Buying Anything on Ebay Can Be A Pain in the Rear

[RSteve]

At a regular vendor, Village Hat Shop, I saw a Bailey LiteStraw fedora that I really like. The price for the hat $120.00. I looked around the web for a better price, but every vendor that carries the hat had it priced the same. I looked on Ebay. Wow! The exact hat with the tags still attached from Village Hat Shop for $60.00, shipped. The hat arrived yesterday. What a mess! Stuffed in a box too small for the hat and obviously not the size described (size tag had been removed). I know how to properly steam and shape a hat. This fedora is beyond reclamation. The seller had thrown the hat in a small box with no filler to protect the crown or brim.
I immediately requested a return with photographs of the mess, along with a description. The seller had a week to respond, but I did get a return authorization and pre-paid postage email almost immediately.
The seller obviously knew she'd screwed up when she haphazardly boxed up the hat. My thought is she acquired it at a thrift shop and guessed at the size. I've got it boxed up and ready to mail. I just hope she follows through and the charged account is credited.

 

[Idlefellow]

My two ebay horror stories:

1) I sold a beautiful vintage sheepskin coat. The buyer complained because it had one small smudge near the hem, and one of the threads on a sleeve seam was broken; a five minute repair at worst. But because of ebays policy the guy was able to claim that it was not as advertised, and forced me to issue a return, which I did. Ebay also pretty much demanded that I use their return label, which I also did, and forced me to issue the refund despite not having the item in hand yet. Whether or not the guy actually returned anything is up for debate, because USPS lost the parcel. One would think that ebay's return label would be insured for the price of the item, but guess what? No insurance! Item was never recovered; I'm out 200 bucks.

2) Bought a bracelet for my wife which arrived damaged. Asked for and received (after quite a bit of hassle) a return authorization and used ebay's preprinted return label. The item was returned to me marked "insufficient address" even though it was ebay's preprinted label! I asked ebay for help and they told me they couldn't help me as the seller is no longer a registered user. Fortunately I bought it with my America Express card and they took care of it.

Now, as you may know, ebay has changed their payment policy. They no longer hold payments in your paypal account, instead they want to transfer them directly into your bank account, which means they want your bank information. Think I'm giving these bozos access to my bank account? No f-ing way. I don't sell a lot on ebay but I do sell occasionally and would have to have the option available to me, but unless I can get some sort of no-fee account with my bank which would be used for ebay only, ebay and I are done!

 

[Zeno Marx]

That's a huge, obvious problem with ebay, but more specifically with ebay sellers trying to make a living or secondary income. In other words, the sellers who are peddling goods that are not originally theirs and are flipping various items for profit. They, and people in general, don't realize they have to have some level of expertise if the goods aren't in perfect, like-new condition. At the very least, they have to be a person of detail; to be capable of picking up on detail and imperfections; or to be able to take quality photos and to know what angles and aspects of the goods to photograph. They might be selling a mish-mash of things, but usually, the buyer is either looking for something specific in specific condition or is an expert in their own right. They've shopped and know exactly what they want and what it is. If you're going to be selling beer steins, you better be willing to take photos at every angle, and you better know the beer stein market is going to have expectations. If you don't know your stuff, you better expect lots of questions pre-sale, and you better be prepared for hassles once the buyer receives the goods.

This is all obvious stuff that sellers...SO MANY sellers...don't seem to be able to fathom. For some odd reason, people think flipping is easy. eBay is demanding work.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I've wanted a certain garment for years. Like decades. Really, I'm looking to steal it, so I'm patient. Very patient. So over the pandemic, at least at the beginning, I thought I was going to get that steal. Wrong. Instead, with people having no discretionary money, said garment has gone up 4-5Xs in price. Makes sense, huh? Looking for that steal, I do check sold auctions to see if I've missed anything, and to no big surprise, they rarely sell at the inflated pricing. Prices have yet to adjust. You know...the market system working well and all.

 

[ftrplt]

Surely you're not addressing the "know-nothing" pipe sellers who start every description with "I know nothing about pipes. I found it at an estate auction." FTRPLT

 

[Zeno Marx]

Surely you're not addressing the the "no-nothing" pipe sellers who start every description with "I know nothing about pipes. I found it at an estate auction." FTRPLT

Not specifically. Thank goodness that lazy disclaimer means nothing in a Paypal dispute. If you're going to take someone's money, you're responsible for your part of the exchange. Such a foreign concept? I think Paypal's heavy-handed monopoly hand is BS, but on the other flipside, there has to be a set of checks on sellers. The bad eggs set the atmosphere.

 

[Carlos]

I just bought three outstanding British made chisels. 3/16" and 1/4" for in-letting work on muzzel-loading rifle stocks.

Mostly I just pick up what I think I want. Used to sell more stuff on there, but their fees really suck. Some years ago eBay made the decision to boost their number of sellers all selling junk from China. Or some Godforsaken place, and the flea market type sellers seemed to get forced out by the fee structure. And prior to that, eBay decided to hide who the bidders were. Used to be quite entertaining watching auctions. But they took the fun out of that.

Been a member there over 22 years.

 

[Ranger107]

I hardly buy anything on ebay other than pipes and then only from known vendors. Occasionally I will find something I need at a lower price but only buy if it is new in the box.

 

[RSteve]

Seller received return: New Bailey of Hollywood Blackburn Wide Brim Shantung Hat Natural $120 MA1120

You should receive a refund by Jul 21, 2021. I hope!​

Hi Steven,​

Your return for New Bailey of Hollywood Blackburn Wide Brim Shantung Hat Natural $120 MA1120 has been delivered to the seller's address. The seller should issue you a refund of $60 by Jul 21, 2021. If you don't receive your refund by this date then you can ask us to step in and help.​

Jul 17, 08:51 AM
AUSTIN TX 78726
OUT FOR DELIVERY

Jul 17, 01:23 PM
AUSTIN TX 78726
DELIVERED LEFT WITH INDIVIDUAL

​

 

[ftrplt]

Me also!!!! Never bought much except pipes (and occasionally tobacco when you could do so!!). Never had a problem with buying and/or delivery! I did not/do not care for eBay's "let's hide the real bidder info." FTRPLT

 

[EZONSLOW]

I have had very good luck with E-bay, I make most of my purchases online.There are a few key rules to follow-do your homework ! only deal with sellers that have a high rating and sell lots of items,know your prices and model numbers,if your going to send a best offer-be reasonable,always have e-mail correspondence so if something goes bad paypal will see what happened,another thing,always use paypal-your 1st defense if a problem should arise.I do not buy out of the US. I mainly buy pipes,but last week,I scored a brand new keurig coffee maker for 40$ less than amazon was selling it for,It was a dealer over stocked item!
Occasionally,I sell some of my pipes on e-bay,I am not a good seller,because I just want them gone and usually sell to cheap. It`s also a lot of work to pack and ship things which also makes me wonder if it`s worth it.

 

[Zeno Marx]

can someone explain what is happening here? I see this happen quite a bit considering I don't watch that many pipes. Clearly the same pipe. Sells it. Relists it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1338401072...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133843056176?ViewItem=&item=133843056176

 

[Ranger107]

can someone explain what is happening here? I see this happen quite a bit considering I don't watch that many pipes. Clearly the same pipe. Sells it. Relists it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1338401072...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133843056176?ViewItem=&item=133843056176

Maybe didn't really sell. I've seen the same pipe relisted numerous times.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Maybe didn't really sell. I've seen the same pipe relisted numerous times.

I'll admit, when this happens, it feels shady to me. A pipe that sells for $10, keeps selling (*doesn't go unsold), but also keeps getting relisted. If it happens once...eh...that's normal, but if you check this seller's history, this is repeated behavior. I noticed another seller from the same Tennessee city, with similar items, also doing the same thing. That is also fishy to me, making me think it's the same person with more than one user name with the same behavior. I know there are a lot of people selling clothes with multiple ebay accounts.

 

[EZONSLOW]

Hello,
As to what I see here...The seller lists the item for a low price to reel in bidders,He gets a couple of honest bidders then he has 3-4 of his buddies bid to try and start a bidding war going...The honest and smart bidders back off and one of his shill buddies wins the item-therefore the item was sold ! But the buddy is not paying for the item,so it gets relisted in search of another sucker. that's my take on it.

 

[Zeno Marx]

That's a plausible call for sure. Also a slimy scenario.

 

[gravel]

can someone explain what is happening here? I see this happen quite a bit considering I don't watch that many pipes. Clearly the same pipe. Sells it. Relists it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1338401072...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133843056176?ViewItem=&item=133843056176

I was winning an auction with this type of behavior in the past. When it looked like I was going to win, the seller canceled the auction when there were a few hours left. The seller informed me it was sold locally and apologized. Checking up on his auctions I came across the same pipe two days later… I reported him to eBay.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I thought I might as well check to see if anyone was giving away their LL Bean Boat & Tote bag. Why would anyone pay the same, or more, for a used bag? Not only that, it seems like sellers can't measure the bags for beans (pun intended). I looked at a handful of listings, and not one measurement matched with anything on the LL Bean site. Pay more AND be uncertain of which size you're getting. Sounds like a deal!

 

[Idlefellow]

I once bid several times on a pair of shooting glasses, and each time the bid went higher than one could buy them for new all day long! Which I eventually did.

 

[EZONSLOW]

Hello,
I am an E-bay guy, I see this all of the time!
Some people have the Dollar store mentality on e-bay,They think because it`s on e-bay it`s gotta be cheaper,which 90% of the time it`s not! Thats why you need model #`s and know prices .
Others get too emotional- I`m not letting these guys get this from me! I will win at any cost !
and then the last group- lazy spoiled people that will pay whatever just so they dont have to get off there ***** and go to the store and buy it themselves. It`s amazing to watch idiots buy things for 3x there store price...