Author Topic: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...  (Read 4550 times)

jeromedawg

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Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« on: August 05, 2016, 04:25:07 PM »
Hey all (and specifically those who buy/sell a lot on ebay),

Had a question about an issue I'm having with a seller. The item I bought was described in the title as "LOT 4 GE Link 65W Equivalent Soft White BR30 Connected Home LED Light Bulb" - additionally the listing picture showed 4 boxes of bulbs and the item was also listed as "new". The total cost was $8.25 shipped, so that should be $2.06 per light.

Well, the order shipped and arrived with postage due of $3.52 yesterday because he didn't weigh it accurately or just skimped and tried to ship it for cheap. I refused the package and ultimately requested for the Post office to hold the package, not knowing its contents obviously, while I try to resolve the issue with the seller. The seller replied, apologizing, and refunded me the full amount of $8.25.

Given the fact that he just refunded me for the total cost, I decided I would go ahead a pick up the package of 4 bulbs and pay the $3.52 in postage due. After getting and paying for it, I opened the package to find a *single* bulb and also one which appears to have been used (package round tape seals were obviously lifted off prior and the bulb has a few markings on it). So while it's nice that the seller refunded the cost of the item to make up for the fact that he didn't ship it with enough postage, he still misrepresented the item  (both in quantity and condition).

In the end, I paid $3.52 [postage due] for a single light bulb when I was expecting four. Furthermore, I noticed the seller changed the item description/title to remove the "LOT 4" not long after I ordered from him (though he still has a picture of four boxes of bulbs)... I checked the revision history to see this.

Extremely misleading and borderline shady IMHO. Given the circumstances, is there anything I can or should do (e.g. seek out an additional refund of the postage due paid, complain to ebay, etc?)? Technically, if each bulb was $2.06 including the cost of shipping, I will have overpaid by paying $3.52 in postage due and having received a single light.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2016, 04:28:03 PM by jplee3 »

jeromedawg

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2016, 05:37:18 PM »
The guy apparently is a new seller with only 11 reviews (8 at the time I bought). So I suppose I could drop it based off that assumption, rather than conspiring that he's a shady seller who was previously banned and is just operating under a new username... :P

chesebert

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2016, 06:01:46 PM »
Call your cc company and disputed the charge. File compliant with eBay and PayPal(if applicable)

jeromedawg

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2016, 06:10:55 PM »
Call your cc company and disputed the charge. File compliant with eBay and PayPal(if applicable)

I posed the question on the Ebay seller community thread and it was suggested I shouldn't do anything - the seller is new and likely doesn't know what he was doing and is just getting off the ground running. So in other words: cut him some slack... I really want to point out the mistake but one member suggested not to burden him more given he's a new seller, etc. The guy already refunded me so that was a good gesture. But it still stinks I paid postage due and only got 1/4th of what was described.

nexus

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2016, 09:53:59 AM »
Tough one. I've bought sold over 300 items on eBay since 2007 and rarely ever run into any issues. EBay heavily favors buyers. Quite honestly, if I were you I'd leave the guy bad feedback or at least neutral feedback. You can rate each category from 1-5 stars. The benefit of doing this will alert other buyers of the potential hazard and keep them from having crappy experiences too.

 Something along the lines of "inaccurate item description, I had to pay for additional postage to receive the item, but seller gave me 100% refund"
You should be able to rate shipping charges (1 or 0 stars), seller communication (maybe 4 stars in this case?), item description (0 or 1 stars), etc. ALWAYS, ALWAYS leave feedback for every transaction whether its good or bad or as a buyer or seller.

honeybbq

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2016, 10:50:58 AM »
The fact that he is 'new' does not forgive him/her from misrepresenting the item.

I'd: demand full refund from seller, file complaint with ebay, file complaint with CC company, etc.


mbl

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2016, 11:12:49 AM »
It was your decision to, after you'd be refunded,  pick up the package.
Insufficient postage should have been your first sign.

SKL-HOU

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2016, 11:12:56 AM »
I am a little confused. He refunded you the full amount so you really had no claim on the 4 as misrepresented or 1 actual bulbs any more, right? Are you upset that you didn't get 4 bulbs for $3.56? Since he corrected the description afterwards, it sounds to me like it was an honest mistake (pictures do not always represent what is being sold). So unless I am misunderstanding what actually happened, it sounds like you are not so clean in this transaction either. I would let it go.

jeromedawg

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2016, 12:06:19 PM »
Tough one. I've bought sold over 300 items on eBay since 2007 and rarely ever run into any issues. EBay heavily favors buyers. Quite honestly, if I were you I'd leave the guy bad feedback or at least neutral feedback. You can rate each category from 1-5 stars. The benefit of doing this will alert other buyers of the potential hazard and keep them from having crappy experiences too.

 Something along the lines of "inaccurate item description, I had to pay for additional postage to receive the item, but seller gave me 100% refund"
You should be able to rate shipping charges (1 or 0 stars), seller communication (maybe 4 stars in this case?), item description (0 or 1 stars), etc. ALWAYS, ALWAYS leave feedback for every transaction whether its good or bad or as a buyer or seller.

The dilemma is that he's apparently a new seller so I'd feel bad. Then again, it all just seems so shady under the covers....

dycker1978

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2016, 12:16:32 PM »
Tough one. I've bought sold over 300 items on eBay since 2007 and rarely ever run into any issues. EBay heavily favors buyers. Quite honestly, if I were you I'd leave the guy bad feedback or at least neutral feedback. You can rate each category from 1-5 stars. The benefit of doing this will alert other buyers of the potential hazard and keep them from having crappy experiences too.

 Something along the lines of "inaccurate item description, I had to pay for additional postage to receive the item, but seller gave me 100% refund"
You should be able to rate shipping charges (1 or 0 stars), seller communication (maybe 4 stars in this case?), item description (0 or 1 stars), etc. ALWAYS, ALWAYS leave feedback for every transaction whether its good or bad or as a buyer or seller.

The dilemma is that he's apparently a new seller so I'd feel bad. Then again, it all just seems so shady under the covers....

There is only one thing shady with this transaction.  The fact that you tried to get something that you were not entitled to.  When the seller refunded the full purchase amount, you should have had the post office ship the bulb back to the seller.  Not pay the shipping and try and get something for even less, then bitch because it was not as advertised. 

WOW

jeromedawg

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2016, 12:39:46 PM »
Tough one. I've bought sold over 300 items on eBay since 2007 and rarely ever run into any issues. EBay heavily favors buyers. Quite honestly, if I were you I'd leave the guy bad feedback or at least neutral feedback. You can rate each category from 1-5 stars. The benefit of doing this will alert other buyers of the potential hazard and keep them from having crappy experiences too.

 Something along the lines of "inaccurate item description, I had to pay for additional postage to receive the item, but seller gave me 100% refund"
You should be able to rate shipping charges (1 or 0 stars), seller communication (maybe 4 stars in this case?), item description (0 or 1 stars), etc. ALWAYS, ALWAYS leave feedback for every transaction whether its good or bad or as a buyer or seller.

The dilemma is that he's apparently a new seller so I'd feel bad. Then again, it all just seems so shady under the covers....

There is only one thing shady with this transaction.  The fact that you tried to get something that you were not entitled to.  When the seller refunded the full purchase amount, you should have had the post office ship the bulb back to the seller.  Not pay the shipping and try and get something for even less, then bitch because it was not as advertised. 

WOW

He refunded me on his own volition and then told me to keep the "lights" [plural] after I told him I was going to have the post office hold it so I could work things out with him.
He advertised a lot of 4 bulbs (including a picture of four bulbs) in the listing, so that's what I was expecting and that's what I had issues with outside of the fact that he shipped it with incorrect postage. Only after paying the postage due, I opened the package to find a single bulb not the 4 that were advertised. Not to mention, I found out later that after I placed the order with the description of "LOT 4" in it, he went back and remove that wording for his future listings but never told me the title was wrong and that it was only for 1 bulb not 4.

Anyway, the only thing I did was message him pointing out the discrepancy about the quantity in his title when I purchased it. I'm not planning to do anything else. 

jeromedawg

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2016, 12:46:15 PM »
I am a little confused. He refunded you the full amount so you really had no claim on the 4 as misrepresented or 1 actual bulbs any more, right? Are you upset that you didn't get 4 bulbs for $3.56? Since he corrected the description afterwards, it sounds to me like it was an honest mistake (pictures do not always represent what is being sold). So unless I am misunderstanding what actually happened, it sounds like you are not so clean in this transaction either. I would let it go.

I guess that's what I was originally wondering about - in this case, should and does refunding in full always excuse the seller of any other mistakes in their listing?
Let's assume that he actually paid the correct postage and that wasn't an issue. I would have still only had one bulb instead of four. So that issue would have still remained.
This was a buy-it-now item that he has quite a few of, so after my transaction, unbeknownst to me, he corrected the description/title to remove the "LOT 4" - I only found this out as someone pointed it out to me after.

Anyway, as I said, I'm not going to do anything else here and will let it go.   

jeromedawg

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2016, 12:48:47 PM »
It was your decision to, after you'd be refunded,  pick up the package.
Insufficient postage should have been your first sign.

He also told me to "keep the lights" which was another factor. If he had said nothing or requested the shipment back, I would have just told the post office to ship them back as return to sender. 

Ricksun

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2016, 12:54:06 PM »
You've already spent 10x more than the $3 you "lost" in time just thinking about this and posting it in 2 separate forums (I've now spent more than $3 of time reading and responding).  Drop it and let it go; the seller lost more money than that already (product and original shipping), so no one is happy with the arrangement. 

Ricksun

jeromedawg

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2016, 12:55:25 PM »
You've already spent 10x more than the $3 you "lost" in time just thinking about this and posting it in 2 separate forums (I've now spent more than $3 of time reading and responding).  Drop it and let it go; the seller lost more money than that already (product and original shipping), so no one is happy with the arrangement. 

Ricksun


Yep, as I mentioned - I'm not going to do anything else other than to move on.

misshathaway

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #15 on: August 10, 2016, 01:58:06 AM »
I agree with the "move on" advice and will try to apply it to myself. I understand your feeling of being wronged.

I have been selling household items for about a year. Still have my 100% rating but I know that will change at some point. I had a dealer buy 3 pieces of glassware from me for $15 plus shipping. It was leaded glass though so the shipping was almost as much as the glassware. Returning b/c I described as no chips or scratches and even though "chips" are not evident by sight or in the picture she can "feel roughness around the sawtooth edge" on one of the pieces.

She says she filed a return but I'm not seeing it yet. So now there will be admin hassle as well. Have to keep telling yourself that you must expect a certain small number of bad buyers and sellers.

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #16 on: August 10, 2016, 12:18:11 PM »
Tough one. I've bought sold over 300 items on eBay since 2007 and rarely ever run into any issues. EBay heavily favors buyers. Quite honestly, if I were you I'd leave the guy bad feedback or at least neutral feedback. You can rate each category from 1-5 stars. The benefit of doing this will alert other buyers of the potential hazard and keep them from having crappy experiences too.

 Something along the lines of "inaccurate item description, I had to pay for additional postage to receive the item, but seller gave me 100% refund"
You should be able to rate shipping charges (1 or 0 stars), seller communication (maybe 4 stars in this case?), item description (0 or 1 stars), etc. ALWAYS, ALWAYS leave feedback for every transaction whether its good or bad or as a buyer or seller.

The dilemma is that he's apparently a new seller so I'd feel bad. Then again, it all just seems so shady under the covers....

There is only one thing shady with this transaction.  The fact that you tried to get something that you were not entitled to.  When the seller refunded the full purchase amount, you should have had the post office ship the bulb back to the seller.  Not pay the shipping and try and get something for even less, then bitch because it was not as advertised. 

WOW


You also wasted $3 of my time on this nonsense thread. lol - wth.

biffwhipster

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Re: Advice on misrepresented Ebay transaction and other issues...
« Reply #17 on: August 10, 2016, 04:02:31 PM »
I usually don't like to beat a dead horse but your reasoning is so off base. I have sold a couple of hundred items on eBay in the last year and I can assure you you're fussing over an honest mistake.

I buy crap from China and sell it on eBay... and yes, most of it is crap. I deal with "shady" sellers once every few months when I purchase. I can assure you that a "shady" seller trying to misrepresent a product for $8 doesn't immediately issue you a full refund and tell you to keep the product. That's what an honest seller does. You feeling like you were "wronged" and wanting to complain and leave negative feedback is pretty low.