Ok, I suppose it’s my fault somehow, but goddamn it, why won’t you assholes actually BUY what you say you’re gonna buy, WHEN you say you’re gonna buy it. This is fucking TWICE now that I’ve put that car stereo up there, and fucking well TWICE, you broke-ass money order payin’ shitheads won the auctions and DIDN’T PAY…
What a pain in the ass, you Fuckers!
I buy what I bid on, but I’m pissed at Ebay too. Some scumbag figured out a way to run some sort of scam. The sumbitch was “selling” a Harley. He was selling it under my EBay name. I was getting emails like “did you ever lay it down”, and other shit. Even the winning bidder sent me messages. In the payment part at the bottom of the “view item” page, “I” was supposedly at an APO address. How does a civilian, stateside, get an APO? I don’t have any APO. I contacted Ebay - no fucking reply (of course). I can’t contact the buyer, because evidently his email address is bogus too (unsuccessful delivery). So I join you in saying fuck Ebay.
Add me to the list of eBay haters. I bought some stuff and sold some stuff and mostly things occurred as they should, but the problems are just not worth the effort.
I sold a ring several times because of buyers who backed out. The last guy then tried to make it look like I was a jerk by claiming in my feedback that I sold the ring to the second high bidder before he could pay (huh?). Yah, that’s sensible.
I took eBay off my favorites list.
I’ve paid for every ebay item I’ve ever won, even the ones I bid on while completely drunk (like that complete run of Micronauts… what the fuck was I thinking?).
What really irks me, though, is when a broke-ass-money-order-payin’ shithead like myself takes the time to go to the store, purchase a money order, mail the money order to the Ebay seller, and we still never get our merchandise. That’s essentially cash money we just handed over for nothing.
I pay for everything I win on ebay. I don’t bid unless I plan on paying. Actually, I don’t bid at all, I typically wait until someone has what I want on the ‘Buy it Now’ option, and just buy it. I use money orders exclusively, from necessity. Anyhow, the other side of the coin is just as bad, is all I’m saying.
I guess I’m lucky. I sold about 15 MLB jerseys on E-bay, before I had my Paypal account. Everyone who won an auction paid up, with money orders or personal checks.
It eludes me why someone would bid on something and then not pay for it when they are the high bidder. I have bought many things on Ebay. I bid the maximum I’m willing to pay for that item (factoring in shipping costs). I often get it for less.
I’ve had excellent results from eBay, both as a buyer and a seller. The more clearly the item description and payment details are written, the less room exists for misunderstandings or dispute. Put in your listing that you expect PayPal to receive the appropriate amount within 3 business days of auction end. I stored a garage door for a lady-she paid immediately, but I couldn’t deliver it for a month and a half-but she was straight-so it was a positive transaction.
I’ve been lucky so far, but then I’ve just been a buyer. Once I had a seller who had a dozen excuses for not sending a book I had ordered. Very unprofessional. One excuse after the other. I finally sat down and wrote out a list of the things that I was going to do by certain dates if I had not received the book. (evil teacher mode on) After I notified the police department in the small Maine town in which he lived, he sent the book and refunded my money!
I bought two tickets for a show, and then something came up and I was unable to use them. Put them up on eBay with a very reasonable starting price - the two tickets cost £70, and the opening was only £5. Someone won at £45, almost half price… and never paid up. I ended up having to give the tickets away to a friend.
My husband won an auction where the seller would only take money orders. I went to the bank and got a money order and sent it off immediately. Four weeks later, we still hadn’t received the item. I sent him an email, he claimed he never got the money order. I went to the bank to see if I could cancel the money order and was going to purchase a new one. The bank gave me the tracking number on the money order. We looked it up - it had been cashed by a bank in the sellers hometown. I called the other bank to find out if they had checked ID before cashing the money order. ( I suppose it’s possible that someone could have stolen the money order ) The teller was very friendly, said she knew the guy and the money order was deposited in his account. I thanked her and called the police in their town. I also sent an email to the guy explaining that I used the tracking numbers on the money order and knew it had been cashed by him. We got the item two days later.
I wonder how many people get scammed this way.
Personally, if the seller doesn’t have a paypal option, I don’t buy. I pay all my bills online, use a debit card at stores instead of checks, and never, ever waste my money buying money orders. I sure as hell am not going to wait 3-5 extra days while my check gets there and clears before they ship it. I sure as hell don’t want to go to the store and waste my money on stamps either.
Hell, with checks, if it gets lost in the mail, you can cancel it, with money orders, it gets lost, you’re screwed.
Nah, I don’t do that primitive snail mail BS. If they don’t have electronic payment of some sort, I find somebody that does.
I’ll do money orders if the item is something that I really want and it’s hard to find on eBay. But only if the item is relatively low-priced. I’m suspicious of high-ticket items that only take money orders.
I recently used a money order to pay for a not-terribly mainstream sewing machine attachment. The item was about half the price that it would be if I hunted for it locally (which would have been a hassle). The item wasn’t that high-priced, so even if I had been ripped off (which seemed unlikely, since the seller’s feedback was excellent), it wouldn’t have been that much of a loss (less than $20).
I sell and buy (more buying than selling) and rarely have I had a problem. Though I have noticed that when you are selling used laptops, you do get more than your fair share of deadbeat non-payers.
You’re not selling a P-P-P-Powerbook, are you? 
Anyway, I’ve had nothing but great results from eBay, and I’ve been using it pretty heavily since early 2000 as both as a buyer and seller.
I think the scam that pisses me off the most is the following scenario: You go to bid on a pack of rubber jelly bracelets (or some such) for 1.00 or thereabouts (reasonable) and then see the shipping is $19.00. :rolleyes: Right. $19.00 for something you could actually mail in a regular envelope with two stamps. Fuckers.
(knida long, but it may give you a laugh or at least a word of warning)
First, I have to say I’ve bought a lot of stuff from eBay. Like the earlier post, I figure the max I’m willing to pay, and then bid to that amount. I’ve always paid within 24 hours of winning and always got what was promised.
Until the diaper-rash in Florida or New Mexico.
Quick background. I always use PayPal or Visa for online orders. That way you can dispute a charge and not be responsible for scammer payments.
Last summer my BiL wanted a life-size theater cutout of Marshall Dillon. I found one from a place in New Mexico and had the highest bid. I dutifully paid. The shipment was promised to be sent within 3 business days. After 3 weeks I got a little suspicious.
I emialed the company and got an auto-response saying there was an internal problem and it would be another 2 weeks at the longest. :dubious: I immediately emailed eBay’s fraud dept to look into this. My suspicions were on high alert. After a few relays with the fraud staff, they decided they had had enough and suspended his account. 2 days later I got an email saying the seller name had been changed. Checking the new profile I find it’s the same guy, with no reference to his last username. He’s been doing this for awhile.
eBay didn’t do anything except warn me to be wary of any future transactions with him. :rolleyes:
Being unemployed at the time with a lot of time on my hands, I decided to waste time on this. I called Visa and got the name and address of the charge. Now, I thought, from the profile, that it was going to a company in Albequrque (sp?) NM. Nope, went to an outfit in Orlando, FL. Both NM and FL phone numbers were disconnected.
Again, with a bunch of time on my hands, I called the BBB and State Fraud Depts in both states to see what I was dealing with. They both took the statement and promised to look into it. I, of course, went :rolleyes: again thinking they’d have something better to do than deal with a $45 poster and were trying to appease me. I was wrong. Some states DO take online fraud seriously in all forms.
2 days later the FL AG’s office called me back to say they found numerous complaints about this guy, and would lodge a formal complaint to the Federal courts. (I live in North Dakota, so this is also an interstate crime as well as having the Visa charged making it wire fraud.)
I sent a copy of the email to the eBay fraud dept which replied with a form letter that they would look into it. Meanwhile this ass-bag was still defrauding people out of their money. I took the only road to revenge I could.
I hit every one of his auctions and wildly overbid. $4 for a press photo of an actor? I bid $200. Did this with dozens of auctions. When it came time to pay and I didn’t, he filed a complaint against me and knocked the feedback back to the stone-age. THEN I GOT SUSPENDED FROM eBAY!
Haven’t been back since. Fuck 'em if they want to protect a thief.