# Has ANYONE Ever Won an eBay Case?? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 30, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802 "2010-12-30T06:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/41 "2010-12-30T21:34:35Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > I’m sorry I hurt your feelings by suggesting you are a liar and I am also sorry you lost $50 (which IIRC is not a small amount for you). That seller is a criminal. > [No, money orders and checks are no longer supported by ebay’s accepted payments policy except in specific sales categories.](http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html) > > By their rules it is indeed a shady off-ebay sale, and not covered by their buyer protection policy. A seller could demand payment in the form of a first-born child, but it’s nothing to do with ebay if someone decide to ship off their baby or any other unsupported form of payment. That’s why they have a policy. Blimey! I stand corrected. They’ve screwed that down a lot tighter than it was when I was selling regularly on eBay - admittedly, a couple of years back or more. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/42 "2010-12-30T21:46:18Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > And that’s another thing… I have no proof of it, but he added that little insurance disclaimer AFTER I had paid. It WAS NOT there when I bought the items. > > Y’all can believbe me or not, I really don’t care, but I am NOT a liar. I truly don’t mean to be unkind, or contribute to a general sense of pile-on that you may be feeling, but it’s my understanding that a seller simply cannot make such modifications to the existing text of a listing once it’s underway (i.e. a auction style listing with bids, or a multi-item buy it now which has sold items) ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/43 "2010-12-30T22:02:33Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I truly don’t mean to be unkind, or contribute to a general sense of pile-on that you may be feeling, but it’s my understanding that a seller simply cannot make such modifications to the existing text of a listing once it’s underway (i.e. a auction style listing with bids, or a **multi-item buy it now which has sold items.** ) I could be wrong, but depending on exactly how/what/where the seller edited, I think he could. [QUOTE=eBay] [Fixed price listings](http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/revising_restrictions.html) If you list using the fixed price or multi-quantity fixed price format, before a sale you can change any information except the format. … **After a sale, you can make revisions.** However, you won’t be able to change the format, duration, category, or title of the listing. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/44 "2010-12-30T22:07:53Z")
That’s weird, and another thing that must have changed. You can amend, or completely change the description after someone has bought the item? Why would eBay allow that? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/45 "2010-12-31T01:59:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That’s weird, and another thing that must have changed. You can amend, or completely change the description after someone has bought the item? Why would eBay allow that? Because it’s an ongoing auction with multiple items available. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/46 "2010-12-31T02:47:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Apparently others _have_ won eBay cases before, which you have yet to acknowledge. Besides. it looks as if your complaint isn’t really with eBay at all, but with the seller. Would you like me to move this to The BBQ Pit? No, there’s still a problem with eBay that everyone seems to be missing. If it’s against their rules to buy something without using PayPal, then the report of a seller not using it should have sparked an investigation of that seller. But it seems they really don’t care, as not only did they send an email that just denied the claim, but they even didn’t deal with it on the phone. You’d have to be completely stupid at customer service not to tell a complainer that you are working on punishing the seller for breaking the rules. It would help make them happier, and thus not risk losing a customer. And, if their past is any indication, they care more about the buyer than the seller. As for the rest: I really don’t get Doper’s desire to rub people’s face in something when they mess up. There’s no way this can be put in the Pit without that getting a whole lot worse than it is now (which seemed to be more of an accident). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/47 "2010-12-31T03:43:09Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > No, there’s still a problem with eBay that everyone seems to be missing. If it’s against their rules to buy something without using PayPal, then the report of a seller not using it should have sparked an investigation of that seller. But it seems they really don’t care, as not only did they send an email that just denied the claim, but they even didn’t deal with it on the phone. > > You’d have to be completely stupid at customer service not to tell a complainer that you are working on punishing the seller for breaking the rules. It would help make them happier, and thus not risk losing a customer. And, if their past is any indication, they care more about the buyer than the seller.). eBay has _never_ confirmed that they are starting a investigation or working on punishing anyone- buyer or seller- to the side making the complaint. In fact, I’d consider it bad cust serv to do so. As a govt worker, when we get citizen complaints about other citizens, we only say that their complaint will be given proper consideration and thanks for making it. In this case, I have no doubt at all eBay is looking into it. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/48 "2010-12-31T05:50:04Z")
I appreciate the apologies and good thoughts guys. As I have said, I just wanted input and maybe to vent a little. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the son comes thru. He sounded sincere but who knows??? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/49 "2010-12-31T08:37:46Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Because it’s an ongoing auction with multiple items available. Understood, but I’m sure it used to be the case that the description text was locked in once the listing got underway. I suppose the facility to edit does permit the correction of mistakes, but surely it also permits an unscrupulous seller to bait and switch, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/50 "2010-12-31T14:42:36Z")
I know for a fact that you can edit after the auction is underway-I’ve done it as a seller, not to do something like THIS, but to correct typos. I remember thinking even then… hmmm… someone could change the whole auction if they wanted to… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/51 "2010-12-31T14:48:30Z")
I know you can’t (or at least, _couldn’t, once_) edit the description of an auction style listing once it has bids. Admittedly, it was assumption on my part that a seller would not therefore be able to do the same for a multi-item BIN listing once one or more items had sold. I confess, I rarely used to sell things that way, but I’m sure it never _used to be_ possible to edit a listing that was in full flow. Can’t for the life of me now understand why eBay permits it, as has happened here - when it would have been far more in character for them to tell the seller to end the listing and start again, paying the listing fees over again. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/52 "2010-12-31T14:58:38Z")
I have removed the name of the person **PapSett** is involved with on eBay, in accordance with [our rules](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=423183). > [@](#): > > You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use the SDMB to post any material that you know or should know is false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, threatening, **invasive of a person’s privacy** , or in violation of U.S. law. Ellen Cherry IMHO Moderator ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/53 "2011-01-01T14:46:44Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Sellers will sometimes try to avoid using Paypal because they keep a portion of the payment. eBay won’t allow them to not accept Paypal. Have you tried reporting them to eBay for that? If you threaten the seller with this, will it change their tune? My ebay knowledge is rusty, but this is the way I’d be going. There definitely used to be a way to report a seller for offering Paypal and then refusing to accept it, and ebay took that very seriously - much more seriously than non-delivery. Ebay owns Paypal, so a seller refusing to accept it costs them money, and they don’t like that. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/54 "2011-01-01T18:01:29Z")
There’s no way to ‘remove Paypal’ from your listing. It’s automatically selected as the first payment option before, during, and after on your sales page - there is no way to deselect. What the seller must have done is send PapSett a message that he wasn’t accepting Paypal, and asked for check/money order instead. And he even went so far as to refund the Paypal payment of the other buyer that PapSett has been in contact with, and ask for a check. The other buyer smelled a rat and canceled the sale. Hopefully she reported the seller as well. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/55 "2011-01-01T18:07:09Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > What the seller must have done is send PapSett a message that he wasn’t accepting Paypal, and asked for check/money order instead. And he even went so far as to refund the Paypal payment of the other buyer that PapSett has been in contact with, and ask for a check. The other buyer smelled a rat and canceled the sale. Hopefully she reported the seller as well. Would it make sense to forward the message to the folks at eBay? If the seller asked for a check instead of PayPal, which is against the rules, wouldn’t he get in trouble, and wouldn’t the communication be enough proof? ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/56 "2011-01-01T18:16:36Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > Would it make sense to forward the message to the folks at eBay? If the seller asked for a check instead of PayPal, which is against the rules, wouldn’t he get in trouble, and wouldn’t the communication be enough proof? Yes, absolutely. I don’t think it’s possible that she’s going to get reimbursed, but she can probably get the seller kicked off ebay by presenting any and all evidence she has that he violated policy. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/57 "2011-01-01T18:34:16Z")
I have turned in the message he sent me and was told ‘they would look into it’. He has not put anything else up for sale, but is still a registered user. Believe me… I am going to keep calling this seller until he gets tired of hearing from me. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/58 "2011-01-01T20:40:31Z")
Be prepared for a non-paying bidder report. It sounds like your seller has gone a bit off the rails - and although you’ve paid, the eBay system can’t see that, so an unscrupulous seller could report you as a non-paying bidder and may be able to get the negative feedback removed. It’s a bloody weird item to get scammed on - pieces of deer antler. It’s usually electronics or other valuables that the scam sellers focus on. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/59 "2011-01-02T03:40:38Z")
If you sent payment through the USPS, file a mail fraud complaint: [https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx](https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx) Select merchandise or service, failure to provide. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802/60 "2011-01-02T04:33:05Z")
THANK YOU!!! From the bottom of my heart, I thank you! I had called the local post office and they gave me a phone number to call for this department but I have been unable to reach anyone with the holiday weekend. I really appreciate the help! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-won-an-ebay-case/565802.md?page=4)