10/05/2009: PayPal has decided the claim in my favor and states that $33.95 will be credited to my account within five days. I have not received the books, nor have I received any communication from the seller. The seller did apparently mail out some items that were sold around two weeks after my purchase, since she has received some positive feedback for those transactions. It is a mystery why some sellers decide not to mail some purchases but then mail ones that were sold later.
On August 25, I bought a fixed-priced lot of books from a seller on eBay. As I have mentioned in the past, the fixed-price lots that are priced a little low tend to arrive packed badly, since the sellers do not know what they are doing. Another problem with low fixed-price lots is that the sellers might not be honest.
Readers of this blog may recall that I had to file a PayPal claim earlier this year for a Betty Gordon book that I never received. I had to file a PayPal claim this week on the lot of books from August 25. As far as I can recall, this is the first time I have had to file more than one PayPal claim in one year due to not receiving a purchase, so from my perspective, eBay is not a better place after J.D. tightened the rules for sellers. I feel like he drove off half the good ones, and all of the bad ones are still there.
My seller's feedback was fine on August 25, and there were no signs that anything was amiss. In fact, the seller's feedback was fine until this week. The only indication of a problem was that the shipping time DSR was slightly lower than the other three DSRs, and I do mean slightly. I did not think I would have a problem because of the fact that the shipping DSR was lower; I knew the seller would ship a little slow, so I was not concerned about the purchase until three weeks had passed. The feedback comments were great, so the buyers had no problems with the seller. Slow shippers can still be overall good sellers.
This is a good example of how the DSRs do not help. The shipping time DSR was only slightly low and actually reassured me that everything would probably work out in the end. It did nothing to warn me of the kind of person that the seller actually is. No matter much eBay harasses sellers and reassures buyers that transactions are guaranteed, eBay cannot prevent this from happening. We, as buyers, have to make educated decisions about whether we can trust our sellers, and we are always taking a risk when we send money to a stranger. We cannot be protected by eBay (I typed "from eBay" accidentally at first, which is quite funny and true.).
I filed my claim on Thursday. I would have done it sooner, but I was too tired to feel like messing with it. I noticed that when I filed the claim, PayPal had me escalate it immediately, which is not how it normally works. Usually PayPal has a seven day waiting period in order for the seller to have time to leave a response. PayPal stated that the seller was unable to respond and that I should escalate at once. This told me that the seller must have already lost access to her PayPal account due to multiple claims. Not good.
I now have a new recreational activity, which happens each time I find myself in this position. I now take the time to check my seller's feedback multiple times per day to see what kind of feedback is getting posted. The seller's feedback is tanking. The communication and shipping time DSRs are plummeting fast.
I predict that the account will be suspended within the next week or so. The seller had listings up until this week, so the account may now be restricted. I hope so. Who knows how many people were defrauded, and we do not need any more people to join us.
There is still a slight possibility that I might receive the books, but I do not expect it to happen. I hope that PayPal will recover my money ($33.95 to be exact), but I have no guarantee. I will add an update to this post once something happens.
3 comments:
Well, I have had some bad experiences too, and have had to file a PayPal claim before also. However, in 10 years on eBay, I have only had one transaction go wrong. It was when a Canadian seller had a 1st ed. of Rinehart's "The Red Lamp" listed. Surprisingly, it did not get any bidders -- I made an offer after it closed and sent out PayPal. The package was from Canada, but I patiently waited and only began emailing the seller after 3 weeks. They kept me on the hook by telling me it was "on its way" and even sent me a (fake?) tracking number (perhaps a package to someone else). This was several years ago when PayPal only allowed 30 days for a dispute or claim filing. Thankfully that has now increased to 45 days. I never got the item and they stopped replying to emails.
In contrast, there was another seller in NYC I used to buy incense from on eBay. Very friendly service, quick shipping and great prices. It was my 4th or 5th order that didn't show up. I was disappointed from the lack of contact. I finally received an email from the seller's son stating his father was in the hospital with a heart condition. I got my order after about six weeks though. His son tried to keep the business going, but just couldn't and they stopped selling. I really miss this guy.
It's important to remember that there are circumstances in life when things can go (unexpectedly) wrong. As much as I eagerly await my next purchase -- if there is a medical situation, an accident or some work or family crisis -- I have plenty of books to read n the meantime. As long as I get it sooner or later that's fine by me.
I guess the moral is to not always assume the worst of people, and try to give people the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. Don't get me wrong, I've gotten some duds such as mis-described books and damaged packages, but in nearly 4,000 transactions on eBay, I've only gotten burned that one time with a "no show".
Like you, I know that things can go wrong in sellers' lives, and I don't get upset when sellers are a little slow to ship. I didn't worry about my purchase until three weeks had passed. For all transactions, it is only after three weeks that I begin to question whether something might be wrong. If the seller had responded to my inquiry, I would have waited longer to file the claim. I like to give them a chance to make it right.
I keep thinking about the comment to my more recent post. Would everyone really want to read posts day after day that say, "I received a book today. The seller was great. The book was as described. It was packed well. I am very happy."? Geez, most transactions are great. Ha, maybe I should start doing that just to prove a point.
PayPal has decided the claim in my favor and states that $33.95 will be credited to my account within five days. I have not received the books, nor have I received any communication from the seller. The seller did apparently mail out some items that were sold around two weeks after my purchase, since she has received some positive feedback for those transactions. It is a mystery why some sellers decide not to mail some purchases but then mail ones that came later.
Post a Comment