I bought an item towards the end of April. After noticing 2 weeks later that it still hadn't been sent I contacted the seller through eBay and was told it was out of stock and they were trying to source more. When I look at the item again it is showing as 1 on hand but at a more expensive price.
Meanwhile I start receiving emails to my personal email address saying that they couldn't gaurantee when they will get more items and that if I want I can cancel my order to get a refund. I opted to wait because the item was sold at a very good price and I asked that they not contact me through my personal email as I would rather conduct all eBay business through eBay.
A month after the date of my purchase and I check and see that it still has not been sent yet. I check the item in question and see that a week earlier they had upped the availablity of the item and sold 7 copies at a cheap price again. When I contact them again to ask when it will be sent I am told it is still out of stock and they don't know when they will get more. So the seller is selling multiple items that they know they don't have in stock and that they may be unable to deliver. Meanwhile I am still receiving emails to my personal email address suggesting I cancel my order or wait indefinitely.
This seems to me to be a breach of eBays Pre-sale Policy as they are selling items that they don't have without disclosing that information and also not delivering the items within the 20 day window.
Am I missing something? Looking at the seller's feedback there are many people over a long period of time with this same problem. Yet the seller is still listed as "One of eBay's most reputable sellers". I don't want to cancel my order because I would rather receive the item at the cheap price and also because it seems to me the seller has made a consistent habit of getting buyers to cancel their own orders so they avoid deserved strikes.
Any advice?
