Are fruitcakes running rampant on eBay lately? Selling, buying, listing, feedback, etc...

[Alpinemaps]

I take the time to read a neutral or negative feedback. So I'd see the "no box" as the item title and read the feedback and dismiss the neutral.

[Val-E]

I´d ask Ebay to remove it if the listing said no box.

Or can I neg a seller for not selling me the real Eiffel Tower too?

[AirborneAFOL]

I´d ask Ebay to remove it if the listing said no box.
Or can I neg a seller for not selling me the real Eiffel Tower too?

I took the additional step of "Report Buyer", which was the 4th and final built-in option for combatting bogus feedback.

The feedback wasn't a flagrant violation of any policy, but everything taken together (making a demonstrably false "original box wasnt included!" statement, shipping through a 3rd party in the US, identical feedback on both items, no response to communications) suggests they may have made this kind of mistake elsewhere (or possibly a deliberate attempt to extort sellers in exchange for revising the feedback).

So I've taken every step available through the formal process.

And if the buyer remains unresponsive through the 30-day window they have to voluntarily revise, you can bet I'll be calling an eBay rep to plead my case directly. They've been pretty reasonable about applying common sense to override the formal policies in the past.

Anyhow, I do appreciate the input. BP'ers are far and away the best community I've run across in quite some time. I'd have washed my hands of reselling 6 months ago if not for you guys.

[BarryZola]

By the way. I sold a set for £200 plus to a buyer with 1 feedback rating since 2014 a few days back from Eastern Europe. Buy it now, I didn't have a choice. It's through the Global Shipping Programme and it's landed safely in the Ebay shipping centre in the UK and has been moved on towards it's final destination (set was well pictured with seals etc and has obviously been verified at the Ebay shipping centre). However, I'm nervously just waiting for a complaint to come at some point from the buyer in the Czech Republic saying that it was fake bricks or missing figs or something. I was thinking about cancelling it when it was one transaction from a different country since 2014 but I thought I'd just see what happens in the end. Is there anything you lot would say to Ebay if they file any kind of crap, as an account holder with a few thousand positive feedbacks myself? What could I actually do in reality if they said that I'd just sent Megabloks inside a seemingly sealed Lego box? Would Ebay even look at the accounts and see if there was a possible scam going on and make a call?

Edit - I'm actually expecting to lose out on the bulk value of that set now. If that does happen I'll only sell expensive sets locally etc. If I get burned on my first expensive sale abroad then I just won't allow it to happen again. I'm clinging onto the hope that Ebay would see through this kind of thing if they want the Global Shipping thing to thrive and to hold on to custom.

Edited January 23, 2017 by BarryZola

[Migration]

4 hours ago, BarryZola said:

By the way. I sold a set for £200 plus to a buyer with 1 feedback rating since 2014 a few days back from Eastern Europe. Buy it now, I didn't have a choice. It's through the Global Shipping Programme and it's landed safely in the Ebay shipping centre in the UK and has been moved on towards it's final destination (set was well pictured with seals etc and has obviously been verified at the Ebay shipping centre). However, I'm nervously just waiting for a complaint to come at some point from the buyer in the Czech Republic saying that it was fake bricks or missing figs or something. I was thinking about cancelling it when it was one transaction from a different country since 2014 but I thought I'd just see what happens in the end. Is there anything you lot would say to Ebay if they file any kind of crap, as an account holder with a few thousand positive feedbacks myself? What could I actually do in reality if they said that I'd just sent Megabloks inside a seemingly sealed Lego box? Would Ebay even look at the accounts and see if there was a possible scam going on and make a call?

Edit - I'm actually expecting to lose out on the bulk value of that set now. If that does happen I'll only sell expensive sets locally etc. If I get burned on my first expensive sale abroad then I just won't allow it to happen again. I'm clinging onto the hope that Ebay would see through this kind of thing if they want the Global Shipping thing to thrive and to hold on to custom.

I've never had an issue with GSP.

[BarryZola]

2 minutes ago, Migration said:

I've never had an issue with GSP.

That's re-assuring. Have you had similar transactions to buyers who have pretty much no feedback over a couple of years from abroad? Is it a thing that Ebay pretty much deal with things after they've passed through the GSP centre, as opposed to the seller having to justify a missing figure or bumped corner of a box if the buyer decides to bring up a false issue such as that? I did send the buyer a courtesy message letting them know that the item would be posted ASAP but I didn't get a reply either. No points are giving me confidence that it's a genuine buyer, that's all. It will be the end of Ebay for me if I lose out anyway

[Alpinemaps]

Sold a Tumbler last week. Right before I was ready to mail out I notice PayPal put a hold on the funds. Now I'm waiting for PayPal to either release the funds or tell me not to ship.

Got a note from the buyer today asking me for a shipping number. Told him to talk to PayPal (and the reason why).

I'm pretty sure it's a fraudulent purchase. It's heading to a freight forwarder in Portland.

[Val-E]

6 hours ago, BarryZola said:

By the way. I sold a set for £200 plus to a buyer with 1 feedback rating since 2014 a few days back from Eastern Europe. Buy it now, I didn't have a choice.

You do have a choice. Exclude countries you don´t like to deal with (although being from the UK that might be quite a long list) in Ebay account settings and don´t give a standard shipping price for foreign sales. You can also demand immediate payment via paypal and that will prevent any funny business as the buyer will have to ask you how much shipping will be before they pay.

[Val-E]

7 hours ago, AirborneAFOL said:

I took the additional step of "Report Buyer", which was the 4th and final built-in option for combatting bogus feedback.

The feedback wasn't a flagrant violation of any policy, but everything taken together (making a demonstrably false "original box wasnt included!" statement, shipping through a 3rd party in the US, identical feedback on both items, no response to communications) suggests they may have made this kind of mistake elsewhere (or possibly a deliberate attempt to extort sellers in exchange for revising the feedback).

So I've taken every step available through the formal process.

And if the buyer remains unresponsive through the 30-day window they have to voluntarily revise, you can bet I'll be calling an eBay rep to plead my case directly. They've been pretty reasonable about applying common sense to override the formal policies in the past.

Anyhow, I do appreciate the input. BP'ers are far and away the best community I've run across in quite some time. I'd have washed my hands of reselling 6 months ago if not for you guys.

Was it listed as new or used?

The tricky thing on ebay is that NEW means New, unopened and in original packaging according to their definition so even if you state no box in the listing itself, it gives rise to confusion. This is where a lot of the China sellers are falling down to as they ship w/o box and say so but list as new and get negged, so we can´t have it both ways.

My rule of thumb is if it is not suitable to list as New on Amazon with no caveats, I don´t try on Ebay either.

[Zelgazra]

7 hours ago, BarryZola said:

By the way. I sold a set for £200 plus to a buyer with 1 feedback rating since 2014 a few days back from Eastern Europe. Buy it now, I didn't have a choice. It's through the Global Shipping Programme and it's landed safely in the Ebay shipping centre in the UK and has been moved on towards it's final destination (set was well pictured with seals etc and has obviously been verified at the Ebay shipping centre). However, I'm nervously just waiting for a complaint to come at some point from the buyer in the Czech Republic saying that it was fake bricks or missing figs or something. I was thinking about cancelling it when it was one transaction from a different country since 2014 but I thought I'd just see what happens in the end. Is there anything you lot would say to Ebay if they file any kind of crap, as an account holder with a few thousand positive feedbacks myself? What could I actually do in reality if they said that I'd just sent Megabloks inside a seemingly sealed Lego box? Would Ebay even look at the accounts and see if there was a possible scam going on and make a call?

Edit - I'm actually expecting to lose out on the bulk value of that set now. If that does happen I'll only sell expensive sets locally etc. If I get burned on my first expensive sale abroad then I just won't allow it to happen again. I'm clinging onto the hope that Ebay would see through this kind of thing if they want the Global Shipping thing to thrive and to hold on to custom.

I haven't sold anything of that sort of value, but I've shipped sets from Canada to 0 feedback, brand new ebayers from foreign countries such as Israel, China, and Malaysia. As an individual, not through GSP. In some cases direct, in some cases through a forwarding company. No issues whatsoever. Even got positive feedback from a few of them without requesting it. 

My point is, I see a lot of (for lack of a better term) racism on this forum towards shipping to Asia (not calling you out specifically Barry, just a general observation on the boards over the past 18 months). Not everyone is out to get you. In fact, most aren't... they just want Lego sets found in 1st world countries that they can't locate in their developing 2nd or 3rd world locations. 

People seem to only report the negative experiences they've had with these countries and it creates an unreasonable, unjustified, and ultimately racist bias. Each to their own I guess, but here's me reporting that it's not actually all evil scammers living in those countries. Every sale I've made to that part of the world has gone off without a hitch. I've had more issues (very few, but still more) from North Americans actually. 

[Val-E]

There are fruitcake and scammer buyers and sellers all over the world. Some maybe even in your own street. As soon as I list anything on local CL for over 300 euros, they all come out of the woodwork like cockroaches.

The first line of what you say is telling, though. It´s not the same to sell someone a Mixel as a Taj Mahal and I´d definitely be using all available filters on the latter as the hit could be huge. There´s a line between being being open to trade anywhere and asking to be scammed and when the value of the goods is over 250 USD, seller and buyer beware.

[Zelgazra]

No dispute. There are scumbags all over the place. My point was that they're not the majority, it just seems that way when you hang out here, since like anything in life, people are more inclined to discuss the crazy situations and not the average normal ones. Mr. Zola was commenting about how he's just expecting something to go wrong though, despite everything seemingly chugging along in normal status. That expectation, that something will go wrong, seems like a strange one to have, unless influenced by your own negative experience. To feel that way based off of a forum's outlook just seems like stress not worth shouldering! One guys opinion.... until I have a negative experience I'm sure  

Value of the product is absolutely important too, my sales were in the $100-$150 CAD range, so not big money but not small either. 

[Val-E]

Expecting things to go wrong is a British trait 99% of us have and has only been borne out by recent events.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

1 minute ago, Val-E said:

Expecting things to go wrong is a British trait 99% of us have and has only been borne out by recent events.

I agree, Sod's Law is always enforced. This is why expensive sets are collected for cash. eBay account hackers target expensive sets. I'll be so glad once my £100+ sets have gone.

[CrabslayerT]

1 hour ago, Zelgazra said:

No dispute. There are scumbags all over the place. My point was that they're not the majority, it just seems that way when you hang out here, since like anything in life, people are more inclined to discuss the crazy situations and not the average normal ones. Mr. Zola was commenting about how he's just expecting something to go wrong though, despite everything seemingly chugging along in normal status. That expectation, that something will go wrong, seems like a strange one to have, unless influenced by your own negative experience. To feel that way based off of a forum's outlook just seems like stress not worth shouldering! One guys opinion.... until I have a negative experience I'm sure  

Value of the product is absolutely important too, my sales were in the $100-$150 CAD range, so not big money but not small either. 

I've been lucky enough to date with selling on eBay. No real problems, any international sales to any European country have gone smoothly enough. I did have a problem with a Spanish buyer not checking the tracking info of his order and have the item returned to me, but he requested that I reship it at his expense and he seemed like the decent sort.

TBH I've only encountered rude or awkward buyers from the UK or Ireland. Mostly the Northern Irish are Chancers.......

[Val-E]

14 minutes ago, CrabslayerT said:

 Mostly the Northern Irish are Chancers.......

Only because it´s impossible to understand a word of what they are saying and they take advantage of that to confuse people. I sense a turdstorm approaching this thread.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2017 by Val-E

[Guest TabbyBoy]

1 hour ago, CrabslayerT said:

TBH I've only encountered rude or awkward buyers from the UK.

I agree, UK buyers are by far the most demanding of all so I have no choice but to send only mint boxes to those fussy buggers!

[Shewie]

[CrabslayerT]

2 hours ago, Val-E said:

Only because it´s impossible to understand a word of what they are saying and they take advantage of that to confuse people. I sense a turdstorm approaching this thread.

 

 

Hard to be racist towards yourself though....

[BarryZola]

To be honest I was more concerned about the fact that the buyer only had 1 feedback score since 2014 which made me think of the possibility that someone would use a crappy Ebay account to just scam one item then forget about it. I wouldn't really be too concerned if it was an 'active' well used account. Also, at least if I got ripped off by a UK buyer I could potentially turn up on their doorstep and discuss any issues in person

Edited January 23, 2017 by BarryZola

[Val-E]

Apparently Craig´s List was set up by a bullet manufacturer. That´s a great way to create demand for your product indirectly.

[trstnkn]

Had to file my first SNAD against a seller with 1000+ feedback - they would not reply to my messages that the product was damaged in shipment (due to poor packaging and makeshift box).

I have already called eBay CS this morning because I wasn't sure if it needed to be returned in original packaging or not.  Apparently, I need to repack it and throw away original "box".

The only odd thing is that CS told me that if it weighs more I would be on hook for additional postage?  And then they said I could call back to have seller provide me a new label.  Well sure that makes sense since they won't reply...?

So of course in an adequate box it bumps up from 2-3lbs priority mail to 3-4lbs.  It is a Pitney Bowes label with no weight noted.  So do I really have to go through hurdles to get additional funding from seller for the added shipping cost?  Anyone run into this?

[Val-E]

I´d try another rep first. Ebay is worse than Lego Shop in that every person tells you a different story. Keep calling till you get a solution you like.

[minicoopers11]

3 hours ago, trstnkn said:

Had to file my first SNAD against a seller with 1000+ feedback - they would not reply to my messages that the product was damaged in shipment (due to poor packaging and makeshift box).

I have already called eBay CS this morning because I wasn't sure if it needed to be returned in original packaging or not.  Apparently, I need to repack it and throw away original "box".

The only odd thing is that CS told me that if it weighs more I would be on hook for additional postage?  And then they said I could call back to have seller provide me a new label.  Well sure that makes sense since they won't reply...?

So of course in an adequate box it bumps up from 2-3lbs priority mail to 3-4lbs.  It is a Pitney Bowes label with no weight noted.  So do I really have to go through hurdles to get additional funding from seller for the added shipping cost?  Anyone run into this?

Just affix the label they gave you and drop it off. Don't pay for additional shipping. If the carrier rejects the shipment and it comes back to you, initiate a Paypal dispute. If the carrier accepts the shipment and later demands more postage from the receiver, you're in the clear. 

And if the box they gave you can still physically work for shipment, send it back in that. Only if that won't physically work would I bother packing in a new box.

Edited January 23, 2017 by minicoopers11

[trstnkn]

Thanks for the help.  My PO is quite reliable, so I had one of the employees look at it.  She went ahead and assigned a weight to the tracking scan.  As a result, she said there is no way it would come back to me for weight issues.  

Amazing how hit/miss eBay CS is.  I think they just make stuff up.