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

[stephen_rockefeller]

15 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

Couple of questions for those who are in the know. (Thought there was another forum for Ebay questions and couldn't find it)

1.  I sold $350 worth of JP sets on a Best Offer. Paid by Paypal and the shipping address was confirmed, but to a hotel in Long Island. The phone number was a 1-800 number that checked to an extended stay hotel in Orlando. I had some emails back and forth with the buyer, but was still unsure about this.

Called Ebay and they said I needed to ship, but suggested signature confirmation. Said I would be covered if I did all this. Will I get screwed on this??

2.  Will EBay honor a cancellation on your listing if you have "Will not ship to hotels" or "Will not sell to those with under 10 feedback" etc?

You have to ship to the address if its confirmed. Also people cant refuse to sell to people with little or no feedback. I know some sellers say that in the listing but technically its not allowed.

[colossus]

So I avoided eBay since 2008 after I ran into a scam for a hard drive I sold (the buyer oddly was just 5 miles away from me) - was such a pain dealing with Paypal and getting a police report that I quit selling.

Last month eBay had a promo for $100 matched for selling a phone - so I sold a Samsung phone for about $115.  The buyer was in the Bronx and had a feedback rating of 1 (account was made just 2 days earlier).  I suspected trouble but followed through and shipped to a verified address.  Buyer left positive feedback on eBay without me prompting.

Unfortunately this is where it turned bad. I guess the buyer decided to scam me and reported that the item was not received or was paid for illegally (I'm not sure what the issue was) but Paypal sent messages to an email  stopped checking frequently because I assumed since the buyer left positive feedback I wouldn't get screwed.  Well the buyer filed the claim on the 14th and on the 24th of October it closed and the $115 was sent back to the buyer.

I just spotted this since I happened to log into that email and was like WTF! I called Paypal and let them have an earful and explained about the last time I sold on eBay I was scammed only to have it happen yet once again back to back. They asked for tracking (which I provided) and told them the buyer even left positive feedback on eBay.  They said they will try to get my money back.  I know the onus was on me to respond within 10 days but I seriously didn't think the buyer would backend me like that.  I guess since eBay/Paypal have separated buyers can do this and pray on a seller's inattentiveness.

I don't have confidence in Paypal given their track record (in my experience).  I know this not a Lego but it scares me I am just getting back into selling only to have the worst nightmares come back.

I'm going to call Samsung and see if they can black list the IMEI if I don't get my money back (TMobile can't do it becuase it was a factory unlocked phone).  Sorry for the rant - any advice or suggestions to take a chill pill are appreciated :P

[edgecrusher]

I've been trying to stalk out a cheap used 10240 Red Five X-Wing to build for myself (I have some sealed box sets, just don't want to break into them). I haven't pounced just yet, but I did find this gem of an Ebay Australia listing. This genius claims he hasn't built the set, but he DID paint the canopy as he doesn't like how the stickers look.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Star-Wars-10240-UCS-Red-Five-X-Wing/301778810583?_trksid=p2050601.c100085.m2372&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140211132617%26meid%3D2a4fe327637e4da49bf327f582f39dd8%26pid%3D100085%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D301778810583%26clkid%3D835089215508630243&_qi=RTM2067267

[dcdfan]

7 minutes ago, edgecrusher said:

I've been trying to stalk out a cheap used 10240 Red Five X-Wing to build for myself (I have some sealed box sets, just don't want to break into them). I haven't pounced just yet, but I did find this gem of an Ebay Australia listing. This genius claims he hasn't built the set, but he DID paint the canopy as he doesn't like how the stickers look.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Star-Wars-10240-UCS-Red-Five-X-Wing/301778810583?_trksid=p2050601.c100085.m2372&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140211132617%26meid%3D2a4fe327637e4da49bf327f582f39dd8%26pid%3D100085%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D301778810583%26clkid%3D835089215508630243&_qi=RTM2067267

Check out his "new" Slave 1 "Please note that the Bespin Guard and Stormtrooper ARE NOT included with this set."

 

[thegooch49]

I have a chargeback pending right now, for an R2-D2 that I sold on eBay a few weeks ago. My sale was by the books, but it looks like the buyer might have stolen a CC to make the purchase. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I shipped to the PP certified address with signature confirmation. It's in dispute now. We have all talked about banning buyers after this type of thing happens. Have we ever talked about keeping a communal list of users that we can ban, that are scammers, or PITA buyers? If they scam me, it would be nice if they wouldn't move along and scam one of you. Have we ever talked about creating an ebay 'blacklist' that we can add users to and do a communal ban? 

[newbie77]

20 minutes ago, thegooch49 said:

I have a chargeback pending right now, for an R2-D2 that I sold on eBay a few weeks ago. My sale was by the books, but it looks like the buyer might have stolen a CC to make the purchase. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I shipped to the PP certified address with signature confirmation. It's in dispute now. We have all talked about banning buyers after this type of thing happens. Have we ever talked about keeping a communal list of users that we can ban, that are scammers, or PITA buyers? If they scam me, it would be nice if they wouldn't move along and scam one of you. Have we ever talked about creating an ebay 'blacklist' that we can add users to and do a communal ban? 

while in principle it sounds like a very good idea but every coin has two sides. its going to be hard to be impartial and enforce. i don't think BP'er i.e. site admins will have all necessary information to be able to that without taking on major liability.

btw, how can it be in dispute if person signed for it? there is clear admission that the item was received. dispute can be for the item itself. if its a stolen CC then paypal will have to take the hit if they are the one who processed payment. but not sure  why its even coming to you.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2015 by newbie77

[thegooch49]

5 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

while in principle it sounds like a very good idea but every coin has two sides. its going to be hard to be impartial and enforce. i don't think BP'er i.e. site admins will have all the necessary information to be able to that without taking on major liability.

Very true. Although it would be nice, it would be a witch-hunt for the most part, and get messy. That said, I would LOVE to tell you all the ID of my current scammer so you can all avoid him. But I'll refrain :)

[gregpj]

12 minutes ago, thegooch49 said:

Very true. Although it would be nice, it would be a witch-hunt for the most part, and get messy. That said, I would LOVE to tell you all the ID of my current scammer so you can all avoid him. But I'll refrain :)

Unfortunately we don't encourage sharing usernames for the reasons mentioned by newbie... If people choose to ban users based on someone else's experience that is certainly their right but BP doesn't want to be the eBay username blacklist keeper. That already exists.

[thegooch49]

22 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

while in principle it sounds like a very good idea but every coin has two sides. its going to be hard to be impartial and enforce. i don't think BP'er i.e. site admins will have all necessary information to be able to that without taking on major liability.

btw, how can it be in dispute if person signed for it? there is clear admission that the item was received. dispute can be for the item itself. if its a stolen CC then paypal will have to take the hit if they are the one who processed payment. but not sure  why its even coming to you.

I'm not sure why this came to me for dispute to be honest. The dispute was straight through PayPal, not eBay. The reason was 'unauthorized charge'. There was no complaint via eBay. The buyer name was different than the shipping name/address. But the shipping address was confirmed, and the package was signed for. It seems that this should be a slam-dunk case in my favor, but who knows. It's the first one of these that I have ever been though. I get that it's all part of being a seller, but it's really lame. That portion of my PayPal funds are frozen. At this point, I can only hope for a quick adjudication. 

[Alpinemaps]

25 minutes ago, thegooch49 said:

I'm not sure why this came to me for dispute to be honest. The dispute was straight through PayPal, not eBay. The reason was 'unauthorized charge'. There was no complaint via eBay. The buyer name was different than the shipping name/address. But the shipping address was confirmed, and the package was signed for. It seems that this should be a slam-dunk case in my favor, but who knows. It's the first one of these that I have ever been though. I get that it's all part of being a seller, but it's really lame. That portion of my PayPal funds are frozen. At this point, I can only hope for a quick adjudication. 

This was basically the same thing that happened to me a couple weeks ago.  Don't sweat it.  PP never took the money out of my account.  But what you described as your experience is the same exact thing that happened to me.  Different names, but confirmed address.  Package was received, and then a week later I get the notice that its in dispute.

[DadsAFOL]

It's normal PayPal process.  The initial dispute automatically locks up your funds, and starts the process of investigation.  As long as you upload the tracking documentation when requested, you'll be covered by seller protection and they will release your funds back to you in a couple days.

[BrickLegacy]

Received a paypal payment a few hours ago for an item and the sale is not showing up on eBay. It's my last one available and now I'm a little concerned I will oversell this item.

Anyone else have this happen to them before?

[Loghamel]

So this may touch a nerve to some here as I'm not sure if anyone on this site does it, but when I'm bored and just chilling on the laptop while watching TV, I'm going to start reporting every listing I see selling minifigs in the 'Sets' category.   I did a search for the ISD today.  Returned 156 results.  29 of those were for minifigs or instruction sets.  There is a very accurate category for those.  In case there are some eBay category challenged people here, this is the category:  Toys & Hobbies>Building Toys>LEGO>Minifigures, Bulk Bricks/Lots>Minifigures.

I'm tired of seeing page after page full of listings of minifigs and parts when I search for sets.  I might even see if I can start some kind of petition to send to eBay that asks them to suspend users if they continually abuse the listing policy.  I have 100's of online friends that know nothing about LEGOs, but would digitally sign it if I asked them to.

Rant over.

[biking_tiger]

49 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

So this may touch a nerve to some here as I'm not sure if anyone on this site does it, but when I'm bored and just chilling on the laptop while watching TV, I'm going to start reporting every listing I see selling minifigs in the 'Sets' category.   I did a search for the ISD today.  Returned 156 results.  29 of those were for minifigs or instruction sets.  There is a very accurate category for those.  In case there are some eBay category challenged people here, this is the category:  Toys & Hobbies>Building Toys>LEGO>Minifigures, Bulk Bricks/Lots>Minifigures.

I'm tired of seeing page after page full of listings of minifigs and parts when I search for sets.  I might even see if I can start some kind of petition to send to eBay that asks them to suspend users if they continually abuse the listing policy.  I have 100's of online friends that know nothing about LEGOs, but would digitally sign it if I asked them to.

Rant over.

This is why I always sort by price+shipping>highest to lowest. It's easy to find the cheapest sealed sets this way (just work down a page or maybe two) and there's usually less high end then the low end littered with bits and pieces. 

[Loghamel]

5 minutes ago, biking_tiger said:

This is why I always sort by price+shipping>highest to lowest. It's easy to find the cheapest sealed sets this way (just work down a page or maybe two) and there's usually less high end then the low end littered with bits and pieces. 

Right, but this would be entirely unnecessary if people would just put sets in the sets category.  Yeah, I know, novel idea.

[Guest]

That is true but that's not going to happen. I also add minimum prices to search to help

[stackables]

Would be nice that all the counterfeit lego figs were not listed in the lego category same with the lego pieces showing up in minifig searches.

[Loghamel]

3 minutes ago, MarxMarvelous said:

That is true but that's not going to happen. I also add minimum prices to search to help

I do so as well.  It just sucks that the hundreds or thousands of people who want to find a set have to go through 3-5 more steps for every set they search simply because sellers want to manipulate the search results.

[Loghamel]

3 minutes ago, stackables said:

Would be nice that all the counterfeit lego figs were not listed in the lego category same with the lego pieces showing up in minifig searches.

I totally agree.  I wish LEGO would serve eBay with a cease and desist letter.  Maybe take them to court to make it a $5000 fine for every counterfeit LEGO transaction that eBay takes part in.  That's the ONLY way eBay will do more than occasionally slap a few people on the wrist.

[dcdfan]

Don't know where to post this so feel free to move it. (maybe DD thread?)

I opened another eBay account but didn't link it to a Paypal account. After about a week, I received a $5.00 off promocode for anything over $10.00 to use before 10/31 & didn't use it. Then yesterday I received a coupon for $15.00 off anything over $25.00...

Edited November 2, 2015 by dcdfan

[KShine]

22 hours ago, Loghamel said:

So this may touch a nerve to some here as I'm not sure if anyone on this site does it, but when I'm bored and just chilling on the laptop while watching TV, I'm going to start reporting every listing I see selling minifigs in the 'Sets' category.   I did a search for the ISD today.  Returned 156 results.  29 of those were for minifigs or instruction sets.  There is a very accurate category for those.  In case there are some eBay category challenged people here, this is the category:  Toys & Hobbies>Building Toys>LEGO>Minifigures, Bulk Bricks/Lots>Minifigures.

I'm tired of seeing page after page full of listings of minifigs and parts when I search for sets.  I might even see if I can start some kind of petition to send to eBay that asks them to suspend users if they continually abuse the listing policy.  I have 100's of online friends that know nothing about LEGOs, but would digitally sign it if I asked them to.

Rant over.

I would agree with targeting the counterfeiters, but going after suspensions for everyone who uses the wrong category is too much.

eBay sometimes makes suggested changes to listings (when relisting, etc) which can also be wrong (and they sometimes make it difficult to relist, if you don't accept the changes) - so you would like to suspend users for accepting the ebay suggestions?

Edited November 2, 2015 by KShine

[Darth_Raichu]

22 hours ago, Loghamel said:

So this may touch a nerve to some here as I'm not sure if anyone on this site does it, but when I'm bored and just chilling on the laptop while watching TV, I'm going to start reporting every listing I see selling minifigs in the 'Sets' category.   I did a search for the ISD today.  Returned 156 results.  29 of those were for minifigs or instruction sets.  There is a very accurate category for those.  In case there are some eBay category challenged people here, this is the category:  Toys & Hobbies>Building Toys>LEGO>Minifigures, Bulk Bricks/Lots>Minifigures.

I'm tired of seeing page after page full of listings of minifigs and parts when I search for sets.  I might even see if I can start some kind of petition to send to eBay that asks them to suspend users if they continually abuse the listing policy.  I have 100's of online friends that know nothing about LEGOs, but would digitally sign it if I asked them to.

Rant over.

So, is a polybag containing only 1 minifig a la red arm C-3PO considered a set or a minifig?  It has a LEGO set number (5002948) just like 10232 Palace Cinema (for example).  Also, a polybag like Jor-El from last year had its own S@H page for it.

[Loghamel]

38 minutes ago, KShine said:

I would agree with targeting the counterfeiters, but going after suspensions for everyone who uses the wrong category is too much.

eBay sometimes makes suggested changes to listings (when relisting, etc) which can also be wrong (and they sometimes make it difficult to relist, if you don't accept the changes) - so you would like to suspend users for accepting the ebay suggestions?

I didn't say a one strike you're out deal.  Heck, give a person 10 chances, but draw a line somewhere and tell them if they can't figure it out by then, they shouldn't be selling online.

31 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

So, is a polybag containing only 1 minifig a la red arm C-3PO considered a set or a minifig?  It has a LEGO set number (5002948) just like 10232 Palace Cinema (for example).  Also, a polybag like Jor-El from last year had its own LEGO Shop at Home page for it.

So what do you think the ratio of 1 minifig 'sets' that could be an exception to what I'm talking about to actual sets that have minifigs vomited all over the first page of results?  1:400?  1:800?  Seems like a waste of time even mentioning it, but to each their own I suppose.  Regardless, if I'm looking for a polybag, regardless if it contains 1 minifig or 300 pieces, YES, I want it listed in the 'Sets' category as that is what it is in my view.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Loghamel

[Darth_Raichu]

6 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

I didn't say a one strike you're out deal.  Heck, give a person 10 chances, but draw a line somewhere and tell them if they can't figure it out by then, they shouldn't be selling online.

 

22 hours ago, Loghamel said:

 I have 100's of online friends that know nothing about LEGOs, but would digitally sign it if I asked them to.

You meant sellers need at least 100 chances if you have your way?

 

14 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

So what do you think the ratio of 1 minifig 'sets' that could be an exception to what I'm talking about to actual sets that have minifigs vomited all over the first page of results?  1:400?  1:800?  Seems like a waste of time even mentioning it, but to each their own I suppose.  Regardless, if I'm looking for a polybag, regardless if it contains 1 minifig or 300 pieces, YES, I want it listed in the 'Sets' category as that is what it is in my view.

So what happens when someone with the same passion as you think those 1 character polys should be part of minifigs category?  Will there be bad blood between the 2 of you?

 

In all seriousness, eBay often gives wrong suggestion on which category an item should fall under.

Secondly, and this is what I fear the most, eBay would be inundated with requests regarding minifigures vs sets sub-category, they would not take it seriously when we report  the fakes. 

So, is it inconvenient for some? yes.  Is it a big problem? not necessarily 

 

 

[Loghamel]

4 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

 

You meant sellers need at least 100 chances if you have your way?

I didn't say I'd have them do the reporting of these jackasses, I said I'd have them sign a petition asking eBay to do something about it.  

 

5 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

So what happens when someone with the same passion as you think those 1 character polys should be part of minifigs category?  Will there be bad blood between the 2 of you?

Really, it's not that complicated.  Do you have to open the box, plastic container, polybag, etc. to sell the item you're listing in the 'Brand New Sets' category?  If not, carry on.  If so, it is no longer 'Brand New' as you had to open it to sell whatever piece of the ACTUAL set/polybag you want to sell.  There are dozens of 'what ifs' that people can list, I'm sure.  But it's not rocket science.  Heck, it's not even 2nd grade reading comprehension.  I can ask my 5 yo to look at 20 listings and I'll bet you he can tell me if the item listed is a set or not 20 out of 20 times.  If that's the case, I really don't see any opposing argument to what I've suggested.