eBay's Most Paranoid Vendor

[jamespowers]

I'm still amazed that some on here don't think the seller was out of line. :eusa_doh: They wouldn't stand for this accusatory language in a brick and mortar shopping experience, so why should the original poster be subjected to it online and it be okay? His beef wasn't with the fact that the hat was mis-sized or even the insane return policies, it was with the sellers first contact behaviour.

I still stand by my statement that if a seller is this paranoid of returns, they need to just find a non-eBay job.

Randy

Agreed. :eusa_clap

 

[jamespowers]

This is totally unknowable, but I'd venture to guess that the seller would have maintained his hard-line paranoia had he not been subjected to public scrutiny. It wasn't until 1) He knew he was under public scrutiny and 2) That scrutiny was generally not on his side that he began to take a softer tone. Had the seller believed that this was only being seen by himself and myself, I think there's a very good chance, based on his initial communications, that my chances of a refund would be very, very slim. Although my intent was to allow this to unfold at the Lounge both to 1) Have public documentation of the transaction and 2) let other Loungers in on a bizarre experience, I think that it served the even greater purpsoe of acting as an impetus for the seller to behave more level-headedly than he initially seemed intent upon.

This is a very good point as I have seen similar things happen on The Lounge and we have drummed out bad sellers more than once----one was from a personal experience of mine---that seller is no longer there.
We really can't know what would have unfolded had there not been a threat of reprisal not only with eBay but with the hat buying community here.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Perhaps...

It occurs to me too that it is quite possible this seller may not speak English as their primary language, this would explain a lack of understanding of the subtleties, nuances and colloquialisms and cause one to come off sounding terse & anxious... just a stray thought...

 

[theinterchange]

It occurs to me too that it is quite possible this seller may not speak English as their primary language, this would explain a lack of understanding of the subtleties, nuances and colloquialisms and cause one to come off sounding terse & anxious... just a stray thought...

It's a possibility. I don't know, they were fairly clear in their wording for that. Usually, you can tell when a seller doesn't speak English well, their wording is quite crude and sometimes unintelligible.

I what mean you now?



Randy

 

[Feraud]

^This needs a repeatedly repeated repeatlol Sums it up perfectly

Or not. [huh]

 

[BanjoMerlin]

I've never actually encountered a terse Power Seller/store owner. The terse ones have been the individual who didn't get as much out of their item as they wanted to so they're snotty to the buyer. Though, I know it does happen with Power Sellers.

Randy

I haven't run into it with Power Sellers but I have with several store owners. I see no indication that the seller in this case is a Power Seller. I'm suspicious anyway of sellers with more than 5,000 feedbacks and less than 99% positive.

 

[Nik Taylor]

I've just never thought of eBay as a place to establish a relationship. Buyer pays, seller ships, end of relationship.

The relationship is contractual in nature and is governed by eBay's rules and regulations including the Buyer Protection Program. The relationship ends once all terms have been satisfied. However, if there is a problem the following may be triggered:

eBay Buyer Protection

eBay hosts the dispute resolution process when buyers claim to a seller that their item was not received or the item they received is different from what was described in the listing. The on-eBay resolution process is the primary avenue for settling disputed eBay transactions and is designed to:

* Help buyers and sellers resolve disputes in fewer steps, and provide buyers with a more familiar ecommerce resolution experience.

​

* Offer an option to contact eBay if buyers and sellers can't reach resolution themselves. We'll take a more active role in ensuring transaction problems are resolved.

 

[MisterGrey]

It occurs to me too that it is quite possible this seller may not speak English as their primary language, this would explain a lack of understanding of the subtleties, nuances and colloquialisms and cause one to come off sounding terse & anxious... just a stray thought...

This thought occurred to me, too, when posting the communications here. They seem to have a solid grasp of the language but not necessarily the syntax. On the other hand, the stuff about wanting to ruin their store with multiple accounts and someone who lived in my house doing this to them, too, just seems crazy across cultures.

 

[jamespowers]

This thought occurred to me, too, when posting the communications here. They seem to have a solid grasp of the language but not necessarily the syntax. On the other hand, the stuff about wanting to ruin their store with multiple accounts and someone who lived in my house doing this to them, too, just seems crazy across cultures.

Yeah, there is that. Talk about going out on a limb. I am glad we are having a chance to saw that baby off.

 

[rlk]

F'Lounge's Most Overwrought Thread.

 

[theinterchange]

F'Lounge's Most Overwrought Thread.

lol

It's like a mini soap opera contained in only 5 short pages!

*cue vacant stares and long over-dramatized pauses

Randy

 

[Tomasso]

And again, to bring up the bricks and mortar analogy-- say this entire transaction had taken place within the course of ten minutes at a brick and mortar store, and ended with me getting a refund.Wouldn't the Lounge still be interested in that experience, either as a cautionary tale, or simply as a general experience in hat buying?

Well in that scenario your actions would be akin to you , after having been told that the hat would need to be examined before a refund would be issued, running out into the street screaming that the store was being unfair to you ......while simultaneously Tweeting the same to all 10,000 of your followers. The clerk chases after you into the street to calm you and tells you that he didn't say that the refund was denied, only that the hat needed to be examined before a refund could be issued. (Which is normal business practice at any B&M store.) Nine minutes later, refund in hand, you Tweet that one must throw a hissyfit to get a refund from that store.



How's that for an analogy?

 

[jamespowers]

How's that for an analogy?

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[Tomasso]

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[YOUTUBE]-b5aW08ivHU[/YOUTUBE]

 

[jamespowers]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8

 

[scottyrocks]

Well in that scenario your actions would be akin to you , after having been told that the hat would need to be examined before a refund would be issued, running out into the street screaming that the store was being unfair to you ......while simultaneously Tweeting the same to all 10,000 of your followers. The clerk chases after you into the street to calm you and tells you that he didn't say that the refund was denied, only that the hat needed to be examined before a refund could be issued. (Which is normal business practice at any B&M store.) Nine minutes later, refund in hand, you Tweet that one must throw a hissyfit to get a refund from that store.



How's that for an analogy?

Its good but not completely equivalent. Brick and mortar is face to face. Very different than the anonymity of the interwebs which can make people act in ways they would never face to face. Ive had ebay sellers send me same crap twice and Ive had no recourse because they disappear into the ether, and there was nothing illegal about what they did - they just sent me crap that wasnt supposed to be crap.

 

[MisterGrey]

Well in that scenario your actions would be akin to you , after having been told that the hat would need to be examined before a refund would be issued, running out into the street screaming that the store was being unfair to you ......while simultaneously Tweeting the same to all 10,000 of your followers.

(snip)

How's that for an analogy?

Doesn't really hold up, since you leave out--

1) That the clerk, in the same breath as saying that the merchandise must be inspected, also makes mention of a super-esoteric inspection process involving crime scene equipment

2) Which is immediately followed up by the clerk drawing regional generalizations and insinuating that I'm attempting to perpetrate fraud based on nothing more than my address

Since the FL is so closely linked to eBay-- I doubt there are many regulars here who haven't at least browsed the Bay-- I'd say that, rather than your running into the street/tweeting analogy, it's more akin to my speaking to other people in the store while the clerk goes about this inspection process.

The clerk chases after you into the street to calm you and tells you that he didn't say that the refund was denied, only that the hat needed to be examined before a refund could be issued. (Which is normal business practice at any B&M store.)

But this isn't at all like what happened. The clerk "chased after me" to accuse me of being involved in a conspiracy to defraud his store and discredit his business' name, and also of being the same person who tried to scam him before (again, the parallel I mentioned before about his seeing my car and saying that someone who drives a, say, Chrysler tried to scam him once, ergo I must be trying to scam him).

Nine minutes later, refund in hand, you Tweet that one must throw a hissyfit to get a refund from that store.

I don't appreciate the "hissyfit" remark. I never accused the seller of trying to jilt me on a refund or withholding a refund-- I posted here that he was being paranoid and aggressive. Which he was. I also find it hard to believe that you don't see the abrupt shift in his tone (and cessation of allegations) after he realizes that more than one person is watching him. It's the difference between me alone at the counter in that brick and mortar store and me with several people standing in line behind me.

Edit: I honestly never expected this thread to stretch to so many pages- or the seller to send back so many crazy responses.

 

[Tomasso]

Forget it, MisterGrey; It's eBay.....

 

[DapperDuck]

Good writing skills are imperative to running any business that uses email, as it is difficult to read tone and easy to misconstrue someone's message. I do not think this seller has yet mastered business communication. Also, blaming the victim seems to be a common ploy for not accepting returns.

I had a similar experience ten years ago when I bought a vintage camera on eBay. As soon as I shone a light through the lens I could see that there were striations and that there was lens separation. The seller said it was perfect in the listing. I wrote a terse (short and concise, not curt) message to the seller explaining the problem and that I would like to return it.

Of course he blew up at me, and he even said my genial message was sinister just because I wanted to return it. Well, pride or not, I wanted my $300 back. So I wrote him an apologetic message and that I did not intend my message to sound sinister. I got my money back and a positive feedback from him. He said I was a gentleman. lol

Try to defuse the seller, and yourself if you are miffed. Good luck getting your money back.

 

[Reddog]

Purchase from reputable vendors

I agree, I prefer to purchase items like hats from reputable vendors who stand behind their products. Some may relish the idea of getting a deal on e- bay but anymore it seems like there are many scammers on e-bay. I've purchased three Borsalino's from DelMonaco Hatters and have had only a positive experience. a couple times the hat received was too large and I returned them for a smaller size and they were most accommodating.