eBay is a pain - need advice

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YodaEXE

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CAGs! I am in need of help!

So, here's my story. I'm wondering what I should do.

June 6th, I went on eBay and won a 120gb 360 hard drive. Cost me about $100 after shipping. Just a hair under in fact. The seller has nearly 20k feedback, so I'm not too worried about being screwed over. However, it appears he's an idiot.

In the auction, it states that he'll reply to any emails sent to him within 4 hours. Now, taking that into account, I sent a message to the seller, basically saying thanks and asking him to please send me a message when he ships the package. No response at all. I finally get an automated message on the 9th saying the package was shipped. Ok, that's fine with me.

June 11th rolls around, package arrives. I knew it was used, and had no problem with that, but the packaging sent in left something to be desired. Basically, it was the packaging that the 120gb drive comes in, but it looked a bit beat up and was wrapped in tape. Whatever, I thought, as long as it worked, no problem. So I hooked things up and tried to do a transfer from my old drive to the new, and it wouldn't work. I figured at first that the transfer cable was bad, so I hooked up the new drive to the 360, intent on just recovering my gamertag and starting over in my games. The thing is, when I went to format the drive to make sure it was blank (it was used after all), I found it was only a 20gb! Now, this was still only around 10am (mail delivery is early here), so I sent the seller a message asking what I need to do to get a replacement. I wound up sending another message late that afternoon, as I was a bit impatient and remembered from the auction that the seller supposedly responds to all messages within 4 hours. Finally, that evening, I got a reply.

"hi sorry to hear that. if you send it back with your user name item number adn reeason for return we will replace it for you"

Not exactly the most professional of responses, but whatever. So, package wound up being sent out on the 16th, due to my going to Portland, OR with my girlfriend to visit her mom. The package arrived a few days later (on the 19th to be exact, as I made sure to get delivery confirmation), and I sent a message to make sure that it had arrived ok. Previously, when I sent out the package, I sent another message basically explaining how to tell the hard drives apart, just in case the seller had never dealt with them before, which I figured was possible.

So, I asked in ANOTHER message, sent on the 20th, for the seller to let me know that the package arrived ok, and if he had an idea of when he was going to send out the replacement, and about how long it would take to arrive. His reply was this:

"yes got it and new one is out"

Great, another wonderful, useful reply. So I wait, and my new drive shows up today. Packaging is in pretty much the same condition as my previous one, and I look at the drive, and guess what? It's ANOTHER 20gb hard drive!

So, I sent another message off about 8 hours ago, trying to figure out what to do about this, as I don't want to pay MORE shipping charges in order to fix this.

What do you guys think I should do? Should I ask that he pays shipping charges and does something like overnight me a drive and give me a pre-paid shipping label? Or do you think I should just ship this drive back, and request a refund? I still haven't received a reply from the seller, so I can send another message telling him what I'd like done.
 
Get your refund already and be done with the douchebag.

Oh yeah, try to get the seller to pay for shipping charges since they are so incompetent. Also, if you're not afraid to do so, leave negative feedback.
 
[quote name='brianffrpg']Get your refund already and be done with the douchebag.

Oh yeah, try to get the seller to pay for shipping charges since they are so incompetent. Also, if you're not afraid to do so, leave negative feedback.[/quote]
I've been considering just asking for a refund, however the draw of a $100 120gb drive is strong, especially since I have about 500mb free on my 20gb.

Oh and believe me, he's getting neg feedback regardless of what happens. Even if I get the drive finally, he's getting negative, because this is ridiculous. I've done everything short of sending him a frigging picture of what the drive should look like.
 
[quote name='brianffrpg']Get your refund already and be done with the douchebag.

Oh yeah, try to get the seller to pay for shipping charges since they are so incompetent. Also, if you're not afraid to do so, leave negative feedback.[/quote]

He can't retaliate anymore, so if you're feeling particularly put-off, neg away.

I'd open a dispute ASAP; as a powerseller with huge feedback, it may just bring him to his senses quicker than playing email tag. One mistake is bad enough; to repeat it is just terrible customer service.
 
[quote name='thelazyone22']He can't retaliate anymore, so if you're feeling particularly put-off, neg away.

I'd open a dispute ASAP; as a powerseller with huge feedback, it may just bring him to his senses quicker than playing email tag. One mistake is bad enough; to repeat it is just terrible customer service.[/quote]
A dispute eh? How/what would I need to do in order to do that? I've never had a reason to do that before.
 
Opening a dispute would probably be the best way to get the powerseller's attention, since I'd imagine they deal with so many customers...

the only bad thing is that the process can be lengthy.
 
[quote name='brianffrpg']Opening a dispute would probably be the best way to get the powerseller's attention, since I'd imagine they deal with so many customers...

the only bad thing is that the process can be lengthy.[/quote]
Yeah, I just read up on disputes on eBay, and it sounds like it might be a good way to go. The big issue is, I really do want this hard drive, and I'm not sure that I can get a better deal if I get a refund and try again, and I really don't want to spend more. I suppose I could just get a refund and pick up a couple games to cheer myself up though :lol:

So, any other suggestions people? Anyone had to deal with this sort of thing before? Oh, and here's the seller's profile, in case anyone cares. http://myworld.ebay.com/the_crossroads22
 
[quote name='anomynous']Give him negative feedback[/quote]
Definitely already plan to. With the new feedback system it should hopefully hit him a little harder too.
 
WOW, What a Douche!! I would def open a dispute, when i used Ebay, disputes were my friends. There is nothing to get a seller on their feet like a dispute. Another thing, I know there is a way to start a dispute in Paypal, and it will lock the user fomr thier money untill the dispute is over....That realy gets them going!!
 
Well the thing is, if all he has are 20GBs or he's out of 120GBs, there's not much you can do. I mean, there's good customer service, but it's not really fair to ask the guy to go out and expressly buy you a 120GB so you can get a good deal on it.

Best case scenario: he's just making stupid mistakes and a good solid wake up call will get you what you deserve. Worst case: he advertised incorrectly, doesn't really have a 120GB and you'll have to settle for a refund.

I would open up a dispute just to get his attention and then hammer out the details there. As a powerseller with all that stuff listed, it's going to make him get back to you REAL quick. He doesn't want his account locked down and unable to sell games over one little incident.

Honestly, it's not like the guy is expressly avoiding you and sending out faulty hardware or something; I'd open a dispute, but keep an open mind. Perhaps he's just overwhelmed or something and didn't make an accurate sale. However, I would definitely be firm in the fact that you want to be satisfied one way or another: either a 120GB HDD and end all the mess, or a full refund + all shipping charges paid for. It's not your fault if he really didn't have one and you shouldn't have to pay for it.

As for the feedback, it seems that has already been decided by the general CAG community, :p, seeing as he's not exactly a 100% seller (98.1%); it wouldn't matter either way.

Good luck.
 
He's pushing for time... you only have 45 days to file a dispute and escalate it to PayPal and ask for him to reimburse you for all loses. But the thing is, he probably won't. You might have to take a hit... 1 more neg probably isn't a big deal to him as he's got tons of positives.
 
Alright, I'm filling out a dispute with PayPal right now. With any luck, this'll get him in gear and fix this.

UPDATE: Dispute has now been opened with PayPal. The seller has 20 days in which to respond and figure out what's going to happen before I escalate it to a claim and let PayPal figure it out.
 
[quote name='thelazyone22']
Honestly, it's not like the guy is expressly avoiding you and sending out faulty hardware or something; I'd open a dispute, but keep an open mind. Perhaps he's just overwhelmed or something and didn't make an accurate sale. However, I would definitely be firm in the fact that you want to be satisfied one way or another: either a 120GB HDD and end all the mess, or a full refund + all shipping charges paid for. It's not your fault if he really didn't have one and you shouldn't have to pay for it.
Good luck.[/quote]
That's basically what I said in the dispute. I figured he might have just made a mistake, and in that case I just want a refund of the original cost, plus an extra $10 to cover the return shipping. Otherwise, I just asked for a new drive to be shipped, carefully checked this time, along with a pre-paid shipping label so that I can return the second incorrect drive without having to spend more money.

Thanks for the advice everyone. It's great to know that the CAG community is so friendly and helpful ^_^ I'll keep you guys updated with what happens. Feel free to keep posting advice, or even post some stories of your own. I love reading them.
 
[quote name='evanft']I avoid anyone with that much feedback. They always suck.[/quote]
Yeah, you know, I'm thinking that myself now. At first, I thought that they would be pretty good and all that. But it seems that now they just have too many people to deal with and don't really care anymore. Like the others have said, this guy is a douchebag.
 
FYI, if you have an edge card you can pick up a used 120GB from Gamestop if you combine that with the 10% off used coupon for around $100.

The problem is finding a GS with a used one.
 
[quote name='davyd']FYI, if you have an edge card you can pick up a used 120GB from Gamestop if you combine that with the 10% off used coupon for around $100.

The problem is finding a GS with a used one.[/quote]
Unfortunately, no Edge card, plus the nearest GameStop to me is rather far away (i.e. at least 2 hour drive). But I'll have to keep that in mind in case this falls through.
 
Ran into a similar situation with a camera except the guy got the package back and then didn't refund me. One paypal dispute and claim later and I got my money back after 30 days. If you do give the guy another shot just get a refund, no point blowing more money shipping back and forth for something he probably doesn't have .
 
[quote name='thelazyone22']Well the thing is, if all he has are 20GBs or he's out of 120GBs, there's not much you can do. I mean, there's good customer service, but it's not really fair to ask the guy to go out and expressly buy you a 120GB so you can get a good deal on it.

[/quote]

It is certainly fair! If he didn't have a 120GB drive for the buyer, then he shouldn't have made the listing. That's the kind of shit that sucks about ebay. If an item doesn't sell for what a seller wants, they pull some crap to get it relisted. This screws the buyer out of an item they legitimately won.
 
[quote name='Rig']It is certainly fair! If he didn't have a 120GB drive for the buyer, then he shouldn't have made the listing. That's the kind of shit that sucks about ebay. If an item doesn't sell for what a seller wants, they pull some crap to get it relisted. This screws the buyer out of an item they legitimately won.[/quote]
Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. I'm not sure if he's doing that or not, but it's a possibility. But I do have to agree that he should be held responsible for getting me a 120gb drive, whether he has to go to the store and buy one or not. However, I know that that sort of thing won't happen. I'm just going to hope for the best and see what happens.
 
well before you give him a negative feedback remember the seller can leave a neutral feedback which hurts your overall feedback score as well (for 12 months). Of course it's not as bad as a negative, which he can't leave you, but if you care about your feedback I would not leave him any at all. I myself have had some problems with a few buyers/sellers in the past and personally for me it's best to avoid having my feedback rating hammered. If you leave a negative mark on their ebay ID, expect a retaliation of some sort. By the sound of it, I'm guessing he's a powerseller with hundreds of negatives already.

Just ask for a refund, most likely he's not giving up the 120 HDD, whether he has one or not. Anyway good luck on your dispute.
 
[quote name='evanft']I avoid anyone with that much feedback. They always suck.[/quote]

QFT

Based on my experiences they either lie about the condition of the item or the item comes in shitty packaging or both.
 
[quote name='KSHLove']well before you give him a negative feedback remember the seller can leave a neutral feedback which hurts your overall feedback score as well (for 12 months)...[/quote]

No, buyers can ONLY receive positive or no feedback at all.

Of course, this change is mostly useless, as a bunch of negatives on a buying ID won't harm the buyer at all. You can state up and down in a TOS that people with negs can't bid, but according to eBay they can, and if they win, it's up to the seller to be a seller.

The feedback change really only affected people who both bought AND sold on the same ID.
 
[quote name='davyd']No, buyers can ONLY receive positive or no feedback at all.

Of course, this change is mostly useless, as a bunch of negatives on a buying ID won't harm the buyer at all. You can state up and down in a TOS that people with negs can't bid, but according to eBay they can, and if they win, it's up to the seller to be a seller.

The feedback change really only affected people who both bought AND sold on the same ID.[/quote]

oh I guess you're right :). In that case, feel free to leave him a negative, the worse he can do now is leave you a positive with some ranting attached to it lol
 
[quote name='KSHLove']oh I guess you're right :). In that case, feel free to leave him a negative, the worse he can do now is leave you a positive with some ranting attached to it lol[/quote]
I fully intend to once this is all sorted out. So far the guy hasn't responded to either the message that was sent to him once I received the second incorrect drive, nor to the PayPal dispute. Frankly, I'm of the opinion the guy is a moron. Regardless, the dispute is opened, and if he doesn't respond within a reasonable amount of time, I'm just going to escalate to a claim and let PayPal get me my money back.
 
Ugh, so an update for anyone who cares. This guy is so annoying. It's been several days now since I opened the dispute with PayPal, and he still hasn't replied to ANYTHING, including the stuff that PayPal has sent him. I don't know about you guys, but I check my email several times a day, and if I got something like this from PayPal, I'd take care of it right away. Apparently, beside just lying about how often he checks his email, he's also an idiot. How long should I give him to reply to stuff before saying screw it and escalating it to a claim?
 
[quote name='coolsteel']Escalate now, paypal will take it from here. Don't waste time going back and forth on this[/quote]
Sounds like a good idea. When do you think I should ship the hard drive that I was sent back?
 
[quote name='coolsteel']When you get a refund, I wouldn't trust the guy to refund anything right now[/quote]
That's true. Alright, thanks for the advice. I figure I'll give him one or two more days to respond, then I'll make it a claim with PayPal. I figure the longer I give him, the better it looks for me, and the worse for him. Sound like a good idea?
 
No, like I mentioned earlier i've been there and done that, just file the claim. The seller can then deal with it any time during that 30 days or paypal will do the ruling one way or another. Also post your emails and dates you requested information on the dispute page. This really should be cut and dry, you paid for one thing and got another.
 
[quote name='coolsteel']No, like I mentioned earlier i've been there and done that, just file the claim. The seller can then deal with it any time during that 30 days or paypal will do the ruling one way or another. Also post your emails and dates you requested information on the dispute page. This really should be cut and dry, you paid for one thing and got another.[/quote]
Done. Posted all of the emails, along with the dates of shipments and emails and such, and even included the delivery confirmation number from the first shipment, just to make sure he can't claim that I never shipped things or something dumb. Thanks a ton for your advice. I'll keep updates going in the thread, in case anyone is interested.
 
Updates for those interested: Got an email from PayPal earlier this morning. Basically said to ship the package out, give them the shipping info, tracking/delivery con numbers, and let them deal with it. After shipping it out and giving them the info, I was told that I'll have my refund once they confirm delivery. So hopefully, by this time next week, I'll have my money back. Yay! Thanks for the advice that all of you have given me.
 
Alright! So, finally an update for the like, 2 people that care :D Today I received an email from the seller saying that if I closed the PayPal claim they'd issue me a refund. I basically sent him an email saying I don't trust him and that it'll be closed once I confirm the money in my account. From there I called PayPal, basically to check the status of my claim and see what a person said. I'm really glad I did that. Basically, I was told they check the tracking stuff every couple days to see if an item has been shown as delivered, and the last time they checked mine it hadn't been updated yet. Since I called, they checked again, saw that it was delivered, and immediately closed the claim and issued me a refund. Yay! So the funds are in the process of being transferred into my bank account. Now I'm going to wait and see if the rumored 60gb drive is true, and maybe buy one of those in a few months. Thanks to everyone who helped me out and supported me during this!
 
[quote name='HakoneNanamagari']Congrats man, it's always nice to have a decent ending to horror stories like this.[/quote]
Yeah, I'm glad it's over. I think I'm gonna just start doing trades here on CAG. Might be a bit more risky, but at least the people are a heck of a lot more decent, and probably a lot more likely to respond to emails and the like.
 
[quote name='YodaEXE']Alright! So, finally an update for the like, 2 people that care :D Today I received an email from the seller saying that if I closed the PayPal claim they'd issue me a refund. I basically sent him an email saying I don't trust him and that it'll be closed once I confirm the money in my account. From there I called PayPal, basically to check the status of my claim and see what a person said. I'm really glad I did that. Basically, I was told they check the tracking stuff every couple days to see if an item has been shown as delivered, and the last time they checked mine it hadn't been updated yet. Since I called, they checked again, saw that it was delivered, and immediately closed the claim and issued me a refund. Yay! So the funds are in the process of being transferred into my bank account. Now I'm going to wait and see if the rumored 60gb drive is true, and maybe buy one of those in a few months. Thanks to everyone who helped me out and supported me during this![/QUOTE]


That 60 gb rumor has been floating around for a year or two now, much like the rumor of a slim xbox it doesn't seem to want to die. Anyway congrats
 
[quote name='coolsteel']That 60 gb rumor has been floating around for a year or two now, much like the rumor of a slim xbox it doesn't seem to want to die. Anyway congrats[/quote]
Yeah, I know how long it's been a rumor, but it's near E3, so I'm going to hope. And thanks for all your help before! ^_^
 
[quote name='YodaEXE']So, I asked in ANOTHER message, sent on the 20th, for the seller to let me know that the package arrived ok,[/quote]


Next time use delivery confirmation. Else seller can lie and say "did not receive" and you're out of luck.
 
[quote name='YodaEXE']Alright! Today I received an email from the seller saying that if I closed the PayPal claim they'd issue me a refund. [/quote]

Liar.

Some sellers are blatant scam artists. You'd close the dispute and he'd never refund a thing. That guy ought to be shot like an Iraqi terrorist
 
[quote name='rrrrrroger']Next time use delivery confirmation. Else seller can lie and say "did not receive" and you're out of luck.[/quote]
Oh no, believe me, I DID use it, and I knew for a fact that it arrived fine. I just wanted to see if the seller would actually respond. I also wanted to make sure that it didn't arrive in 12 pieces or something like that.

[quote name='rrrrrroger']Liar.

Some sellers are blatant scam artists. You'd close the dispute and he'd never refund a thing. That guy ought to be shot like an Iraqi terrorist[/quote]
Hahaha, that made me laugh :D Yeah, I figured the exact same thing, which was why I responded with an email that basically amounted to screw you, it stays open til PayPal deals with it (in much more polite words ;))
 
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