Ebay rant!

[dukeboy1977]

For those of you who use Ebay, maybe you know a little of what I'm about to say. I recently purchased a child carrier for my 13 month old son so I could take him on photo projects with me, and when I received it, OMG it needs cleaned!! I've contacted the seller and she now wants to argue over how 'clean' she says it was when she sent it, AND she wants to question MY integrity in an email back to me. My point here is that unless you can physically SEE what you're buying, OR you know the seller, it is basically being bought at your own risk. Paypal doesn't help you, I tried that too! In order to get back ONLY my 'purchase price' I would need to spend MORE $ on return shipping?!? What a joke?!?!? Ebay might very well have lost a good buyer / seller over this crap, as this is the 2nd seller to 'sell' me garbage! :thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown:

 

[UUilliam]

1. We know it is at our own risk
2. Format your messages into sentences and paragraphs, it helps.
3. Check seller ratings
4. just clean it if that is the problem...
5. if it is bad, re-sell it for the price you paid = money back + no shipping charge :l

 

[KooK]

Aren't baby seats and/or child carriers somewhat cheap in the first place? That's really something I wouldn't feel comfortable buying used, especially off of eBay. eBay is NOT a one stop shop, you've really got to be picky about what you choose to buy. I flat out wont buy it unless it's either new, or has very detailed pictures and a good description from a reputable seller.

A little more money but, buy this for your son, it'll make you the most badass father in town!

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Recaro-Young-Sport-Child-Charcoal/dp/B000AHRGL4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1284092486&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Recaro Young Sport Child Car Seat, Shiny Charcoal: Baby[/ame]

 

[Mustlovedragons]

Yes, it's a risky proposition. As a power seller, though, I have to say I feel it's riskier for me (seller) than you (buyer). Not saying I haven't been ripped off as a buyer, though. So far, in the last 10 years of buying, Ive been ripped off nearly $20,000 already. Yeah, Paypal is no real help. I have concluded that everyone is dishonest, buyers AND sellers, lol. Unless it's a 100% positive feedback score, I don't buy (if someone left really dumb-azz negative, which also happens, I do not count that against a person). I have also learned that it's best to pay with your credit card, even if via Paypal. That way when Paypal doesn't help you, and they may not, the card company will.

 

[Leo4]

Paypal f#cks sellers over so bad. People constantly buy expensive things from us and after they recieve it they say they didnt get it to paypal and of course paypal gives them their money no questions asked and hits my account for the money.


Want to know about the $3500 Canon 400mm Ultrasonic lens I got screwed over on by Paypal? Or how about the Leica lenses some a-hole in Tampa said he never got when tracking comfirmed he freaking signed for it!!! $1200 out the window there. Never ship unless the address is confirmed, otherwise they will screw you every time. Ebay has shown me that people in general wont do the right thing and people are really crooked for the most part.



And please for the love of god dont buy safety items for your child off the internet used!!! You wouldnt buy used brake pads would you?:thumbdown:

 

[Josh66]

I don't use eBay specifically because of PayPal...

You give pretty much any protection you might have had by using PayPal, especially if you're foolish enough to give them your bank account numbers.

It's been so long since I've used it, I'm not sure if I remember exactly how it works... I'm pretty sure though that to receive money with paypal you have to hand over the account numbers. I think if you transfer money from you bank to you paypal account you have to do it too.

If there is ever a dispute, they will just take the money out of your bank account, and freeze your paypal account. There is nothing you can do about it, and they don't care about 'your side of the story'.

...I don't know, maybe they've cleaned their act up. That's how it was the last time I used it though (6 or 7 years ago). They were bad enough then that it made me hate them forever, lol. Nothing they do will ever make me want another PayPal account.

I just looked at their terms of use, and it seems that now you actually can close your account. Before it was almost impossible. You couldn't even find any contact information on their site. They made it intentionally hard to reach them...

Very shady business practices if you ask me...


But, like I said, that was a long time ago... I still don't trust them though.

 

[Mustlovedragons]

I don't use eBay specifically because of PayPal...



...I don't know, maybe they've cleaned their act up...

NO, they definitely have not cleaned their act up!

 

[Josh66]

I don't use eBay specifically because of PayPal...



...I don't know, maybe they've cleaned their act up...

NO, they definitely have not cleaned their act up!

Good thing I still don't use them then, lol!

Generally, I don't like buying anything online from places that don't accept real credit cards. I'll make the rare exception for certain things though - like hand made stuff where it's just some lady knitting stuff on her spare time... I don't have a problem dropping a check in the mail for that.

I would rather mail a check than use paypal... Hell, mailing cash is probably safer than using paypal, from my experiences with them...

 

[usayit]

If you can't assume the risk, the easy solution... buy from retail.

 

[Traverse]

I'm actually sitting in a dilemma courtesy of PayPal right now. I bought my 50D, but my PayPal address was wrong since I recently moved. I contacted the seller, we cancelled, I changed my address and was refunded. I re-bought the camera, money was taken. Camera was shipped, same amount of cash was taken again. Of course the PayPal morons won't help me out, either.

 

[Josh66]

I'm actually sitting in a dilemma courtesy of PayPal right now. I bought my 50D, but my PayPal address was wrong since I recently moved. I contacted the seller, we cancelled, I changed my address and was refunded. I re-bought the camera, money was taken. Camera was shipped, same amount of cash was taken again. Of course the PayPal morons won't help me out, either.

I'm not sure that I see what the problem is...

You paid, got refunded, then paid again... What exactly is the problem you're having?

Or did they charge you twice the second time?

(That sucks. And that's why I don't use PayPal... All I can say is ...Good Luck.)

 

[usayit]

I'm actually sitting in a dilemma courtesy of PayPal right now. I bought my 50D, but my PayPal address was wrong since I recently moved. I contacted the seller, we cancelled, I changed my address and was refunded. I re-bought the camera, money was taken. Camera was shipped, same amount of cash was taken again. Of course the PayPal morons won't help me out, either.

I'm not sure that I see what the problem is...

You paid, got refunded, then paid again... What exactly is the problem you're having?

Or did they charge you twice the second time?

(That sucks. And that's why I don't use PayPal... All I can say is ...Good Luck.)

I don't see a problem either...

If one made a single transaction and got charged twice, then I see a problem. But if one made two transactions on paypal, then its user error. Having the incorrect address registered with paypal is also user error and the seller should refund the amount of the second transaction.


I'm in the minority here... I know.. these rants pop up once in a while usually with me getting flamed I don't see a problem with either ebay nor paypal (been using both since their beginning). 9/10 usually the problem is with actions or lack of understanding by the seller or buyer themselves. Blame placed on the either ebay or paypal is incorrectly dished out.. as if people were shooting the messenger.

They are responsible for the service itself... paypal the ability to make monetary transactions. Ebay the market place. Scams and ripoffs are not their responsibility. No different from an ad in the newspaper (market place) or if you miswrote someone a bank check for more than you intended (monetary transaction).

READ THE FINE PRINT of both Paypal and Ebay. Its worded very carefully to limit their risk... no different from other businesses. Risk assessment is a personal choice... no one else bares responsibility for the outcome of said choice..


Me personally.. I gauge the risk and if it is more than I can bare, I buy in person locally or from retail. If its too expensive locally or at retail, then simply I have to accept the fact that I can't afford said item. People are looking for that awesome deal online and get pissed off when they get screwed... Old saying " Too good to be true, usually it is".


I have a leather case for my E-PL1 ($100 USD) coming from South Korea. I usually don't deal over seas (never if I'm the seller) but the item is not available in the U.S. So I did my research on the seller and took my risk. Its 1 week late now... but then again.. its being shipped from a great distance. If I get screwed.. I go after the seller (as much as possible.. report etc.) and then suck up the loss.. no crying .. no ranting.



OP, from what I can tell in the post... your problem is with the seller and (I am afraid to sayit) your own decision to buy an "as is" item. Your choice to refuse dealings with paypal/ebay but in my opinion I see no fault on paypal/nor ebay.

 

[Josh66]

They may have changed a little, but the last time I used them - they were quick to freeze your account and refund the money to the other party. All 'the other party' had to do was say that the goods were never received. Then, they took the money from your paypal account (or your personal bank account, if there wasn't enough in your paypal account) and that was the end of it.

You never got your item back, you never got your money back, and there was nothing you could do about it. You didn't even get a chance to defend yourself.

The "investigation" was very biased towards the party that filed the claim...

edit
But, yeah - I don't think the OP's complaint can be blamed on eBay or PayPal...

...Caveat Emptor.

 

[Josh66]

someday there will be an alternative.

Depending on what you want to buy/sell - there already is.

There are many 'genre specific' buying and selling places.

The first that comes to mind is Guns - Online Gun Auction - Guns at GunBroker.com - for guns, obviously.

There are other, non-gun auction sites too, of course...

 

[FemFugler]

Ya know i think many times it's just not worth the wait and hassle and not to mention risk of buying online, i think more times than not you might as well just suck it up and spend the extra couple bucks and buy from a reliable store where you can see and feel the product in person before buying.

I definitely would not buy any safety products, including a child car seat off of ebay. You don't how old the product is, where they got it from etc. Plus guidelines and rules when it comes to kids carseats are always being updated and changed and of course this differs from country to country. Heck even if you live in Canada and you buy a carseat in the US it wont be up to par with Canada's regulations. It's that crazy.