[Gary]

I cannot believe the abuse I am getting in private correspondence that an eBayer has entered into with me. Its beyond belief.

I recently put up for sale a loco for £35 and described it as mint in a damaged but excellent looking box. The listing finished and the item remained unsold.

A few hours after the listing finished up pops this email saying I am a crook and breaking eBay rules as my item for sale definitely was not mint as mint examples of this loco go for £90!

A non offensive reply goes back saying that the item is/was as described and it was unsold.

I then get an even ruder reply suggesting I am in league with the devil, don't know my business as if I did I would definitely be selling this loco for £90, and refering to rule C10 of eBay (which rule is this?) and saying that it is eBayers like me who give eBay a shocking reputation and that everybody else who viewed my item must have thought exactly the same way about it as he does as the price was too good to be true!

A further non offensive reply goes back stating that in my terms I offer a money back gaurantee on all items sold and giving buyers ample time to examine goods received and to dispute any condition claim made.

Not yet had a reply to that.

I suspect this eBayer has been caught out in a bidding war and has overpaid on an item big time and his wife has spotted this when she discovered my listing and he is now trying to justify the money spent on his purchase to his wife!

And the gent is an American!

(no offence intended to normal Americans looking in)

Can you just picture the scene in this American household as darling sweety pie harps on about her high spending hubby! If walls had ears.....

The lesson here is to keep all spending from the eyes of you know who!

Are there any other recent eBay tales that anybody has to keep us all amused?

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Doug]

Remember the 10% rule...

10% of everyone out there is probably nutz in some way or another

 

[Brian Considine]

Gary,

Do get get some weird people on eBay !

I don't see the problem - I take it (in a normal auction) £35 was the starting price & in a way that was your reserve price.

That's the whole point of eBay you put something up for sale & people bid on it if they want - nobody forces you to bid - don't like, don't bid. It's quite simple.

You were honest - period. If this looney had bought the loco & it had been tatty then he would have had a justifiable beef.

It may be as well to bar him from bidding on anything else you put up.

Best ignore him.

regards
Brian

 

[Gwent rail]

Gary, saw the item, didn't want to pay £35, didn't bid. As simple as that!

Why then should anyone in this position care about the condition - there really are some loonies out there.

Like the one that sent me an empty, unsealed envelope and then wondered why there was no parcel being sent.
Or what about the one that bought two items and had a postage discount, then demanded a post discount for an item bought 2 weeks later.
Or the one that emailed me to complain that the postman had tried to deliver when he was out, so now he had to travel FIVE MILES (his capitals) to pick it up.

Could write a book, but that will do for now.

 

[Gary]

QUOTE It may be as well to bar him from bidding on anything else you put up.

Don't worry that was done as soon as the first email appeared!

It was a "buy it now" so it was a take it or leave it offer and the price of the loco was fair. The eBayer seemed to think that £90 was an appropriate asking price if it was in the condition claimed and it could not possibly be mint at just £35!

Maybe I'll try £90 next time eBay have one of their 1p days.

It might stand more of a chance of selling!

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[M8 INTERNET]

I've had this a few times, similar kind of contact through eBay

I never reply and simply forward the eMail to eBay to sort out and take the appropriate action

Worst was a seller, where I won three items
Contacted the seller that I would be sending payment within 7 days and should allow up to 28 days for it arrive
I sent a cheque when I got back home, then replied three days later that I as being reported for non-payment and not to bid on any more of his items
The seller also complained that 28 days for payment was outrageous
I then replied asking if the cheque had been received
After waiting two more days there was no response
The final reply was that the cheque had been torn up and the goods would not be sent (like doh!)
I reported all of that to eBay, the items have never appeared on eBay since (so I assume they were actually sold to someone else or off eBay)
A week later and the cheque appeared back to me in the post, sent by the seller!
I'd already cancelled it, as it had been reported by the seller as torn and destroyed...

 

[Gary]

QUOTE I never reply and simply forward the eMail to eBay to sort out and take the appropriate action

His last reply was so offensive I have done just that! How you can communicate like that to a bloke you have never met about an item that you haven't even purchased I simply do not know!

I wonder if Hornby's Simon Kohler or Bachmann's Dennis Lovett get similar emails about their product offerings?

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[neil_s_wood]

I had some cretin, from the USA, sell me two items he didn't even have.

I had to contact him about three weeks after I had paid him to find this out.

I then had to take other similarly priced items which I didn't really want instead.

 

[Gary]

Its seems like Ebay USA suffers a higher proportion of dodgy characters than elsewhere.

I never get any silliness with the Brits or the Euros or those from OZ and those parts. And when you think about it we are meant to share a common language with the Americans not the Europeans and yet its the Euros that seem better at understanding what is in the listing!

The only sales that seem to go wrong are when its a shipment to the USA.

I sold a preowned Fleischmann Turntable to a guy from the USA earlier in the year and clearly stated that it was not motorised. When the item arrived the buyer said it was not what he was after as he wanted a motorised one and would I do a deal!

There is absolutely no way he would have picked up a motorised one for the money he paid. OK had he been a Brit I would have asked him to ship it back and refunded the money however USA shipping would not have made this economic. I advised that he could get his money back by reselling it on eBay himself which he actually did to be fair to him. But why bid in the first place?

And the only payment frauds I have suffered in the last 12 months have been with American customers.

So let the trend be your friend!

Happy modelling
Gary