I need help with an Ebay problem
 

I bid on and won two auctions for bikes from one seller on Ebay. Before bidding, I emailed the seller and asked if the s/h costs would be waived if I made the pick-up. The seller agreed to this. Those costs would have been $50 per bike. (The seller is only about an hour away.)

I won one bike for $26 and the other for $1. The only reason I went even as high as the (admittedly modest) $26 bike was because I knew I was already in for a short car trip to get the other.

So, I thought I had a major score getting two bikes for a grand total of $27.

But......

Before sending off my payment tonight I wanted to get a day/time to pick them up. And now the seller has decided that that is just too cheap. At first he asked for a round $50. Then he refused to sell altogether. Then, he mysteriously sent me a new Ebay invoice for one bike with $100 shipping tacked on.

What recourse do I have? I have not paid yet. Should I, to force his hand? How does one make an effective complaint to Ebay?

disappointedly, jim

Abselutely. EDIT: That is, you should DEFINITELY report him. Don't pay him, as the good Doctor says - I see that my post could have been interpreted as such. Not sure of how the process goes (the other fellows here will know - either that or google it), but I most certainly am all for throwing the book at this seller.

Incedentally, what's the seller's user name?

-Kurt

DON'T PAY!!!!!!!!!!!

And report the situation to eBay immediately!
This will usually preclude you from getting a "negative" rating from that seller.
And they may kick that seller off of eBay!

Had that happen only once & eBay DID boot the seller!

report him...or threaten to...did you keep the message where he agreed to the local pickup?

Please tell me that when you asked him you did it through the ebay mail system!!??

If he sent an ebay Seller response stating that local pickup was fine, you've got the advantage...

I would get that info started on "Fairtrade" immediately!! File a report w/ them...

yes, I have kept all correspondence. And yes, he did agree to free local pickup through the ebay mail system.

I will be sure to report him.

Let me give him one day to pony up and then after that I will give his name.

j

Forget about giving the guy a break. Tell him straight off that if he does not stick to his word, you will report him to eBay on the spot. While waiting for his reply, have your explination and documentation of the whole scenario ready to send to eBay - this expidites matters, and will also have him doo-dooing in his pants when eBay comes knocking...far earlier then he expected.

-Kurt

Oh, you bet. I am nothing if not vindictive.

I am not giving him any quarter, I am just giving him a day to decide to stand up to his agreement. If he does then I will merely leave him bad feedback. If he does not, then I have all the messages ready to go and try to get him in as much trouble as I can.

This guy had $1 starting bids figuring that in the worst case he would make enough money through high shipping costs. He even said precisely that in his first email after the sale. How severely does Ebay crack down on that? I know that many, many sellers pad their profits with high s/h costs.

And damn, I really wanted at least one of these. Rats, rats, rats

In eBay's terms that's called Fee Avoidance. They take a very dim view on anyone trying to cut them short. You can bet they will take action and having his confession is icing on the cake! Maybe he'll wise up and complete the deal? :rolleyes:

Sorry to have to use this forum as anger management therapy, but here are some more questions:

-Anyone ever use "Squaretrade", the official arbitration service suggested by Ebay? Seems like it would go nowhere to me.

-So, be honest with me. I can kiss these two bikes goodbye right? Ebay might or might not punish this guy somehow, but I will never get served right?

-No one really gave me a clear answer to another question above: Should I go ahead and pay this guy through Paypal, and therefore force him to give the bikes to me? Seems kind of risky (but only $27), but might just paint him into a corner.

serenity now, serenity now

I recently went through something similar with a bike that sold too cheap AND had too cheap shipping. I knew better to bid but there was so little money involved, less than $40, I figured it was worth the gamble. After a week I got a reply to an email saying she was out of town on an emergency. Then after another week and having to call her I got an email with a ton of excuses all wrapped up in one... ebay account got hacked, shipped the bike ups and it came back 2 days later all shredded up, ect. Took me 20 more days for the Paypal Dispute to play out before I got my money back (voluntarily) in 2 separate payments of $20.

I would say there's no way you're going to get the bikes. Turn him in to ebay.

If you would like some *expert* opinions, check out the Usenet newsgroup alt.marketing.online.ebay . They handle this sort of question all the time and there are similar problems to yours already posted.

No, do not pay him through PayPal. Instead, send an e-mail through eBay telling him that you are ready, willing and able to make payment, and ask him for a firm commitment, in writing, that he will honor your contract. Give him a time certain by which to reply - 24 hours seems reasonable - and say that if he fails to reply by that time, you will take all appropriate measures under eBay rules and the law (don't specify what they are). If, and only, he writes back that he will honor his contract, then, go get the bikes in person - preferably with a witness - and pay him face-to-face when, and only when he has wheeled the bikes out to you.

The other possible alternative, assuming you have this bozo's address, is just go there with payment in hand and give him the same message, except that his time to accept is about 24 seconds instead of 24 hours. Definitely bring someone along as a witness. Also, bring along a copy of the e-mail corrrespondence in case the anus cookie calls the cops. (If he does that - and I kind of doubt he will - be very calm and reasonable in dealing with them, explain to them why you are there, show thenm your paper work - they won't resolve it for you and will likely ask you to leave, but taking that tone will insure that they treat you with respect and not like some sort of stalker.)

In any event, this guy has demonstrated that he is a rip-off artist. Do not under any circumstances give him any money unless you have the bikes in hand.

My Past Bad eBay Experience
 

Hi Jgedwa,

I too had a problem with an eBay seller who misrepresented a camera I had won. He listed it as new in the box, and it arrived obviously used in a ziplock bag with no manual. He had lifted some photos from another auction selling the same camera and so I was fooled into believing what he was selling.

At the time of my transaction (about four years ago) I don't think there was Square Deal offered. To make a long story short, I kept the camera (actually it worked fine and I still use it) since he wasn't going to take it back. I left him negative feedback and all he did was retaliate by giving me bogus negative feedback. Ebay eventually took my negative feedback off of my record, I've heard that's rare, but they checked out our e-mails to each other and eBay could clearly see he was committing fraud, and they shut him down. That's really all eBay could "legally" do at the time, I guess. All he did was switch to another user name. His old user name had such glowing positive feedback. I later figured out he had been having his friends send him the fake feedback for bogus transaction.

I personally would say it's not worth the hassle. You have to be the judge, though, if fighting for two bikes is worth it. If you have the documented proof that the seller reneged on the deal report him to eBay, but be aware of negative feedback. You'll have to take it up with eBay about removing it, and I'm sure it's on a case by case basis like mine was.

You seem like a good, honest man. If it were me, I'd let it go. Karma may catch up to him one day. :D

All the best,
Jack :)

P.S. I am now set up with PayPal and in my auctions I state that I rufuse to sell to anyone with excessive negative feedback. This has cut way down the riff raff and all of my transactions have gone smoothly. I've found that people with lots of negative feedback will sometimes not come through with the deal -- and they'll have a million excuses under the sun like with the classic: "Oh, I've been sick." Or, "My computer went down and I couldn't check my e-mails." Blah, blah, blah...:eek:

Correct!! (sorry to say)

NO!! DO NOT PAY!

I bid on a recumbent trike that was 99 cents Buy-it-Now. The "inflated" shipping was $1,300 from Hong Kong. (red flag!:rolleyes: ) I know that the shipping was inflated because I got two Greenspeeds from Australia, including a tandem, and the total shipping was about $800. That still would have been a great deal for a $7,000 trike so I was game up to that point. But when I emailed (through eBay) that they send me a picture with them sitting on the trike, I got no reply (surprise). 2 days later I reported the seller & the tranaction to eBay and the seller got yanked.

And I really wanted that trike!!:cry:

What's that saying?...If it sounds too good to be true...:cry:

And don't worry, a better deal on a better bike is going to come your way!
That too, is Karma!:)

With local pickup, PAY CASH IN PERSON. Why send money if you're going there anyhow???

What he said! Paying through paypal wouldn't force his hand or commit the seller to anything he isn't already legally bound to do. I've had some problems with misrepresented and pseudo "new in box" items, but have been able to work out a compromise with the sellers to make it right. One even sent $50 back in the mail, about 20% of the bid price, after I threatened action (miracles do happen sometimes). No one wants it to turn out badly. No one lists an item on ebay hoping it will be a big hassle.

If you really want the bikes, perhaps one approach would be to offer something a little closer to a realistic value (assuming they are worth more than $1). Yes, he should follow through with what he laid out, but he gambled thinking it would turn out better and lost. You can try to hold him to a raw deal he obviously doesn't want and will fight against, or you could soften his losses (it's Christmas after all). Sweeten the pot a little with a compromise offer (outside of the ebay mail system or privately on the phone) and you might still get your bikes.

You are right and he is wrong. But the bottom line is (forget ebay and the rules for a minute...) Do you want the bikes and how much are they really worth to you?

If the bikes don't matter so much, then go ahead and fry his hide for being an ebay jerk.

That's funny cause I just sold 2 bikes on Ebay for $26.........
To a guy close to Carlisle.....
We had no disagreement though and he's swinging by tonight.

Nope, not me.

My guy has indicated he is not interested in pursuing this any further, so I guess the end result will be no bikes for me and I am reporting him to Ebay. And WAY negative feedback.

FYI, his Ebay identity is: imscarredtoo

His other feedback is about 98% positive, but it is telling that his responses to the handful of negative feedbacks are rather abusive.

Oh well. There are always more fish in the sea.

jim

eBay has a system for conflict resolution. I have used it and found satisfaction. I do a number of eBay transactions and have had only one problem. Just write the guy and ask him why he didn't place a reserve on the item. You won the bidding fair and square and should receive the bikes per the deal you negotiated. Don't get into a feedback pissing contest until you use up all the options through eBay. This is why I always use PayPal for this reason.
Also, $50 is a reasonable cost to ship a bike. He may have invoiced you automatically which would have included the shipping cost. Try and communicate with the seller patiently to resolve this.

Beware of putting low values on customs forms. For most shippers, they will not refund any more than the value you put, so if you ship a $150 bicycle, and value it at $15, and they break it, guess what you get? $15.

Yes, same thing with registered mail. USPS only insures up to $25,000, so many mailers go only to that value. But if the article being mailed is worth $250,000 and it gets lost/stolen/damaged, the mailer can only make a claim for $25,000 :eek: .

For what it's worth, Canada Customs look over articles very carefully. I've seen many registered articles being returned from Canada when fraud is suspected...

East Hill

Also the "refund the difference" is very often a scam, where the moneyorder is a counterfeit. It might not be the case with this guy, but it's something to be aware of.

Apropos eBay/Paypal conflict resolution, I'm not sure it works so well. I bought a name-brand rack but was sent a no-name. I protested, the seller said, in essence, "it's a brand-name rack even though it's unmarked, sue me if you don't like it", I took it to Paypal. But they're stalling around and it looks like they're going to deny my claim despite the seller's admission.