OT: I'm having a problem with an ebay seller

SYRACUSIAN

This does not concern coins.



I've purchased a PS4 videogame (Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 for Playstation 4 PS4 Limited Edition Steelbook NEW) for my nephew in London. This was on the 10th of February. It was supposed to be delivered on the 15th of February, the seller seemed like a professional one, large feedback of similar items on ebay.co.uk and I paid for the game straight away (it was a BIN). I also provided the seller with the CORRECT ADDRESS to ship it to, ie in London, and not where I live.



After finding out that the game hadn't arrived when it was supposed to (on the 14th-15th of February, THE LATEST, free shipping, but by Royal Mail second class the cheap b@st.....),I've waited 2-3 more days and then I went to ebay.co.uk and made a REQUEST for the seller to respond to me, why the game hasn't arrived and why he hasn't contacted me at all, except for the email I got the day after my purchase that the item had been shipped. (NO tracking number in Royal Mail Second class, or even in First class)



Ebay.co.uk contacted me via their auto replies, that the request is now open, that the seller has been notified and that I should wait for his reply, but if he does not reply by the 26th of February, I can escalate the request to a CLAIM, and most of you know how bad things become, once a claim has been opened. Paypal funds (paid for the item) are frozen and within a few days, the issue is resolved, or not. If the latter, fees are refunded to the buyer, who's free to decide if he's going to leave a neutral or a negative feedback to the seller, according to his actions in between.



Now, being an ebayer for 17 consecutive years, my experience tells me that 97% of these matters are usually resolved with a little good will and action, without the interference of third parties. The request has been opened on the 19th of February, and we are now the 23rd, ie ~in the middle of the 7 days between my request and the deadline to escalate this to a claim.



Ebay.co.uk, is slightly different from ebay.com, in that the seller's name, address and even his email are visible in every single auction of his, IF he chooses to do so. And this seller in question had indeed chosen to put them at the auction, and they are also visible in the request, to which he's meant to repl in the Resolution Center by the 26th of this month, ie next Friday.



So, I've decided to contact him by email for the last time. If you think that what I did or wrote was inappropriate, please let me know about it, in order for me to correct any possible mistakes that I've done.



Below a copy of my email. Thanks for reading this so far.







Subject: REQUEST IS OPEN, PLEASE REPLY! : Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 for Playstation 4 PS4 Limited Edition Steelbook (NEW)





Mr XXXXXXX



you must be aware that I've purchased this item from you on February the 10th 2016,

paid for it STRAIGHT AWAY by paypal, from MY ACCOUNT in Athens Greece

and I've provided you with an English address ( in London) to ship it to,

because it was a gift to my nephew.



Everything is CLEAR in the order details as well as in the request, waiting to be answered in the resolution center.



The item was supposed to arrive to my nephew a week ago.

As far as I know, it's still not there, and if you know of a way to erase the disappointment of my 12 year old nephew

please let me know, because I don't.



I've opened a simple request a few days ago, last Thursday I think

to which you still haven't replied, and eBay assured me that they've contacted you and that you're aware of it.





Unless you are on a trip to planet Mars ,WITHOUT ANY POSSIBLE CONTACT with your items for sale on ebay

and eventual little problems that might occur, I fail to understand why you still keep ignoring the request.

We are now the 22nd, in fact AFTER midnight in Greece, ie the 23rd

and eBay has clearly explained to me that if I still do not hear from you until the 26th,

then I should escalate my request TO A CLAIM.



Clearly, I DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS.





Like I've already said in the request, I've been buying and selling on ebay for 17 years

and off ebay for the same amount of years, but with 3-4 times the amount of buying and selling that my feedback suggests

and this only concerns my online buying/selling, because I'm into rare coins and banknotes

and I'm practically doing trades or purchases or sales EVERY DAY with people that I know personally.



In my 17 years of eBay experience, problems of this kind are usually due to a simple misunderstanding

and all it takes is some good will and a minimum of action to resolve the matter, WITHOUT the interference of third parties.



So, please understand that this IS MY LAST ATTEMPT TO CONTACT YOU PERSONALLY and solve this matter in a friendly way,

otherwise you give me no choice but to escalate it to a CLAIM, that will have negative repercussions to your feedback etc.

WHY DO WE HAVE TO GET TO THAT POINT?



If you haven't shipped the item, or if you've been waiting for additional shipping fees to ship it to Greece

or if you happened to have an unfortunate accident that does not allow you to deal with this,

ALL I'M ASKING is for a quick reply, with the REAL reason of WHY THE ITEM HAS NOT BEEN SENT where it was supposed to be.

Once I get this, and provided that it will be by the 26th of February the LATEST,

already 16 days after my payment, and 11-12 days after its supposed delivery to Brewster Gardens, in London,

we still have a way of resolving it in between us, like reasonable adults that have some understanding for unpredicted obstacles.



But after that, it will escalate to a claim, because you leave me no choice but to think that you're ignoring me on purpose.



I realy hope that we won't get to that.



Sincerely



xxxxxxxxx





If you're wondering if I received ANYTHING before or after the request and/or this email , the answer is: the silence of the lambs.



Again, thanks for reading all this. ANY advise will be very much appreciated.

SaorAlba

Appears to me like you were pretty civil considering you haven't heard nary a peep from the perp.

WillieBoyd2

Where was the seller located?

I sold an item recently and one bidder asked me to ship to an alternate address,
which I had to decline as Ebay advises against doing that.

asheland

I'm sorry you're experiencing this.
Unfortunately this happens from time to time...

YQQ

I am sorry about the problem. BUT, I think your note to the seller is a bit too much personal info which really is none of his business.
For the future, Perhaps it might be an idea to list your London address as a Paypal approved shipping address.
personally I have 5 addresses listed with ebay and Paypal. ( 2 in Europe, 2 in the US and 1 in Canada). paypal simply sends the seller a note: shipping to this ***** address is ok.
works like a charm.
I keep accounts on each ebay domain as sometimes sellers only sell within their own domain. That way you can still bid and have it sent to your respective countries address without issues.
to do this is simple for you who do not know already.
example: go to Ebay.ca and sign in to Ebay.ca as u would sign in to YOUR ebay account. same sign in for any ebay! except now you bid from within the .CA domain.

JCMhouston

I know that personally when I sold on ebay I would only ship to a paypal verified address, that could be the problem.

marcmoish

You are way above civil here, other than TMI you are a real mensch in your correspondence to them.



Post the listing - lets dissect the feedback and see if anyone here can help



Re; OT, heck, if we have this few posts versus the liteside you can damn post your OT anytime

SYRACUSIAN

OK, I got the message.



YQQ, these 4-5 addresses that you're talking about ARE ALREADY listed as my official addresses. This one in particular, is the address of my wife's sister, and I had already bought presents for both her kids at Christmas (another PS4 game for the boy and some little miniature ponies for the -7 and a half year old- girl). I understand that I gave too much info and you're right to point this out. I've written this email, under extreme emotional stress, after midnight, stress non related to this issue, and I could have written a much shorter and probably a much less aggressive email. When will I finally learn, to NEVER act under such stress and wait till things cool down a little?



The good news is that I've forwarded this email to the boy's mother, and she too told me to calm down, (surprise, surprise..) and that she had just received a notice to pick up a parcel from the PO, which according to her is 95% THIS item. The reason that the item has not been delivered to their house, has to do with the surname that I've used for my nephew, not his official one, but his mother's maiden name, a private matter.



So hopefully,by tomorrow I'll know if the item was indeed that game. There's still the issue of an unexplainable delay, despite the surname issue, but on the other hand my email wasn't very kind, I can clearly see this now, so I'll consider that we're even with said seller. I'll cancel the request, he will probably block me,I won't leave ANY feedback at all if he chooses to keep ignoring me, unless he does a positive move first, but there are plenty of fish in the ocean, not to mention that yours truly has also a second ebay ID.



Thank you all, I'll let you know if the item has indeed arrived and after that I'll edit the entire post, THIS IS NOT the Liteside marcmoish.

TomB

These are my thoughts before reading any other comments-



1) The seller should have contacted you already regarding the matter, regardless of whether it was already shipped or if it is a postal delivery issue.



2) Your message to the seller is all over the place in terms of content and may serve to muddy the matter up more than needed.



3) The message to the seller is also fairly aggressive, which is how I read it and might be how the seller reads it too, since neither of us knows you or your writing style.



4) Given the possible aggressive tone of the message and the fact that it is a meandering threat, I would not be shocked if you receive either no reply or simply receive a refund. I know that if I received such a message I would send you a polite reply and refund your money just to be done with the transaction.

SYRACUSIAN

Unexpexted and unpleasant turn. The item in the PO was NOT the game, but something else. I'll end the story with a pretty negative, I doubt I've ever left more than one all together in my years as an ebayer, unless I'm escaping something, but surely not during the past 10 years ,despite previous threats. Right now, what annoys me most of all is the lack of communication.We still have 2 days left, which is a deadline that is up to me to extend if I want. I need some CLEAR thinking here, this was not a verified address problem, what could have gone so wrong that he keeps ignoring me like this?

YQQ

Dimitri,
life is too short. let it go and see what happens. something will happen. either initiated by you or by the seller. accept it the way it is and let it play out.
But all that hollering is not worth the aggitation you obviously experience. Just gets your BP and anxiety way up... not good for the pump.
Trust me, I know. I used to fly off the handle easy.. until i got taught a lesson by my bod.
last summer...my Dr. sent me for a more detailed check up to the hospital after I did not feel so well for a day. everything from ex-rays to bloodwork to the "bending down thing" was on the agenda .
Third test was a ECG, and they would not let me leave........I apparently experienced a massive HA a few days previous. And I did not even know.
a Quad Bypass a week later put a "band Aid" on the problem and gave me a new perspective of life plus, the surgeon told me, that he just gave me another 20 years ( I am 70 now) if all goes well.
I am here to tell... and did I ever initiate changes and priorities.

just wanted to tell you in different words: games, coins , trying to get others to think your way or do as you want them to do, or whatever is all NOT worth to get uptight about it. There are bigger and more important considerations...Time left is one of them.!
Please read my signature line.. I have that from the beginning and will change it on August 13 to read: I just had my second 1st birthday!
sorry for bringing all this into this post. But somehow I thought it was a fit. Please accept my apologies if it was inappropriate.

SYRACUSIAN

Inappropriate? This is one of the most honest and most serious posts I've ever read. You just took the words out of my mouth regarding your sigline, that I now understand that you did not write it as a generality. In case that for whichever reason, you change your mind and you decide to delete it, or to partly edit it, I've read it in full and know this: I was already enjoying or even admiring the vast majority of your posts (ie the ones I had the chance to read), but you have now become a few inches taller already. I truly appreciate the tip , your honesty and your integrity. I can assure you that I know what you mean, I'm calm and nothing compared to two nights ago, and I too am facing a much more serious problem to deal with right now, to understand how insignificant this is.



Let's leave it to please marcmoish. I'll even bring him some popcorn myself.

Zohar

YQQ- very very good to hear. Best of health to you.



Dimitri - don't sweat it. Open the dispute, get the refund. Keep your communication templated, short and sweet.

SYRACUSIAN

Good morning Z. I will, thank you.

techwriter

Dimitri, I can only echo YQQ's comments as a similar situation befell me just over three years ago (no surgery thankfully). Have re-ordered priorities tremendously.

I've had a couple of eBay issues as you are currently experiencing and certainly understand your agitation and frustration; even had one seller place me on his "do not contact and do not accept bids" list; yet my feedback remains 100%. Your reputation speaks for itself and personally would not let this issue cause you any grief.

Indeed, let this play out and see where it goes. Give it a few days past the deadline and then I'd go ahead and file the claim. Stay calm and professional!

Just a personal note I had an exact same experience as you and was about to file the claim when I tried one more email, seller responded that he had undergone quadruple bypass heart surgery but was now slowly returning to his business; sure enough my item arrived.

Take care, be well.

asheland

SYRACUSIAN, you are a true gentleman.
I hope this is resolved soon.

SYRACUSIAN

Quadruple bypass!



Your reputation speaks for itself and personally would not let this issue cause you any grief.

Indeed, let this play out and see where it goes. Give it a few days past the deadline and then I'd go ahead and file the claim. Stay calm and professional!





Leslie, (if I may, I've looked it up),



you are exactly right and like I've said previously, this is exactly what I'm going to do. Thanks again for yet another piece of excellent advise. At my age, I believe that I now know what's important and what's insignificant, and even when I temporarily lost it, YOU guys brought me back to order and I'm grateful to you for this. This is the reason I took the liberty of posting this here. I will let it play out annd even past the deadline and then we'll see. I won't lose any sleep over it, and looking at it from a different perspective, maybe it's time for young Zac (my nephew) , to realize that some times life is a disappoinment, and there's nothing that can be done about it, because we are not in control of every single parameter.



SYRACUSIAN, you are a true gentleman.

I hope this is resolved soon.



Thank you asheland, but I don't think I really am.

I shout a lot, I lose my temper over trivial issues such as this one, and who knows how many more shortcomings I have?

I'm simply trying to take the blame when I've done something wrong or stupid,

as well as to apologize to anybody that I've wrongly harmed or blamed without a valid reason.

SYRACUSIAN

Originally posted by: TomB

These are my thoughts before reading any other comments-



1) The seller should have contacted you already regarding the matter, regardless of whether it was already shipped or if it is a postal delivery issue.



2) Your message to the seller is all over the place in terms of content and may serve to muddy the matter up more than needed.



3) The message to the seller is also fairly aggressive, which is how I read it and might be how the seller reads it too, since neither of us knows you or your writing style.



4) Given the possible aggressive tone of the message and the fact that it is a meandering threat, I would not be shocked if you receive either no reply or simply receive a refund. I know that if I received such a message I would send you a polite reply and refund your money just to be done with the transaction.

But YOU are not the seller Tom, even though it seems that 99% he will act in the exact same way that you suggest. But, (and provided that he hadn't had quadruple bypass,knock on wood for the man, I'll check his feedback to see if he's had other transactions in between), he could have replied either to the Resolution Center to my request, or to the email posted in the OP. Eitherway, I'm done with this now, YQQ and techwriter in particular have used some STRONG examples to make me realize how insignificant this is, and I'm the one that's usually preaching such stuff in private and especially to my little daughter.



Well, here we caught the (self appointed) teacher to not follow his very own advise, but there are way too many reasonable Darksiders to remind me , and in ways that have been amazingly honest and that's a very MANLY thing to do, as opposed to macho, which I hate.

SYRACUSIAN

OK, please pay attention. After I left these replies earlier today, the seller still refused to reply, and instead, he went to open a case himself. I was totally unaware of this, because I had simply ignored my emails up until now, being busy with living ACTUAL REAL life. Ebay of course informed me of it and they also added that they'd need 48 hours to decide. AFGAIN, I DID NOTHING TO ESCALATE THE REQUEST TO A CLAIM or anything of the sort, I've followed the wise advise of the members here and in particular YQQ's and techwriter's and I had already decided to deal again with this issue by the beginning of next week, probably around the first of March.



However, ebay sent me a SECOND message telling me that they had examined the case and that they had ruled in my favor. The case is now permanently closed.



Here's their last message:





Dear Dimitri XXXXXXXXXX



eBay ruled in your favor in your dispute case,



and a full refund of 29.99 GBP was sent to your PayPal account



for your purchase from Jooced Limited.



It may take 3-5 business days to receive the refund in your account.



eBay will then consider the dispute closed.



If you have any questions, please go to the eBay Resolution Center.



I've emailed the boy's mother about all this and promised her that in time, a short period of time, I'd buy this game again for her son from a different seller. In the meantime, maybe her 12 year old son, could learn a lesson from all this, that sometimes in life, even if we have the best intention, life has a way of disappointing us (in his case). In other words a valuable life lesson not inappropriate for his age. And I closed by promising that her son would get his game in a relatively short period of time from a different seller, again as a gift from me.



I'll soon probably edit the entire case, and in particular the OP, but then again, some of your replies were so moving that I'm now in a dilemma, should I let it sink without touching it, or should I edit the OP? No big deal anyway. AGAIN, THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR VALUABLE ADVISE. Marcmoish, I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to buy you the popcorn yet, maybe next time.

SYRACUSIAN

marcmoish

Marcmoish, I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to buy you the popcorn yet, maybe next time.

lol, naa I'm glad it ended as it did, save the popcorn for next week when you'll post a new "issue" ......but still believe you're a real mensch!