This is a new experience. :rolleyes: Two weeks ago I buy a $60 mp3 player from Ebay. Since then the seller has spammed four times. The first was before he even shipped the player. Every few days a new email rolls in that I promptly curse and delete.
Is this jerk breaking Ebay’s rules?
Probably, yes.
First, the description on the item should indicate whether the item is in working order. So if it comes to you and it doesn’t work and the seller says “sorry, you should have bought a warranty” well, that’s not good enough. They listed an item incorrectly and have to deal with the consequences.
Secondly, the seller is attempting to get you to purchase something outside the venue of eBay using eBay’s system to assist in doing so. That’s a definite no-no.
How long has this seller been around? What’s his rating?
seller is a 13618 gold star, 99.5% positive
the player was listed as new. It arrived in the right packaging and I had to use a knife to cut it out of the shoplifting prevention package. I did worry about a factory refurb, but nothing indicated it wasn’t brand new. Player works great.
NEG him for SPAM.
A negative is a pretty big hammer and indicates the seller was dishonest or did not deal fairly or ethically in representing the merchandise. This is not that scenario.
If the merch was as advertised I’d drop a note to ebay about policy violation. I think you’d get more corrective action that ay.
He is doing both of those by trying to sell him something in a way that violates eBay’s policies. It is dishonest to try and sell a warranty as if there’s not one already built in, and it is unethical to try to extract extra money for an item after the auction has ended.
You’re right that reporting it as a policy violation is more likely to work, though. The problem with a business with that high an approval rating is that a negative doesn’t mean that much. Getting told by eBay to stop violating policy would probably have a bigger sting and be more likely to get the desired outcome.
Sure it is. But if he squawks and promises to stop the SPAM, you can withdraw the NEG. I had to do this once.
in looking at the square trade warranties it appears these are extended warranties of various types. If it is a gray market item or similar then there may be an issue getting US warranty ocverage and it may make sense to get one of these warranties depending on the item’s cost and complexity. I don’t think these warranties are necessarily cons.