worker had sold it through the shop. We didn't have an equivalent item to offer so we offered the same refund. After that happened we always included a clause that said, "Item is also for sale locally". Bad on them if they didn't include it.

Lesson: If you want to be sure an item is in stock and exactly what you expect, go pay retail for it.

You got all your money back? That's about all you can really ask for. Yeah, it sucks, but at least you were refunded.

Leave 'em neutral feedback and keep searching.

If I were you, I would take your red stapler, some lighter fluid and some matches, search out the sellers shop and satisfy yourself in the cleansing and equallizing power of fire.

Hey! That was my idea! Not fair.

Mudkipz

No, I inserted a stapler, where you would have inserted some sort of large upholstered seating unit.

No, I inserted a stapler, where you would have inserted some sort of large upholstered seating unit.

How many times have you watched Office Space?

Mudkipz

In it's entirety? Never, not once, nada, bupkiss, nunca, nein. See some parts though.

Heh, it's eBay, not a department store or similar.

You got all your money back? That's about all you can really ask for. Yeah, it sucks, but at least you were refunded.

Leave 'em neutral feedback and keep searching.

I agree with all but the highlighted, they treat you like **** so let the world know, big Negative if you ask me.

In it's entirety? Never, not once, nada, bupkiss, nunca, nein. See some parts though.

You can see it when they put you in Federal Pound Me In The A** Prison.

I don't want to go quietly into the night - I want to feel like I was treated fairly. Why? It's over. If this is the worst thing that happened to you today, your life is good. Forget it and move on.

Why? It's over. If this is the worst thing that happened to you today, your life is good. Forget it and move on.

Actually, it wasn't the worst thing, just one body punch in a string of them on a very bad day. Maybe that's why it irked me so much. Anyhow, thank you to those who offered their perspectives & opinions!

My experience with this type of thing is where an auction ended where the reserve had not been met. I received an email from the seller saying that I was the high bidder and he'd had second thoughts about the reserve. The email contained a link to ebay to do a "2nd chance" sale at my bid price. I completed the transaction, paid through paypal.

Next day, I received a notice from seller that he was refunding the money because he had sent the 2nd chance email to several people and more than one person had accepted, and that I would not be the lucky recipient. At least I got my money back.