• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
0

WHAT CAN AN EBAY SELLER DO IN THIS CASE?

0
W.K.F.

898 views

This has to be the single hardest thing I've had to swallow

Greetings Collectors,

With the subject of selling having just been discussed of late, I wanted to share a "nightmare experience" I had a couple months ago. Actually after all the wasted emails to eBay's Trust and Safety department, I had told myself I was done wasting my time writing about the problems with this incident. But for the last time here goes:

There are two things that bother me about eBay. One is that the buyer is always perceived as honest and the seller dishonest. This is the reason for the feedback change there where you can "grade" the seller but the buyer can not be scrutinized.

The other is an incident that started with a purchase I made on May 26th 2010.

I purchased a Franklin half in a very old NGC holder and in the listing the coin had the most awesome colors of any I have seen. The entire reverse was a bright bold "burnt orange" with a perfect purple band around the periphery. The obverse was awesome as well but to a lessor degree. It was a 1954-S and was only an MS-65 and did not have the "FBL" designation. The only reason for this buy was the colors. When I received the coin it was nothing like the photo. In fact the coin was quite ugly. Grayish, black on the obverse and the beautiful reverse had none of the colors the listing pic had. It was the same coin, as the listing pic showed the entire slab. But the coin really stunk to put it mildly. I have no idea how this seller made this slabbed coin look the way it did in the listing.

The seller ignored my emails of wanting to return the coin 'til the three day return period had elapse. I then opened an "item not as described" complaint with eBay. Then the nightmare started. This guy only lived a little over an hour away down the coast from me and after all his name calling and chest pounding, I actually got in my truck and was going to drive to his house and confront him. You would not believe the threats via email and voice mail this jerk sent my way. I won't say what I was prepared to do but 20 years ago this would have all been in the newspaper and I would have most likely been in jail. I shared this incident with my daughter and it was her that actually talked me out of what I was en-route to do.

Bottom line, I left my very first piece of negative feedback on this person and eBay refunded my money and I kept the coin. All I wanted was a refund, that's it. After I left the neg. FB the "game stakes" rose. More phone calls, emails etc and I was certain I was dealing with someone that was just as un-afraid of confrontation as myself. He may have been all talk and no bite because my invitation to meet was quickly quashed.

What happened next was he enlisted 5 of his friends to buy my least expensive items which were some "trinket" gold filled chains, which were around $15 each. The people he enlisted were "coin people". I looked at each one's feedback and the items they had bought and sold, there was not one item that was not coin related. All tried to return the item/items, which I refused, as I knew by this time what all of them were up to. I actually tried to cancel the transactions but all refused and my conversations with eBay said to go ahead and go through with them and if they then, like I predicted, left negative feedback, it would be removed. Two of the eBay persons actually used the phrase, "we've got your back Mr. Fine, don't worry". They (the buyers) all found fault with the little chains that were actually quite nice for the price. Now mind you all of these sales came inside a 72 hour period and all were from those that never bought or sold anything but coins. When I called each on this, they all but one made their feedback private. One of these persons was the wife of the guy I had the beef with and the packaging including the "click and ship" label from where I got the coin, and from where she returned the chain were printed on the same machine and from their same address.

I "painstakingly" went down the list of evidence more than 20 times with as many different individuals from eBay both on the phone & via email, and while each person said that eBay took things like this very seriously and the offense which is called "intent to disrupt" (a transaction) would be thoroughly investigated. I had minimum 20 different investigations done to get the negative feedback removed and eBay did nothing. The kinds of complaints these people had with me included, but were not limited to: the Lincoln cent I had in my listing pic to show size was thought by one to be a pendant, and they were mad the chain had no pendant included. This was a "coin person" that was saying this. Also one was upset that I sent the item 1st class instead of priority and it mattered not that I shipped the item on a Wed. afternoon at 4:13pm and she got it the next day, at 12:07 pm. I sent all of these chains with delivery confirmation.

So I lost my perfect feedback record. I also lost my "Top Rated Seller" status. And I lost what little discount I had achieved due to all the "ones" I got on the individual sellers "stars".

Of course I kept fighting for much longer than I should have but I just could not see how, when any person looked at the "mountain" of evidence I had, could not once, but 20 different times say, and I quote. We are sorry blah blah blah but after an "extensive" investigation, eBay found no evidence that the negative feedback had any connection to the seller I had a beef with or that any of these people were connected in any way. Now each bought a "candy machine" item, one that I sell "one" every month or two and all 5 of these sales came inside 72 hours, and all were the same item, and all found fault and all left neg feedback, which was their intent from the git go.

I came very close to leaving eBay but thought, this is exactly what this guy was trying to get me to do and for that reason alone, I was staying. Then reading of another "eBayer" experiance who was trying to feed his family, because he had been laid off, and had sold a 1999 "silver" proof set, then the buyer switched clad coins for the silver and returned it (the clad/copper coins) and then that buyer, who eBay refunded his full purchase price, had the nerve to leave neg. fb on this poor seller too. Again eBay did nothing to help. So I came to the conclusion that these types of things happen fairly often and I was not being "singled out". I am sure God evens the score and I should just leave it up to him rather than "jacking" somebody up and beating the outta them. I have to honestly say that this incident came real close to getting me to do something I would have been very sorry for later.

Heck, I have enough problems without trying to "Fight City Hall" or go to prison. You never win when you go up against the big guys. So I will stay with that which I do best, and seek help for those things I need help with. The lady shown in this picture is one my family is seeking help from, for all of my issues at hand.

Happy Collecting!

WKF

7608.thumb.jpg.79397eec4f38919fd1c6e0b10eb7ac57.jpg

0



0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now