Advice needed - i think i may be in trouble here

Crowqueen

Azari wrote: »

Yes, I suppose it isn't the easiest thing to stop.

Presumably you get some sort of list of rules/advice when you start selling so they could discourage the practice there by telling people not to do it and informing them that if they do and the buyer complains they will lose the dispute.

It's a problem that goes way beyond auction site: that people are allowed to advertise things with a headline that significantly misrepresents what's actually on offer.

I remember the old ITC ads where they had a procession of Del Boys parade in front of someone in their living room.

Now they should do a spot with someone in front of their computer.

I agree people should own up to their mistakes, and I fully agree ads should be crystal clear, it's just difficult in this case because the seller did flag up that they were only selling one laptop.

Danny_Lee

Yeah they have 100% feedback, but im waiting for a response to my last message saying i would be happy to pay £5 to cover his fees etc tho judging from his last message i doubt we will be able to resolve this without trying my luck with a dispute case

Crowqueen

What dispute would you file though? To successfully contest a Significantly Not As Described item, you would need to return the item tracked to get any money back, and to defend an Item Not Received claim, all the seller has to do is send the items tracked.

You may just have to swallow this and leave appropriate feedback, or get the items sent and then send them back under an SNAD.

Or, if your payment was sourced from a credit card, you could try a chargeback.

Danny_Lee

i can send items by a 24hr courier with full tracking at no charge to myself to thats not an issue for me - would be nice to just sidestep that tho by resolving this quickly

it does seem like this one is gonna be a killer

Azari

Danny_Lee wrote: »

Yeah they have 100% feedback, but im waiting for a response to my last message saying i would be happy to pay £5 to cover his fees etc tho judging from his last message i doubt we will be able to resolve this without trying my luck with a dispute case

I would have thought that if it was an honest mistake on his part (and I do maintain that if the title lists something you are not selling that is a mistake), he would be perfectly happy to relist - particularly as you offered to pay his fees.

If, on the other hand, he was hoping that someone would make the mistake that you did, he's not going to be nearly as likely to relist.

This is somewhat reminiscent of the old ploy of selling the box something came in with that fact buried somewhere in the listing (although that was, of course, definitely intentional). I haven't heard of that one for a while.

Myyrrddyn

Azari wrote: »

What is the seller's feedback?

If it's 100% you can tell him that you will give him a negative on the basis that his title did not accurately represent what he was selling.

I wouldn't blame a seller for doing this mistakenly but they should certainly do whatever is necessary to mitigate their error.

it is against ebays rules to threaten negative feedback to get your own way

Azari

Myyrrddyn wrote: »

it is against ebays rules to threaten negative feedback to get your own way

Yes, you have to word it carefully.

i.e. "It would be absolutely reasonable to leave negative feedback in these circumstances. I am a great believer in the feedback system."

rather than: "I'll neg you if you don't refund".

soolin

I think my view on this differs to other peoples and if I were the OP I would be putting a lot of effort into hassling ebay to get the auction , even though it is finsihed, pulled as being in breach of rules.

The seller breached rules by trying to sell two items on one listing, that is not allowed. If he wanted to sell two items then he needed to list them seperately and pay the appropriate fees. An auction entitled '2 laptops' means buyer was being deliberately misled.

If you harrass ebay and get a person who understands what you are doing (and keep stressing the fee avoidance bit) then there is a slight possibility that you will get the auction removed entirely.

macfly

I agree. Ebay can't vet every ad, but should take action here.

corbyboy

Can you post a link to the auction?

I feel like the buyer has been fleeced here. The title of the auction is not what the seller is selling. You can contact eBay by phone. I would try that and see what they say (http://contact.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactUsNextGen)