Whose gotten burned on e-bay?

[BirdieBoo]

I'm not opposed to your digging in your heels if you believe you are correct. My point is that reputation is all important and affects the sale price of items we sell in the future.

If I understand you correctly, you are stating that ebay/paypal (ebay owns paypal) actually manipulated your actual bank account. But in further reading it seems to say paypal was actually charging you their fees which is normal but not actually coming out of your bank account.

But my point is that I won't deal with people who won't accept Paypal. It's the only way I can truly protect myself from crooks. And I always pay via a credit card so I can go to the credit card company to reverse the charges if I am scammed. But I can hardly go to my bank and demand they redeposit the money once it is gone. That's why I never use that option. I always change the "options" to reflect the payment from my credit card. The default is always the bank account but I always change that to the credit card.

They stopped a deposit into my bank account, after it had already gone in there. I don't know how it works but I assume it was like stopping payment on a check. When I deposit a check my bank balance goes up, but my "available balance" takes a few days to go up until the check clears. That is also what happened in this case. Except in this case my "available balance" never went up and the payment showed as reversed.

This was not paypal charging me fees. This was paypal reversing a payment I had made to my own bank account.

Anyway, my point is, paypal is not as safe and wonderful as it sounds.

I haven't had a problem selling without using paypal either. Now I accept bidpay, which is also safe for buyers, but will not reverse a payment just because a buyer "says so" (aka unethical buyer).

 

[Missouri Mule]

They stopped a deposit into my bank account, after it had already gone in there. I don't know how it works but I assume it was like stopping payment on a check. When I deposit a check my bank balance goes up, but my "available balance" takes a few days to go up until the check clears. That is also what happened in this case. Except in this case my "available balance" never went up and the payment showed as reversed.

This was not paypal charging me fees. This was paypal reversing a payment I had made to my own bank account.

Anyway, my point is, paypal is not as safe and wonderful as it sounds.

I haven't had a problem selling without using paypal either. Now I accept bidpay, which is also safe for buyers, but will not reverse a payment just because a buyer "says so" (aka unethical buyer).

Have you talked to the bank about this and gotten their explanation? I guess what you are saying is that the transaction through Paypal was manipulated by ebay to stop payment into your bank account. I think that is the distinction you are making. But what I was saying or attempting to say is that once the money is in your bank account, ebay/paypal would have no way to manipulate your account. Nevertheless I would discuss it with them. I may do the same with mine.

I'm guessing we are talking about "uncollected" funds. Perhaps that is what happened here. Say you deposit a check from anyone into your bank account. The bank balance may say $x amount of dollars on your receipt. However, until that check clears the other bank perhaps on the other coast, those funds are not available for use. I suspect that is what is going on here. But once those monies are collected and available, ebay/paypal should have no way to pull that money out of your account, but as I said, I will look further.

 

[BirdieBoo]

Have you talked to the bank about this and gotten their explanation? I guess what you are saying is that the transaction through Paypal was manipulated by ebay to stop payment into your bank account. I think that is the distinction you are making. But what I was saying or attempting to say is that once the money is in your bank account, ebay/paypal would have no way to manipulate your account. Nevertheless I would discuss it with them. I may do the same with mine.

I'm guessing we are talking about "uncollected" funds. Perhaps that is what happened here. Say you deposit a check from anyone into your bank account. The bank balance may say $x amount of dollars on your receipt. However, until that check clears the other bank perhaps on the other coast, those funds are not available for use. I suspect that is what is going on here. But once those monies are collected and available, ebay/paypal should have no way to pull that money out of your account, but as I said, I will look further.

Even if they don't pull money out, they will put your paypal account in the negative, and they will send you to collections if you don't eventually put money in the account with the negative balance.

I didn't bother to talk to the bank, as I knew the explanation: paypal had told me they had sent funds, and either they hadn't or they cancelled them after they had been sent.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Even if they don't pull money out, they will put your paypal account in the negative, and they will send you to collections if you don't eventually put money in the account with the negative balance.

I didn't bother to talk to the bank, as I knew the explanation: paypal had told me they had sent funds, and either they hadn't or they cancelled them after they had been sent.

I talked to my own bank today and once deposited they knew of no way the money could be taken by ebay/paypal. But I will check with one of the higher bank officers to ensure this is correct information.

From what you say, this sounds like an internal Paypal operation but not tied to the bank itself. I guess they can do what they want to do since the money is within their reach. If I keep money in Paypal to draw interest, obviously they could get at it. But if the money is deposited into my bank account I do not believe they could possibly access it short of a court order. My $0.03 for today.

 

[froggierintexas]

If I understand your question right, you pay for the postage when you mail or send it via other carrier. You would have to determine the shipping fees up front and I believe the calculator ebay provides will do that for you. The buyer merely types in their zip code. What I strongly object to is those sellers who take on a $30 shipping charge for a 10 cent item. I once queried someone who did this and was told to take a long walk off a short pier and recently someone in my own small town refused to allow me to see the merchandise before I bid. I regard both practices as unethical and ebay ought to rescind their membership.

I have sold some items on ebay but in those cases they were picked up in person due to the size and weight involved. In those cases the shipping fees are irrelevant. One time I sold a tiller to a gentleman in Canada but he arranged all the shipping and paid the freight himself. I was not involved except meeting the carrier who took it away.

I submit the feedback immediately upon receipt of the item if it is as represented and in good shape or if I am paid I also supply immediate feedback. By using Paypal I can immediately pay for the item as soon as the auction ends. Currently I have a 100% rating but one time I was on the computer very late at night and hit the "buy it now" button on a big ticket item and that was a virtual nightmare to clear up. It was entirely inadvertant but fortunately the seller was understanding. Stay away from that button unless you are wide, wide, awake.

Some items you will come out OK. Other times you won't. It tends to even out. Just do the right and ethical thing and you'll do fine. I do highly recommend taking high quality photos of the items in question so any flaws are immediately evident and completely describe the item. And should you run into a jerk (check his reputation), remember that your reputation is probably more important than the money; especially if it is a small amount of money involved.

Thanks, I do worry about my reputation, so I packed it and sent it overnight with insurance and a receipt and ate the costs. I came out 7 bucks ahead unless you add the gas to go to the store and my time, lol. But I have many more collector's plates that I need to unload so I will re-examine my pricing and re read a lot of things and try again. It beats a walk in closet stacked to the ceiling with plates that I am never gonna hang, lol. I was also worried about overcharging for shipping. I don't want to do anything to anyone that isn't fair. I have the whole, treat others as you want to be treated thing, drilled deep in my brain.

Thanks again for the tips. I hope you are successful with your sales and I hope everyone here has better luck with their purchases.

 

[gardenmom]

i have had so far excellent experience buying on e-bay, but got burned for the first time this week with a case of Girl Scout thin mint cookies. the person selling had 100% positive feedback at the time i placed the order. a few days later i was notified by PayPal that the payment was "unclaimed". i wrote an e-mail to the seller, asking if i had mis-understood about accepting PayPal. i heard back almost immediately that PayPal had messed up and that was causing some problems.

this did not sit right with me and i went to the seller's profile and lo and behold a negative rating had just been posted. someone had not received their merchandise, and guess what, Girl Scout cookies! I should have gone right then and gotten that unclaimed payment from PayPal, because when i tried to do it a few days later, they are showing it already paid. the seller in the mean time, now has 3 negative reviews (mine will be the 4th) and is no longer registered with e-bay. so i am filing my protest with PayPal and hope i get my money back on this one.

I was a Girl Scout Leader for 3 years, and Girl Scouts are NOT supposed to be selling on the internet at all. Although I suppose it could have been a customer who bought up a bunch of cookies to resell, but the ones I have seen have all been regular price, plus shipping. IMO it teaches the girls to be unethical because they get prizes for sales and if they are breaking the rules to get higher sells they are not representing the values of Girl Scouts.

PS I love that this thread it still going stron after 4 years on what started out as my rant! I don't buy off ebay much anymore, but last Christmas I did buy some football cards for my son.

 

[MrsPoirot]

Wow....no posts for 2 years...well I am going to post. I am a buyer only. I wish they would have left the feedback system as it was with both sides able to leave neg or but I can see why they changed it. Too many sellers retaliate or with hold feedback until they get positives themselves. It made buyers afraid to be honest. I have had only feedback myself since 1999 as a buyer. I have left less than 10 negs but I did leave neg when deserved. What I did find was too many sellers really laying it on thick that they will leave ME whatever feedback I leave them...which is NOT the point of feedback. According to the old system when both sides could leave negs...sellers were to leave their feedback when they got payment and NOT to with hold it to see what feedback they got. Payment is all sellers should care about...if you get your payment fine and you ship good items properly why would the seller leave you a neg? Why would they cause you any trouble? The only reason to with hold feedback til after the buyer leaves feedback was to be able to get even if you did not like a complaint. The buyer is not causing you "trouble" when they place a complaint. They do have a right to complain about shoddy service or bad goods. Because of too many bad sellers extorting feedback now ebay has changed the rules and my positive feedback is less meaningful because now it is all I can get. Before I was proud of my 100% rating...now it's still 100% but less meaningful.
MHO.

 

[Forensic fan]

I am mainly a seller, but buy also, mainly shipping supplies. I just want to say I am sorry to all that have been burned, and hope this won't scare people away from shopping ebay. All sellers must accept PayPal now which is probably a good thing. I resisted for a long time, I didn't trust PayPal. But I have used it for about 2 years now and have never had a bit of trouble, and it does make things so much easier. There are some things I'd never buy on ebay like a car or land, I think that's just asking for trouble. My nephew bought a car on ebay with no problems, but I'd be afraid to. I don't agree with the new policy of not being able to leave negative FB for bad buyers, I leave it anyway. You have to mark "Positive", there are no other choices, but in the comments box, I tell what was bad about it, I think other sellers should be aware of it. I've only done this twice, I put "No pay, no response, Boo!" I feel that if they decide they didn't want the item, they could let me know instead of ignoring me, it wouldn't make me nearly so mad.

 

[not_my_kids]

I don't sell, I only buy. And yes, on occasion, I have gotten burned, but on the other hand, I have also gotten in burned in regular stores. I have also found deals and items on Ebay that I could not have found anywhere else. With my autistic son, it's absolutely wonderful to be able to get the picture board that we couldn't locate anywhere else, the more eclectic child safety locks, all the other special needs stuff that we would have had to drive 100 miles to buy in person. Oh yes, I love ebay.

 

[seatoad]

I just sold something on ebay, things were going well, got the address of buyer to ship, she said she paid thru pay pal. A week later I have not recieved payment and have not heard from her. I guess I can just re-list and and leave feedback. I have tried several times to contact her, but nothing. I hate to leave bad feedback, but what else can I do? I really have only sold a couple of things, usually when I buy, I've gotten what I expected.

 

[raregem]

Hi GardenMom- Sry about your experience. You can open a resolution case through Paypal. But, time does matter. I have heard a few excuses in the past and been burned a couple of times but, I have had a great amount of success, too. Good luck.

 

[poco]

Wow....no posts for 2 years...well I am going to post. I am a buyer only. I wish they would have left the feedback system as it was with both sides able to leave neg or but I can see why they changed it. Too many sellers retaliate or with hold feedback until they get positives themselves. It made buyers afraid to be honest. I have had only feedback myself since 1999 as a buyer. I have left less than 10 negs but I did leave neg when deserved. What I did find was too many sellers really laying it on thick that they will leave ME whatever feedback I leave them...which is NOT the point of feedback. According to the old system when both sides could leave negs...sellers were to leave their feedback when they got payment and NOT to with hold it to see what feedback they got. Payment is all sellers should care about...if you get your payment fine and you ship good items properly why would the seller leave you a neg? Why would they cause you any trouble? The only reason to with hold feedback til after the buyer leaves feedback was to be able to get even if you did not like a complaint. The buyer is not causing you "trouble" when they place a complaint. They do have a right to complain about shoddy service or bad goods. Because of too many bad sellers extorting feedback now ebay has changed the rules and my positive feedback is less meaningful because now it is all I can get. Before I was proud of my 100% rating...now it's still 100% but less meaningful.
MHO.

First of all, I am a seller and I never leave feedback for a buyer until I know they have received the item and are happy with it. Quite often a buyer turns out to be a prick who wants to do nothing but stir up trouble about the item.... Had this happen too many times. I want to know my buyer has received the item and is happy with it. And while I can't personally give them a negative, I can just not give them anything.

On the other hand, as a buyer, you can get negatives. Sellers just can't give it. I had a person bid on a designer handbag - she never paid - i tried to contact her, ebay tried to contact her, we waited, heard nothing, but in the end I got my ebay charges back and Ebay doled out the negative.

 

[Lipin One]

Won item: 8 skeins of yarn for new hobby.

Price bid: $8

After winning bid, I was told shipping would be $12!

Total paid: $20

Value in Walmart, same thing: almost $8

Checked postage paid when received, cost her $4.95

------

I had been a loyal eBayer since about 2002.

I did not feedbacked her about it, but was the last time I did eBay in 2006... up until once last year.

You get good people in eBay, but you also get the wicked ones.

 

[raregem]

I enjoy the search and savings I have found on ebay. I also enjoy being the winning bidder -within reason- .
I start my item search, then I check the box for free shipping (located on left panel at close to the bottom). That narrows down the choices and surprise of over-inflated shipping. Sometimes free shipping doed not necessarily mean the cost of the item is inexspensive. I search the internet for comparison pricing.
I check out the sellers ratings and reviews. I consider all these things in deciding to purchase. Items from Hong Kong ship the slowest (up to one month) yet their prices (with free ship)and products tend to be good. Read the sellers listing and their policies for payment and shipping so you will know what to expect. Hope this helps.

 

[Lipin One]

I enjoy the search and savings I have found on ebay. I also enjoy being the winning bidder -within reason- .
I start my item search, then I check the box for free shipping (located on left panel at close to the bottom). That narrows down the choices and surprise of over-inflated shipping. Sometimes free shipping doed not necessarily mean the cost of the item is inexspensive. I search the internet for comparison pricing.
I check out the sellers ratings and reviews. I consider all these things in deciding to purchase. Items from Hong Kong ship the slowest (up to one month) yet their prices (with free ship)and products tend to be good. Read the sellers listing and their policies for payment and shipping so you will know what to expect. Hope this helps.

Thanks.

I'm not sure if that free shipping filter was there in 2006, but it's a good choice we have now. I am getting tempted to venture in eBay, but afraid I will get hooked again.

 

[Sleuthster]

I have never gotten cheated on ebay. I have however under priced shipping and had to pay quite a bit more to ship someone something. Also, becareful because there is fraud on there. My ss got ahold my my dh ebay acct password, took a pic of his brother's wii and put it for sale on ebay. He forgot however to change the email and we got an email with a question. He admitted to it all and said he never entended to send the wii, just get someones money. BTW, the pay pal was changed to his mothers address but he didnt change the bank acct. Moron. We came up with double secret passwords after that, dh had always used the same passwords everywhere before that.

 

[pistolina]

I've gotten burned once. I was selling coupons. A guy paid for them through paypal, the payment cleared, and I shipped them out. I got a message from Paypal 45 days later saying that the transaction was fraudulent and that unless I had proof that I shipped it I was out the money. I didn't have proof because they were coupons - I put them in an envelope with at stamp. I tried to find the guy on ebay but his account had been shut down. I did find an old listing where he was selling the same coupons. So he was buying coupons with fraudulent checking accounts and then reselling them on ebay.

 

[JDzWife]

A year ago I bought a Wii system complete with several games. I paid through PayPal in the amount of $350. The buyer sent me an email after payment was received and told me he would be mailing the Wii out the following Monday. A week after that Monday... still, no Wii. I emailed him through Ebay, but no response. I filed a complaint with Ebay and with Paypal. Please read the fine print when paying with PayPal. I was only able to get a refund of $150 instead of the full price, but did not notice that when I clicked pay. The buyer was suspended, but ironically, he sold five other Wii systems that same week, and no one received theirs either. I always check to see if there are any negative feedback remarks and how long the buyer has been on Ebay.. even then, there is no guarantee.

 

[candi123]

I got burned on 3 different iphones in 2 weeks however, I got my money back. My son recently ordered a item and also was burned (by burned I mean we paid and never received the item) I for one will not be orderig off e bay again.

 

[lizzybeth]

I hesitate to buy from ebay, but my daughter found a MAC kit for $79 that would have cost over $100 if she bought it elsewhere. I got a message from ebay saying that the seller was under investigation. I talked with them and they gave me information (phone number, email address, etc.) for the seller. Contacted the seller through email (listing said they were in Alabama) and the seller said someone had hacked into their account, they had rec'd our money and would ship the item. Okay, so once I get the tracking number I find out the item is coming from Hong Kong and it will take around 15 days to get here. I guess it took about a week and a half before we rec'd it. When it was opened the mirror was cracked and a couple of the eye shadows were crushed to powder (still usable but still I expected new condition). After talking with the seller again they told me that in order to get a refund I had to send the kit back. I told them that I didn't want to return it but thought that I should get some discount for it being damaged. After a couple more emails they agreed to sell me another kit for $35 and I could keep the original one. Well, I transferred money into my paypal and contacted the seller. Never heard from them. Their account has been deleted from ebay.

Not horrible because my daughter can still use the kit, but the hassle just wasn't worth it.