When ebay disputes go wrong

[airdata]

http://www.regretsy.com/2012/01/03/from-the-mailbag-27

Dear Helen Killer,

I love your site and was thrilled to hear of your “win” against PayPal. I recently had a heartbreaking experience of my own with them.

I sold an old French violin to a buyer in Canada, and the buyer disputed the label.

This is not uncommon. In the violin market, labels often mean little and there is often disagreement over them. Some of the most expensive violins in the world have disputed labels, but they are works of art nonetheless.

Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back. They somehow deemed the violin as “counterfeit” even though there is no such thing in the violin world.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Damnnnnn

 

[SandEagle]

read about this on the consumerist this morning. its a surprise that i still use ebay and paypal, even though i know they're evil

 

[MotF Bane]

....wow. LAWSUIT TIME!

 

[cronos]

holy crap!

 

[Texashiker]

There are lots of reasons to not use ebay. Their dispute resolution has ruined their reputation.

A couple of years ago I bought a power supply for a dell computer off of ebay. When I got the power supply, it was a standard power supply, and not one for the dell system I needed.

When I opened a dispute with paypal, they said it could be something like a month before I got my money back.

Screw that, I took a pair of sheet metal sheers and modified the case so the power supply would fit. After that I left negative feedback for false advertising on the sellers profile.

I only use ebay for stuff like military surplus gear,,, and that is about it.

 

[QuantumPion]

People still use ebay? I thought that was just a website where a bunch of scammers in russia try to scam a bunch of scammers in china. I didn't realize there were actual real people trying to sell legitimate goods there.

 

[DesiPower]

I don't know what people expect from these websites... places like ebay and craigslist are more of, use at your won risk. When you buy and sell something, as long as it goes smooth, follow it to finish, as soon as things start going south, cut it loose, bite the bullet. I personally go not do any trade in any of these places if I have a doubt about the product or quality. I generally buy only cheap Chinese crap and ink and cables, that's it.
I were in the violin seller place, I would have taken it to a pawn shop or something, IF I sold it on ebay I would have been ready to loose all the money. I once sold couple of gift cards, $25 each, I could have used plasticjungle but I went for ebay instead. BUT I was perfectly ready to loose all the money, I thought if the buyer disputes, says there is no money on the card, I will just return his money no questions asked. Luckily nothing happened and my gamble paid off. Although I did take all the necessary precautions.

 

[DesiPower]

People still use ebay? I thought that was just a website where a bunch of scammers in russia try to scam a bunch of scammers in china. I didn't realize there were actual real people trying to sell legitimate goods there.

ya, exactly, i never expected real people using a 10 billion dollar company... a company that kind of revenue can only be good for Russians and Chinese scamming each other...

 

[Phokus]

Ebay's pretty good for things like cables. I bought two retractable micro-usb cables that shipped from China or Hong Kong, i think it only cost me like 99 cents or 2 bucks. That was a great deal (had to wait few weeks though. Oh and i also got an xbox 360 kinect stand for less than half of what it costs in the states from China as well. Works great.

But for expensive items? Hell no.

 

[sixone]

You just have to be extra careful.

I sold an old smartphone last summer. Completely forgot to take a photo of the ESN before I shipped it. The buyer contacted me three days after she received it, claimed that it worked long enough to activate it, but then suddenly stopped working.

When I got it back, the power button was frozen, and the screws inside were completely stripped. I told her that there would be no refund, and that I had the before and after photos ready, if she wanted to open a dispute with Paypal.

Never heard from her again.

Ebay is great for hard-to-find items, like wheel caps for an older set of wheels.

 

[Macamus Prime]

I HATE eBay, just as much as I HATE 3rd party sellers on Amazon.com - there is a considerable amount of scum on those sites.