Ebay, how long to wait?

[Blazing247]

What do you think is a reasonable time to wait for an item to be shipped from a seller after paying him? Going on 8 days now, communication was very good until Sunday night when it stopped completely. Last message from him was "I'll let you know when I ship it". His email is bouncing back emails as address unknown now. I think a week is a long time to wait especially with no communication, but am I acting impatiently by getting his phone number from Ebay and contacting him?

[CrystalTears]

Did the listing have a shipping time frame or method? If he shipped it ground, it may take as much as 14 business days to get to you.

I don't see a problem with trying to find ways to contact him though.

[Blazing247]

Oh, it's not that I'm worried about the timeframe of it getting here ONCE it's shipped, but it's my understanding that he hasn't shipped it yet, period.

I think walking around with my money for a week before you bother yourself with shipping my item is...not right. I'd totally relax and patiently wait had he told me he had shipped it like he said he would.

[Trouble]

I wonder if he's a drop-shipper and his warehouse company is out of stock.

You can initiate an 'item not received' inquiry anywhere between 10 and 60 days after the listing ends.

[Blazing247]

Not a power seller, only a few ratings, and this item was used, but yeah I've had that happen before with power sellers Trouble. I don't want to piss him off by doing the INR just yet. Call him or not, what do you think? Putting myself in his shoes, I'd be pissed if I went away for a 3 day trip or something and had someone harassing me, but on the flip side, I would've told me that and mentioned exactly when I was going to ship.

[Trouble]

If the address is bouncing back as unknown (as opposed to mailbox full or no response from server) I'd go ahead and start trying to get to him through ebay if it were me. Try the 'contact seller' thing first, if that doesn't work, I'd use the Item Not Received process (but you you have to wait for the 10th day for that).

[Blazing247]

Been using contact seller every day, no response. Email is bouncing back as unknown. I'll just call him tonight I guess, it's his fault as he didn't keep good communication with me.

[AestheticDeath]

Sounds like hes trying to screw you. His email should still work. Howd you pay him?

[Blazing247]

His phone number is not valid, his email is not valid. I paid through paypal out of my CC (safest way). The thing of it is, all his info matched, he's a long time member, and his paypal is verified and confirmed. I'm very cautious about scammers but it seems I was scammed.

[SpunGirl]

As far as I know, Paypal only offers seller protection if the seller ships within seven days of payment rec'd. I'd initiate a claim through paypal and see what he does in response, especially if we're talking about a significant sum.

-K

[SpunGirl]

PS - Ordinarily I wouldn't file a claim in this short of a timeframe, but I think the bouncing email and invalid phone number are something to worry about.

[Blazing247]

Yeah that's what worried me. I got in touch with Paypal, they were able to get in touch with him, he has updated his phone number and email, and he is shipping it out tomorrow. That's very delayed shipping, but I'm just happy to know I'm not scammed. Paypal was actually useful for once.

[StrayRogue]

I would give no feedback (possibly negative) for him trying to fuck you over.

[Xaerve]

What was the item? Electronics?

I have heard stories of people buying a lot of electronics and attempting to scam people... and shipping them only if someone really (like you) knows how to follow up on things. This has been happening with Sidekick 3's a lot, a friend who is an eBay "troll" told me on AIM.

Edit: I think negative feedback is called for here. Having your totally wrong information on Paypal and starting an auction is sketchy.

[SpunGirl]

Unless he wants to get neg'd in return, I'd just put something lukewarm like "Thanks" in the FB and then give him a shitty seller rating on their new star system. Or just no FB at all.

-K

[DeV]

Unless he wants to get neg'd in return, I'd just put something lukewarm like "Thanks" in the FB and then give him a shitty seller rating on their new star system. Or just no FB at all.

-KQft.

You wouldn't think they'd give negative feedback in return considering you already upheld your part of the bargain by making payment, but nooo. You should either wait for him to give you feedback, then give him negative if you choose to, or give him positive feedback and explain the issues you had with the lack of communication in the response line.

[Blazing247]

Hmm, new seller rating system? I wasn't even aware. Thanks for the advice.

[SpunGirl]

You can give them one out of five stars based on things like fairness in shipping charges, communication, etc.

-K

[Parkbandit]

Why people use Ebay is beyond me.

Customer beware.

[Sean of the Thread]

I really haven't bought shit from ebay but I've easily sold over 10k worth of shit problem free.

[Blazing247]

Ebay used to be great. As was Craigslist. Now, these POS Nigerian scammers have managed to ruin both. If you search Macbook Pro, I'd wager more than half of the listings are Nigerian scammers. I was selling a couch...a fucking couch...on Craigslist and was approached by a scammer who wanted me to ship to Africa...right.

[Sean of the Thread]

Hahah. Hire some illegals to sail it to Africa.

[AestheticDeath]

I normally like eBay myself. But I recently got screwed on a bumper I bought for my corvette. The person listed it as being fiberglass, and having a minor tear on the inside which was repaired.

It wound up being plastic not fiberglass. The minor tear was actually the side piece where the screws attach it to the wheel well, and it was apparantly completely broken off, then rewelded with JB weld or something ugly looking, and wasnt a great job either.

That was also apparantly caused by the woman running into something with her car, as evidenced by the spiderwebbing and cracked paint on the front portion of the bumper on that same side.

The picture she had in the auction was of a very fine looking bumper still attached to her vehicle. Nothing wrong visibly.

She was totally misleading. I am still unsure whether I will try and do something about it.

[Sean of the Thread]

I'm pretty sure you can do something about that unless he had some stupid ass disclaimer.

<---not an expert :shrug:

[Blazing247]

Yes, there's an option in Ebay for "item significantly not as described", and it will open a dispute. Here's the info:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html

[SpunGirl]

I'd say just the fact that the material wasn't what she said it was would be enough to qualify.

-K