More eBay Blues—What Should I Do?

[unibear]

Hey all,

I found what I thought was a good deal on eBay, but I feel like I'm getting burned. Late last night (about 11:30 pm), I purchased a set of the four Villain stained glass pin released yesterday. I was a good deal ($30 bid, $60 buy-it-now) so I paid the $66 including shipping. I paid about an hour after I accepted (about 12:30 am this morning).

I woke to find a request by the seller to cancel the transaction, saying:

"I just noticed that this was put up and you bought it. I have to apologize, this was a mistake that it was posted. I need to cancel this order. Sorry for the Inconvenience."

OK... The message from eBay at that time said "Reason for cancel transaction request: The seller did not provide a specific reason."

I went in to eBay this morning (about 7:30 am) to see what was going on, and the seller changed the reason to this: "Seller selected the following reason: Buyer is unresponsive."

I mean, really??? I went to bed and checked this in the morning. I'm supposed to know that they changed their mind overnight, and because I didn't predict this was going to happen, I'm unresponsive????

So, what do you think I should do? I might have accepted the request to cancel, but now I'm really annoyed (### off) and don't know what to do. Do I have to accept their request, and if I don't will they come up with some other reason not to send them to me?

Any thoughts you have about this predicament would be appreciated. Thanks.

EDIT: If you are the seller in question, please do post on here all huffy. Allow me to get feedback from the community, and PM me in private if you'd like (I have no reason to suspect that person is a DPF member; just trying to avoid some confrontational drama).

 

[Belle]

Huh I thought you weren't allowed to do that on eBay? :| If they typed it all up, posted the pictures then listed it for the price you paid how on earth could that have been a mistake? I think you should contact eBay.

 

[docfish2u]

Contact ebay. The seller wants to put it back up for more money.

 

[Poohlady5]

Contact ebay. The seller wants to put it back up for more money.

Yup. That's my thought as well.

 

[Abyssinian28]

Yeah, I would contact eBay.

I *might* have let it go, if they hadn't tried to tarnish your name. But I wouldn't let that stand. Basically, they don't have a good official reason, so they had to crap all over you to do it. You should let eBay know that their reason is BS.

Whether or not you push them to honor it is up to you...but I definitely wouldn't let them lie about the reason.

 

[MAL]

I think you can contact ebay to clear up that you did your part, especially if the seller is trying to pass the blame.
Not much can be done about a sale though of the seller changes their mind. Can you leave negative feedback, even after you accepted cancelation? That might be the best you can do but it is a significant consequence.

 

[unibear]

UPDATE: I responded to their "Buyer is unresponsive" earlier this morning. Here's what I sent to eBay:

"I purchased these pins last night at 11:30 am local time, and paid for it this morning at 12:30 am local time. I checked in this morning at 7:30 am local time to see that I am being accused of "Buyer is unresponsive". I am now responding, a mere 8 hours after purchasing and paying for this item. I reject your claim that I am unresponsive, and therefore I reject your request to cancel this transaction because I am unresponsive. I expect you to honor this purchase; I usually respond ASAP."

Once I clicked 'Deny', the cancel transaction case was automatically closed. Done about 9:00 am my time. At about 11:15 am my time, I got a refund for this item (no response from seller—NOW who's unresponsive?!). At 11:34 am my time, the seller relisted the item for a bid of $120.00 or a BIN of $190.99.

I called eBay customer support, and they said that they can't force the seller to sell the pin for the price I bought it, they can't cancel the current auction, and they can't (won't) punish the seller. They told me to leave appropriate feedback, and I have done so.

Long story short, apparently you DON'T have to abide by a sale on eBay (if you're the seller, anyway). Very annoyed right now...

If you want to know the eBay ID of the seller, please PM me. There's got to be some way to warn other buyers.

 

[docfish2u]

Try contacting ebay again. Insist on speaking to the supervisor. Yes they can and should punish the seller. It should be noted in their file as a problem. Don't take no for an answer.

I would also post a question on if the new item if they are going to actually follow through on this auction.

 

[MAL]

Leaving negative feedback on a seller is quite a blemish, I would mention how the sale was not honored by seller and tried to pass blame on buyer.

Ebay can't force anyone to sell or buy. Most companies will not honor an error in pricing. Surprised a seller would blame the buyer like this though.

 

[pinnochiolover]

UPDATE:Long story short, apparently you DON'T have to abide by a sale on eBay (if you're the seller, anyway). Very annoyed right now...{/QUOTE]

This is disgusting! Ebay's policies are apparently meaningless ... I thought that once you clicked "buy" you had entered into a contract and must honour it? Does Ebay only care about revenues, because now they stand to receive a higher selling fee on this item? Ebay is throwing all their integrity out the window!

 

[ownedbycats]

Please PM me with the seller's name

 

[starry_solo]

eBay can't make the seller honor the sale. I purchased a pre-sale for 4 DSF pins, seller cancelled and refunded me after the release and said wasn't able to get it, then put all 4 pins up separately (one up by itself, three others in one lot).

 

[jazzytrumpet]

Talk to an ebay supervisor. They need to document it. Even if it doesn't help you with your specific case, it may help others. I have contacted ebay numerous times and sometimes I get the "oh, he's done this before, and we've warned him that if he does it 1 more time in 30 days (or something to that effect), he'll lose his ebay POWER SELLER status". So, it does work - if others complain and they keep track.

 

[bombardon3]

Like others have said, the seller likely won't be punished if this is an isolated incident, but you should insist they document it and send the seller a warning. After they do this a certain number of times they will face harsher consequences.

 

[rik1138]

This is disgusting! Ebay's policies are apparently meaningless ... I thought that once you clicked "buy" you had entered into a contract and must honour it? Does Ebay only care about revenues, because now they stand to receive a higher selling fee on this item? Ebay is throwing all their integrity out the window!

Yes, if you click 'Buy' you are entering into a contract to complete the transaction, but it's not up to eBay to enforce. If you really want to make the seller complete the transaction, you'd have to take him to court.

He could claim that there really was an error in the listing, but he should have stated that when he tried to cancel the transaction. The court could force him to complete the transaction, but if he sells the pins to someone else and no longer has them, it would likely be dismissed anyway...

(And, in reality, I don't think a court with bother with a $60 claim where you didn't actually loose anything... But that's the legal side of it anyway. eBay sets the rules, buyers and sellers agree to them by using the site. If someone breaks a rule, it's up to the other party to pursue retribution however they can. eBay will, of course, provide documentation for a court case, but they won't do anything themselves. Again, especially in a case where your money was refunded. Similar things have happened to me in the past, this is nothing new on eBay.)

In this case, denying the cancellation and leaving negative feedback is the best solution.

If this was a community that actually cared about protecting it's members, I'd also say post his eBay username here as well... But for some reason we seem to be on the side of protecting the criminals, not the victims... Still never understood that. But that's also part of the reason they get away with stuff like this so much...

 

[cyke23]

This reminds me of the identity fraud situation I was in a long time ago. A couple bought 2 airfare tix fron LA to Vegas. I got a call from the ticket counter at LA that a couple was suspicious that had my card number and if I approved/paid the "family members" trip. I said no! Identity fraud, but I was too late. They had let them through. Called Washington Mutual andVegas police. Vegas airport police was ready at their terminal since flight still on route. MeanwhilevWaMu refunded my money. When we talked to Vegas police to give them the names on the tix, seat numbers, etc, we found out that WaMu contacted them too. We were so excited to bust them! And then police said no. WaMu would not press charges, presumably due to low cost to loss. I couldn't press charges because I was refunded my money so I technically lost "nothing", except of course time, getting new card, etc. Very frustrating that they got to walk off the plane with no consequences. So even though there was a crime, despite me getting money back, pretty much nothing happened, and I had to let it go. Like you put negative feedback, the only part I can control is to stop being a WaMu customer, so I did. They got an earful at my local branch. It's not the branch employees' fault but they got my censure nevertheless!

 

[rik1138]

Problem is, any other bank would do the same thing... So you are left with simply not having a bank account or credit card _ever_ if you want to 'boycott' anyone that would do this.

If it's not costing them 5+ figures of money, they won't even bother. Someone managed to steal my credit card # once and used it to purchase almost $200 worth of food (PF Changs then sent me a frequent buyer club discount card, that was nice of them... ), and also tried to pay for their personal storage unit at a Public Storage. We (myself, the restaurant where the food was purchased and the manager of the Public Storage) all contacted the police. The restaurant had video footage of them picking up the food, the storage facility had their name/address/copy of their driver's license. All that happened was a police report was filed, and I got a refund from the credit card.

In the end, that's the important part- that they quickly refunded your money. Yeah, it sucks the criminals got away, but in this day and age many ID theft criminals have learned if they keep their crimes under a few thousand dollars, they will NEVER be prosecuted by anyone... Since you got your money back, it's the bank that would have to prosecute, and they simply don't care if it's a 'small' crime. (What they don't seem to realize is that these same people will do it again and again and again, and they can end up averaging $100,000+ in theft over the course of any year, but never more than $1000-2000 at any one time (and usually a lot less). The cheaper the theft, the more likely it will just be ignored. They could be clearly seen on camera buying a $500 TV with a forged credit card, even providing their real driver's license, and nothing will ever happen to them.

It's just like if you see someone on your property filling up a gallon jug of water from your faucet (and you know he's been doing it repeatedly for months), and someone else stealing your car. Who are you going to really go after if you can only pick one?

Its just the world we live in...

 

[bcol]

I had listed 3 Adobe Lightroom programs as a "buy it now"on the Bay several years ago. I somehow didn't put the price in correctly and listed each of them for $100.00 less than what they should have gone for.I woke up the next morning to find that one person bought all 3 of them. I asked to cancel he transaction and the buyer refused. He contacted Bay and they told me must honor it. There wasn't a choice back then. Has something changed? I sent him the programs. Demand they make good. Don't give in. In the end it was the right thing.

 

[dawny]

barf---this sux

 

[possum2x]

I agree that the sellers name should be posted. None of this PM stuff. That's why people keep getting away with stuff. If the seller doesn't like it, they can post their side of the story. It sounds like we can all see the truth though by just looking at the re-listed items!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[avery.appleseed]

I am Jack's Raging Temper. I am seething at the injustice for you, friend.

I know we're not supposed to put these people on blast, but if anyone is interested in knowing and avoiding who the seller is, they are very easy to locate by doing an ebay search for "DSF disney villain set".

 

[rik1138]

I had listed 3 Adobe Lightroom programs as a "buy it now"on the Bay several years ago. I somehow didn't put the price in correctly and listed each of them for $100.00 less than what they should have gone for.I woke up the next morning to find that one person bought all 3 of them. I asked to cancel he transaction and the buyer refused. He contacted Bay and they told me must honor it. There wasn't a choice back then. Has something changed? I sent him the programs. Demand they make good. Don't give in. In the end it was the right thing.

Oh yeah, eBay will tell you that's what you should do... But they can't _MAKE_ you complete the transaction. You could have just told the buyer you weren't going to ship them and refund his money. Then re-list them at the price you wanted to sell them for.

The buyer would have then (most likely) left you negative feedback for them, and that would have been the end of it...

But they can't force you to do it, and they wouldn't have closed your account or anything, you would have just had to deal with the negative feedback.

 

[pinbum]

Let it go like elsa says!!!Ebay does not care its not worth all the anger...