In the three and a half years I have been using eBay, both for buying (mostly) and selling (a few things here and there — mostly digital cameras, a printer, cell phones, etc.), I have never had any major issues. I have never been ripped of, I have never had false claims filed against me, and I have always gotten what I paid for. Always.
But I guess the lucky streak had to end. Back in mid-May I purchased an ink cartridge for my printer. Two days later, I emailed the seller to let him/her know that I was waiting for some funds to clear into my PayPal account, and would be paying within the next two days. The auction clearly stated that I had 7 days to pay.
A few days after that the seller filed an Unpaid Item dispute against me, despite the fact that according to their own terms I had seven days to pay, and I had reached out to the seller not long after I won the auction to give them a heads-up on when to expect payment.
It was that same day that I was able to pay for the auction. Again, two days before the seven day period would be up.
Fast forward to today. Despite leaving three messages on the dispute and sending two emails to the seller letting them know that I have not been able to pay, because their external checkout system was throwing out a “purchase expired” error, the seller closed the dispute and filed an Unpaid Item strike against me.
What the fuck? Does anyone see the shittiness of this? To begin with I wasn’t past the seven day period in which I had to pay! To make matters worse, after filing an undeserved Unpaid Item dispute against me, the seller ignored my messages and emails, refused to assist with an alternate way of paying (such as generating a new checkout link, or simply giving me their PayPal address), and then finally closed the dispute and gave me an Unpaid Item strike.
I am really, really pissed. To this point my feedback has been 100% positive. As I said to the seller in an earlier email, I always come through on my auctions, and I have never given anyone any type of trouble. All I want to do is pay for the motherfucking ink cartridge!!!
Anyway, I appealed the Unpaid Item strike with eBay. I have never had any experience with this before, so I don’t know what to expect next. Is eBay helpful? Will they step in and remove the strike if I pay right away? Or will the seller get off with being a dick for absolutely no reason?
(The good part in all of this is that I am able to leave feedback for the transaction. If I cannot pay for and receive the ink cartridge, you better believe I’m going to be leaving a scathing negative feedback!)
UPDATE
I no sooner published this entry when I got an email from eBay. They removed the unpaid item strike. Now I’m going to send yet another email to the seller, and maybe look up their contact info as well for a phone number, to try and get the damn ink cartridge. This is ridiculous!
Wow that is crazy. I’ve never run into problems before with ebay, nor do I hope so. *knocks on wood* What an ass the seller is too. Clearly they can’t read their own terms. What a pain!! :mad:
I am sorry Jenn. At least they took it off.
I’m glad ebay is being cooperative. What a butthole!! And also, cmon… It’s an ink cartridge. lol. ZOMG YEW DID NOT PAY THE INSTANT YOU WON!!! Pfft.
The seller is an dork from the sounds of it.. Glad you got ebay on your side good luck trying to get that ink cartridge.
Oh wow! I’ve never bought or sold anything on Ebay (so I have no idea how it works) but that doesn’t sound very right to me. Hopefully you can get your item without anymore trouble.
Oh and I just wanted to say that I’ve been lurking on your blog for a while && I love it!
After all of that, they don’t deserve your business!
i have had a wonderful experience with e-bay, also. i’m glad the ebay is cooperating with you and helping you out. hopefully you get your ink cartridge soon.
“i’m going to report you after i refuse to let you pay!”
Wow, I can definitely see why you’re annoyed! At least Ebay stepped in and helped you out though, as well they should have, since your complaint sounds reasonable to me!