Ouch, eBay'ed.

[kshapero]

I put a SLR lens up on Ebay. Some guy won the auction. When packing the lens, I noticed the focus ring was very wobbly. I told the buyer. He then sends me a message saying if you do not send it to me"You will regret the day you were born, don't mess with me" (I know I should have reported this to eBay). So I figure if the idiot wants a broken lens, so be it. I sent it to him with a 7 day return. A month later he demands his money back. I say too late. Then he takes it to Ebay. They ask for my response and I tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth (this was last night), I wake up this morning with a hold on my Paypal account and a message from eBay saying the decision is final and my funds will be frozen (thankfully only about $10) until I refund the guy his money.

What a drag.

 

[nanthor]

Wow, you should divulge his name so other RFFer's don't get burned. Bob.

 

[kshapero]

I have learned my lesson. The Ebay id is gorrillawars. bad actor.

 

[Moriturii]

Lol, is this guy a gangster? More reason not to use eBay :/ It's like perpetual money-back guarantee, you can just make up some B.S. and get your money back whenever you feel like you are done with the lens.

 

[Tim Gray]

I used to buy and sell all of the time, but things got weird in the last few years when the site really favored the buyer. I also had some close calls with buyers from China who started pulling crap with customs, addresses and camera descriptions.

Exactly. I voiced my concern over some of this stuff the last year or two. Ebay gives you no protection as a seller. It sucks.

 

[agour]

Yeah, ebay really does seem to favour the buyer. Sometimes I dont even think they review the case at all, they just rule it in favour of the buyer...

My other big gripe with ebay is not being able to leave negative feedback as a seller. I have had people do a 'buy it now' on my items before, and yet 2 weeks later I have still not received payment. They havent even bothered to respond to my messages. You should be able to leave negative for them, so other sellers wont need to go through the same troubles

 

[huntjump]

Dang i could have warned against what you did. You have every right as a seller on ebay to cancel the transaction.

I should create a do's/don'ts on ebay.

I suggest calling paypal and/or ebay, talking to their resolution people. You have in writing your correspondences with the buyer. Did the buyer request a refund based on the WOBBLE? if so, i think you will win. i think.

 

[swoop]

The problem is really with paypal. And I have had a similar situation with a buyer on this forum who threatened to file a complaint if I didn't send a filter that was on the lens even though the ad stated the filter was not included.

 

[kermaier]

It's almost as if eBay is trying to morph into Amazon, and is therefore trying to push away all the casual sellers in favor of people who make their livings from their eBay stores.

 

[splitimageview]

Unfortunately, 'too late' for the buyer is after 45 days. You can put a 7 day return, or 30 day return on your auction but it won't matter.

Any threatening email, however, should be reported.

 

[kshapero]

Dang i could have warned against what you did. You have every right as a seller on ebay to cancel the transaction.

I should create a do's/don'ts on ebay.

I suggest calling paypal and/or ebay, talking to their resolution people. You have in writing your correspondences with the buyer. Did the buyer request a refund based on the WOBBLE? if so, i think you will win. i think.

I lost,
that's that

 

[raid]

This suketh badly, Akiva.
It was small amount hopefully, so leave it behind.

 

[huntjump]

i had a paypal dispute that lasted 2 months. HUGE headache, but there was an appeal process. Its very unknown i find to most ebay users.

I won on a procedural error. it was $1600 case, so it was worth the fight for me. In your case, maybe not...but just in case you are. My story is:

Sold a 70-200 VR, buyer kept it 3 weeks, then broke the internal AF motor. No visible damage was seen, paypal instantly ruled in favor of the buyer. I appealed twice. the appeal froze the refund, so neither the buyer nor i had the money. Eventually i won on a procedural error done by a paypal agent, who refunded the buyer the money before the appeal was done. They couldnt reverse that, so both the buyer and myself were paid (paypal lost the $1600). EACH agent can independently act on the case, causing agents to undo what the agent did before. Its extremely unprofessional and caused many problems. I noticed this and had to strategize calling paypal to get an agent who understood camera equipment, it helped a lot. Some agents literally said, "if there is no external damage visible, we rule in favor of the buyer."

 

[john_s]

I have learned my lesson. The Ebay id is gorrillawars. bad actor.

The strangest ebay deal I ever did was with a guy whose ID was abbadon. When things turned strange I did a search on the name and it's an old biblical term for "destroyer" or devil. Maybe it's worth investigating the name first?