posted on August 19, 2001 12:36:26 AM
I send an email to timesensitive at eBay because I found myself in a nasty dilemma.
I had won an auction 3 months ago and had to return the item because it was defective. The seller agreed but guess what? He never credited me and never answered my emails. By this time more than 60 days had elapsed and I could not file for insurance etc on eBay. I filed for a chargeback with Paypal.
The other day I won another auction and when the seller sent me his address it was the SAME GUY with a new ID!!!!
I wrote timesensitive to withdrawn the bid.
They sent me this stupid semi-form mail:
Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns. Before
bidding on any items on eBay, we strongly encourage you to read the item
description and check the seller's feedback. If you have any questions
regarding the listing, email the seller directly. Then bid.
Every bid on eBay is binding (unless the item is listed in a category
under the Non-Binding Bid Policy or the transaction is prohibited by law
or by eBay's User Agreement).
However, under exceptional circumstances, eBay allows you to retract
bids. For example:
It's OK to retract a bid if...
1. You accidentally enter a wrong bid amount. For instance, you bid
$99.50 instead of $9.95.(If this occurs you will need to quickly
re-enter the correct bid amount).
2. The description of an item you have bid on has changed significantly.
3. You cannot reach the seller. This means that you have tried calling
the seller and his or her phone number doesn't work, or you have tried
emailing a message to the seller and it comes back undeliverable.
To learn more about our bid retraction policy, please visit the eBay
page below:
I have also included several different options that may help resolve the
situation with the other item:
If you haven't already, I invite you to request the seller's contact
information and give him or her a phone call to see if this issue can be
resolved amicably.
eBay encourages open and honest communication, and we believe that a
misunderstanding can often be resolved with a simple conversation. You
can request another person's contact information by going to:
If you are still unable to resolve your situation after you have tried
to contact your seller, I recommend that you try using SquareTrade.
SquareTrade offers online dispute resolution services to eBay members,
and helps you to work together with the other party and with a trained
mediator to resolve disputes quickly and fairly. For more detailed
information about filing a complaint with SquareTrade, please go to the
following link:
XXX, if you are still unable to resolve your situation, and have reason
to believe that this person is trying to commit fraud for personal gain,
you may want to report your situation to the appropriate online
organizations.
If your payment or the product was sent via the U.S. Postal Service, I
encourage you to review the information on the Postal Service Web page
about Fraud on the Internet. At that time, you'll have the option to
file Mail Fraud Charges. This information can be found at the following
page:
http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/
You may also file a fraud report with the National Fraud Information
Center at the following link:
http://www.fraud.org
This organization is a primary contact for reporting internet and phone
fraud. Their internet site is equipped to help you with any questions
you may have about the fraud reporting process and is even set up to
allow you to process your complaint on-line.
In extreme cases, you may also want to consider contacting authorities
in your area and where the seller resides. If you choose this option, we
will gladly help Law Enforcement with any inquiries they may have.
Please have the investigating officer contact us through our web form at
the following URL:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/select-RS.html
We will need the investigating officer to supply us with the following
information:
1. The case number
2. The officer's name
3. The officer's telephone number
If you paid by credit card, you may want to consider contacting your
credit card company as many have protection against these types of
problems. Although you do not qualify for our Insurance Program at this
time, I still invite you to read about this process at the following
URL:
posted on August 19, 2001 01:14:44 AM
I am guessing that ebays policy on bid retractions has changed while I have been on vacation, if someone could refresh my memory
I would appreciate it. Aside from that, here is my advice:
First of all, what is the status of this seller's OLD ebay ID? Is he a NARU?
If the answer is "YES" that could be good.
You've tried timesensitive and that failed.
E-mail safeharbor and explain your situation.
Those guys may be more willing to do
something. And, if he was already a NARU
before, they may also suspend his new
account.
Or...this could also work. Register under
a new ID and outbid yourself. If he does
give you a neg, he will be negging a bogus
ID and keeping your primary ebay ID neg free.
posted on August 19, 2001 01:25:55 AM
The Auction is over, I can't outbid myself
His old ID is not NARU and has no negs. I couldn't neg him on the 1st transaction because the time elapsed was too great, plus the fact of the reciprocal negative I'd get.
posted on August 19, 2001 01:35:21 AM
Hi - I would just not pay him....or call him on the phone and find out what his story is. If he leaves you negative feedback for not paying, you can post a response that shows up directly under it. At any rate, negative feedback for buyers does not have as much impact as it does for sellers, so make sure he knows you will also be posting negative feedback if he doesn't make good on both transactions! Also, this time you have a heads-up and can take the appropriate safe-guards to avoid being ripped off. I filed a claim through PayPal once, (which was very simple) and was promptly credited after 30days with no hassle, because the seller could not prove he sent the item.
good luck!
He did send the first item, but it was bent. That's why the whole process took so long. Emails about "can you fix it"?, What do you want to do"? yadda, yadda. I offered to ship it for him if one of the other bidders wanted it (they didn't when he told them "bent". So back it when UPS. He then took it apart into it's 2 component pieces and sold them individually with the one's condition noted (for less than I paid). So he can't claim he didn't get it back.
Lessons learned:
1) NEVER BE A NICE GUY - get that damn thing back ASAP.
2) Only pay via some form with Credit Card.
3) eBay is useless, so join the crowd and set up several IDs.
I'm thinking about having my friends with AOL accounts contact anyone who ever bids on anything he sells.
posted on August 19, 2001 04:42:32 AM
I would email him, let him know that he still owes you a refund on the other item you returned and tell him you will pay and complete the 2nd transaction as soon as you recieve your refund (preferable via paypal) for the first transaction.
posted on August 19, 2001 06:21:14 AM
You could send the seller the details from the first auction, including the refund amount due and ask him to credit the refund against the current balance due. Include the original auction number & user ID in your request and see what kind of response you get and go from there. If he agrees you might be able to resolve the situation amicably. If he refuses, you may be able to pursue it through safeharbor. Just a thought...might be worth a shot depending on how much money is involved. (If he does agree you may want to pay through PayPal or BillPoint via credit card so you do have the possibility of taking action in case he tries to stiff you.)
You offer a reasonable method which would be fine except how can you deal honorably with a thief.
"Ohhh! YOU'RE the guy I ripped off. I'm sure he remembers me quite well. Plus the only way to complete both transactions would be to send him MORE money.
I sent a "you've got to be kidding me" response to SafeHarbour's answer and got this:
Thank you for contacting eBay with your concern. I'll be happy to
answer your question.
You do have the option to not complete a transaction, but be aware that
this can result in negative feedback and a Non-Paying Bidder alert on
your account. If you do decide to not complete the transaction you will
need to inform the seller of this information.
Tony, thank you for choosing to be a member of the eBay community and
have a nice day.
Regards,
Adrienne B.
eBay Customer Support
What exactly do we need SafeHarbor for again???
Meanwhile, I just got a note from the seller asking about payment details. I'll have to "prepare" myself to answer it.
. So back it when UPS. He then took it apart into it's 2 component pieces and sold them individually with the one's condition noted (for less than I paid). So he can't claim he didn't get it back.