Some eBay thing

[clintrubber]

Hi,

Need your advice on this, would be much appreciated if people with more eBay-experience could
shed their light on this:


Several weeks ago I bought/won a certain item on eBay, on which I immediately got a message from seller that he had more
of these items available. Feeling that I had already taken a certain risk since the item was not explicitely advertised as in full working condition, I asked him if I was about to buy another one of these items, if it was to be considered 'in working condition' (or words to that extend).
Upon which I didn't hear from him again, even not after several repeats of that question.

So all I can think of is that he knew the items might have some troubles and that he didn't want me to guarantee a working condition, at least not to state that for a to be added item.

Needless to say I didn't pay the first item so far, since might I be going for another I wanted to have it sent together.

Now today I received a if-nothing-was-asked standard message about payment, with the added remark 'thanks again for buying'.

What to do ? I'm not interested anymore in the second item. I do know that I'm obliged to buy the first item, but at the same time I'm not interested anymore in buying anything at all from someone who pertinently ignores my repeated questions in response to his own email-after-the-auction-ending (for which I actually hadn't even asked).

How turn eBay-rules out in practice, can I be set free from the purchasing-obligation because of my ignored emails to him ?

Thanks!

  Peter

 

[emrr]

Used to be non-response was sufficient reason, BUT, with everything automated now in regards to invoicing, who knows.  You could probably get out based on his 'illegal' offer and lack of communication. 

 

[rodabod]

Just ask him what's going on. Sellers can't leave negative feedback now, so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[clintrubber]

Thanks both !

You could probably get out based on his 'illegal' offer and lack of communication. 

I hadn't realized his offer was in fact illegal, I checked and I saw it was indeed so
since it was a direct email to me. Hadn't remembered it like that.
Aha ! 

Maybe that has been the reason  for the radio-silence, since I both tried contacting him direct & by the eBay-message system.
But then again, my interpretation has been (and his move could have been) that he simply notified me on one of his other auctions for such identical items.

Just ask him what's going on. Sellers can't leave negative feedback now, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Might be good, another try, who knows.

Thanks !

  Peter

 

[wtmnmf]

I would ask eBay for the seller's contact information and call the seller.  If you can't find a solution after trying that, then open a dispute with eBay. 

If it were me and the purchase was not going to break the bank, then I would probably complete the transaction, send accurate feedback, and take away a lesson from the experience.  I think that it is unrealistic to expect that all eBay transactions will be 100% satisfactory, for instance: no matter how many times I give specific packing instructions and warn about damage from improper packing, I find that 90% of the time the instructions are ignored and about 50% of what I buy arrives damaged in one way or another.  It's disappointing, but I know the deal...

Good luck 

 

[clintrubber]

Good luck 

Thanks ! It's not about an enormous amount of money, so 'going dispute' would be a wrong spending of time & trouble. It's just that I'd be feeling silly to sheepishly pay after being ignored on my questions, that simply feels bad.

I've emailed him, let's see what pops up.

Thanks!

  Peter

 

[craptical]

Are you 100% sure you got the offer from the seller and not from someone else? I´ve got some pretty authentic "second chance" offers on auctions I didn´t win from "the seller"...

Best,

/Dave

 

[MartyMart]

Are you 100% sure you got the offer from the seller and not from someone else? I´ve got some pretty authentic "second chance" offers on auctions I didn´t win from "the seller"...

Best,

/Dave

Yup that has happened to me several times ..... spam and phish anyone ??

`could well have been someone else.
In my Ebay experience - which is VAST, the best communicators are normally the best and most "fair" sellers.

MM.

 

[clintrubber]

Are you 100% sure you got the offer from the seller and not from someone else? I´ve got some pretty authentic "second chance" offers on auctions I didn´t win from "the seller"...

Best,

/Dave

Hi Dave & thanks,

Possibly, but unlikely, the email-address in the auction-description was the same as from which I received the direct email.
That could have been tricked as well, but how easy has another person access to my email-address to approach me? (I realize I may be causing
loud bursts of laughter now  ) But it's not about that much money (as said, more about not wanting to buy from a non-responding seller) so the 'someone else' better spends his efforts somewhere else.

Thanks,

  Peter 

 

[sahib]

1. For the stuff that you already bid for and won: If you do not buy it you probably get a warning from e-bay at worst unless you are a repeat offender. Don't worry about it.

2. For his "I've got more are you interested" offer: Ask him to list them on e-bay with a buy now option specially for you. Buy it through e-bay.  Pay by paypal and make sure you are protected by paypal if the stuff is faulty, not like the one advertised or never arrived.

Otherwise it is a huge risk. I got bitten twice on very high value stuff. One recovered after six months, thanks to Studio Jimmy (Jimmy Hunter). He sent the guy a letter (in Nashville) and the guy eventually sent the stuff. (If I was the guy, after reading that letter I would deliver them in person, I can tell you.)

But I was unfortunate on the second one. I purchased audio transformers from this guy in Canada. My first lot of purchases were auctioned and I won. Total was around $700. All the transformers arrived, in time and beautifully packed. I thought, wow, excellent service. The guy sent me an e-mail saying he had more and sent me a list. I ordered the stuff and paid him again just under $600. Never heard back. No replies to my e-mails. Eventually I found out his number and phoned him. His mother picked up the phone and said she would ask him to e-mail me. Nothing arrived. I phoned again but this time she said she packed all the stuff by herself and it was all ready to go. Nothing arrived. I phoned back again, this time she said they had problems etc. Cut a very long story short, I figured out she was in the scam too. It has been almost four years still no news. There is a saying in Turkish for this kind of occassion. "Have a glass of water and forget about it" and I did.

 

[clintrubber]

Hi,

First of all I'm sorry to hear about that scam    Nice Turkish saying though, good you did it like that.

1. For the stuff that you already bid for and won: If you do not buy it you probably get a warning from e-bay at worst unless you are a repeat offender. Don't worry about it.

Aha, good to hear, no problems to be expected then.

2. For his "I've got more are you interested" offer: Ask him to list them on e-bay with a buy now option specially for you. Buy it through e-bay.  Pay by paypal and make sure you are protected by paypal if the stuff is faulty, not like the one advertised or never arrived.

Cool, hadn't realized that. I mean, do I understand it correctly that the stuff has to be working properly, even if it's not explicitely mentioned in the auction-text ?

I obviously do note it when people add 'tested, fully working', or add 'as is', but this one had neither of these.
So I assumed there'd be a risk it wasn't guaranteed to be working properly, which I had to accept then. But not so then, that's good to hear.

Thanks & bye,

  Peter

 

[sahib]

2. For his "I've got more are you interested" offer: Ask him to list them on e-bay with a buy now option specially for you. Buy it through e-bay.  Pay by paypal and make sure you are protected by paypal if the stuff is faulty, not like the one advertised or never arrived.

Cool, hadn't realized that. I mean, do I understand it correctly that the stuff has to be working properly, even if it's not explicitely mentioned in the auction-text ?

Not necessarily. If it is not clear whether it is working or not then you can always ask the question to find out. In one of my auctions even though I implied that it was fully working one guy still asked me if it was working.

 

[jdbakker]

I have found that some sellers are simply exceptionally bad at communicating. This happens both for the really high volume sellers, and the small-time newbie-ish sellers who have simply underestimated the amount of time that an eBay sale can take. With the former category you can usually tell from their feedback; with the latter it can be a Learning Experience.

(I once bought two computer controlled communications receivers from a guy who was listing them by the dozen. When the package arrived it contained only one, although the Customs form listed two. After a bunch of unanswered e-mails I found his cell phone number; when I called I could hear he was on the road. He said he was in his truck driving around the USA dismantling FCC monitoring sites as fast as he could, and admitted that he hadn't budgetted any time for customer service. He promised to ship me another one, which he did).

As others have said, if you buy through eBay you have better protection, although you can still file a claim with PP if you've gone through other channels.

JD 'never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity' B.

 

[clintrubber]

No reply from him yet, and not expecting anything responselike either anymore.

But also based on what you all kindly wrote I assume the payment-request was
'just' an automated one.

Bye/thanks,

  Peter