I bought a small product from ebay, about $10, from a seller in China. Shipping was stated as very long, about a month, which was OK as I didn’t need it anytime soon.
His feedback score was OK, in the low 100’s with only 3 negatives 1 neutral.
I waited the month then filed the ‘did not receive’ notification.
The seller stated “my friend…you have to trust me… I have a honest company” (yes that was in his message)
1- that he forgot to add shipping of a additional $9
2- That he tried to contact me (I never got it and ebay shows no record of that attempt)
3- he would refund me if I were to cancel the transaction first.
After receiving this I filed case officially against the seller stating my terms of wanting a full refund
He replies that his counteroffer is if I were to cancel the transaction he would refund my money. and I must trust him.
Yeah right no way am I going to trust this guy who has not had one honest part in this non-transaction.
It appears if I cancel the transaction he can get his listing fee back
I made a counter counter offer that he would need to refund me first, then I would be willing to cancel the transaction.
I have not heard back from him, about 24 hrs after that last email.
I tend to look not just at the number of feedback, but also exactly what was being sold, and where those sales were located. Its not impossible for someone to shill up their feedback.
Yes I know he is trying to, just escalated it, it’s not so much the $10 it’s that Ebay should be aware of him and take whatever action they deem appropriate. There is no point trying to communicate with this seller further unless he comes with cash in hand, which I don’t suspect he will.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy being out $10, but in the grand scheme of things it’s minor compared to perhaps getting his user ID off Ebay so less people get hurt by him.
So it is for this reason that I feel it’s better to escalate so Ebay can do what it deems needed then try to work with him to try to recover the 10 spot.
Now my eye Dr OTOH charging me for a prescribing me a contact lens he knows does not fit (past history + I told him) and wanting to charge me again to correct it - like I can trust him after that. That has a bit more money at stake.
In recent years(I am a long time ebay seller/buyer) a ton of sellers actually located in mainland China have been popping up, they often have good deals usually 50% cheaper than buying the same item in the USA. But the shipping and communication is HORRIBLE, it has sometimes taken a month to even get an order shipped. I have never been outright scammed by any of these sellers, but have been frustrated and they usually lie about how long it will take for your order to ship or be received.(They ship from China).
Customer support made a ‘final decision’ and refunded me in full, seller still at large, and it appears because of the escalation I am unable to leave feedback.
If he would have come clean with me and done the right thing I would have been more then happy to cancel the transaction so he could get his listing fee back and leave no feedback.
But there was nothing honest on his end at any step of the transaction then he ask me to trust him.
It seems like his negatives are mounting up this month as a additional one came up, that one was for dissatisfaction of a received product.