Things You Hate About eBay

I use eBay a lot, but boy are there some total wankers on there.

I won't bore you with every crap transaction or we'd be here all day, but the main thing that makes me want to kill myself is when you win something for a really low price, say 99p, and the product isn't as described.

The seller will then turn round and say "what do you expect for 99p" as some sort of justification for his/her lies.

Of my last 20 purchases on eBay I've left negative feedback 7 times. Crap.

1. Dick heads that engage in a bidding war 5 days before the auction end, putting the price up and up. WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT?
2. Buyers that say an item isn't as it was described when it absolutely is. I sold a series DVD once which had a few inevitable signs of wear and tear. I could have fairly described it as being in damn good nick but opted for modesty instead and wrote that it was in "fair condition". He gave me neutral feedback, claiming it was tatty. I sent him a three paragraph email explaining what a twat he was.
3. Sellers that wait weeks before they dispatch an item, and expect you to be patient because they've been busy. I bought a DVD once which took three weeks to arrive. When I explained this on the seller's feedback page, his counter argument was something like "Item was dispatched within 9 days. Some people are never satisfied."

Sorry, how could I forget:

4. People that bid and win, but don't buy. I had this problem when I was selling a treadmill. I used every listed means of contact but no joy. The bitch was from Preston, I should add...

doffcocker wrote:
3. Sellers that wait weeks before they dispatch an item, and expect you to be patient because they've been busy. I bought a DVD once which took three weeks to arrive. When I explained this on the seller's feedback page, his counter argument was something like "Item was dispatched within 9 days. Some people are never satisfied."

Ha ha, couldn't agree more. The worst excuse that people use for taking ages to post something is "my son/daughter/mum/dad/dog has been in hospital". Just last month one woman's excuse for not having posted the item after 7 days was her daughter was in hospital with suspected Menigitis - but looking at her eBay shop she'd been listing hundreds of items every day that week. When I pointed this out she said she was doing it from her daughter's bedside. I kid you not.

doffcocker wrote:Sorry, how could I forget:

4. People that bid and win, but don't buy. I had this problem when I was selling a treadmill. I used every listed means of contact but no joy. The bitch was from Preston, I should add...

I really wanted to complete the transaction but I recognised you as the twat who always theives stuff from Asda. I have trust issues.

Natasha Whittam wrote:
I really wanted to complete the transaction but I recognised you as the twat who always theives stuff from Asda. I have trust issues.

I think a manual treadmill would have looked out of place in Whittam Towers anyhow.

doffcocker wrote:Sorry, how could I forget:

4. People that bid and win, but don't buy. I had this problem when I was selling a treadmill. I used every listed means of contact but no joy.

I get this all the time. The best way to take revenge is watch their account for the next time they sell something.

Get someone you know with an eBay account to bid on their item really high, then you put an even higher bid in. Best one I did was bid on some wankers tracksuit top, me and my friend bid it upto £500 at the very last minute so he couldn't remove our bids. That's £50 in eBay fees to the seller.

Eventually, he or she will cotton on that they've been "done" and they'll ask eBay to refund their fees. eBay send you an e-mail asking you to confirm you didn't pay - at this point you check the box marked "paid by cheque". That way eBay pursue the seller for the fees and there's nothing the seller can do.

Works a treat every single time.

I don't sell anything of value on eBay any more, I had a big dispute with them a few years ago. I was selling a mobile phone, it was worth about 400 quid. Someone bought it and paid almost straight away via paypal. I sent the phone via special delivery to the address they asked for with the paypal payment.

My big mistake then was not transferring that money out of my paypal account into my bank account.

Because then what happened is the buyer alleged their eBay AND paypal accounts had both been hacked and used fraudulently, and Paypal (who is owned by eBay) took the 400 out of my paypal account and gave it back to the buyer. And I wasn't covered by the sellers protection policy because the delivery address I sent the phone to was not the account holder's verified address. eBay weren't interested and claim they have to refund a buyer if they claim their account has been hacked.

I would love to have taken the funds out of the PayPal account and let eBay try and sue me when I refused to restore the negative balance back into credit.

largehat wrote:
I would love to have taken the funds out of the PayPal account and let eBay try and sue me when I refused to restore the negative balance back into credit.

eBay almost always find in favour of the buyer, it really is very easy to take the piss if you want.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

eBay almost always find in favour of the buyer, it really is very easy to take the piss if you want.

you say that but i bought a coat from a powerseller. it looked fine when it arrived, but when i wore it for the first time the zip snapped off and the stitching was coming undone. almost certainly a fake.

the seller denied ever claiming it was genuine but ebay still found in his favour because i'd removed the tags. they don't seem to care about the fakes, i guess it's a big part of their profit!

You're right Nat. I am pretty sure if I had taken them to small claims court I would have won/they would have settled because an eBay customer service agent slipped up when I emailed them and said I was entitled to keep the funds as the transaction was complete. At that time, it was about 6 years ago now, I had too much other stuff going on in my life and never got round to it. I'd never sell anything worth anywhere near 400 quid again via eBay.

I just tell myself that over the years they've lost a lot of custom from me but ultimately they didn't con me out of the money, the buyer did.

So never sell anything to 'kezzawhosemadforit'. She got an abusive email or two from me I can tell you now.

not-so-plain-jayne wrote:

the seller denied ever claiming it was genuine but ebay still found in his favour because i'd removed the tags. they don't seem to care about the fakes, i guess it's a big part of their profit!

I'd love to see the feedback page for your used knickers. Please post a link.

i should add that i left negative feedback saying the coat was a fake and ebay removed it - no explanation was given.

not-so-plain-jayne wrote:i should add that i left negative feedback saying the coat was a fake and ebay removed it - no explanation was given.

you should report them to the OFT...
there is an ongoing investigation apparently regarding Ebay, the selling of fakes and how E bay handle fraudulent transactions...

I did read that in a Tabloid at work though...

doffcocker wrote: I sent him a three paragraph email explaining what a twat he was.

largehat wrote:

I'd love to see the feedback page for your used knickers. Please post a link.

Is there actually a market for such items of haute couture and do people actually leave feedback ?

Personally, I prefer knickers with the beef curtains still in them.

Reebok Trotter wrote:
Personally, I prefer knickers with the beef curtains still in them.

Such a grim comment. I winced.

One mans meat is another mans poison.

New low today on eBay.

Won some expensive Nike trainers, hardly worn, mint condition.

They were in mint condition, but one was a size 5 the other size 4.5. I kid you not.

No response from the seller yet.

Natasha Whittam wrote:New low today on eBay.

Won some expensive Nike trainers, hardly worn, mint condition.

They were in mint condition, but one was a size 5 the other size 4.5. I kid you not.

No response from the seller yet.

You won some second hand trainers? Oh you filthy pikey