posted on September 16, 2005 10:31:49 AM new
I just want to vent as well, but feel free to give me some advice if you've got a good idea.
Ok, so about a week and a half ago, I came across a newbie seller with some car parts I REALLY needed. These parts don't come along too often. The shipping was a tad high, but the auction price was fair and nobody bid against me.
Before the auction ended, I emailed the seller to ask him about a few other parts since he had the whole car and was parting it out. Figured he could just ship everything together. He actually replied and asked what parts I was looking for, even though I clearly stated what I needed. So I replied and repeated my request. A couple of days later he replied and said "hi, just cleaning out my email inbox." Any other time I would have just moved onto somone else, but nobody else had these items and they are quite rare.
So finally the auction ends and I'm the winning bidder on all three items. He sends me a bill, adding up all the shipping costs instead of combining shipping. So, once again, I emailed him to ask about the other parts and to see if he could combine shipping. No reply. Three days later, I email him again. No reply.
It's now more than a week after the auction, so I got his contact information and phoned last night. Someone else answered and said, almost laughing, "yeah, we're gonna crush that car tomorrow, better not send any money." (yes, they only accept money orders, no PayPal). He took my phone number and said the other guy would call me back. No call yesterday, nor today. No reply to an email I sent early this morning.
Perhaps they don't understand how eBay works. He offered for auction some items. I bid and won three of his auctions. He sent me an invoice. For all he knew, the money order was on its way and he's getting rid of the parts he sold me. And it appears that he thinks that by ignoring emails the problem will just go away.
posted on September 16, 2005 11:11:41 AM new
Phone again to clearify if they still have the parts, and request a combined shipping cost if the items can be mailed together. (best not to always assume combined shipping will be allowed)
posted on September 16, 2005 11:24:27 AM new
Yes, I should try phoning him again tonight. Only I really shouldn't have to go through all this hassle.
This guy doesn't understand how eBay works. When a sale is over, he's obligated to sell to me and I'm obligated to pay him for it. Maybe he figures that since it's his stuff, and he didn't get around to removing the parts from the car, or just didn't feel like it, he could scrap the car and just forget about it, and that he just has to pass on the money.
And the part about the combined shipping, probably just laziness. On their own each shipping charge was a bit steep, and when he added all three together, it was quite high. That's why I was hoping he would get those other parts for me and then pack them all together & get a shipping price for one box.
I'll give him a chance, of course, (although I can pretty much predict what will happen). But, let's say he doesn't reply or he's crushed the car without taking my parts off, should I give him a neutral or negative and risk retaliatory negative feedback?
posted on September 16, 2005 11:37:27 AM new
He listed 3 car parts on Ebay and you won all three,he sent you an invoice for all 3 items with combined shipping,thats the way Ebay works,it is the right thing to do for an Ebay seller.
You expressed interest in other parts,he is slow to respond/or he just ignored your request,that is also the Ebay way ,DO NOT SELL OUTSIDE EBAY.
I would say this seller knows what he is doing.
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Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
posted on September 16, 2005 11:46:20 AM new
Maybe, but I'd say he's just not very professional nor experienced. He could at least have the decency to find some time over the last 10 days to email me back. I thought his shipping fees were rather high, but I wanted the parts bad enough that I was willing to pay them, although I was hoping he might combine shipping. As for the other parts, I have no problem if he lists them with a Buy It Now. If he ever gets back to me, I'll suggest that to him.
But I don't think he knows what he's doing. Brand new eBay account, mediocre ads, unreliable. Looks like lack of experience and lack of concern.
posted on September 16, 2005 11:51:10 AM new
Ebay is not just for professional sellers,many just want to rid some of the stuff lying around the house,did he claim he is a professional seasoned seller?did you ask first before you bid if he would combine shipping?
He is not obligated to answer your emails unrelated to your 3 bids?
have you sent him the money??
-sig file -------
Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
posted on September 16, 2005 12:07:13 PM new
Oh, I know there are a lot of unprofessional sellers out there. My guess is that he either owns a junkyard or buys old cars dirt cheap and parts them out, and thought he'd give eBay a try. Then he got busy and couldn't be bothered.
No, I didn't ask if he'd combine shipping before bidding becuase I would have bought the items anyways, but it would be nice to save a bit on shipping. But, it's easier for him just to guess and add an extra $10 to the shipping price for each item than to get an accurate price.
He's not obligated to answer the questions unrealted to the auction items, but it would be nice if he could at least have the decency to tell me he's not interested or can't do it rather than just not reply. I have mentioned to him in the last email and in the phone call to the other person who answered his phone that I haven't yet mailed a money order. But for all he knew, I could have bought a money order and mailed it off to him right away and he's scrapping the car for which he's receiving money on parts that are spoken for.
Most people would be happy to sell something rather than throw it out and get nothing for it. He could list the extra parts with Buy It Now to keep it legit. Although this might be a gray area... if someone buys something through eBay the legit way, so eBay gets their listing fees and FVF. True, we met through eBay, but eBay got their money. We're not using PayPal. It's not like I contacted him and asked him to sell me the parts off eBay. I bid, and was the winning bidder. It's a legit transaction. Nor did he scope me out and offer to sell me parts off eBay. I already have established contact with him. What's stopping us from making another transaction on our own?
Anyways, I'm a paying customer, we have three legitimate eBay transactions between us. Even if he didn't want to sell me any other parts (on or off eBay), I still owe him money for the three items that ended on eBay and he's got an obligation to take at least those three parts off the car, then he scrap it. For all he knew, the money order could be arriving in his mailbox any day now and he threw out my items for which he received a money order.
[ edited by powerwebmedia on Sep 16, 2005 12:07 PM ]
posted on September 16, 2005 12:19:32 PM new
just curious,are you reselling those parts ?
the ones you have won and the ones you wish to have ??
-sig file -------
Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
posted on September 17, 2005 07:36:03 AM new
No, I need those parts for a classic car my father and I share. We've had the car for about eight years, and before eBay we had a heck of a time finding some of the parts (mostly trim pieces). Within a few months of discovering eBay, we had about 95% of all the parts we needed.
The parts I got are to replace some incorrect ones we're using. They fit, but are the wrong look. I've been wanting the correct parts and they finally came along. Now that I have a surplus of extra parts, I'm selling off a few of the ones we definatley don't need.
UPDATE: I finally heard back from the guy by email regarding the other parts. He said "they're all rusty, you wouldn't want them." Uh... YEAH, I "DO" want them, rusty or not, they're hard to come by. I can sand them down and repaint them. He's probably just too lazy to take them off.
posted on September 17, 2005 08:40:12 AM new
'He's probably just too lazy to take them off'
You seem to expect a lot from your Ebay seller.
-sig file -------
Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
posted on September 17, 2005 10:38:18 AM new
Most people would be happy to make some extra money for not much effort. I'm willing to pay a good price for those extra parts, and the car would otherwise get crushed with that part on it. I don't think it's expecting a lot. This is a newbie seller, and he doesn't seem to motivated to do much, just likes to do the easy stuff and get the money orders flooding in.
If that were me, I'd jump on the opportunity to make some extra cash. If I didn't have time right away, I'd say "sure, but I can't get the parts off until next week." If he's not willing to do any more, he should have said "no" right from the start. Not sure if you're familiar with used car parts on eBay, but generally when most people part out a car, they pick it clean. You can make 10 times or even 100 times the value of the car by auctioning off the parts individually.
Not sure why you're defending this person so much... are you the seller in question by chance?
posted on September 17, 2005 10:55:46 AM new
No,I am not the seller,else I would block you from bidding on my auction based on all the things you said about me.
You want him to do this and do that,clean the parts,answer your emails,probably invite you to his wedding too!
and you assume he needs the money!
-sig file -------
Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
[ edited by stopwhining on Sep 17, 2005 10:57 AM ]
posted on September 17, 2005 11:17:14 AM new
stopwhining; Sometimes you act like the South end of a North bound horse. This biuyer did nothing wrong & I can feel for him trying to make a classic car correct as possible. Having helped my B-I-Law restore an old Studebaker Silver Hawk, I can appreciate the wanting the correct parts.
posted on September 17, 2005 11:25:30 AM new
stopwhining -- Expecting a seller to complete the sale is not expecting too much. If the seller wasn't interested in taking the parts off of the car, then he should never had listed them in the first place!
power-- It doesn't sound like your seller is going to complete the sale. Fortunately for you, you didn't send him any money because it sounds like he would have kept it and not shipped the parts anyway. File for nonperforming seller and forget about it. Unfortunately, you don't have any other recourse as you can't make him do the job that he set out to do when he listed the parts to begin with.
posted on September 17, 2005 03:19:49 PM new
I have mentioned to him in the last email and in the phone call to the other person who answered his phone that I haven't yet mailed a money order. But for all he knew, I could have bought a money order and mailed it off to him right away and he's scrapping the car for which he's receiving money on parts that are spoken for.
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There is a lot of if and but in this thread,you kept talking about winning those 3 items and want more.
But did you or did you not send him a money order for those 3 parts??
-sig file -------
Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
posted on September 17, 2005 11:07:15 PM new
Powerwebmedia...The way it stands now, you won 3 auctions, and now you refuse to pay. You are insisting on classifying this seller as an inexperienced newby. Why is this? Because of his low feedback rating, and the recent registration of his account? The fact is, this seller could very well be a platinum powerseller with a sterling reputation, that created this account specifically to sell a line of what he considers junk and not muddy his regular account which could be for selling fine art, antiques or quality jewelry. You have no way of knowing this is a newbie seller. It could also be an account for consignment sales. You were dead wrong to try to wheel and deal for possible merchandise that was not even put up for auction. Your obligation was to pay for the items you won and were invoiced for. Instead, you want to try to mix an off Ebay deal into this and try to negotiate shipping charges after the auctions closed. I personally would not answer any of your emails either when you try to alter the terms of the auction after it ends. Send the seller his money. Forget what some stranger that is not the seller told you on the phone. At this point, you appear to him as a deadbeat bidder and he is probably waiting out the 7 days before he nails you with a UID, which he has every right to do. Admittedly, his communications skills are lacking, but what the hell do you want, a pen pal or the items you bid on? Send him a check. If he doesn't send the items, contact the district attorney at his end. Every single problem in this transaction was initiated by you.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on September 18, 2005 11:09:04 AM new
Ok, I'll try and answer everyone here...
- I wasn't asking the world of him. I never asked him to clean the parts, just take them off and ship them to me. I never haggled on price either, when you come across rare parts, you pay what they want for them.
- If he checks my feeback rating, he'll see I always pay fast, so he need not worry about me being a deadbeat bidder. If anything I was worried about him being a deadbeat seller!
- If he is indeed a respectable seller with another account and a sterling repuation selling fine antiques, then he sure takes a different approach his new account with car parts. Although, I think it's quite obvious this is not the case. Most people would find the time over 10 days to return emails.
- Thank you to all of you who understand where I'm coming from. I bid on and won three auctions. I've done my best to contact him by email and phone, he's taking a very cavalier attitude towards selling and replying. I don't see why I'm being painted as the bad guy by some people here.
- I was never looking to rip him off, just wondered if he could combine shipping. Doesn't hurt to ask.
- I emailed him to see if he has more items (either to list with a BIN or to simply add it on "outside of eBay" - GASP!). Kind of like buying a clock on eBay and asking a seller if he/she can sell you some batteries to go along with it. But, whateva.
- FYI: he finally emailed me back and said he'd be willing to sell me those other two parts, and asked me how much I'd pay for them. So, I offered him a more than fair price for them. Still waiting to hear back from him, but at least it would seem he did not scrap the car yet.
posted on September 18, 2005 03:37:43 PM new
You have an interesting situation.
First, stopwhining is a stupid idiot. You can put him on ignore as his posts are never relevant.
Second, if this seller was selling any other item, I would suggest that you simply tell this seller to stick it to themselves and move on. Any seller worth a damm is going to jump at the opportunity to sell you more items. It is simple business sense. This guy is clearly not good with business.
Third, if you must go through with the transaction, use bidpay. Then make sure you pay with a credit card. This situtation actually smells a little like a scam. If you use your credit card with bidpay, at least you will still have some protection. Bidpay payments with a credit card can still be reversed. What bidpay would do is cancel the check and zap, it will come right out of the persons savings or checking account.
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Alive in 2005
