eBay seller refunds

[John Mitchell]

I recently got burned on eBay for the first time. The item (photo software) was not delivered, and the seller doesn't answer my e-mails. Thankfully, it isn't a large amount of money. I've requested a refund from the seller via eBay but no response yet. Just wondering, has anyone managed to get a refund from a dishonest eBay seller? I'm more concerned about getting this guy banned from eBay than getting the cash back. However, both would be nice.

[Martin P Wilson]

Yes, years ago when I was sent a counterfeit Sandisk memory card. The supplier was indignant when I raised it as fraudulent with eBay without sending it back to him first (so he could sell it on to some other poor schmuck?), but I did get the money back eventually.

 

Some things like that I won't buy on eBay, or online at all, now unless I know the seller but then I would try and use the sellers web site and deal directly..

[fotoDogue]

Did you check the seller's ratings before bidding? Is there any recent feedback indicating others haven't received items? How long has it been?

 

Sometimes life happens. Sellers get sick or have other life issues that prevent them from shipping or even checking their email. I'd give him a week or so and then file a request.

http://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/sr?query=1479&st=7

 

If you paid via PalPal I believe they may also be able to put to reverse payment.

[Armstrong]

I don't think you'll have any problems getting your money back from eBay.  You need to open a case against the buyer with eBay rather than asking them to refund you. The eBay help pages have the process step by step.

 

Hope it works out in your favour!

[John Mitchell]

Did you check the seller's ratings before bidding? Is there any recent feedback indicating others haven't received items? How long has it been?

 

Sometimes life happens. Sellers get sick or have other life issues that prevent them from shipping or even checking their email. I'd give him a week or so and then file a request.

http://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/sr?query=1479&st=7

 

If you paid via PalPal I believe they may also be able to put to reverse payment.

 

Interestingly, the feedback from buyers is positive, but none of it is recent. Also, the similarity of the responses seems suspect to me.

 

As mentioned, I have filed an initial refund request with eBay. Shall take it to the next stage (opening a case against the seller) if nothing happens. Contacting PayPal is definitely an option as well. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

P.S. no bidding was involved

[fotoDogue]

Some time back I was shopping for an item. One seller had something like a 97.6% positive rating for tens of thousands of auctions. When I checked his reviews I discovered none of his recent items had been received.

Maybe he was sick.. Maybe he was dead. Maybe some scammer had hacked his account. It never hurts to see what the recent reviews reflect. Others have since told me anything less than 99% positive should probably be passed over.

[Chuck Nacke]

I've bought and sold on eBay for more than a decade and I've only had

one "Dishonest seller" and eBay refunded most of what I spent.  Before

I purchase anything I check the sellers rating and send the seller an email

to see how they answer and how long it takes for them to respond.

 

I just bought an expensive piece of jewelry for my wife on eBay and the

seller was wonderful, shipped quickly and it was exactly as described.

All of the NIKON bodies I am currently using were purchased on eBay.

[spacecadet]

In the UK we have buyer protection which is effectively a no-fault refund but that's a legal protection.

However I've never had an unresolved problem in 12 years and 200-odd transactions.

There are very few things I wouldn't, or don't, buy on eBay, including my current A55 and all its lenses, my Illumitran and the adapter for it. Printer ink, freezer thermostats, batteries, shower heads, you name it.

[John Mitchell]

This is my first negative experience with an eBay purchase. I should have smelled a scam right away (won't go into details) with this one.

 

Thanks for the helpful feedback everyone. Shall let you know what happens.

[Southpole]

I had a issue with no response from seller , contacted ebay and got a refund very quickly

[John Mitchell]

The seller just refunded my PayPal payment, so I guess the request through eBay did the trick.

 

My faith in humanity has been restored.

[Allan Bell]

The seller just refunded my PayPal payment, so I guess the request through eBay did the trick.

 

My faith in humanity has been restored.

 

 

That's great. Ebay have a seller protection policy.

 

Allan

[TokyoM1ke]

The seller just refunded my PayPal payment, so I guess the request through eBay did the trick.

 

My faith in humanity has been restored.

Great result. Everyone should be aware that there is a pretty tight time limit for complaining to EBay. I got stung some years ago for ... well enough to irritate me and failed to get a refund because the goods were shipping from the US and the time from end of bidding to hassling seller to complaining was over that limit...

 

Keep the faith by all means but make sure you always wear a parachute!

[ann]

TokyoM1ke - When aiming for green up arrow I accidentally pressed red down arrow in your above response.

 

It would be great if someone would give you a green arrow to cancel mine out. - Ann

[DDoug]

I've been burned more than once on eBay but continue to use it because, overall, I've saved a lot of money and have bought things which would have been difficult to source otherwise.

 

When it comes to solving disputes, I've found that PayPal is more reliable than eBay. In one case, a disfunctional hard drive, I ended up wishing I'd used PayPal instead of bank transfer.

[TokyoM1ke]

TokyoM1ke - When aiming for green up arrow I accidentally pressed red down arrow in your above response.

 

It would be great if someone would give you a green arrow to cancel mine out. - Ann

 

 

 

TokyoM1ke - When aiming for green up arrow I accidentally pressed red down arrow in your above response.

 

It would be great if someone would give you a green arrow to cancel mine out. - Ann

 

Done! 

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

Thanks!

[John Mitchell]

I've been burned more than once on eBay but continue to use it because, overall, I've saved a lot of money and have bought things which would have been difficult to source otherwise.

 

When it comes to solving disputes, I've found that PayPal is more reliable than eBay. In one case, a disfunctional hard drive, I ended up wishing I'd used PayPal instead of bank transfer.

 

In my case, this seller was apparently offering software that turns out to be available (but difficult to find) for free on the Web. Since he isn't actually selling the product but rather sending buyers an existing link that they can use to download the freebie program themselves, he is somehow getting away with this interesting little money-making venture. However, it all seems very iffy to me. In hindsight, it was really dumb of me not to see what was going on. His excuse for not sending me the link was that he hadn't received a message from eBay saying that I had made a purchase. Not quite sure what to make of that,

 

To quote Homer Simpson: "DOH!"

[Guest]

I recently got burned on eBay for the first time. The item (photo software) was not delivered, and the seller doesn't answer my e-mails. Thankfully, it isn't a large amount of money. I've requested a refund from the seller via eBay but no response yet. Just wondering, has anyone managed to get a refund from a dishonest eBay seller? I'm more concerned about getting this guy banned from eBay than getting the cash back. However, both would be nice.

 

Ebay is now very pro-buyer, it actually irks many sellers. As long as you have followed procedure, you should have no worries.

[John Mitchell]

 

I recently got burned on eBay for the first time. The item (photo software) was not delivered, and the seller doesn't answer my e-mails. Thankfully, it isn't a large amount of money. I've requested a refund from the seller via eBay but no response yet. Just wondering, has anyone managed to get a refund from a dishonest eBay seller? I'm more concerned about getting this guy banned from eBay than getting the cash back. However, both would be nice.

 

Ebay is now very pro-buyer, it actually irks many sellers. As long as you have followed procedure, you should have no worries.

 

 

Certainly true in my case, they apparently unleashed the hounds...

[Ed Rooney]

A happy ending to your personal situation, John -- congratulations. 

 

I agree with what Geoff is pointing out about eBay now favoring buyers over sellers. When I decided to move into mirrorless, and so sell some Nikon gear, I did a lot of research and watched videos on YouTube; it scared me into not wanting to use eBaby to sell. 

 

Instead I brought some items up to Adorama and was happy with the way the transaction went with them. Sure, I got less money than I'd have listed items for on eBay, but . . . there was no eBay or PayPal commissions to pay, no wrapping and boxing, and no fear of being ripped off. I was in and out of the store in less than 30 minutes with a check in my hand. Okay, not everyone is here in NYC, but they do business online, too. I also went to B&H Photo, but was less happy with their offer. I will try them again, however. 

 

Edo

[Gervais Montacute]

This is my first negative experience with an eBay purchase. I should have smelled a scam right away (won't go into details) with this one.

 

Thanks for the helpful feedback everyone. Shall let you know what happens.

 

 

You should get a refund anyway John if you paid through Paypal. You simply open a case against the seller and they automatically take it out of the sellers account and wait until the resolution case ends. If the case goes in your favour, which it generally does on Ebay for buyers, then they just refund to you,

 

As far as taking any notice of feedback, unless it's negative over and over again, I wouldn't pay any attention to them. Feedback on Ebay is a racket and is used in all sorts of circumstances. And always remember you can't technically give a buyer a negative feedback. Only sellers can get those.

 

Ebay itself and it's relationship with Paypal first off is a giant scam. Once you understand that, then dealing on ebay becomes a lot simpler. Their basic charge combined is around 14%, which imo for an online auction house is a total scam. 

 

Secondly, sellers have very little to no protection at all from Ebay and Paypal. Their philosophy is buyers are always right. Remember that when you come to selling your expensive camera equipment on Ebay and it suddenly goes wrong. Usually there shouldn't be an issue at all,  but if there is, you're in trouble. For camera gear that's expensive (and it usually is) the ideal way is collection and cash, although in large continents that's almost impossible.

 

In my experience, there are a lot more scams done by buyers than there are by sellers.

[spacecadet]

I've 250 transactions as both buyer and seller over 10 years and I don't recognise the organisation Gervais is describing. 14% for money in your account, in advance, isn't bad. The overwhelming majority of transactions go very smoothly. Buyers say thankyou for the item, sellers say thanks for the business. I have sold items that wouldn't have shifted in a month of Sundays otherwise, including a broken camera for £66. The buyer was delighted because he didn't need what was broken, and I was delighted because I got money for what was junk to me. My OH even sold a mobile phone after dropping it down the toilet.

It's not that bad. In fact, it's very, very good.

[Guest]

 

Ebay itself and it's relationship with Paypal first off is a giant scam. Once you understand that, then dealing on ebay becomes a lot simpler. Their basic charge combined is around 14%, which imo for an online auction house is a total scam. 

 

 

Standard UK auction house fees start at about 15%-17% and can be higher, use of live on-line facilities usually adds 3% to the fee. The basic auction house commission has VAT applied on top. Ebay is actually pretty good value if you are a seller (I'm a UK Power Seller) but as a business seller you have to conform to UK (In my case) law which means the distance selling regs.... 14 day returns policy etc.

 

There is a CODB as a seller on Ebay which you either deal with or just don't use it....

 

EDIT - I would echo Mark's remark. This is not the Ebay I use day in, day out. I've had trouble as a buyer in the past but was refunded in full.

[Martin P Wilson]

I am investigating selling my equipment on commission thorugh someone like Ffordes (long established) here in the UK. The commission is 20% but it includes all the taxes etc, they advertise in the main magazines and as they offer the buyer a warranty the price should be higher than a personal or eBay sale. Will be doing a bit more research over next week or two.

Anyone used them or a similar seller?

[Guest]

I am investigating selling my equipment on commission thorugh someone like Ffordes (long established) here in the UK. The commission is 20% but it includes all the taxes etc, they advertise in the main magazines and as they offer the buyer a warranty the price should be higher than a personal or eBay sale. Will be doing a bit more research over next week or two.

 

Anyone used them or a similar seller?

 

I've used Ffordes for many many years, long before they moved up narwth... the boss figured so much was going on line that having an expensive shop down south didn't make sense and he preferred the view up in Scotland.

 

Anyhow, excellent service and stack up very well commission wise. Never had any problems and sold thousands of pounds worth of gear through them. if anyone is after a used 'frotto 116 video head.... they have a cheap but nice one in stock I always use the commission route and just wait for a sale. Very honest assessment of condition and value.