eBay - disputes!

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi all,

 

Recently I've been buying US HO wagons for another project  before the prices get any worse!

 

I'm now in a dispute with a seller over some of the purchases and eBay are not helping.

 

Why?

 

The photos of the items purchased clearly show Kadee couplings fitted, but the seller has not stated this in the blurb.

 

When the purchases arrived they had all lost the Kadee couplings and had no couplings with them.

 

Now, I was happy to bid an extra few quid for Kadee fitted wagons but I feel I have been taken advantage of.

 

In response to my 'item not as described' claim, eBay have stated that, as Kadee couplings are not stated in the description, there is no claim to answer.

 

Yet again, another case of eBay not supporting the buyer in favour of the seller.

 

I hear you say I'm just having a moan!

 

In future I'll be asking the seller if the couplings shown will be supplied with the purchase.

 

Thanks

Phil H

[Bucoops]

Wow, that's not right. If the couplings in the photo weren't included that should have been specifically stated as such.

[Michael Hodgson]

Product should be considered as incomplete or damaged.

Cuts no ice if you're British dealing with the USA on an American site though.

[njee20]

If you got into the minutiae of Kadee couplings I suspect your tack was wrong. They didn’t include couplings, they were incomplete and unusable. Getting into that makes it sound like some aftermarket upgrade they didn’t include. 

[Sir TophamHatt]

I have also learnt as a buyer to select something like "defective" or "wrong item sent".

Selecting something completly honest like "does not fit" will give the seller a way out.

 

I purchased some wheels from a link the seller specifically sent.  The seller then said I had purchased the wrong ones.

I sent them back - seller deducted the return price from the refund.  Luckily PayPal reimburst me (another reason to use them to pay for things instead of ebays managed payments options), so nobody was out of pocket but had the seller been a little more diplomatic, I would have puschased the correct item from them.

I was honest and chose the refund option of "does not fit" - had I chosen "wrong item sent", I wouldn't have had to faff about with PayPal, especially considering the seller sent me a link to the item I needed, which turned out to be wrong.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Sir TophamHatt

[37114]

I feel for Phil (Scottish Modeller) as it is not an unreasonable expectation that the couplings should have been  included if in the photo, can you send a photo of the item to Ebay to show what is missing? They are more likely to agree/understand that way?

 

I have to say in my experience of Ebay their default is the buyer is always right and screw the seller more often than not so interesting to hear that was not the case here..

[petethemole]

I won two lots of 5 PO kit built wagons from Rails Vault (as the s/h department on Ebay was then).  The photos showed them with Dublo/Peco type couplings.  The wagons arrived without them.  I wasn't bothered as it saved the time to remove them, but if I had specifically bid on them because they had those couplings, I would have been seriously miffed.  They were presumably selling a whole collection as there were ten or more lots of 5-6 each.  That's at least 50 pairs of couplings to sell separately over the price realised for the wagons.

[6990WitherslackHall]

That's pretty unfair. It should have at least stated if there was couplings or not. 

[Bucoops]

Not so much a dispute but I've been unlucky with a couple of packages going walkies recently so had to get refunded.

 

First was a decent flatbed/negative scanner. Special Delivery tracking on it, yet the only scan was it at the post office. Not exactly a small thing to lose either!

 

The other one was lost by Hermes. A Little Engines D16 kit  - irritating but not especially rare. But also a Stelfox J17 kit. That would have exactly doubled the number I have ever seen. Absolutely gutted about that.

 

Fortunately both sellers refunded without any issues.

[GWR-fan]

For the first time in a very long time I find myself with an item not received.  Purchased from a UK registered eBay seller who states that the items are located in Melbourne, Victoria,  but from his feedback the items are actually outside Australia and apparently dropshipped,  so delivery times,  if the items are to arrive,  are way longer than the eBay estimate.  The received tracking number does not track as it is invalid.  Some feedback quote that months later the items purchased have not arrived.  Nearly three weeks have passed and no sign the items have been posted and an invalid tracking number.   I prefer the old eBay where they actually cared about their customers.

 

EBay says that the seller is a highly respected reputable seller and yet of his 385 feedbacks this last 12 months,  54 are negative and 13 neutral.  Most of the negatives are that the item never arrived.   I sought help through eBay for a refund (eBay buyer protection guarantee) but it seems the items purchased (UK/Australia power adaptors) are not covered under the guarantee.  I went to lodge a PayPal claim however, PayPal states that the purchase was made through eBay and thus my claim will be with the seller to issue a refund.   Thus neither eBay nor PayPal are interested.  With most of the seller's negative feedbacks being items not received then little chance of a refund.

 

What of all the hype about how eBay and PayPal offer assurances that your purchases are safe with both offering buyer protection.  Perhaps the seller has found a range of goods to sell not covered under the buyer protection guarantee policy.

Edited April 18, 2023 by GWR-fan
Spelling

[pH]

In contrast to GWR-fan’s unfortunate experience, I’ve just had a satisfactory ending to an “item not sent” complaint. It was my first e-bay problem in twenty years using the site.
 

Partly my own fault - I didn’t check the seller’s reputation before I bid (and won with my only bid). It was pretty bad, including two complaints about item not being sent within the last year. If I had seen that, I know I would not have bid.

 

However, I paid promptly but one month later the item wasn’t even showing as shipped. I raised a complaint, the seller didn’t reply within the week allowed, e-bay support got involved and I got a full refund, including shipping, within three hours.

 

Learning - always check the seller’s reputation!

 

P.S. I don’t have the option to rate GWR-fan’s post. I hope that’s only a temporary problem.

Edited April 22, 2023 by pH

[GWR-fan]

17 minutes ago, pH said:

...................................................e-bay support got involved and I got a full refund, including shipping, within three hours.

 

Learning - always check the seller’s reputation!

 

......................................................................

 

I have been using eBay as both a seller (mostly) and buyer for around twenty years and it was only with my recent experience that I became aware that there are some categories of items that are not covered by the eBay buyer protection policy.  In my case it was UK/Australia power adaptors.  I was also not aware that if eBay refuses or is unwilling to intervene in a dispute then PayPal wipes its hands as well leaving the buyer at the mercy of the seller.

[RFS]

On 18/04/2023 at 12:32, GWR-fan said:

EBay says that the seller is a highly respected reputable seller and yet of his 385 feedbacks this last 12 months,  54 are negative and 13 neutral.  Most of the negatives are that the item never arrived.   

 

I always check the feedback of any seller before purchasing and would never have bought from a seller with such an appalling record. 

[Sjcm]

I presume the seller wasn't using Ebay's GSP? That in itself is a red flag as any seller worth his salt would rather shift the responsibility for delivery onto Ebay. To be honest it sounds like a scam to get round that with the iffy location of the item

Edited April 22, 2023 by Sjcm

[Bucoops]

18 minutes ago, Sjcm said:

I presume the seller wasn't using Ebay's GSP? That in itself is a red flag as any seller worth his salt would rather shift the responsibility for delivery onto Ebay. To be honest it sounds like a scam to get round that with the iffy location of the item

 

I would disagree with that as the GSP is so overpriced that it puts me off completely.

[Sjcm]

2 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

 

I would disagree with that as the GSP is so overpriced that it puts me off completely.

Well yeah but a lot of private sellers won't sell abroad full stop so if you really want the item... I used to send out loads of stuff abroad myself and never had a problem but from a seller's perspective getting it safely to a UK location and then safe delivery onwards becomes Ebay's problem is far better. I can still switch GSP off and send it myself but I believe some sellers don't have that option so claiming its in Australia would get round that nicely

[Crosland]

1 hour ago, Sjcm said:

I presume the seller wasn't using Ebay's GSP? That in itself is a red flag as any seller worth his salt would rather shift the responsibility for delivery onto Ebay. To be honest it sounds like a scam to get round that with the iffy location of the item

I refuse to buy anything that is GSP. I once let GSP be set as default for sales and buyers complained about the cost of shipping. I cancelled the sales and re-listed without the GSP option. 

[Michael Hodgson]

7 hours ago, pH said:

In contrast to GWR-fan’s unfortunate experience, I’ve just had a satisfactory ending to an “item not sent” complaint. It was my first e-bay problem in twenty years using the site.
 

Partly my own fault - I didn’t check the seller’s reputation before I bid (and won with my only bid). It was pretty bad, including two complaints about item not being sent within the last year. If I had seen that, I know I would not have bid.

 

However, I paid promptly but one month later the item wasn’t even showing as shipped. I raised a complaint, the seller didn’t reply within the week allowed, e-bay support got involved and I got a full refund, including shipping, within three hours.

 

Learning - always check the seller’s reputation!

 

P.S. I don’t have the option to rate GWR-fan’s post. I hope that’s only a temporary problem.

Neither do I - but it it seems to be only his post that's affected.

Something odd about his status (other than being a fan of a railway whose signals go down instead of up)?

[Sjcm]

2 minutes ago, Crosland said:

I refuse to buy anything that is GSP. I once let GSP be set as default for sales and buyers complained about the cost of shipping. I cancelled the sales and re-listed without the GSP option. 

Buying on GSP i'd totally agree. The mark up is huge, and I was pretty hesitant to start using it selling, but if it's something a buyer wants like an old part they have no chance of getting in their country then even the mark-up seems good value faced with never getting it. If you're the only seller prepared to send it abroad then they're more grateful if anything. I don't list all my stuff with gsp ( usually anything that will go for more than 20 pounds) but if an overseas buyer contacts me personally then I will send it myself and risk it.

[TinTracks]

1 hour ago, Sjcm said:

Buying on GSP i'd totally agree. The mark up is huge, and I was pretty hesitant to start using it selling, but if it's something a buyer wants like an old part they have no chance of getting in their country then even the mark-up seems good value faced with never getting it. If you're the only seller prepared to send it abroad then they're more grateful if anything. I don't list all my stuff with gsp ( usually anything that will go for more than 20 pounds) but if an overseas buyer contacts me personally then I will send it myself and risk it.

 Hi, Good Morning All.

 Am I right in thinking that ,using GSP as a seller, ''combined postage'' is not possible.? I recall wanting to buy several small items from a USA seller (In think) but the total, non combined, postage was prohibitive .Regards Rich.

[Sjcm]

Yes, I often offer combined postage to UK buyers but as far as I know you can't do that on GSP because you're affecting Ebay's profiteering😉

Edited April 22, 2023 by Sjcm

[petethemole]

I recently sold a fairly cheap vintage magazine to a US buyer who requested tracked postage.  After fees I was out of pocket on the transaction; only about 20p but not good.  If I had it listed with GSP I would have paid UK postage and made my expected proceeds

[Michael Hodgson]

4 minutes ago, petethemole said:

I recently sold a fairly cheap vintage magazine to a US buyer who requested tracked postage.  After fees I was out of pocket on the transaction; only about 20p but not good.  If I had it listed with GSP I would have paid UK postage and made my expected proceeds

To be fair to ebay, you can specify different rates for postage to different countries, and different rates according to whether you're sending it recorded or not.  It's up to you to decide whether it's worth the hassle of working all that out when you're listing something will probably bought by a UK customer anyway.  That's probably why most private sellers now say UK only.  So much for our export drive.

[petethemole]

I didn't do the sums until after I'd paid the postage, and I know it was my fault, but if I had originally listed it with GSP, the buyer would have had tracked postage at no cost to me. 

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, petethemole said:

I didn't do the sums until after I'd paid the postage, and I know it was my fault, but if I had originally listed it with GSP, the buyer would have had tracked postage at no cost to me. 

 

Yes, and you probably wouldn't have sold it anyway because the buyer would have balked at the postage cost.  If I buy a magazine I don't really want to pay extra to use registered post - it's not worth that much.

 

Been there, done that.  Win some, lose some.