What is your weird ebay story for the week?

[clovis97]

I've been buying a household item, and parting it out on ebay. It has been both fun and profitable. I've also enjoyed stellar feedback from all buyers.

Last week, I shipped out a part to a buyer. My ebay ad clearly says "You are buying this part only. Nothing else is included."

The postal carrier shows up at my door on Friday, and drops a letter in our box from the buyer. Yes, you read that right, a letter, typed on real paper, placed in a paper envelope, and affixed with a stamp.

It reads:

"I am a buyer from your recent ebay solicitation of a ___________________.

Sad to say, the assembly was shipped to me incomplete. The item has, as a mandatory accessory, a ________________ (enter $8 part here) and a _________________ (enter $15 part here). (He also added a paragraph of technical legalese trying to sound important.)

Without these parts, the item is unusable.

Please be kind enough to drop those parts into an envelope, and ship them to me. I will greatly appreciate it."

Okay, I admit that I was totally perplexed and a little ticked when I got the letter. It is conveniently disguised to look like a letter from an attorney, and printed on letterhead. Even my wife exclaimed "Is that from a lawyer?!?!"

I politely replied telling him, via email, that I would sell him the parts, and give free shipping.

This morning, I've burst out laughing at this dude and his letter. I find it hysterical. It is absolutely absurd in my opinion.

So, according to this guy's reasoning, if I am selling a single Mercury dime on ebay, and he buys it, am I supposed to throw in the "mandantory" collection of all Mercury dimes, plus an album too?

If I sell him a replacement car radio, am I supposed to throw in the car also?

What weird stuff have you dealt with recently?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[dumpsterdiver]

I'll bite.

I have a complete manual pasta maker. You make the dough roll it through the wheels and get a flat sheet of dough. There's also a thickness adjustment on this part. That flat sheet can then be run back through an attachment that has teeth about 3 mm apart and would make round noodles or a separate set of teeth that would make flat noodles about 5mm flat I suppose if you want to cut the flat strip into your desired thickness with a knife you could. I actually have a better idiot version written in my listing.

I have received four emails from different people asking in varying degrees of english asking if it makes flat wide noodles for chicken noodles soup. I don't even know how to answer this question. Its answered in the listing. I don't know how wide they want their noodles. If you want them wider than the attachment use a knife. Rachael Ray or some other tv personality must have aired an episode where they made chicken noodle soup is all I can figure. When I saw the 5th question before I clicked on it I swore I was going to delete the item if it was 5th person asking about wide chicken noodle for chicken soup noodles. Nope, this guy tells me how to read the date code. I think I'm so glad its a normal question. I answer. He misses the end of the auction because he is in Australia. About 150 are listed on there; The only difference I can see is manual or motorized. Some attachment variations. As far as I can tell they are all basically the same. The sheer number of them listed I'm starting to think someone is just playing a joke on me.

 

[clovis97]

Dumpster, that is too funny!

 

[Tallone]

I am amazed at the lengths some buyers will go to in an effort to get something for nothing. I don't know how much the part you sold him cost but I would bet it is far less than what a real attorney would charge to write that letter. Nice try, champ!

So here is my current "ebay weirdo" story. In late December, I sold a model train engine. It was not an expensive item (I think he paid $12 for it) but it was brand new, still in the original box. I ship it off to the guy and a few days later the buyer sends me a message. Below is the conversation:

BUYER: "I bought the engine just tried on my track tonight. Found that back wheels are failing to turn and I open the shell to watch it run and what I saw was the back drive shaft is moving around too much not staying in place at all. I can video it for you so that you can see the problem. How do we fix this issue box came in great shape. If you never tested it you would not had a clue that it was broken."

ME: "I am sorry to hear that. If you want to return it, I will refund your money."

BUYER: "since we know whats wrong with it can you repair it, the train is in very nice shape. i really wanted it. how can we make that happen?"

Really!? You want me to repair the engine?!

ME: "I am not a model train guy so I have no idea how to go about repairing it except to take it to a hobby shop or someplace that knows how to repair model trains. I am sure that would cost much more than the engine is worth."

BUYER: "So what happens to the engine?"

WTF!? Now this guy is starting to piss me off. But I'm cool and send him a nice, calm message.

ME: "I will be more than happy to refund your money if you want to return it. Or you can keep it. The decision is yours."

BUYER: "refund it is."

ME: "OK. Please return it packed in the same manner in which you received it. As soon as I get it, I will refund your money."

BUYER: "The box is repacked and sealed. How do we send it back?"

ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!? WHAT ARE YOU? A CHILD!? But I'm cool. I'll hold your hand.

ME: "Write my address on a piece of paper and tape the paper to the box in a manner similar to how I labeled the box to ship to you. Then take it to your local post office. A clerk at the post office will weigh the box to determine the necessary postage to ship it back to me. You might be able to print a shipping label directly from ebay. I don't buy much on ebay so I am not familiar with the process but I think you can do this. Look at your "Purchases" list. At the far right is a column titled "Action". Each item you recently purchased will have a drop down list titled "More Actions". On that list is an item titled "Return this item". Check that out and see if you can print a shipping label from there. If you can, use that. You will get automatic shipment tracking and you can either give the box directly to your mail carrier or take it directly to the post office. Hope this helps."

Almost 3 weeks pass. The engine never shows up. In the meantime, I have listed a lot of train track for sale. Then yesterday, I get the following message from this dork.

BUYER: "Are you willing to trade the track for the broken train?"

It is now clear this jerk is trying to work me for some kind of freebie. It ain't happenin'. I'm done with this guy.

ME: "No thank you. It is important to note that the listing for this item specified returns were to be made within 14 days. Also according to ebay policy, if it has been more than 5 days since a return was requested but the item has not yet been shipped, you cannot use ebay's "hassle free returns" feature. The auction for this item closed on December 23. You first contacted me about a problem with this item on January 7. It is now January 27 which is way beyond both deadlines mentioned above and you still have the item. Because of the long delay in returning the item, I am no longer willing to issue a refund. I now consider this matter closed."

The dude refuses to go away. When all else fails, try a sob story. This morning, I get the following:

BUYER: "I have been working double shift for the last month due to a coworker having a baby. I contacted you as soon as I noticed a problem and it is packed up in my living room. it has just been so hectic around here that is ths only reason it is still here."

I'm having none of it.

ME: "I am sorry for your difficulties but, as I said in my last message, this matter is now closed."

I blocked him from future bidding on any of my stuff. I fully expect to see negative feedback from him sometime soon. I haven't reported him to ebay yet but if he leaves negative feedback, I will. What an ass!

 

[Iron Patch]

In the Fall I lost my top rated seller status because my ratings dropped just below the standard, and because I have no plans to change, I figured they're gone for good, so whatever.... I don't care. Then just before Christmas I did a very large sale and by the time it was said and done I had near 100 packages to ship. My plan was to pack them up over Christmas and get them out the first day the mail was open, but then I got sick and never shipped a thing until early Jan., which was near 2 weeks later! It was by far the biggest ebay mess I was ever in, and I figured there was probably going to be a price to pay... and the price I paid? ....I'm back to Top rated again.

 

[Baltimore]

Dang, sounds like a weird week for you guys. My week has been amazingly stress free, although I did have my first "accidentally switch shipping labels and send the wrong item to two people" incident . So far I've gotten one back, hopefully the other one comes soon and there is no issue. Otherwise this could be a headache.

 

[insontis]

I wish I had weird stories. I guess I don't sell enough.

Here is the most knuckle headed move I've seen though:

*I post auction for item with disclaimer "Please pay within 48 hours of winning auction"*

*Auction is on final seconds*

*New bidder snipes item*

*Auction ends; sniper wins*

*Message Received: "Can I please pay for this on Wednesday"*

Auction ended Saturday morning.

edit: Which brings me to ask this question does "Please pay within 48 hours of winning auction" give me legal right to deny a seller an item if they did not pay within the 48 hours? And how does one go about canceling the sale?

 

[bayhawk2]

As a buyer and seller on Ebay,I have seen a couple of things..There are two sides to every story.I know as a buyer I've been sent items that weren't "as described".I had to go through Ebays dispute system to get my money back..AND as a seller in only one occurance,I've been told my item was not as described.(only once).Even though I proved my case to the buyer,I did return him his money.He sent the item back,and I resold it"as described"all over again...In return he gave me a positive feedback.Hey sometimes you bite the bullet.I try to make my customers happy..And in return?I have a 100% positive rating.

 

[Iron Patch]

I wish I had weird stories. I guess I don't sell enough.

Here is the most knuckle headed move I've seen though:

*I post auction for item with disclaimer "Please pay within 48 hours of winning auction"*

*Auction is on final seconds*

*New bidder snipes item*

*Auction ends; sniper wins*

*Message Received: "Can I please pay for this on Wednesday"*

Auction ended Saturday morning.

edit: Which brings me to ask this question does "Please pay within 48 hours of winning auction" give me legal right to deny a seller an item if they did not pay within the 48 hours? And how does one go about canceling the sale?

I really don't understand the hurry. The guy bids, wins, gives you a better price than you would have had, and asks for an extra day and this is a big deal? Someone can tell me they'll pay in 2 weeks, and I'll say whatever... I'll ship once paid. And then you start talking about legal rights to cancel? Yeah I really don't get it because i am most definitely at the opposite end of the Ebay selling spectrum for collecting payments.


PS: From a buyer's perspective if you canceled the deal I would think it's much more having to do with you didn't like the price and are looking for a way out, than waiting an extra day for payment... so you would be setting yourself up for a negative. Maybe ebay would take it off, but maybe not, because Ebay probably doesn't care a whole lot about your 48 hour policy.

 

[Tallone]

I wish I had weird stories. I guess I don't sell enough.

Here is the most knuckle headed move I've seen though:

*I post auction for item with disclaimer "Please pay within 48 hours of winning auction"*

*Auction is on final seconds*

*New bidder snipes item*

*Auction ends; sniper wins*

*Message Received: "Can I please pay for this on Wednesday"*

Auction ended Saturday morning.

edit: Which brings me to ask this question does "Please pay within 48 hours of winning auction" give me legal right to deny a seller an item if they did not pay within the 48 hours? And how does one go about canceling the sale?

I agree with Iron Patch on this one. I use a "3 strikes and you're out" policy. My listings state payment is expected within 3 days of auction close. If payment isn't received in that time frame, Strike 1 and the buyer gets a gentle reminder they missed the payment deadline. A week later and no payment received, Strike 2 and the buyer gets a second message stating that payment is now way overdue and payment must be received with 1 week (I give them a specific date) or I will take steps to cancel the sale and re-list the item. If that deadline passes with no payment, Strike 3. No message to the buyer this time but I block this user from future bidding on my stuff and the buyer gets reported to ebay. Usually, by the time things get to Strike 3 it has been at least 3 weeks from auction close (sometimes longer). I'm willing to make allowances for life's unexpected surprises but I feel 3+ weeks is ample time to complete the transaction.

 

[insontis]

I really don't understand the hurry. The guy bids, wins, gives you a better price than you would have had, and asks for an extra day and this is a big deal? Someone can tell me they'll pay in 2 weeks, and I'll say whatever... I'll ship once paid. And then you start talking about legal rights to cancel? Yeah I really don't get it because i am most definitely at the opposite end of the Ebay selling spectrum for collecting payments.

PS: From a buyer's perspective if you canceled the deal I would think it's much more having to do with you didn't like the price and are looking for a way out, than waiting an extra day for payment... so you would be setting yourself up for a negative. Maybe ebay would take it off, but maybe not, because Ebay probably doesn't care a whole lot about your 48 hour policy.

I didn't mean I was going to cancel on him. I've already agreed to his late payment. I am just curious as to if a situation arose where a buyer did not communicate and did not pay within the designated time frame what the proper steps would be to end the sale.

I did just read something in the updated ebay terms that stated something along the lines of seller will deliver item purchased unless posted terms are not met.

And finally, I am only selling as a hobby and for some side money. That being said I don't care so much about immediate payments. However, I'm baffled as to why immediate payment seems so strange to you. From a business perspective it makes perfect sense to ask that a buyer would pay for their product immediately.

Edit: Also, the point of the "weird story" was that I found it rude to "steal" an item last second from someone when they can't afford to pay anyway. You don't go to a live auction, place a winning bid, and then say sorry can't pay right now. I find it rude to not only myself, but in a way sort of cheating the other buyer. Not that it matters as this is a principle issue for me, but the winning bid was only $0.50 difference. I'm not a "bill me later" service. If I was operating as a business and depended on the income I would be quite annoyed if a "sure selling item" was tied up in limbo without payment.

 

[jason4kstate]

I just listed a ton of foreign coins. I collect coins from specific countries but these were from ones I didn't care about and were not made of silver or gold. I instantly sell all (probably around 10) of my Arabic coins. Why? I have no idea. There must be a weird subset of Arabic coin collectors out there. Most of the European/North American coins are selling like normal.

I also had one pain in my wifes account. About a month ago I found some really nice antique silverplate spoons at a garage sale and bought them for a buck. There were some modern ones that were not worth a lot but I decided to list them. They sold for .99 cents i thought I would make a lot more than that considering the amount of views and watchers but oh well..Anyways I wrap them in rubberbands and double seal them with bubble wrap. I then place them in a bubble mailer and reseal it with packing tape. This package was properly sealed up tighter than Fort Knox. Anyways the buyer (a rookie) receives it and says it was empty. I then asked if it had postal tape around it thinking the package was somehow opened or tampered with. She then gets ticked off that I would claim the post office did something and instantly negs my wifes account. Needless to say I think she had buyers remorse and tried to get a refund using the buyers guarantee program. Pretty lame.......

 

[Tallone]

They sold for .99 cents ...I think she had buyers remorse and tried to get a refund using the buyers guarantee program. Pretty lame.......

Buyer's remorse and conniving to get a refund on a $0.99 purchase! That takes the definition of "cheapskate" to a whole new level. Wow...

 

[tamrock]

Some time back I was selling a watch at auction. A fella from India won the watch, but said he was starting a watch business and couldn't pay till he sold some of his watches. That was in the time you could leave a neg. feed on a buyer. I told him that ain't the way it works and said you just screwed things up and I'm cancelling the deal and gave him a big ol' negative. Well he had only a 1 positive and that put him back to zero feed back. He said I was a stinker basically in reply and gave me a negative. Well as it turned out he was high bidder on like 15 other watches and had the same idea to pay when he sold his stuff. The negative for him got to a minus 8 feed back before ebay jumped in removed him from the floor and corrected all the neg's he was dishing out to the sellers he was sure of being a bunch of unfriendly and unfair folks who couldn't go along with his terms of "I'll pay when I get the money". Sure wish we could still hit some of those buyer with that negative like the good ol' days.
Whoops! you wanted last weeks stories. I have non

 

[Beachkid23]

I just had a leapfrog tag toy listed. $50obo free shipping. Get an offer of $15. I countered it to $35. Buyer counters again to $22. I countered said lowest ill go is $32. He counters again to 22.50. I ignore it and see if I get any other offers. Next morning it sold for $50 to a different buyer. Next thing I check my emails... The guy who put in the original offer wanted now to buy it for $32. He had the option to buy first and he should still be able to buy it at $32! If he wasn't going to get it for 32 then he was going to contact eBay and file a complaint. So I thought about writing him to say someone else bought it and all that but Instead....... I blocked him.

 

[insontis]

I agree with Iron Patch on this one. I use a "3 strikes and you're out" policy. My listings state payment is expected within 3 days of auction close. If payment isn't received in that time frame, Strike 1 and the buyer gets a gentle reminder they missed the payment deadline. A week later and no payment received, Strike 2 and the buyer gets a second message stating that payment is now way overdue and payment must be received with 1 week (I give them a specific date) or I will take steps to cancel the sale and re-list the item. If that deadline passes with no payment, Strike 3. No message to the buyer this time but I block this user from future bidding on my stuff and the buyer gets reported to ebay. Usually, by the time things get to Strike 3 it has been at least 3 weeks from auction close (sometimes longer). I'm willing to make allowances for life's unexpected surprises but I feel 3+ weeks is ample time to complete the transaction.

That seems like a pretty good system, but a little lax for my tastes. I do like to work with buyers as I do with sellers if there is an issue and they let me know ahead of time. However I've had instances where buyers don't communicate at all and it puts me in an awkward position. I had a buyer haggle with me in a BIN OBO listing where I agreed to their price after 30 minutes or so. Buyer never paid nor contacted me and a week had passed since. I wasn't about to give him "warnings". He won the listing, received an invoice, I may have even messaged him a few days after. I opened a case against him (which gives him another x amount of time to resolve the issue). He still never communicated and eventually I reported him.

Again, I'm pretty easy going and a little communication can go a long way with me. If I feel I'm being played for a fool and my time is being wasted then it is a different story.

 

[Iron Patch]

I didn't mean I was going to cancel on him. I've already agreed to his late payment. I am just curious as to if a situation arose where a buyer did not communicate and did not pay within the designated time frame what the proper steps would be to end the sale.

I did just read something in the updated ebay terms that stated something along the lines of seller will deliver item purchased unless posted terms are not met.

And finally, I am only selling as a hobby and for some side money. That being said I don't care so much about immediate payments. However, I'm baffled as to why immediate payment seems so strange to you. From a business perspective it makes perfect sense to ask that a buyer would pay for their product immediately.

Edit: Also, the point of the "weird story" was that I found it rude to "steal" an item last second from someone when they can't afford to pay anyway. You don't go to a live auction, place a winning bid, and then say sorry can't pay right now. I find it rude to not only myself, but in a way sort of cheating the other buyer. Not that it matters as this is a principle issue for me, but the winning bid was only $0.50 difference. I'm not a "bill me later" service. If I was operating as a business and depended on the income I would be quite annoyed if a "sure selling item" was tied up in limbo without payment.

Not sure how a snipe means he can't afford it. I snipe everything I buy, and everything I buy I can afford. In fact, there's a very good chance I would miss text stating to please pay within 48 hours, because to me 3 days is very reasonable and I know the vast majority of sellers would agree with that too.

As for me having an issue with an instant payment, absolutely not... but set it up that way if you want it. (Don't think it can be done on an auction though) Adding certain criteria like 48 hours is just going to cause you problems because I can tell you right now most buyers are not going to think that's a line drawn in the sand, and if you draw that line you will have problems. I'm just giving you an honest opinion, and I'm a person who very rarely ever leaves negative feedback... even on some small purchases where I lost money.... but if I was to be given a hard time for not paying at once that is one of the things that would really tick me off, and I would leave negative. That's because like I said in my previous reply if someone did that to me I would look at it as them looking for anyway to cancel the deal and sell again. Anyone who sells on ebay should do it in a professional way regardless of whether they do it part time or for a living, and in my opinion a professional doesn't nip at someones heels to get paid. Obviously not all are going to have the patience I have, because all I want is to be paid, and don't care when, but every seller should chill for a bit and give the person a chance. When you send money from your bank to PP it can take quite a few days, at least it did when I sent it. So someone could simply be waiting for their money to hit their account. Anyway, my whole point is I just see it causing unnecessary problems, but I'm sure many wouldn't agree with everything I do, so all good.

PS: About a year ago I had someone on me within 24 hours to pay, and there was nothing said on their page. They backed off of that pretty quick when they realized I'm not going to put up with it, and was ready to leave negative and walk away.

 

[Iron Patch]

BTW... To answer the question how to cancel...

You go to the page of the item, click view order details, then click show additions actions, then resolve problem. I don't know if 48 hours is enough time to file a non payment, so to cancel he would have to agree... but he can disagree, and I have done that before and made the seller work it out. If it is someone who doesn't pay, and doesn't respond to the case, ebay will close it in your favor so many days later.

 

[Tallone]

That seems like a pretty good system, but a little lax for my tastes.

That's fine. I just threw my system out there for public consumption. If someone finds it useful - great. I'm not in a huge hurry to get paid so I can afford to wait. Besides, very few people don't pay within 3 days and the few that don't almost always pay after the first reminder. For those very few who never pay, they get reported to ebay and a case opened against them. Given the number of notices and the amount of time they have been given to pay up, they don't have a leg to stand on when ebay looks into the situation.

 

[GibH]

I had a guy win an auction, then say he bid by accident. Ok, no problem. I just go in an and cancel the transaction. The idiot (non)buyer then refuses the cancellation. Once that has been done, you can't try to cancel it again. I had to call ebay and they reviewed the communications and cancelled it.