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Bad eBay Experience


Dennis Toeppen

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This fellow seems to want to put together an Arri 235 package. His approach is a little weird. He started by buying a 200' demo mag I advertised on ebay. When he got it, he was dissatisfied with a blemish on the mag. But I also sensed that he just didn't want the item. I sent him a shipping label and told him to return the item and I would send him an unused, new old stock mag. This was a pretty decent offer. He replied that he was going to proceed with a (forced) return through ebay. He felt that the blemish gave him an out. Clearly, furnishing a new magazine with no blemishes whatsoever would cure any breach he imagined based on the blemish. Instead of honoring the contract he'd entered into, he chooses to use ebay to breach. 

Ebay is becoming less and less useful.

Anyhow, be very careful if you sell gear to this guy. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing or have a sane plan. He is a Slovakian med student in Houston.

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eBay is getting very tough to sell on. All the fees they charge and the thieves.

Some people use it for short term rentals. I had sold a lens last year and the seller tightened the tripod mount too tight and claimed it was broken upon receipt. Then after it was returned, eBay charged me for the sales commission fees unless I put in a claim myself.

 

Broken%2016mm%20cine'%20film%20D.D.Teoli

 

Broken 16mm Stag Film

DDTJRSGFA

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I stopped selling on eBay after they changed their seller policy so that I would have needed to send a full uncensored photo of my ID card or passport to them "to prove my identity so that I would be able to continue selling on their site" and they would have permanently stored the ID card /passport photo on their server somewhere, just waiting for someone to hack the server and sell the millions of ID card /passport photos to the highest bidding criminals.  The criminals would of course at least cause a lot of financial damage to the original ID card owner if the data is stolen but they could even enable terrorist attacks in the worst case if wrong criminal organizations would get their hands on the stolen information.

I don't see this kind of risk worth it considering how time consuming it is to try to sell stuff for profit on eBay in the first place and how difficult it is to get your money out even if you manage to sell something without getting scammed

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"eBay is getting very tough to sell on. All the fees they charge and the thieves.

Some people use it for short term rentals. I had sold a lens last year and the seller tightened the tripod mount too tight and claimed it was broken upon receipt. Then after it was returned, eBay charged me for the sales commission fees unless I put in a claim myself."

 

I've been waiting for that to happen with a camera. Luckily, none of the ~8 Bolex 8mm cameras I've sold on ebay have been returned. I have the most difficulty with computer items. I think people imagine how wonderful it will feel to own something, buy, then aren't filled with the sense of euphoria they expected when they get their obsolete computer that they don't know how to use/fix/restore. Then, they say or do whatever they have to in order to scam their money back. 

Do schools not teach:

* Keeping your word

* Honoring your deals

* Complying with contracts

?

I feel like we started on a downward slide when Best Buy started offering 30 day returns on everything. Consumers used to face some constraints. If you tried to return an opened or damaged item, merchants properly rejected your request. But now, consumers seem to be able to engage in transactions without any expectation of responsibility on their part.

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As expected, Podgorsek has filed a claim with Ebay, stating that the item is defective. As mentioned above, he was offered an unused, perfect new item to resolve his complaints, with shipping paid by me. Calling an item with a scratch on it defective, as he has done in his claim, seems like a bit of a stretch to me. 

The most frustrating part of this is the lack of reciprocity of good faith. When he complained, I looked at the packing video and found that he was correct - there was a scratch. I immediately offered to cure. Instead of reciprocating good faith, he is attempting to use my honesty and candid reply as a weapon against me.

I'm glad I'm not a medical patient of this fellow. He seems to be lacking something - morals, honesty, maturity?

 

Item is defective
Comments
Dear eBay, the item arrived not as described, it has a big scratch that the seller failed to describe or depict in pictures. He agreed to the mistake he made and even send a picture himself (that, like mine, proves the damage was before shipping). I decided I would like to return/get a full refund as it is not as described and has significant damage...
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  • Tim Tyler changed the title to Bad eBay Experience

Not really sure what the problem here is? Just let the buyer return the product to you for a refund. It's unfortunate when you have to eat the shipping costs as a seller, but it it doesn't happen often, especially if you cover all your ground regarding the condition in the listing.

I've sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and other items on eBay in the last few years and have had very few issues. The only annoying bit is the big fee, but that's the tradeoff for all the traffic they generate for your item (I've listed quite a few things on this forum and elsewhere online that got no traction but then sold quickly once I listed it on eBay). 

Edited by Raymond Zrike
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I'm inclined to agree with Raymond. I've had a lot of good experiences with ebay. In one transaction I was sent a really dodgy lens that was unable to be focused, despite being described as being in fine working condition. I politely contacted the seller and explained the problem and said I would send the lens back and would like my money back please. He offered to send me another example of the same lens and I agreed. It arrived and it's a really wonderful example of that lens - and it's a reasonably hard-to-get lens. I was very satisfied with how that turned out.

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You make a deal, you keep your deal. If you buy something that is not refundable and change your mind, it's your problem, not the seller's. I am not running a Nordstrom store. I am an individual seller. Comply with the terms of my contract or get sued.

It is not incumbent upon me to pay round-trip shipping for every flake that makes impetuous decisions and experiences buyer's remorse.

Edited by Dennis Toeppen
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3 minutes ago, Dennis Toeppen said:

You make a deal, you keep your deal. If you buy something that is not refundable and change your mind, it's your problem, not the seller's. I am not running a Nordstrom store. I am an individual seller. Comply with the terms of my contract or get sued.. 

It is not incumbent upon me to pay round-trip shipping for every flake that makes impetuous decisions and experiences buyer's remorse.

Well, there are two sides to a contract, and I think Ebay is a party to the contract so you have to follow its rules as well. One of those is that there are circumstances under which you can't refuse a refund. Surely you don't want to be in court all the time.

I don't know about your country, but mine has fairly strong consumer protection. It's part of the deal and by and large everyone accepts it. Ebay's rules here go beyond it.

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7 hours ago, Jon O'Brien said:

I'm inclined to agree with Raymond. I've had a lot of good experiences with ebay. In one transaction I was sent a really dodgy lens that was unable to be focused, despite being described as being in fine working condition. I politely contacted the seller and explained the problem and said I would send the lens back and would like my money back please. He offered to send me another example of the same lens and I agreed. It arrived and it's a really wonderful example of that lens - and it's a reasonably hard-to-get lens. I was very satisfied with how that turned out.

Congratulations. I'm glad you had a positive experience. I've been selling about $7k/month on ebay for the past 18 months. In that time, I've had several notable extremely negative experiences with impetuous buyers who simply changed their mind and sought to transfer the cost of their mistake (typically $100-$300 in shipping) to me. Ebay encourages, supports, and facilitates breach of contract by flaky buyers.

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2 minutes ago, Mark Dunn said:

Well, there are two sides to a contract, and I think Ebay is a party to the contract so you have to follow its rules as well. One of those is that there are circumstances under which you can't refuse a refund. Surely you don't want to be in court all the time.

I don't know about your country, but mine has fairly strong consumer protection. It's part of the deal and by and large everyone accepts it. Ebay's rules here go beyond it.

You seem to be asserting that there are three sides to a contract, in this case the seller, the buyer, and ebay.

In written responses to two lawsuits I've filed against them, their position was that they are not a party to contracts between buyers and sellers:

"EBAY disclaims participation in transactions, stating in answer in case 2021SC0770 that EBAY is not a party to contracts between buyers and sellers.

ANSWER: eBay admits that it operates a global online marketplace that allows users to offer, sell and buy about anything in a variety of pricing format and locations. The actual contract for sale is directly between the seller and buyer."

 

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9 hours ago, Raymond Zrike said:

Not really sure what the problem here is? Just let the buyer return the product to you for a refund. It's unfortunate when you have to eat the shipping costs as a seller, but it it doesn't happen often, especially if you cover all your ground regarding the condition in the listing.

I've sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and other items on eBay in the last few years and have had very few issues. The only annoying bit is the big fee, but that's the tradeoff for all the traffic they generate for your item (I've listed quite a few things on this forum and elsewhere online that got no traction but then sold quickly once I listed it on eBay). 

I refuse to eat round-trip shipping cost when someone simply makes a foolish decision they regret. The world should not have to bear the expense of foolish people who make bad decisions. Those costs should be borne by the fools. You're essentially saying that you're ok with everyone paying higher prices so that fools like Blaz Podgorsek can be insulated from their bad decisions.

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I just received notice from my bank that a purchaser of 8mm film bounced a check to me. I'm curious how the pro-ebay people feel about that. Breach of contract or valid expression of consumer preference to not pay for product already received?

Edited by Dennis Toeppen
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Well clearly the former because you can sue on the cheque alone, but it doesn't change much. I take Paypal for stuff like that- not foolproof of course but at least you know a bit quicker- though cheques clear overnight here.

You're clearly right about ebay's status. I mean to say that when you list with ebay you certainly have a contract with it which requires that you abide by its rules on refunds, paying for shipping and so on. If you're selling in the course of trade surely there's some consumer protection in the US? In the UK a consumer can return an item ordered online for no reason at all.

 

Edited by Mark Dunn
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"Well clearly the former because you can sue on the cheque alone.

You're clearly right about ebay's status but when you list with ebay you certainly have a contract with it which requires that you abide by its rules on refunds, paying for shipping and so on. If you're selling in the course of trade surely there's some consumer protection in the US? In the UK a consumer can return an item ordered online for no reason at all."

 

Experiencing buyers remorse and then misusing consumer protections to scam your way out of a situation you alone have created for yourself is totally unacceptable to me. I understand that you disagree, and you certainly have a right to your opinion. Have a nice day.

 

Edited by Dennis Toeppen
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7 hours ago, Dennis Toeppen said:

You make a deal, you keep your deal. If you buy something that is not refundable and change your mind, it's your problem, not the seller's. I am not running a Nordstrom store. I am an individual seller. Comply with the terms of my contract or get sued.

It is not incumbent upon me to pay round-trip shipping for every flake that makes impetuous decisions and experiences buyer's remorse.

You don’t have a contract, eBay has a contract. You are selling on their platform, that’s why you are subject to their rules, if you have a bunch of gear sitting around you’d like to move and don’t want to deal with this make your own website and find a way to make transactions with private parties (really not that difficult these days) kind of strange how much effort is going into this thread. 

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Agreed with other users that when selling equipment of this kind, the reasonable thing to do is to accept a return for refund when a buyer is unhappy. Its high-end vintage cinema gear being sold remotely, we all rely on a lot of trust when we buy and sell this stuff.

Ideally they should admit when theyve just changed their mind and eat the shipping, but looking at your auction you've put the condition as "open box" but then images and description talk about chips to the paintwork. Those are contradictory and so the buyer is going to use that to their advantage if you refuse a return in the first place.

Also can't help but notice the sale price. I would be bummed out too, thats a lot of money for a 200' mag and you might not get so lucky next time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/403664030759?nma=true&si=f30Y8bv5KL8WJd1qht%2Fv2u9B2UY%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Edited by Isaac
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