Ebay sucks
 

Specifically Heart Rate Monitors Incorporated.

Bought Look/Polar Power meter pedals from them. Lisiting specifed that anticipated receipt fo the pedals was 2-5 days, and Paypal was required.

I paid immediately through Paypal. Also the Ebay site said that Pay pal transactions cleared immediately. Paypal reflects that my transaction cleared the same day, and hthe funds were withdrawn from my checking account the next day.

A week later I contacted Heart Rate Monitors Inc to see if my pedals had been shipped. They said that Paypal hadn't cleared it would be another week, 3 days fr shipping after that, and I'd have my pedals in about 2 weeks.

They refused to address any of the points, I raised above. Tp their credit they did agree to refund the money, and cancel the transaction.

I'm going to buy the pedals from Competitive Cyclist for a few dollars more, but from people who 1) I trust, 2) will deliver as promsied, and 3) you can talk to.

I guess you get what you pay for.

Thanks. That helps to explain the disconnect.

What really p'o's me is that The seller is a "Power Seller" and as such I can't leave feedback for 7 days.

That rigs the game in the seller's favor and distorts the feedback numbers.

As both a frequent seller and buyer on ebay I don't recognize the situations reported by OP. If power seller, then no way funds would be withheld. That is only for new sellers. So I never heard of being unable to leave feedback. Of course if transaction reversed, then right to leave feedback may end. This all sounds fishy. Not saying OP is wrong at all. Just there is some disconnect here.

I get so much good merchandise and great service at terrific prices on ebay. I couldn't afford to ride nice bikes without ebay. I'm sorry OP is not having the same experience.

power meter pedals? can you use them with a crankarm based power meter? that and a powertap wheel would be cool. triple redundancy is a good thing.
ebay gone bad a long ago. Although I did see a Campy Super Record 11 groupo up for "bid" with the buy it now price of a mere $25,000. So there are some bargains to be found.

Heck, add a Stages, just for fun.

THE ONLY reason I can think of right now is because the seller hasn't sold anything around $1800 (or whatever you paid for your pedals). It doesn't matter whether or not they're a Powerseller.

i.e. Seller is solely a cellphone case store and usually sells items for $5> . EBAY sees they sold something for $500 out of nowhere - it raises suspicion that the account might have been hacked. Most hacked accounts have these ultimate/awesome deals that do not reflect their selling history. I remember last summer a hacked account was trying to sell a high end bike for half the usual retail price. I tried to toy with the hacker and I knew from his payment instructions that he hacked the account.

I've been buying/selling on EBAY since 2003 and I've seen almost everything on EBAY.

Well, the Seller just sent me an email saying I couldn't leave negative feedback because he had already spoken to his ebay rep.

I think the disconnect here is that my expectation from what I read was the Paypal transaction would clear immediately, and from I see from Pay pal and my bank it did, and that the item would be received in 2-5 business days.

From his side, he's saying Paypal didn't release the money to him. I can see his concern.

Why I'm pissed is that between the Seller, EBay, and Paypal, they created an expectation that they did not deliver on, and then just blew me off basically saying, funds haven't cleared, yu'll get it when you get it.

I'll gladly pay Competitive Cyclist 15% more to avoid this crap, get what I want when I want, and have a reasonable human being to discuss any problem with.

A man with a watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never quite sure.

I've done a couple dozen sales on eBay over the last 10 weeks, and all PayPal transactions occurred immediately. Also, tracking numbers are not needed for payment. On small transactions, I omit the USPS tracking because it adds too much to shipping costs relative to the sales price. (I usually set sales price with shipping included).

"eChecks" can take up to a WEEK to clear. Yes, it will show at your end that it was withdrawn from your account...but it still takes anywhere from 3 days to a week for it to "clear" [I believe PayEnemy is just using the aggregated funds as a fl;oat and drawing interest on the bazillions of dollars held in limbo in such a manner].

PayEnemy tells the seller when it has "cleared" and when it is safe to ship. They don't tell the consumer this, however, so the consumer thinks it's the seller's fault....and this can lead to bad feedback and low DSRs for the seller, and actually ruin his business and shut him down- THAT is why Ebay reeks!

If you want fast service through PayEnemy and Ebay, always fund your purchases through a crtedit card- in addition to them clearing right away that way, you'll have an additional level of protection beyond the time alotted through Ebay and PayEnemy's protection service, in that you could also do a charge-back through the credit card.

Some sellers are also drop-shippers, or actually selling from Asia with or without disclosing that fact- which is another story- but those usually don't last very long.

PS: The notorious PayEnemy hold on funds is a different matter- and has nothing to do with this. As soon as the eCheck clears, PayEnemy tells the seller to ship- even if they are holding their funds. Typical PayEnemy hold is 21 days...so that was not the issue here.

To me this is another example of eBay/PayPal is great for smaller, low dollar value items but not for more expensive items. It's important to buy from reputable sources like Competitive Cyclist that are in business and will remain in business for years. What would the OP do with a warranty issue and the "cell phone" source isn't around next week?

I sold a lot of camera equipment on ebay and that's tagged as a potentially fraudulent item so they would always hold onto the customer's money regardless of my 100% positive feedback. So I'd sell the good, paypal would tell me the money was received but would hold onto it & tell me to ship. I'd ship and paypal wouldn't release the money until the customer gave positive feedback. If they were slow at giving feedback, or just didn't bother, I'd have to either wait another 2 weeks or convince paypal that the goods were signed for by the customer (which is much easier to do if you are a U.S. vendor). Overall it is a brutal system.

That's alway been my experience. But the most expensive thing I had used paypal before was $400.

Negative feedback would not be appropriate in this case anyway.
1) It's not clear the problem was caused by the seller.
2) You got a full refund, without much hassle.

My issue is that the listing gave an estimated date of delivery of 2-5 days from the purchase date, and said a purchase on March 6 would be received by March 11.

The fine print of the deal, which I actually read before purchasing, said it would be shipped 3 days after receipt of cleared funds. The hypertext link for cleared funds said paypal clears immediately, unlike echecks.

That's what I've come to learn. Howver, I think in the future, I'm just not going to bother with Ebay. Penny wise Pound foolish.

The negative feedback would be that he didn't ship the product in the time frame he promised in his listing. If there's going to be a hold on the paypal payment, he should say so, not require Paypal as the payment method and represent that pay pal clears immediately.

my conclusion from this.

Usually if you add tracking #. You get it about 2 days after it's delivered, and 3 days to transfer to your bank account. Which total is usually about 10 business days. Depending on how fast it ships.
I sell so much bike stuff i usually get my money immediately in my paypal account, as long as it's not something very expensive.

So I did what I should have done in the first place; ordered from Competitive Cyclist. Their listed price was a bit high, but they made me a deal to throw in a head unit free, and free 2 day shipping.

I get a lifetime return policy, people who care that you can actually talk to , and are knowledgeable about their products, and they have a track record of great customer service.

A lot like paying a a little more for an item at an LBS you like and trust.

This makes lots of senses.

I am a pretty active buyer and seller of bike stuff on ebay. Like China's working conditions, ebay ain't perfect. (joke)
I haven't had the issue you have but there can be a lot of problem's encountered on ebay...deadbeat buyers, seller's misrepresenting product condition etc.
I honestly hate the skim that ebay gets for selling things...and also the Paypal skim taken.
That said, I probably buy 80% of my bike schwag on ebay.
I've had good experience with Competive Cyclist.

Final point I will make is...Ebay's feedback system IS rigged. Buyers bitten on ebay will swallow the indiscretion and still give out positive feedback to not provoke the reciprocal revenge of the seller. So feedback scores are bogus.

Good post. I always buy with my credit card and never my bank account. Further, I accrue 1% cash back on my CC purchases...only way to go.

Hey, Merlin, how about giving us a report on those pedals after you've had some time on them. I've always been curious about the concept.