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 Replies: 12 / Views: 2,086 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2602 Posts |
I just need to vent somewhere. Back in mid-September, I bought 40 x 1909 Indian Head cents for $3.99 each plus shipping, total was for 171.35 ($4.28 ea). I was doing this for investment purposes, thinking the coin would rise in value as 2009 approached. At that time, this price was at current market value for low grade 1909 coins. I paid immediately by paypal and then waited for two weeks and asked for a status. Seller told me that they were not in stock. I'm thinking, "when were you going to tell me?- if I hadn't asked I'd never know! So the seller sells coins in dutch auction style he doesn't even have! By mid October, the price began climbing on 1909 and has continued to climb to above $10 in G+ (though there is one guide, pcgs.com, that still has this at $3 in G and I've pointed this out to the seller). By 11/20, he had sent a lot of 5 and another lot of 3 coins, nearly all culls, but I'm still owed 32 coins. The last two weeks I've repeatedly (and nicely) emailed him for a status as to when my order would be filled. He waited until I could no longer leave feedback on ebay and finally responded today saying he'd have to grant a refund because he just hasn't been able to get the coins at my original price. So I have no choice but to accept a refund, but I am so mad at this seller. I cannot leave the well-deserved negative feedback (and no doubt he has blocked me from future auctions). I'm hoping I don't see this re-listed in a few weeks with a doubled or tripled buy-it-now. That will be really dishonest. To his credit, the seller has more than 15,000 transactions on ebay and sells coins of all types, most at reasonable BIN prices. His feedback is around 98.5%- a lot of people complain about slow shipping and receiving coins at lower grades than described or pictured (he mostly uses stock photos). I did see at least one other person who bought coins from him that the seller didn't have in stock. That buyer neg'd the seller and then the seller retaliated in kind. So I guess I should be glad I didn't have a chance to leave him feedback, because he would have done the same to me, even though I paid immediately and was courteous in all my correspondance about the status of my order. So my question is: Isn't it dishonest to sell stuff on ebay if you don't even have it? Edited by mycrob
12/19/2007 1:42 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1106 Posts |
You shouldn't be afraid negative feedback. Bad sellers count on you not wanting a mark against you which is one reason they hold theirs back until they read yours. I have something similar happening to me now. I had to have a package delivered to St.Louis MO because they wouldn't ship to Canada (even though it was less than 5 miles from me). After three weeks I e-mailed seller and he assured me it was in the mail. After 6 weeks he offers a complete refund. The next day he calls me to say that in fact he didn't ship it....ooops. It has been a week since he said it was ship out to me here and still nothing. By my calculations the 60 days is coming up this week and I have no intention of letting the feedback option slide by.
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New Member
United States
33 Posts |
This same thing has happened to me twice in the last month on ebay, and it frequently happens with books. One seller even had the nerve to ask me to pay his seller's fees after telling me he couldn't find a copy of the book I had ordered from him, it had apparently been discountinued! He gave me a refund but I told him that a certain place would freeze over before I paid his seller's fees for the transaction!  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2602 Posts |
It is sounding like a lot more than just an occasional seller is selling things they don't possess. One thing I won off ebay came shipped to me direct from Amazon.com. Thanks for sharing your stories. Cannonman17: welcome to the forum! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1934 Posts |
Here's a copy of Ebays, "Pre-sale" Policy: Pre-sale listings are those that describe items for sale that are not in the control or possession of the seller at the time of the listing. These listings generally consist of items that are sold in advance of a delivery date to the public. ebay permits Pre-sale listings only on a limited basis. The seller must guarantee that the item will be available for shipping within 30 days from the date of purchase (i.e., the day the listing ends or the date the item is purchased from a store front listing). The seller must also clearly indicate within the listing the fact that the item is a pre-sale item with a delivery date that indicates the item will be shipped by the 30th day from the end date of the listing. Additionally, this text must be no less than the default font size of the ebay Sell-Your-Item form. Currently, the default font size is HTML font size 3. Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including: * Listing cancellation * Limits on account privileges * Account suspension * Forfeit of ebay fees on cancelled listings * Loss of PowerSeller status Why does ebay have this policy? ebay has strict guidelines for pre-sale Listings to protect our members from potentially poor buying experiences while still enabling members to buy and sell items which are not yet available. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1424 Posts |
I think I would send him back the cull coins and demand a full refund including shipping charges. Then I still think I would leave negative feedback explaining this guys practices in detail.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1934 Posts |
I'm with bman about this...moreover, the seller has violated ebay's pre-sale policy...you may want to contact ebay about that. I also suspect his 15,000 sales are probably fabricated by himself -- also against ebay's policies. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2602 Posts |
It is too late to leave feedback because transaction is 90 days old. I asked for a refund last week and still don't have my refund, but with the holidays I suppose I need to continue to be patient? Even though I got 8 culls, I still can complete some partial sets, so I plan to keep those. I do not believe his 15K+ transactions are fabricated. He has a long history on ebay, always has hundreds of auctions running with many unique buyers. He definitely did not have a pre-sale notice. I will wait to get my refund and then see about reporting him for pre-sale violation. Since we're after 90 days, I can't pull up his auction anymore. Where do you report this, because it is a rather specific problem? Thanks for sharing your info. Edited by mycrob
12/27/2007 10:38 am
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
Mycrob, sorry to hear your having a "not so unique" problem with this seller. Go to the ebay website and login. Click on the Help tab located in the upper right corner and a Contact Us area will show up. You will be presented with several options. Click on, Report an item to us, and send them a detailed email explaining the problems with this person. I have personally found these folks to be very responsive and helpful. Your inquiry will not be reported to the member in question so just "tell it like it is" and hopefully another bad actor will get banned from selling on the site. Hope you have a good Xmas and New Year. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2602 Posts |
Well, after three messages over the last 3 weeks about getting my refund, I finally got it. I had to threaten to get a lawyer involved. He sent it by Paypal, so I lost $4.00 in Paypal fees, so I am still mad about this. I will be complaining to ebay. Thanks for all your comments and support and suggestions. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
I suggest calling PayPal's toll-free number and waiting on hold until you have someone on the line--tell them exactly what happened and how much you are out. I had a similar situation happen and PayPal refunded the money I spent to have the wrong item shipped to me and to ship it back to the lying seller (about $10). Let us know.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2443 Posts |
quote:
This same thing has happened to me twice in the last month on ebay, and it frequently happens with books
 It's happen to me twice. Once with a seller that does a lot of business on ebay (veroncoins or something like that). Ordered their book using BIN. I figured that I it's worth if for me to pay a little more since I'll get the book quicker than waiting for an auction to end. Umm..no. I'm pretty patience and I finally contacted them after three weeks. E-mailed me back saying it's out of stock they're have more in two weeks. Yet on their website and on ebay they were still selling it. No way. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
G'day, you may enjoy reading a new thread that I have just opened: " ebay & The Long Arm of the Law" Peter in Oz |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 2,086 |
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Posted 12/19/2007 6:15 pm
