Resolved Worst E-Bay Experience Ever

[MeatRocket]

I'll preface this by saying I have a 100% feedback of 194 on E-Bay as both a seller & a buyer. I've bought & sold everything from R/C helicopters, 2 motorcycles and even a car on E-Bay.

I was looking to get a Mac and couldn't quite decide on what to get. I settled on a MacBook Air 13.3" i5/8GB/256GB and found the perfect one on E-Bay that even had a few years of AppleCare left on it.

I bid to win, and win I did! Then the seller (who is a frequent poster on this very forum) wouldn't complete the sale! She said my address showed as an APO and she doesn't sell to overseas people. I explained that the Air would be shipping to my E-Bay & PayPal confirmed address in the States and that she would be fully covered by E-Bay Seller Protection.

She still wouldn't budge & opened a case with E-Bay. I refused to cancel and E-Bay closed the cancellation request in my favor. The auction was over & I was still listed as the winner, nothing had changed. She went ahead and relisted the Air as a "Buy-It-Now" for LESS than I won the auction for!

WTH? It almost seems to me she was bent on not selling to someone serving overseas. Maybe she's a typical liberal drone who can't think outside of "I'm not supporting an unjust war" or some crap like that. I just feel really insulted & humiliated by some complete ass online. At least she'll sleep well tonight while I'm watching out for her ass in the Sandbox.

Anyway, I left her negative feedback. I'm going to stick with buying from reputable dealers for a while, even if it is at full price.
/rant

 

[SilverOath]

I'd suggest considering the sellers position.

eBay rarely sides with the seller when things go side ways - I think your situation is case in point of this. The seller may not be as confident and experienced using eBay as you are. I'd doubt their reluctance has anything to do with being a liberal or against the military - most people who are not in the military have very little experience with APOs etc. Additionally many scams involve the 'buyer' trying to convince the seller that they are indeed safe to ship.

Can you really blame the seller for not wanting to risk a high value item in uncharted territory?

I do hope you find the system you were/are looking for to Mac out on.

 

[Omnius]

That's pretty horrible. I once met a mail clerk that refused to believe that APO and FPO were actual things. It's shocking how ignorant people are.

 

[MRU]

..

Anyway, I left her negative feedback. I'm going to stick with buying from reputable dealers for a while, even if it is at full price.
/rant

And you think that's the worst e-bay experience ever? Seriously?

Wow we have very different definitions of 'worst'.....

 

[aluren]

And you think that's the worst e-bay experience ever? Seriously?

Wow we have very different definitions of 'worst'.....

Lol yeah at least the OP didn't lose money. OP is very lucky that this was the worst for him.

 

[drsox]

One of worse type of problems is for people to claim stuff doesn't work after you send it and then claim a refund. And, then they claim to have sent it back to you !

EBay and PayPal seem to side with the "buyer" in these cases.

 

[LaunchpadBS]

I've gotta say shipping overseas with eBay and Paypal as a seller makes me very nervous, I'd rather not sell overseas at all. Thing is the seller should make that abundantly clear from the word go.

 

[Lunfai]

Bad topic, imagine if you did scam her then she would have has a scenario that is 1000 times worse then yours. This is why I sell in my country only!, shipping is VERY expensive as it is, and since its such a costly product I wouldn't risk sending it far away.

I know you won the auction but you need to think of the position of the seller.

 

[rdowns]

WTH? It almost seems to me she was bent on not selling to someone serving overseas. Maybe she's a typical liberal drone who can't think outside of "I'm not supporting an unjust war" or some crap like that. I just feel really insulted & humiliated by some complete ass online. At least she'll sleep well tonight while I'm watching out for her ass in the Sandbox.

Yes, we often humiliate ourselves with things we write online.

 

[robbieduncan]

Your options appear to be:

1) Get over it and move on
2) Take her to court for failure to complete contract

 

[yg17]

WTH? It almost seems to me she was bent on not selling to someone serving overseas. Maybe she's a typical liberal drone who can't think outside of "I'm not supporting an unjust war" or some crap like that. I just feel really insulted & humiliated by some complete ass online. At least she'll sleep well tonight while I'm watching out for her ass in the Sandbox.

Yes, all of us liberals just hate everyone in the military and get back at them by not sending them a MacBook they ordered on eBay.

 

[Kissaragi]

Sounds like you weren't the ideal buyer either.

 

[2020mike]

Bad luck, but just move on and buy a different Mac. Don't over analyze the situation as a political resentment.

 

[Mr. McMac]

Give me your ebay user id so I put you on my blocked buyer/bidders list.

 

[oldhifi]

Buy from Amazon

 

[MeatRocket]

Can you really blame the seller for not wanting to risk a high value item in uncharted territory?

You clearly missed the part in my post that it was going to my confirmed PayPal address in the US, as did the seller on E-Bay.

I explained that the Air would be shipping to my E-Bay & PayPal confirmed address in the States and that she would be fully covered by E-Bay Seller Protection.

I've gotta say shipping overseas with eBay and Paypal as a seller makes me very nervous, I'd rather not sell overseas at all. Thing is the seller should make that abundantly clear from the word go.

And so did you...

This is why I sell in my country only!, shipping is VERY expensive as it is, and since its such a costly product I wouldn't risk sending it far away.

I know you won the auction but you need to think of the position of the seller.

And so did you...

Your options appear to be:

1) Get over it and move on
2) Take her to court for failure to complete contract

I already got another one on it's way to my house in the States now.

Sounds like you weren't the ideal buyer either.

Don't know exactly what you mean. All I wanted her to do was send it to my PayPal verified address in the US. The same one where she'd be protected by the Seller Protection. I never asked her to send it overseas.

Give me your ebay user id so I put you on my blocked buyer/bidders list.

Nonsense statement. I did nothing any different than any other Ebay buyer - I asked her to send it to my PayPal verified address.

There are a lot of people who comment without reading (or at least understanding) the part about sending to the PayPal verified address in the US. The item would've never left the US.

 

[MeatRocket]

So now the seller is sending me private messages on MacRumors threatening me with retaliation for the negative feedback left. It may not be the worst Ebay experience ever, but it's getting worse.

 

[jkeekij]

Looks like the feedback has been removed on both sides, so there isn't much to be done at this point. Chalk this up as a learning experience (flaky sellers) and move on.

Glad you found another machine to your liking.

 

[samiwas]

WTH? It almost seems to me she was bent on not selling to someone serving overseas. Maybe she's a typical liberal drone who can't think outside of "I'm not supporting an unjust war" or some crap like that. I just feel really insulted & humiliated by some complete ass online. At least she'll sleep well tonight while I'm watching out for her ass in the Sandbox.

Really? This was your first thought? And you expect anyone to take you seriously?

One of the number one scams on eBay is the "I'm overseas and need this shipped to so-and-so".

However, if the address was within the States, and to an APO at that, I'm not sure what the concern would be.

But seriously, drop the liberal and the "I'm protecting you" crap.

 

[Happybunny]

I'll preface this by saying I have a 100% feedback of 194 on E-Bay as both a seller & a buyer. I've bought & sold everything from R/C helicopters, 2 motorcycles and even a car on E-Bay.

I was looking to get a Mac and couldn't quite decide on what to get. I settled on a MacBook Air 13.3" i5/8GB/256GB and found the perfect one on E-Bay that even had a few years of AppleCare left on it.

I bid to win, and win I did! Then the seller (who is a frequent poster on this very forum) wouldn't complete the sale! She said my address showed as an APO and she doesn't sell to overseas people. I explained that the Air would be shipping to my E-Bay & PayPal confirmed address in the States and that she would be fully covered by E-Bay Seller Protection.

She still wouldn't budge & opened a case with E-Bay. I refused to cancel and E-Bay closed the cancellation request in my favor. The auction was over & I was still listed as the winner, nothing had changed. She went ahead and relisted the Air as a "Buy-It-Now" for LESS than I won the auction for!

WTH? It almost seems to me she was bent on not selling to someone serving overseas. Maybe she's a typical liberal drone who can't think outside of "I'm not supporting an unjust war" or some crap like that. I just feel really insulted & humiliated by some complete ass online. At least she'll sleep well tonight while I'm watching out for her ass in the Sandbox.

Anyway, I left her negative feedback. I'm going to stick with buying from reputable dealers for a while, even if it is at full price.
/rant

Sounds to me like you have a really big chip on your shoulder there.

 

[dukebound85]

I would have done what the seller did too. Anything overseas is a red flag to me, legit or not. Best to avoid all together imo as a seller

Can't fault the seller for protecting their interests when they encounter things that give rise to red flags

 

[SilverOath]

She said my address showed as an APO and she doesn't sell to overseas people. I explained that the Air would be shipping to my E-Bay & PayPal confirmed address in the States and that she would be fully covered by E-Bay Seller Protection.

If your 'verified PayPal / eBay addressed showed in the US and not as your overseas APO -- how would she even know you had a APO or were overseas? It sounds like your story has a few holes.

 

[TheAppleFairy]

I would have done what the seller did too. Anything overseas is a red flag to me, legit or not. Best to avoid all together imo as a seller

Can't fault the seller for protecting their interests when they encounter things that give rise to red flags

APO AE and APO AP are USA mailing addresses, yes they are overseas, but rest assured they are U.S. mailing addresses.

----------

If your 'verified PayPal / eBay addressed showed in the US and not as your overseas APO -- how would she even know you had a APO or were overseas? It sounds like your story has a few holes.

He said he would have her ship it to the confirmed address in the OP.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Looks like the feedback has been removed on both sides, so there isn't much to be done at this point. Chalk this up as a learning experience (flaky sellers) and move on.

Glad you found another machine to your liking.

Agreed. Fortunately the OP didn't lose any money, so it is time to just move on.

 

[techn0lady]

You think that experience was bad, MeatRocket? That's nothing these days - let me tell you mine

So I have this laptop for sale and I sell it on eBay and I specifically exclude in my seller prefs all overseas sales and APO addresses to avoid scams and Nigerian Princes who just inherited a bazillion dollars. Ebay glitches and allows someone with an overseas address to bid and win on my auction (grrrrrr!). I know that the person is overseas because when I go to print the shipping label the address comes up as an APO (which I google and it says Afghanistan) and even worse there is a big red "invalid" label right next to the ebay shipping address on the label page. wtf eBay ??

So the next day I write to the seller (he had not paid me yet) , explain the situation and actually apologize on eBay's behalf and ask if we can mutually cancel the auction (the seller apparently did not realize that APOs do not accept signature delivery so I lose my seller protection on my 1000 laptop). The seller declines my offer cancellation and writes back that "Oh no problem , you're going to ship the laptop to my wife in the states who has a different address and by the way I'll pay you in a couple of days"

Oh...ohhh... overseas address....ship to a different address ... payment delayed and I don't even know what the "invalid" label eBay put up on the attempted shipping address means but I'm pretty sure it's not a good thing. None of this sounds good so I call eBay and explain the situation to them - they agree they messed up (customer service was great btw! - frankly I was surprised) and cancel the auction and refund my seller fees.

Super! Except when I send another polite email to the buyer explaining what just happened and again apologizing for the inconvenience (it was really neither of our faults) the buyer comes back with an increasingly series of hostile emails accusing me of having weird political beliefs and not supporting our troops. Which is very weird because I served 7 years in the U.S. Army medical Corps and it turns out that this crazy buyer isn't even a service person at all but a private I.T. contractor over there working for a big corp He makes like 100K a year for his "service" - I made 406 a month for mine (free food though!) Oh - and he leaves me bad feedback and ebay mails me to "enjoy my tarnished reputation".

So I call eBay again and get the bad feedback removed and after wasting a couple hours of my time on something that should have taken 10 minutes had the buyer been reasonable it's all over (except that the buyer sent me an eBay email promising to blog his experience all over the internet )

So cheer up MeatRocket! It could have been worse - you could have had a crazy effed up transaction like mine with a crazy messed up buyer like I did - it could have been a whole lot worse.