Since there has been a thread about how bad eBay is for buyers I thought I'd add this experience I had with eBay and a buyer yesterday.

Some background:

On April 11th a customer in Italy purchased a part from me. I am located in the US. On the 12th, the package was shipped via USPS Priority Mail with tracking. Typically, delivery times for Priority Mail are between 5-10 working days. The instant the shipping label was generated through the eBay shipping process, the USPS tracking number was sent to the email the buyer has registered with them. I should also note that since I used eBay to generate the shipping label, the address came directly from eBay and was the address the buy had registered with them.

On April 18th the package arrived in Milan, Italy. By the 20th the package had cleared customs and was in the hands of the local post office. It was sent out for delivery but the buyer had moved. The address was no longer valid. Looking at tracking information, it appears as though there was a forwarding address so on the 23rd of April it arrived at the new post office and was dispatched for delivery. For what ever reason, delivery was unsuccessful and the package has been sitting at the local post office with the last scan being on the 23rd of May.

On the 24th of May, without ever trying to contact me about the package or its whereabouts, the buyer opened up a claim against me demanding a refund because "it has taken too long" for the package to arrive.

I contacted eBay, provided proof of tracking, proof that the address the package was sent to was correct and they immediately found in my favor and closed the case. As far as eBay is concerned, there will be no refund.

I would like to hear from people who think this case should have ended any other way. I shipped the item to the address the buyer had registered with eBay. I provided tracking information that was extraordinarily detailed and which, at any time could have helped the buyer (had he chosen to use the information) get his package in a timely fashion. The USPS and the Italian Post seem to have done everything within their power to get the package to the buyer in a timely fashion. It would appear the Italian Post ran into a brick wall when the original address was no longer valid. They did what they could but, again, had the buyer exhibited any desire to call them, the outcome would likely have been different.

My question to anyone who things the eBay decision was unfair is, at what point to buyers have to take some responsibility for their actions. If they are providing incorrect information like an invalid address, shouldn't that come to bear on a decision as to who is at fault? Does a buyer have no responsibility beyond clicking a button on a screen somewhere?

 

You did your part, this is his problem

 

Nothing about what you posted seems abnormal.

Buyer's responsibility to ensure he has an up to date address... Imagine a utility bill, or a tax refund check, anything like that would be a clear case of "you did not give us an updated (read: correct) address".

 

 

My point in all of this is to illustrate why someone might have a negative opinion of eBay and its sellers. While we may view this escapade as an example where someone failed to exert the least amount of effort to insure that they got their item, that person, will most certainly feel differently. We live in a world where very few people want to take responsibility for anything they do.

Here's another one.

Six months ago I listed an EAS relief valve for an air suspension Range Rover Classic for sale in my eBay store. The part would only work for EAS equipped Range Rovers from 1993-1995. I listed the item with a part number for cross reference, had a compatibility chart that clearly showed the 1993-1995 models were the only ones this part would work on. I even provided a detailed description that explained what the part was for.

So, who do you think bought the part? Yup, it was someone with a 1989 Range Rover Classic LWB. What, you say, I didn't know they made the LWB in 1989? Of course they did not. Nor was the model year 1989 mentioned anywhere in the listing as being compatible.

If you think that's bad, when the buyer opened up a "Not As Described" claim against me, he mentioned that when he tried to install the part on his rear brakes it did not match the part on his truck! Yes, you read correctly. The buyer, despite all my efforts, purchased the part to repair his brakes!

Fortunately, when I read the comment the buyer made in his claim and showed eBay that I had gone above and beyond, mentioning more than three times in the listing what model years were compatible, they closed the claim in my favor.

It gets better. Last week I get a small package in the mail. It was the relief valve and a letter explaining to me that it did not fit his truck and that he wanted the correct valve so if I could just send it to him, that would be great! Keep in mind, he made no effort to contact me before he opened a claim against me on eBay potentially harming my Top Rated Seller status. Had he done so, I would have been willing to work with him. You know, like two human beings. Instead, he went right to eBay claiming the part I sent him was not the one I described in the listing. That's a big no no with eBay.

So, just like the guy in Italy who claimed I took too long to ship him his part, I really felt I didn't owe this person anything. Again, had either of them simply contacted me, they would have received very different treatment. In the end, I'd be willing to bet that both buyers think I'm disreputable and that buying on eBay sucks. To me, this is why, whenever I hear people call eBay names like sleezebay or fleabay it drives me crazy. There are a lot of sellers on that site who consistently go out of their way for buyers. Sadly, between fraud and absurd expectations on the part of buyers, it's getting harder and harder to remain sane while selling on eBay.

 

I have learned that selling on ebay can be a epic nightmare. I don't know how you and others deal with people on there.

 

Bill, the vast majority of buyers are fine. All they want are quality parts at a reasonable price for their Rovers. However, with anything, there are always those who no one can satisfy. That's the nature of things.

My issues are two fold. First, fraud is clearly on the rise with buyers taking greater and greater advantage of eBay's broad return policy. Second, any sense of individual responsibility has been lost on a large segment of the eBay buyer population. They've become so click happy (and that's not helped at all by a miserable mobile app that undercuts a sellers attempt to provide detailed information) with the knowledge that they're often covered with free shipping and free returns, all of which eat, dramatically into the razor thin margins sellers are forced to live with. It's all part of the race to the bottom.

 

If you have parts for a 1996 Disco 1 I am alway looking!

 

Take a look at my eBay store. I have plenty of parts listed. I also have plenty that aren't. Keep in mind, if you buy from me directly, instead of through eBay, I can usually save you a few more bucks since you'll be saving me the eBay fees.

 

Not to mention of course that Paul is a pillar of the Rover community. It is likely that the reason I didn't fold on Rover ownership years ago was due to Paul his seemingly endless supply of used Rover bits kept my RRC cruising down the road.