Vent Post: eBay

Jun 09, 2011 16:42

I think eBay gives sellers entirely too much power.

Now granted, I don't make a career out of being an eBay retailer. What little I sell, when I sell is primarily reserved for recognizing a gap in our cash flow that only a Longaberger item can fix, or the latest piece of Silpada my sister-in-law has probably unloaded from her stock that I'll never wear. So, with that in mind, I'm clearly not an expert.

But I shop on there far more frequently than I'd care to admit, and over the last few months especially, I've realized how much an imbalance is present, and not in the favor of the buyer.

Over Christmas, B purchased the Retreon, a console that combines the original Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Sega Genesis. We bought a couple of games but considering the mass quantity we were purchasing, there weren't very many issues. One game, however, took days to ship. We tried communicating with the buyer, who refused to return any of our messages. In the end, the game arrived one day before the window closed, but I waited a few more days to see if the seller would respond to any of our messages. He didn't, and reading over his profile, it was pretty obvious a lack of communication was just part of his MO.

In the end, I left him a comment praising the quality of the game and the shipping, but also noted the lack of communication. I even selected the positive option, but that didn't stop the guy from firing off a response telling us we couldn't buy from him anymore, and basically telling B to "put on the big boy panties" over the lack of communication. What's unfortunate is he is one of the largest retailers of secondhand games on eBay, and looking over the rules of eBay, he is allowed to ban us from purchasing.

Well, okay, whatever.

A couple of months later, I bought some additional cloth diapers. We have over 20, but I didn't end up liking the bamboo and wanted to have minky as our mainstay for diapers. I picked out one that looked like newsprint, and upon the first wash, it turned everything an inky gray and purple color. I messaged the seller to let him know and he immediately freaked out, wanting to know if we wanted more diapers or inserts or whatever. He was obviously afraid of bad feedback. I reassured him I had just wanted to let him know, I wasn't interested in a dispute or anything, but he carried on in such a manner he wouldn't let the issue drop until I agree to a refund. Which, after thinking about it, is fair since the diaper destroyed an entire load of diaper inserts and stained the inside of some covers. He said he'd get it to me shortly.

That was almost two months ago. And because I can't clear out the transaction until it's marked 'paid,' I sent him a message about it. Now, in order to do the refund, he wants pictures of the bleed. Except that, like any logical person, if clothes bleed to a really funky color and I don't have to use them, I won't. Most of those clothes are probably FreeCycled or at the Goodwill by now, and after already agreeing to give me a refund, I don't think I should have to provide the proof when it wasn't asked for as part of the original terms. I would have been fine doing it then, but now?

Not that I have any recourse, it seems. The seller doing a gentlemen's agreement for a refund is probably not covered under the Terms of Service.

ebay, angry and annoying people

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