ebay is it really as safe as it's made out to be?

[rnbguy]

Hi All,

I thought I'd share this experience.

I have purchased an item from the U.S, lost $6,000 due to the item arriving faulty ebay has hit me hard by removing my negative feedback.

Catherine B. from customer service completly made me feel 100 times worse by repeating the same line "sorry sir we can't do anything here".

All this because I advised the ebayer that if he doesnt reply to me soon I'm left with no choice but to leave negative feedback. All I asked was for him to reply to me as he was ignoring me, now ebay (CB particularly) have said I cannot say that here. regardless of ebay advising buyers to speak to sellers BEFORE leaving negative feedback.

Now the ebayer who took my $6,000 is running around with 100% positive feedback....

I wish there could be an ebay alternative out there, this isnt the first time they've let criminal action go without justice.

[rnbguy]

Hi All,

Okay paypal pulled through and gave me a partial refund to fix the issues, however this poitive outcome wasn't due to paypal, it was mostly due to the seller just giving in, which I guess this was only possible with the help of paypal tools (aka resolution centre).

Here is what I learnt from this experience:

Dealing with ebay:

-> When trying to resolve a matter with ebayers do not mention feedback, escalation or your next step at all. Do not rush them, do not talk about anything other then saying something clean like "item is not working are you happy to provide a refund" if they say no, raise a dispute. Give seller some time (don't initiate any more contact) and if they dont come to senses then escalate to claim. What ever you do, DO NOT contact seller too much trying to resolve the matter.

-> The person with the most documentation (just like the legal world) wins, so document every step of the way, do not contact ebayers outside of ebay (I didnt do this but incase it's not obvious).

-> I tend to find their service with resolution to be shocking, I'm loosly guessing that's why they bought out paypal

-> Ebay feedback rating (%) are not a clear indication of ebayer, if spending a few thousand $ try to find other background check resources to see how long the company has been trading and track record.

Dealing with Paypal:

-> If paypal close your case like they did to me, and you know your in the right, raise an apeal that's what I had to do, because paypal decided I don't deserve my 6k.

-> Call paypal, they appreciate this more then emailing them.

-> Paypal will make you jump through hoops, I had to provide 12 documents, 3 revisions and speak to 6 different people over and over. Be Persistant and don't give up.

-> Always use your credit card with paypal, to have a plan B cashback

-> Let paypal know if you have fair trading involvement.

-> paypal cannot give you partial refunds, only full refund if you return the item

-> paypal cannot help you at all if you have opened or tried to fix the item yourself, so hands off!

Other helpful avenues:

-> This forum , my g#d the only way I was bothered to really go through this is because the support on here otherwise I wouldve escalated to legal straight away.

-> Credit card company, cash back option, make sure to only do this if paypal dispute is closed and apeal didnt go anywhere

-> get fair trading involved if dispute is taking long and exhausting. They help you think outside the box.

Rule number #1:

-> BE HONEST to yourself and everyone invovled.

... I thought I'd share my experience.

[tinpottin]

the same thing has happened to me. A faulty product arrived and I sent it back. Do you think I can get my money back from the arrogant sellers at homesecuritysolutions. Even they have admitted that the product was faulty. i'll probably never buy through ebay again. Its not good a good  experience and I think most people who buy through ebay probably are not aware of the differculties in retreiving their money if the seller does not come up with their end of the deal.

[springyzone]

I feel for you, with $6000 at stake.

 I am wondering if, in messages to a seller, it would be okay to word it something like this; "I really want to clear the matter up privately, I always try to discuss problems with sellers first rather than jumping straight into negative feedback, that's not my way.", whether that is construed as a threat?

To me, it  should be okay to mention that negative feedback is a last resort. But hey, I'm not ebay.

mbguy is right in that buyers do look at the feedback number and %. They may not have a detailed look at every comment, but if someone has 100% positive feedback, it does look as if they have a great track record. If paypal awards mbguy his money back, he should be allowed to leave a negative. Maybe the wording might need to be changed, but he should be allowed to leave a negative.

The main thing though is to get the money back.

Is ebay a safe place? I have never, ever bought anything large like that from ebay but from the example mbguy gave, just shows you can't be too careful.

My personal experience (with smaller items) is that most of the time, ebay is safe.

Most of the time.

There have probably been about 3 or 4 times in the past where I have done my dough. Paid and got nothing, no further corrrespondance from seller, nothing. Those sellers have then disappeared off ebay but that is only partial satisfaction. Those episodes happened prior to paypal though and one happened when someone said their paypal account wasn't working properly temporarily and would i pay into their bank account. My mistake!!

The other problem that is more common is to get items that aren't all they were cracked up to be.

 Not even shops are 100% safe. And ebay isn't either.