in a quandry over ebay seller

rushnowt

i've not been having much luck with ebay for the past few weeks, and i feel awful now for doubting some buyers saying they hadn't received the stuff i sent them

for the first time a few weeks ago i purchased something that didn't arrive and to cut a long story short i've unfortunately had to file a dispute with paypal as seller wasn't at all helpful, something i hoped i'd never have to do

now i have another problem and i don't know what to do i've bought lots of things from a member equating to a couple of hundred quid, some of them coming from the US some from the UK, now i realise that it can take a few weeks for stuff from other countries to get to the UK and i didn't think anything of the 3 week's that has passed since paying for them. however the stuff from the same seller coming from the UK has been over a week now and something has got me a little worried.

I noticed over the past week that this seller received 3 neg f/b and then went private so i didn't read all that was said, a couple of days later 2 of the neg's vanished and f/b was displayed for all to see again, a day or so later more negs and private again

slightly concerned by this i emailed seller to ask if goods had been dispatched from US, reply sent saying i should receive them soon, the next day i emailed asking if goods had been despatched from UK, same reply, you will receive them soon :cool: the stuff from UK was stated has being sent by recorded delivery day after payment received, this was 8 days ago, now i wouldn't normally bother but i'm wondering why the hell they have gone private with their f/b and why they are now not answering my emails

i don't wanna jump the gun here and start a paypal dispute but dont want to risk losing all my money either. Seller has thousands of happy customers with high positive feedback, so why go private over a few recent negs and how did the seller manage to get the other negs removed

sorry if i'm not making any sense here and what would others advise me to do

TIA

rose_sparky

Can I just nip in and ask why there is a private feedback option anyway because it seems to me that it's a cover up.

frivolous_fay

They obviously have some bad feedback that they don't want people seeing.

This may help you:

http://www.goofbay.co.uk/ebay_tools

soolin

Private feedback often covers up negative comments left as a positive, as you just see the percentage and are not able to read the comments. By negative comments as a positive I mean something like 'a fake but OK at this price' or 'arrived OK didn't realise it was shipped from Asia', kind of thing.

5thElement_2

That private thing annoys me, kinda defeats the purpose of the feedback feature

frivolous_fay - great link cant wait to try it next time i need to

pulliptears

Was the item especially valuable? It has been known for customs to hold items for 2 weeks while they work out the Import duty on them. They held a jacket last year for 2 weeks and then charged me £12 for the privilidge!

My understanding of the US postal system is that you cant track to the UK. You can track until it leaves the US but thats it. I may be wrong there but Im almost certain.

rushnowt

tbh i'm a bit puzzled as to why they would go private, they have only just done it and i've been checking fb for a good few weeks before buying from them and everything seemed great really. they've sold literally thousands of things worldwide and i don't think a few negs makes them look sus, surely thats inevitable when selling such large amounts of stock hiding it just makes it look worse imo

i wouldn't ever buy from someone hiding their fb and it's just the fact that they've hidden it now that concerns me, they do still have 100% positive fb so it just seems a bit strange

not answering my emails is a little worrying tho and can't understand why, all i'm asking is when it was sent and if they have a tracking number i can check from my end ?

the stuff isn't expensive in itself but having bought quite a few things over a couple of weeks the total amount has mounted up. they did say that everything would be sent out seperately has it was bought in seperate transactions and to send together would make import duty payable, seperately it would be under the amount payable for customs duty, i beleive it's £20 before import duty is payable and 12.5% on anything over that (well thats what customs said when i rang them )

i had heard that it's taking longer than normal for US to UK deliveries and thats why i didn't give the 3 weeks wait so far a thought, i still wouldn't be concerned now tbh but for the private fb and none replies to my emails, thats the only thing thats got me slightly edgy now.

i've been wondering whether to email other buyers and ask if they've had any problems with purchases over the past month but feel a bit cheeky and underhand doing it

dannahaz

People sometimes go private if there has been neg feedback left and they are disputing it.

If the guy sent it recorded delivery, ask him to email you the tracking number, and you can then track it on the royal mail website.

The RM website also has info on how long you have to wait before claiming non delivery. I can't remember how long it is, but the fact that it was sent recorded will help speed things up. Unfortunately, unless it was specifically insured, the max claim is £28, including postage!

Alfie_E

soolin wrote:

Private feedback often covers up negative comments left as a positive…

I think I’ve also seen another use of the private feedback – to (mostly) hide the fact that they never give feedback. I don’t know if they feel it gives them leverage if a buyer complains after having already left positive feedback.