EBay arghh!! ##$&&

[bn1966]

Recently:

I bought a nice looking Aero Bootlegger from an ebay seller in the UK. Put in an offer an was accepted. Package was shipped by ebay Global Shipping Program, arrived several days ago, jacket was shipped to me in a poly-bag mailer. When I opened it, the entire right shoulder was covered with scratches, which looked like the package had been dragged over concrete, scratching the surface of the leather through the plastic bag. It wasn't deep, but it was literally the entire upper right corner of the back panel, plus the upper right sleeve. I couldn't confidently say that the jacket [em]was[/em] damaged in shipping, although that seems likely. But the seller's photos conveniently had a large glare reflection exactly where these scratches were, meaning that it's possible they could have taken deliberately misleading photos designed to hide the flaw.

I contacted the seller to request a return; they do not accept returns for overseas buyers. Seller responded, saying that the scratches are "normal" for the type of leather Aero uses, suggested I could conceal the scratches with mink oil. I responded that yes, some superficial light scratches may be picked up with regular use, but this was extensive and detracted from the jacket's appearance. I preferred to return, but would be willing to attempt mink oil, provided seller agreed to accept a return if a spot test with mink oil didn't make the scratches disappear to my satisfaction; otherwise I would escalate the case to eBay Buyer Protection, and felt confident I would prevail.

Seller responded, apologizing and saying that they initially thought that I was located in the US (which, I am, so it appeared they were confused somehow) and that they would accept a return if I was still not satisfied after trying to conceal the scratches with mink oil. I did a very small test in a hidden spot on the jacket where there was a scratch, and it didn't help, so I replied and asked again for a return.

Seller accepted the return. Ebay automatically messaged me a link to print out a return shipping label. I clicked the link, but it didn't work, displaying a "it's not you, it's us, please try again later" error message. I re-tried several times, to no avail, and the next day I contacted eBay Customer Service. Explaining everything, the eBay Customer Service told me that I did not actually need to return the jacket, and would be refunded, and could keep the jacket. I wasn't clear why that would be, but perhaps due to being an international package, or perhaps due to the overloaded postal system, or perhaps due to the pandemic, they had instituted some policy that said to resolve cases this way. I accepted the resolution and hung up. Within an hour or so I had my refund post to my paypal account.

Seller messaged me shortly after to say that they were shocked that I had escalated the case after they had agreed to accept the return, and ask/demand that I return their property to them, as I now had my money back. I responded to the seller, explaining what had happened with the return shipping label, and that I had not asked ebay to escalate the case, only to assist me with printing the shipping label, but that they had elected to resolve the case in this manner, etc. and said I was willing to work with them to get the jacket returned, provided I didn't have to pay for the return shipping, as was my right per ebay's policy when it comes to items that arrive damaged/not as described.

Seller was relieved by my response, and offered to compensate me for the return shipping cost. I obtained several quotes, forwarded screen shots of the quotes, and explained that the options I was able to find were quite expensive (ranging from $83-300) and suggested it might be best if seller wanted to try to find a cheaper shipping method, pay for the label to be created, send me the label, and I would ship back to them; I provided dimensions and weight of the return package, asked them how they wished to proceed.

Seller responded that they would check into other couriers, and found a less expensive option, and emailed me a shipping label. Package is currently awaiting courier pick-up.

I'm satisfied with the outcome of this. I could have just told the seller that ebay's dispute resolution had close the case and that I owed them nothing more, and then done with the jacket whatever, I guess try to sell it as-is for whatever extra I could get for it, but I saw no reason to do that to the seller. Seller was quite agreeable to deal with apart from the initial statement that they don't accept returns on international purchases. I still don't understand what caused them to believe that I wasn't located in the USA, but after it came to light that I was, they never brought that up again, and were quite pleasant about everything, calming down immediately when I explained to them that I hadn't escalated the case and was still willing to return the item to them. I treated the seller as I would have hoped to be treated if the situation was reversed.

It's pretty bizarre how ebay (mis-)handled the return case, and I don't understand why they were not able to generate the shipping label. As a seller, it makes me feel less secure to trust ebay as a platform to sell anything, particularly on an international basis. As a buyer, I was initially happy with how easy it was to get my money back, but I wish that ebay had done the right thing and handled my question about generating the return shipping label in a more appropriate way.

You did the decent thing and hopefully Karma will come around, but boy oh boy that jacket was a headache. I’ve been caught out by sellers folding garments to hide defects in the eBay photos. I won’t ship international now after I had a couple of attempts to scam me & insist on tracking and signatures as a vendor. In fact I’m about to put a couple of items on in a minute.

 

[Colin G]

Ebay and their Global Shipping scam is terrible. I have had items be repacked terribly by the shipping hub to save on postage or had items stolen right out of the box and I was sent empty packaging. Its a joke.

Also in Canada now anything under $200 won't incur duty ect yet the Global Shipping scam still charges import fees when there are none to be charged. Sellers have the option not to use the Global Shipping so I just buy from sellers that don't partake in the thievery.

 

[jonbuilder]

I had the highest bid but I didn't win the item because the seller had the Reserve set to God knows what, that's the main issue here. The item ended at $200 something because all the other bidders, mostly discouraged by the previous failures to win the item, didn't push the price nearly high enough for my bid to have any effect on the reserve.

It's frustrating and it's eBay's fault for even allowing the stupid option. Because as it stands right now, nobody is ever going to win this auction. The jacket's been relisted 8 times already. 8 times! And each time, the reserve wasn't met. So what's the point??? The first couple of times, the jacket actually reached a substantial amount of money. Now it's struggling to even hit the $200. And it's a good jacket but serious bidders are just getting discouraged while the stinking nibblers are having a field day.

There's a BIN, there's a starting bid, even make an offer... All very reasonable tools you need to set up a decent auction.

Reserve is literally nothing. Its only potential use is to check the interest for your jacket but even that's not really what you should be doing.

@Monitor if your bid was higher than the reserve eBay would have entered your bid at the reserve price. Example of a real auction. MY sniper bid $1,600 Next bid below me $1,000. Reserve $1,200. The bid eBay took from me through the sniping program $1,200. This was about 2008 for a mint Buco J-24 with a muton collar.
I did not expect to have to pay $1,600 but I wanted this Buco and place dmy bid higher than I expected the jacket to sell for. I anticipated something around $1,000 and felt like I over paid at the time.
edit remembering back I did not use a sniper program I used the eBay proxy bid system

 

[AeroFan_07]

As a seller & buyer on ebay, I do not use the Global Shipping Program. I do not have a working printer at home. I physically take all international shipments to our local Post Office myself, and for most CONUS shipments I take them to Fed Ex in person as well. I just have more trust in that system overall. I am "small fries" in terms of number of items bought & sold as compared to many others here.

Guppy - sure glad this got resolved for you. It could have ended much worse. Guess one more point is be on the look out for a Bootlegger being sold via a European ebay dealer with a badly scratched up sholder and arm. Probably best if they sent it back to Aero for repair.

 

[Zoo]

Would appreciate input from people with real-world experience please.
I am in the US. Purchased a hat from a seller in England on eBay. Hat is smaller than stated in the auction, and seller confirmed the larger, incorrect size in an eBay message.
Seller has agreed to the return. I will have to pay the return shipping of about $65. Additionally, the seller's return address seems a bit sketchy to an American; but seller confirmed it is correct.

Am I likely to receive a refund from the seller (or eBay) that includes the purchase price, global shipping charges, and return postage? Even if the return address is spurious and the package never reaches the seller?

Address is guy's name, shop name, city, and zip. Is Royal Mail still able to deliver packages addressed this way?

Thank you for your input!

 

[Mich486]

Go through the eBay process. File for item not as described and the seller will have to send you a prepaid shipping return label. I doubt he’ll fake his own shipping address if he wants the hat back. House number and zip code is normally enough in UK to identify an address.

 

[Peter Mackin]

Would appreciate input from people with real-world experience please.
I am in the US. Purchased a hat from a seller in England on eBay. Hat is smaller than stated in the auction, and seller confirmed the larger, incorrect size in an eBay message.
Seller has agreed to the return. I will have to pay the return shipping of about $65. Additionally, the seller's return address seems a bit sketchy to an American; but seller confirmed it is correct.

Am I likely to receive a refund from the seller (or eBay) that includes the purchase price, global shipping charges, and return postage? Even if the return address is spurious and the package never reaches the seller?

Address is guy's name, shop name, city, and zip. Is Royal Mail still able to deliver packages addressed this way?

Thank you for your input!

Yes ,with the information you have there should be no problem with a return,in 34 years of working with Royal Mail ive seen it all.

 

[Monitor]

eBay has yet again proven to be a time wasting scam.

So I was watching this jacket for 7 days...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/294502882069
...and it was due to end yesterday evening. Nibblers got the price up to $150 or something like that pretty much the first day and it's been sitting at that price until the last couple of seconds, when me and some other dude threw in a realistic $250 and $255, respectively.

And then I realize the reserve was not met. Did eBay resize the "Reserve not met" warning on auctions? Because I remember it being more prominent before??? I made a point of never bidding on auctions with reserve because they're imbecilic.

In any case, I feel like I wasted 7 days on this trash. Please, people, don't be that guy! Luckily, nothing particularly interesting turned up in the mean time but I could've just as easily missed out on something else while waiting on an auction with no outcome.

 

[Monitor]

And honestly, Vanson is ridiculous with the price for that jacket. That's just a $600 C2 with $20 worth of metal studs. Why the near $400 up-charge over the regular C2 is beyond me.

 

[JMax]

And honestly, Vanson is ridiculous with the price for that jacket. That's just a $600 C2 with $20 worth of metal studs. Why the near $400 up-charge over the regular C2 is beyond me.

The specialist with the protractor putting the studs in needs his cut. The training is expensive.

 

[Modified_last_call]

The jacket has been relisted.

You can torture yourself for another week.
It might be worth reaching out to the seller to find out what the floor is.

 

[Will Zach]

^^
Exactly. Send the seller an offer and tell him/her to shove that stupid reserve price which was last popular in 1995 when eBay first came online. Geez.

 

[AeroFan_07]

So I have bought & sold many items on ebay, books, boots, jackets, even a camera or two. Some things can be a real deal on there and are worth the (sometimes) hassle. Other items are just not.

I agree with the setiments about "reserve" pricing. I have never put a reserve on any item, and I for one am glad ebay now charges a feee based off the reserve price.

I have found that either a decent listing price with BIN or offer options, or a no-reserve listing starting at $0.99 for 7 days gives the best results. That isn't for everything and all situation, but it has worked well for me. Good luck getting that Vanson Monitor!!

 

[Monitor]

The jacket has been relisted.

You can torture yourself for another week.
It might be worth reaching out to the seller to find out what the floor is.

I know, the seller relisted it immediately but I already deleted it from my watch list. I'm not wasting my time on such auctions.
Like I said, I thought I could maybe get the jacket for a bargain, wasn't expecting my $255 bid to be the winning bid but I'm not paying any higher either because the shipping and import taxes would add $100 in the very least to whatever the seller is asking and it's clear they want more than $255.

 

[Edward]

Eh. TBH, I much prefer sellers who pay for a reserve price and start at zero than time-wasters who put something on no reserve and then pull the auction pretending that the item is "no longer available" when they don't like the look of the bidding level a couple of hours before the auction end. Every single time that has been done on something I've been the winning bidder on, the item has always reappeared on ebay within hours - at an inflated start price often markedly higher than actual worth.

 

[Monitor]

I'm in the middle of a rather bizarre eBay situation.

Sold a Harley Davidson jacket thru eBay a month ago, this one...
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...r-jacket-half-belt-style-sz-xxl-46-48.105337/
... and yesterday, the buyer msgs me, claiming that the jacket is "filthy" thus "not as described" & they just wanted to let me know how disappointed they are. Initially I thought it's the artificial distressing that's having them confused of course so I explain that's how the jacket was produced, to which they respond it's not the leather but the lining.

I'm pretty sure you can tell from the photos that the lining is clean. Like, pristine clean. I checked it thoroughly, didn't even have any darkening around the neck or hem.

So not knowing what to say to that, I politely ask them to take a few photos of the supposed issue, only to receive a reply telling me they understand it's "their jacket now" while still insisting how disappointed they are.
To that, I suggested they either start a case or leave a negative rating 'cause frankly, I couldn't care less at this point because the jacket I sent to them is clean and clearly, nothing I say or do matters.

Today they replied that they won't do either and they'll try to clean it up.

So I have no idea what is going on anymore. . .

 

[JMax]

I'm in the middle of a rather bizarre eBay situation.

Sold a Harley Davidson jacket thru eBay a month ago, this one...
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...r-jacket-half-belt-style-sz-xxl-46-48.105337/
... and yesterday, the buyer msgs me, claiming that the jacket is "filthy" thus "not as described" & they just wanted to let me know how disappointed they are. Initially I thought it's the artificial distressing that's having them confused of course so I explain that's how the jacket was produced, to which they respond it's not the leather but the lining.

I'm pretty sure you can tell from the photos that the lining is clean. Like, pristine clean. I checked it thoroughly, didn't even have any darkening around the neck or hem.

So not knowing what to say to that, I politely ask them to take a few photos of the supposed issue, only to receive a reply telling me they understand it's "their jacket now" while still insisting how disappointed they are.
To that, I suggested they either start a case or leave a negative rating 'cause frankly, I couldn't care less at this point because the jacket I sent to them is clean and clearly, nothing I say or do matters.

Today they replied that they won't do either and they'll try to clean it up.

So I have no idea what is going on anymore. . .

Some play at a partial refund from you?

 

[pilot error]

Sooner or later we all get initiated, you got off easy..... C'est la vie!

 

[Monitor]

Some play at a partial refund from you?

No idea. They don't seem to want anything. Same photos I uploaded here are on eBay so they can't claim the lining is filthy as it evidently is not. It's one of the cleaner jackets that I have sold.

Sooner or later we all get initiated, you got off easy..... C'est la vie!

This isn't the first time - I had a week long ordeal with a buyer claiming the jacket I sent them stunk of perfume. Luckily for me, they realized the jacket smells some two plus weeks after receiving it so eBay had no choice but to close the case in my favor. The jacket was a Vanson with a faint leather smell, like any other jacket, used or new but it certainly did not smell of perfume.

 

[Monitor]

Speaking of eBay, seems like the Vanson with studs fared even poorer the second time around.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/294522244622?ViewItem=&item=294522244622
The seller could've pocketed $260 for it a week ago but hey, you know what they say, third time's the charm.