how to deal with dodgy seller?

[briggsy's girl]

i won an item last week from a seller and figured, seeing it was supposed to be couriered, i'd get more from them, and then getit all delivered together - with cheaper delivery on the subsequent items - they were smallish, and $29 should have covered the lot.

so i bid again, and won five things in total (all of $6.47) and when i contacted the seller for combined postage, got a reply saying $29 for first item, $20.30 for each subsequent item - WTF???? listing says delay for combined postage - sorry - that's not a discount.

i asked for an explanation of how they could charge that - got nothing. so i went to ebay live help (he wasn't TOO unhelpful, but not specific answers, just generic cr@p) - so i figured i'd give the seller the benefit of the doubt, contact them again asking them to justify delivery charges, and got a reply email (not through ebay) with this reply

hello

we calculate as

first one $29

second one $29 x 0.7 (30% off)

after you won all the time i will give you the best i can do

*dont forget the item is 0.99 or $2 this item is totally worth more than it should be*

now, to me, that last line is an admission that they're flogging you more postage than they should to "pay for the item" - so i again went to live chat, and asked about fee avoidance. got the right linke, forwarded to seller, and AGAIN asked for explanation of charges. nothing

so i reported them

got a reply from email - really wishy washy - but it asked me for the details of the email, so that it could be investigated. so i sent them - and got no reply.

now, i dont' want to carry the tag of a non paying bidder, so when i AGAIN got a wishy washy answer from ebay (with no cancellation of the auctions or even an OFFER of it), i forked over the money - $6.47 for the items, $110 for the delivery - i figured i'd just put negative feedback in regards to courier charging - but would check with the courier what i should have been charged - and even an extra $10 for insurance

well, i got my items - via Australia Post! the $10 of insurance should have been all of $1.50, postage, even including the biggest item, was less than $20 - so they've ripped me off over $80!!!!

and the best bit - three of the damn items are damaged!!!

i messaged the seller AGAIN on Friday - telling them items were damaged, and wanting to know what to do to have it rectified. no response. and today, i've messaged again

now, to the point of this waffle - WHAT THE HELL DO I DO TO FOLLOW THIS UP??? i really want the items replaced, and think i deserve a refund on the postage that they ripped me off - but ebay are obviously useless, paypal i believe only look at the price of the actual product...

what do i do???? help!!!


i haven't left negative feedback YET - i intend to sort this as much as possible first BEFORE that gets left - but no matter the outcome, i'll be leaving VERY negative feedback..

[Yael]

Paypal now covers postage also (i'm pretty sure it does at least)

[Madham]

Go to the section that says report item not recieved and when u go into it, it says item not recieved or significantly different to listed description.
You can file your dispute in there.
They will organize to get a refund through there or make other arrangements to settle the dispute

[briggsy's girl]

finally got a response today - only taken five days! they've asked for photo's of the damanged products - which i have now forwarded

i looked at paypal - it is near impossible to make a claim. looked at ebay - and there is a chance they will request the products be returned - at more expense to myself. on further investigation through another forum set up to help ebayers in situations like this, the seller is MEGA dodgy and is on the watch list of the ACCC for behaviour.

hmm, i think i'm too trusting (plus their feedback percentage wasn't really low or anything!) - guess i kinda expect everyone to act with the same integrity i employ every day! ahhh, the idiocy!

[briggsy's girl]

well, i eventually got a reply - apparently they're sending replacement items - wonder if these will be in better nick! DH and i have decided to repair the ones we received already, seeing we haven't been asked to return them. if they work, great, if not, no biggie. after the rip off with postage, we may as well make the most of it! i won't leave feedback until we have received the replacements - and i will continue to follow up until we have items that are of appropriate "brand new" condition...

[~Trish~]

I hate how sellers can still get away with that! eBay never want to hear about it.

I'm glad you received a reply and that the seller will replace your items. Make sure you leave some very honest feedback to warn other buyers. Fortunately for you the seller can't leave you neg feedback in retaliation any more.

[{sarah}]

How dodgy is that. Hope you get some compensation in the end BG.

[briggsy's girl]

feedback will definitely be very honest and very negative - but not until the whole shambles is resolved!

[QueenMab]

Hi briggsy's girl - remember for next time that sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers so you needn't have worried too much in the first instance about 'being labeled as a non-paying buyer'.

Hope everything works out ok!

[Lisa]

Grrrr I hate eBay for drama's like this!!!
I purchased items from a seller, paid as soon as the items ended, and never got them! The seller then went on to call me a liar and a thief and went as far as to call me and my DH schizophrenic! They hurled tonnes of abuse at us via email and messages on eBay... I contacted eBay who told me to forward the emails on to them with all the headers attached, but when I went to do that, they were denied by eBay because they were too long and had the headers attached!!! So this woman has got away with her continued harassment of me and my DH (yep, she still harasses us 3 months after the initial issues)
I tell you... it has made me VERY wary of buying now as this seller had a fairly high rating but had some recent bad feedback left for them too. I actually got my money back from that annoying seller thankfully.

I hope you get everything sorted out. And I would go ahead and leave very negative feedback. I thought eBay was meant to be cracking down on people charging too much for postage? What a joke huh?

[briggsy's girl]

i'm extremely unhappy with this seller. i eventually got a brief reply saying replacement items would be sent for the damaged items - it's now a week since that email was received, and nothing yet in the post. first parcel took 24 hours to arrive - obviously they're not so keen on getting the replacement out!

[briggsy's girl]

just a little update - i got replacement items - TWO, not THREE - so i emailed, yet again. got offered a refund (of less than what they flogged me in postage for the item, ummm NO) with the comment that maybe i could fix the broken ones. or could they include the item with my next purchase from them as the postage costs to them were too high! wtf???

i replied rather bluntly saying

if you think i'm ever wasting my time buying from you again, you've got another think coming. i have paid for these items. i want working items for my money. i wouldn't have paid your ridiculous costs if i didn't want them. just send me a replacement (which YOU didn't send when you said you would) so that i can finish my dealings with you once and for all!. i will not accept your pathetic attempt to "compensate me" seeing you're not even "compensating" me the full cost for the item. if you don't want to send the item, feel free to make me a decent compensatory offer, otherwise, send me my bloody item and be done with it - and make sure you check the quality before you send it - as you noticed, i'm not one to back down, so if it comes out damaged, again, i'll be sending you another message, and expecting another replacement

i'm usually a nice person - but not this time!

[Celsie]

I can't believe you haven't forced them to refund some of the postage. It was supposed to be by courier and they sent it by Australia Post.That's making false claims. I would be insisting they refund you some of that money.

[briggsy's girl]

FINALLY got the last light, in working order, on Friday! am so annoyed - 6 bloody weeks! nasty nasty feedback on it's way