Ebay annoyances

[ejstubbs]

I always block anyone who returns an item to me, without hesitation if the return is no fault of my own (inc postal damage that wasn’t due to me)

 

I do think it's a bit harsh to block someone for returning something that was damaged during shipping.  It is, after all, the seller's responsibility to arrange for the the purchased item to be delivered safely to the buyer.

 

It's your decision, of course, but I don't think a buyer is being unreasonable in returning an item that isn't as described in the listing when it turns up on their doorstep, whether that's down to misrepresentation or a careless carrier.

[ejstubbs]

I find it increasingly annoying having to wade through listings which claim the item is located somewhere in the UK when, once you check the expected delivery dates, they are obviously coming from China.

 

What's even more annoying is when they quote expected delivery dates which make it look as if the item is actually coming from the UK (often even saying "UK stock" in the listing), mark the item as dispatched within 24 hours of you placing the order, and a week later it still hasn't shown up.  The fact that, when challenged, they immediately refund suggests to me that they are just relying on being able to get away with it a high percentage of the time.

 

Any seller claiming to be UK-based but whose name sounds like a Bangkok ladyboy's stage name always causes suspicion...

[adb968008]

I do think it's a bit harsh to block someone for returning something that was damaged during shipping. It is, after all, the seller's responsibility to arrange for the the purchased item to be delivered safely to the buyer.

 

It's your decision, of course, but I don't think a buyer is being unreasonable in returning an item that isn't as described in the listing when it turns up on their doorstep, whether that's down to misrepresentation or a careless carrier.

The problem is how do you spot someone who “damaged” it vs “accidental” damage, and misrepresentation is subjective to the individual.. my “damaged” loco could be someone else’s gem.

 

The thing is, it’s not the buyers money paying for the vagaries of all these possibilities it’s mine. Its the same way a shop will do a better deal to a cash paying customer who comes back every week than a shady never before seen character wanting credit on a one time deal.

 

If someone sends it back, to me it’s a cost, there’s plenty more fish in the sea, it will sell to someone else. I know it’s harsh, but it’s my cost.

That said my return rate is extremely low, so I think my harshness applies equally well to my descriptions, I apply my standards both ways, again it can be at my cost, if I was slightly less honest I might squeeze that few extra quid.. but I would rather avoid the unpleasantness, wasted time and hassle that comes with handling a bad sale, some people don’t care, I’d rather sell what I don’t need and focus my energy on what to spend my new cash on.

Edited November 2, 2017 by adb968008

[John M Upton]

Seems there is a new trend now which I have just encountered.  Buyer makes a Best Offer for an item, offer is then accepted but then the buyer disappears without paying.  Turns out said buyer also has the identical item for sale and uses this buy and then disappear without paying to take his competition off the market leaving his item as the only one left available.

 

Reported and name added to 'The List'...

[ikks]

I had a good one.........not!!!  A few weeks ago, I won a Midland Compound for about 80 pounds from a guy in the States he had quoted postage for a UK transaction so he said he would get back to me with the postage to Oz but he would be  away for two weeks could I wait? Yes no worries I was in no desperate hurry, anyway just after the two weeks were up, I received a message from Ebay asking me to pay for the order, thinking it had come from the seller, I promptly paid. A couple of days later I get a message from the seller telling me he had decided that he couldn't bear to part with it and he would refund my payment which he duly did. I was p1ssed off because I thought that if you won an auction the seller was obliged to supply the item...........evidently not  , my opinion is that the winning bid did not realize his expectations.

 

Mike

[John M Upton]

Brand new Ebay annoyance tonight.  For some unfathomable reason they (presumably some computer somewhere deep inside Ebay HQ) decided to alter a number of my Buy it Now listings by adding the 'Make Best Offer' function to them without asking me.

 

Cue me rushing back to my PC to quickly turn it off again!  What were they thinking?

[Metr0Land]

Another new one today.  I went to give feedback on some stuff, no problems it was all good from reputable BA retailer.

 

However they've changed the interface and amongst other things it says you can't now give neutral or negative feedback to a Power Seller unless you wait seven days.  Now this is all well and good if it's a genuine power seller and they've probably all got fed up with delivering good service time after time, only to have one d***head throw his toys out of the pram.

 

Trouble is, we've all seen Power Sellers who sell 000's of items a year who also have  carp attitudes and also get hundreds if not 000's of red marks every year, and we the customers can see whether to steer clear of them.  Methinks a lot of people won't bother to wait a week so just leave it, meaning the carpy Power Sellers can just carry one regardless (mind you Ebay seems to ignore these anyway.....)

[John M Upton]

Ebay's general philosophy nowadays seems to be 'If the cash is there, we don't care'...

[royaloak]

Another new one today.  I went to give feedback on some stuff, no problems it was all good from reputable BA retailer.

 

However they've changed the interface and amongst other things it says you can't now give neutral or negative feedback to a Power Seller unless you wait seven days.  Now this is all well and good if it's a genuine power seller and they've probably all got fed up with delivering good service time after time, only to have one d***head throw his toys out of the pram.

 

Trouble is, we've all seen Power Sellers who sell 000's of items a year who also have  carp attitudes and also get hundreds if not 000's of red marks every year, and we the customers can see whether to steer clear of them.  Methinks a lot of people won't bother to wait a week so just leave it, meaning the carpy Power Sellers can just carry one regardless (mind you Ebay seems to ignore these anyway.....)

If you are leaving positive feedback what is the issue?

Why would you buy from somebody who has loads of negatives against them?

 

I dont understand the issue?

[Metr0Land]

If you are leaving positive feedback what is the issue?

No issue at all with good sellers

 

 

Why would you buy from somebody who has loads of negatives against them?

I wouldn't buy from someone with loads of negatives.  However, if people are forced to wait 7 days to give bad feedback I suspect a lot won't bother, thus the baddies will appear better than they are.  Time will tell.

 

I dont understand the issue?

[njee20]

Sold an item to "Brunel Model Railways" on Sunday, after a bit of back and forth on best offers. He accepted, but hasn't paid, despite a chaser and it now being 3 days later. Looking at their profile they have 45+ negative/neutral feedback for being terrible and taking ages to do things (usually posting sold items). Going to phone the shop shortly to ask if they plan to pay, but seems they're one to avoid.

 

It's not difficult is it. You have to be at a computer to choose to accept the offer, just pay for it then.

[John M Upton]

I've got a new annoynance with Ebay, the same bidder keeps bidding on absolutely everything, much of it going well over the odds for some items as well.  A check of that Ebayer's bidding activity reveals a hell of a lot of bids on an awful lot of items in the same category in quite a short space of time.  I haven't been able to win anything in that category for a couple of months now.

Edited December 23, 2017 by John M Upton

[Sir TophamHatt]

Unless they're winning the bids - that's a version of shill bidding.

[toffee]

My annoyance is looking as say locos in 0 gauge and having to wade through pages and pages of anything but 0, likewise tinplate gets put in 0 rather than having its own pages. I have tried the minus lark but it seems to not work terribly well.

[Quarryscapes]

You think railways are bad, try dealing in mobile phones! A couple of years ago I decided to buy a Sony Z2 since I like the spec and the quick recap of the saga goes:

 

Phone 1: Arrived looking a bit shabbier than seller made out, which was forgivable at the price but they had put a nano sim adapter back into the sim tray empty - so that when I removed it it pulled out the contacts! Back it went. 

 

Phone 2: No problem - phone 2 arrived safe and sound and worked until last November when abuse finally caught up with it. Rather than repair I decided I'd get another one, so...

 

Phone 3: Didn't turn up. Seller has previous for not bothering to post, eventually got refunded through ebay dispute.

 

Phone 4: Turned up and despite terrible packaging (phone and charger stuffed into a jiffy bag, surprised the screen wasn't smashed by charger plug prongs!) Didn't recognise sim cards. Probably for similar reason as phone 1, this phone has notoriously poor sim contact design, anyway, back it goes. 

 

Phone 5: Finally a working phone again, even if it is in white rather than black! 

[Colin_McLeod]

That's what mobile phone shops are for. Second hand phones can be more trouble than they are worth.

[Quarryscapes]

That's what mobile phone shops are for. Second hand phones can be more trouble than they are worth.

 

Phone shops are the dodgiest thing going, maybe joint with cash for gold places. 

[rab]

My biggest annoyance:

People who list a load of stuff,

all at the same time,

which is of no interest to me.

 

I normally only search for n gauge,

and every so often, someone will

list, say a lot of Del Prado locos,

all going live at the same time,

which means I have to wade through

all of that to get to the stuff

that interests me.

 

I know there's nothing wrong in

what they're doing but the title

of the thread is eBay annoyances.

Edited February 10, 2018 by rab

[John M Upton]

Even more annoying when what has been listed is not even the right scale.  Lost count of how many times Bachmann OO scale stuff has turned up in N Scale listings.

[rab]

My biggest annoyance:

People who list a load of stuff,

all at the same time,

which is of no interest to me.

I normally only search for n gauge,

and every so often, someone will

list, say a lot of Del Prado locos,

all going live at the same time,

which means I have to wade through

all of that to get to the stuff

that interests me.

I know there's nothing wrong in

what they're doing but the title

of the thread is eBay annoyances.

OK, so which one of you lot read my post and then

listed a whole load of Del Prado stuff last night.

Edited February 11, 2018 by rab

[John M Upton]

Two annoyances in one here, firstly, the well over long description full of waffle which goes on longer than War & Peace and second, bundling a number of items together where one is highly sought after (the Graham Farish Mk2 FK which I have been after for ages) with a couple of bread and butter Mk2's that I don't want.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3x-New-Graham-Farish-Mk2A-Coaches-in-BR-Blue-Grey-374-680A-374-710A-374-950/173257059605?hash=item2856eced15:g:NA4AAOSwAy5ax5fE

Edited April 6, 2018 by John M Upton

[Blandford1969]

Simple, the adverts which make Ebay run at a snails pace!

[37114]

I do think it's a bit harsh to block someone for returning something that was damaged during shipping.  It is, after all, the seller's responsibility to arrange for the the purchased item to be delivered safely to the buyer.

 

It's your decision, of course, but I don't think a buyer is being unreasonable in returning an item that isn't as described in the listing when it turns up on their doorstep, whether that's down to misrepresentation or a careless carrier.

 

I am about to block a bidder as they have bid on 2 items of mine for the item not working on arrival as I suspect the issues are caused by buyer and I am getting fed up with Ebay's return's process which is weighted highly in favour of the buyer:

 

Item 1 - Fully working loco.

- Eventual buyer emails me while auction is live offering a lot less money than the price they paid. Also asks if it DCC ready (it was) as they use DCC

- Buyer wins auction, then on arrival says loco is not working and their is a problem with it.

- I offer to repair and send back to them which buyer says they would consider

- I receive item and buyer then instantly requested a full refunc

- I check the loco and the underframe tanks are loose which they weren't when dispatched suggesting buyer has removed bodyshell

- On removing the shell I find a wire loose near PCB with the hallmarks of being dislodged during the attempted fitting of a DCC chip

 

I managed to resell the loco for similar price but at the cost of 2 lots of postage to get item to buyer and back

 

Item 2 -  Loco parts

- Email exchange during the auction, buyer asks if 2 parts are the items for version A or version B of the loco (Mine are version A). Eventual buyer's questioning leads me to believe he wants version B, so I tell them so accordingly and which version of the loco to buy from. I am then surprised when they win the auction

- Package dispatched and buyer leaves positive feedback on delivery day, I reciprocate

- The next day buyer says the 2 parts in question don't work and they want to return them. I am yet to receive them but will test on return, if they are working then I will be refusing a full refund.

 

My only regret is not banning this bidder earlier as they are costing me money. Ebay's return process basically means they will take the money off you and is weighted very heavily in favour of the bidder, even if there return request is suspect.. 

Edited April 9, 2018 by 37114

[hayfield]

Two annoyances in one here, firstly, the well over long description full of waffle which goes on longer than War & Peace and second, bundling a number of items together where one is highly sought after (the Graham Farish Mk2 FK which I have been after for ages) with a couple of bread and butter Mk2's that I don't want.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3x-New-Graham-Farish-Mk2A-Coaches-in-BR-Blue-Grey-374-680A-374-710A-374-950/173257059605?hash=item2856eced15:g:NA4AAOSwAy5ax5fE

 

I dislike any form of overlong description, as it alerts other buyers to what the item is, thus increasing the items potential final value. I prefer poorly written descriptions as it tends to depress the value

 

Quite often I don't read the description anyway, as unless something is very rare I dislike paying over the top prices

[pH]

I occasionally check sold items - usually locos - that I've been watching to see the bidding patterns on them. I think it can give an idea of how popular they are if I decide to bid on a later one (plus it can be fun to see the evidence of a bidding war     ). Recently, clicking on 'sold' items in my watch list has brought up auctions for completely different items. I was concerned that something had been screwed up in my e-bay profile, though I couldn't see how. I've only just noticed a line in one of these 'alternative' auctions which reads "The listing you’re looking for is no longer available. Check out this similar item we found for you.". It's an active auction for something vaguely like the one I was following. Thank you, but I prefer to decide for myself what I might be interested in!

Edited August 5, 2018 by pH