i got my money back from eBay after escalating and creating a case,etc. My cost of time was a lot more than that, but I have zero tolerance for scammers
I haven’t been scammed on Ebay, yet, but my gripe is about shipping. Almost every seller I’ve dealt with uses Ground Advantage. Several times I have offered to pay for flat rate priority shipping and sellers have said they will ship priority-but then they don’t.
This might sound trivial but I live in Hawaii and quite often USPS Ground Advantage can be very slow.
Case in point is a Domke camera bag that was shipped from Florida on the 6th of this month. The estimated delivery date was 12/26. It made it to San Francisco quickly and now is sitting who know where. Check it out 9434608106244549695694.
Norm Shapiro wrote:
I haven’t been scammed on Ebay, yet, but my gripe is about shipping. Almost every seller I’ve dealt with uses Ground Advantage. Several times I have offered to pay for flat rate priority shipping and sellers have said they will ship priority-but then they don’t.
This might sound trivial but I live in Hawaii and quite often USPS Ground Advantage can be very slow.
Case in point is a Domke camera bag that was shipped from Florida on the 6th of this month. The estimated delivery date was 12/26. It made it to San Francisco quickly and now is sitting who know where. Check it out 9434608106244549695694....Show more →
SGinNorcal wrote:
This exactly for both. Ebay for only small dollar items w/o another option. I'll add another, I try to avoid Amazon. I know everyone loves the convenience but I feel it hurts small businesses and lines the pocket of one annoying guy. If I find something on Amazon, I'll try to find it somewhere else first even if the cost is the same. I would rather the supplier make the profit. I guess I feel this way as a small business owner myself. The more middle men we can cut out the better.
Another way to look at this (and I may not be correct) is that small business people can benefit from listing on Amazon. While they may have to pay the middleman they have much greater exposure to the market and can therefore increase their sales volume. They also reduce their advertising and shipping costs. On the other hand, you seem to work around this by looking first on Amazon and then purchasing directly from the small business. I applaud your efforts.
TENOG wrote:
Another way to look at this (and I may not be correct) is that small business people can benefit from listing on Amazon. While they may have to pay the middleman they have much greater exposure to the market and can therefore increase their sales volume. They also reduce their advertising and shipping costs. On the other hand, you seem to work around this by looking first on Amazon and then purchasing directly from the small business. I applaud your efforts.
I'm sure there are some businesses that have benefitted from Amazon's existence. But the power of Google searching should reduce that to some degree if we are willing to take a minute or two. Amazon essentially "bought" their way into all markets after losing boat loads of money initially. Then slowly turned the screw on manufacturers and consumers until they are printing cash. And not just small business, all sizes. Their tactics especially in the early days is pretty interesting if you look into it. To be clear, its not just Amazon to me, its the distribution model that still exists in world. Often, distributors makes more money than the manufacturer does and has very little risk, employs very few people, and has little accountability.
brick33308 wrote:
I will not buy or sell on eBay, period end of sentence for those and more reasons.
Only exception is where I recognize a U.S. seller like Roberts Camera who frequently lists on eBay. But even then I call Robert's online store (UsedPhotoPro.com) and often get a better price.
I bought stuff from them on eBay. There was a problem with one order, and they made it right, even though they probably lost money on that transaction.
I buy and sell stuff on ebay once in a while, but I am trying to be very careful. I had to deal with scammers a few times, both as a seller, and a buyer.
These scammers make legit sellers like me look bad. I love to sell my gear on eBay and I buy a ton of gear on there too. I would never cause the issues i'm reading here to my buyers.
msadat wrote:
I wanted to share a cautionary tale regarding a recent return experience on eBay.
I purchased a cheap 28mm finder for my Ricoh camera with the intention of returning it if the quality was unsatisfactory. When I initiated the return, the seller, leggis009i, provided a USPS postpaid return label. I took the package to the post office and had the clerk scan it.
A few days later, I checked the tracking online and could not locate the package. Upon reviewing my receipt, I realized the tracking number did not match the one on the return label. I then printed the label again and found that the barcode and the printed tracking number were different from each other, and both were invalid.
It appears the seller uploaded the label independently rather than using eBay’s official services. The return case is now pending with eBay.
The moral of the story is to always check the validity of return labels, especially on eBay, before dropping off packages. ...Show more →
It's awful how wary we need to be to avoid scams... And that's not even enough some times.
msadat wrote:
I wanted to share a cautionary tale regarding a recent return experience on eBay.
I purchased a cheap 28mm finder for my Ricoh camera with the intention of returning it if the quality was unsatisfactory. When I initiated the return, the seller, leggis009i, provided a USPS postpaid return label. I took the package to the post office and had the clerk scan it.
A few days later, I checked the tracking online and could not locate the package. Upon reviewing my receipt, I realized the tracking number did not match the one on the return label. I then printed the label again and found that the barcode and the printed tracking number were different from each other, and both were invalid.
It appears the seller uploaded the label independently rather than using eBay’s official services. The return case is now pending with eBay.
The moral of the story is to always check the validity of return labels, especially on eBay, before dropping off packages. ...Show more →
Sorry things didn't go to plan, though I see you received a full refund which is a good outcome. Was it a 'scam' in the end? and not an error on the seller's part? You did receive a real 28mm finder initially, did you confirm they were attempting to cheat the return process? Did you find the 28mm finder you received to be 'not as described' or just not to your liking?
coogee wrote:
Sorry things didn't go to plan, though I see you received a full refund which is a good outcome. Was it a 'scam' in the end? and not an error on the seller's part? You did receive a real 28mm finder initially, did you confirm they were attempting to cheat the return process? Did you find the 28mm finder you received to be 'not as described' or just not to your liking?
SINCE THE TARRIFS, the Chinese sellers ship to us but return is a problem. he did send a fake usps label. that's a scam. the goal was for the return to never arrive
, what a perfect description of eBay. And not just the users, but the ones who run it and take an astronomical 15% of your sale.