Been screwed by ebay buyers and paypal - help!

DaisyFlower

Seems strange that 4 items to 4 different people didnt arrive, also unusual that they would all submit a claim for the fun of it.

RabbitMad

Smirch_This wrote: »

I've actually thrown the remaining ~ £100 left of stuff in the bin - it's not worth it any more.

So you can't afford to lose £60 but can afford to throw approximately £100 worth of goods in the bin.

You really are an idiot.

dougk_2

I am sorry but if I were a buyer I would have proabably have started to wonder what had happened.

Have you contacted the buyers now and tried to sort it out? have you explained the reasons why postage was delayed.

There is no excuse for not keeping the buyers up to date or advising them of the delay in posting out there items , it only takes a couple of minutes.

Did you reply to any emails from them?

I understand physically posting the items may not have been easy but emailing buyers could have been done at any time. You should have emaied them when you knew you couldn't post the items straight away and offered them a refund. You could have then relisted the items later.

Smirch_This

Big think and some research done... excuse the frustration - I've had years of dealing with crap like this.

Replies:

1. £100 of stuff isn't worth £100 until you've recieved £100. It's worth £0 or less until then. £100 is a prospective amount, so it's worth nothing unless someone agrees to transact. £60 is a tangible debt. TBH, I can afford it - I just don't want to fish out for it as it's obviosuly a rip off, especially when you include the NI and tax paid on that 60 quid as well - making it more like £90 in "net money" (I'm well into the 40% bracket).

2. Buyers were contacted politely after 4 days to say that there would be a delay. 3 were ok, 4 complained profusely.

3. 4 out of 7 packages didn't arrive, conveniently from people who complained profusely to (2). 4 are worth £60 in total. On the same day I sent out several letters to my clients. All were received. Suspicious.

4. I've just checked the one item with tracking information, which was provided to paypal and it was delivered after the claim was closed. Prior to that it was shown as not yet delivered. Paypal closed the claim as undelivered before the TRACKED AIRSIRE item was recieved. Dodgy.

5. One of the "4" has had their ebay account closed.

I've re-read the agreements thoroughly and I agree about the 7 days. Nothing I can do.

My course of action.... Excuse the slight over-reaction - I've had nothing but !!!! from e-commerce outfits, ebay and paypal over the years. The irony is I'm a software engineer specialising in e-commerce and ERP integration...

- As I'm SOL, pay the £60 and make it up elsewhere.
- Close my paypal account.
- Close my ebay account.
- Throw the remaining stuff in the bin/give to friends as it has little fixed value market worth.
- Assume nothing has a resale value when purchasing, possibly buying second hand to minimise that effect and using stuff until it dies.
- Use gumtree and cash in hand in future.
- Use the internet for non-commercial reasons only (research).

StaffsSW

Nothing more to say except, well done for coming back in the face of adversity! It is a painful learning curve.

Smirch_This wrote: »

2. Buyers were contacted politely after 4 days to say that there would be a delay. 3 were ok, 4 complained profusely.

3. 4 out of 7 packages didn't arrive, conveniently from people who complained profusely to (2). 4 are worth £60 in total.

Word to the wise for the future, any time I get the merest whiff of an obtuse or awkward buyer, I take the belt and braces approach - recorded delivery at a minimum, often Special, both at my own cost whether the buyer wants it or not.

Likewise if I open an unpaid dispute, I do not close it until the item is received. You only get one shot at a dispute, and if the buyer then claims non-delivery, or wants to return it, there is no chance of doing a mutual withdrawal.

It may not be the most customer-friendly approach, but it has served me well so far.

Brooker_Dave

stevew8975 wrote: »

nobody has FORCED to use paypal

Ebay forces all (apart from the dells of this world) ebay users to take paypal.

Ebay owns paypal and profits further from every paypal transaction.

Brooker_Dave

DaisyFlower wrote: »

Seems strange that 4 items to 4 different people didnt arrive, also unusual that they would all submit a claim for the fun of it.

Many buyers now know that they can whine to paypal/ebay and get their items for nothing, it's not like sellers can even use feedback to warn other sellers any more...

Nex0

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Many buyers now know that they can whine to paypal/ebay and get their items for nothing, it's not like sellers can even use feedback to warn other sellers any more...

Not if you used a tracked delivery they cant.

Brooker_Dave

Nex0 wrote: »

Not if you used a tracked delivery they cant.

Trouble is that ebay want everyone to offer "free" postage.

With ever more fees, fewer buyers and beig forced to take paypal and pay their fees too, many sellers won't be able to used tracked delivery as they are making little or no profit as it is.

Hintza

I concur with Steve on this one (I was dubious after your initial post) but post #15 clears up a few issues.

I certainly up level of postage when I get any inkling of something not right(not that it affects me much as most goes SD anyway. I sometimes will go to the extreme of removing a listing if I don'yt like the questions being asked. You have to have nose for the newbies versus the ones that are just not quite right.

How you deal with this now is really dependent on how much effort you want to put in. I think you should be talking to PayPal especially about your Airsure item, but I guess they will point out it wasn't posted promptly enough.

Good luck