Bad EBay Experience. Need Help!

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:52 pm

After over 138 buys, and sales on EBay I finally had a bad moment. I guess I should consider myself lucky.
Anyway, I purchased a wah pedal from a seller on the 4th, and she still has not shipped the pedal, and will not respond to my emails.
Yesterday I filed a complaint with PayPal since I used PayPal for the purchase.
From what I understand the complaint process takes 20 days. If nothing has been worked out, what happens next?
Should I give the seller a negative feedback now, or should I wait?
Luckily the item was only for $33 bucks.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:09 pm

Hold off on negative until you know the final outcome of the auction.

In rare cases, people go to hospitals and can't return emails or send stuff out. Emergencies do happen, and if someone has good feedback otherwise it's not bad to wait. If you have paypal and or charged it, you have ways to resolve it to your satisfaction.

fran4001 · Post by **fran4001** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:13 pm

Hold off on the neg! I have one totally undeserved one from an anal aperture who made me wait 29 days for a 45 rpm from the next state over, a total of 55 miles. Every conceivable excuse, US Mail lost it, mom died, dog was sick, kid was missing for 4 days, etc. etc. I hadn't read his feedback until after, then discovered his 66 negatives in a 3 month period. He was soon bounced from Ebay, but left me my one neg saying I was a whiner because I didn't get "my precious little $2 record" as quick as I wanted it. It eventually came 60 days later. Ain't worth the grief. Give it a month or so, then fire away!

mgauction · Post by **mgauction** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:16 pm

I would not give any feedback, Bob. They could & will neg you back. As mad as I would be too, you somtimes you have to pick your fights. For me, I would not want a neg for $33 -- now that's just me. Any hope for feedback to that seller would be over. I would just stick with the ebay complaint as hard as possible and stay away from any feedback, even if they send you the product.

People are funny about communication. Some think there is no reason to communicate if they have sent or paid for a product even though you have not yet received it. I would respond regardless. It's respectful & thoughtful of others, especially in a forum where nobody knows each other. I always think what it's like to be on the other end and what I'd like to hear as a customer. Sorry I'm not the seller, Bob!

Good luck!

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:24 pm

Bob, once you file a complaint with Paypal, the seller has 15 days to respond. If they don't respond, it is ruled in your favor. If they do, then Paypal needs to make a refund issued to you, which could also take 2 weeks. If you are as lucky as I was, with a seller that would not return emails, they will not reply to the Paypal email and you will get a refund after 15 days.

mgauction · Post by **mgauction** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:31 pm

That's right. They will take it out of his bank or credit card account.

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:39 pm

Thanks guys. As much as I would like to leave negative feedback I will refrain. Like you guys say, it's not worth it for me to get a return negative. Plus, Glen you may be right, and something may be going on in the seller's life right now to prevent her from shipping.
Thanks again all, for your comments.

jeff_ulmer · Post by **jeff_ulmer** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:47 pm

Good luck on the resolution. Hopefully you'll get all your money back, but PayPal can charge you a $25 handling fee if the seller's account has been emptied and they aren't able to recover funds.

mgauction · Post by **mgauction** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:55 pm

That's good to know, Jeff! I'll remember that.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:26 am

The thing is, if you used a credit card, you can dispute the transaction there, even if Paypal doesn't rule in your favor or won't help (as many people know here, they can be pretty lame, too, sometimes.)

As for negative feedback, some people just deserve it. But you can do that later. Always wait until you know the outcome, even if it's a month or two.

In cases like that, I don't care if they flame me. One can respond. And when people are really bad, they tend not to flame you with the facts of the case but with stupid statements that sometimes even admit wrongdoing or lame service as in Fran's case above.

For those buying vinyl here, I'm sure you all know how hit and miss that is on ebay. So many people who don't know what they're talking about list stuff as "excellent" or even "mint" and it arrives as a record you'd never subject your stylus to.

beatlefreak · Post by **beatlefreak** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:45 am

"Mint" is the most overused term in any type of collecting. The second most misused term is "rare".

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:33 am

I love how many of those old Beatles albums are rare. Of course, that's a band that hardly sold any records.