Problems buying on eBay..

[Bang60]

I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this so Mods please move if you want...

 

Well I've been buying on eBay for a few years and it took awhile for me to work out eBays system, I bought a M6 driver that arrived with a small dent and marks on the face sole area's. Talked with the seller and his offer was poor so put in a return and got a 100% refund plus he didn't want to pay for return shipping from New Zealand, at this point I don't want to name the seller but he sells thousands of drivers on eBay. The problem was he users STOCK photos and his description doesn't say anything negative about the Driver, so now I can buy but he won't ship to NZ ...

I've bought 6 gloves "$14.99 US" which had a shipping cost when I started bidding but now when I went to pay I'm told he doesn't ship to NZ, I started using a NZ shipping agent in the beginning but realized they were charging triple and taking 8-10 weeks to ship from Portland to NZ just a joke. Just wondering if anyone knows how eBay works and if there's anything else I can do, I don't know how to contact eBay directly to ask for there help. Would appreciate your advice, cheers Colin..

[Middler]

Not clear what your question is. Sellers are not obligated to ship international. I can tell you eBay prioritizes sellers over buyers in most disputes. I had over 100 sales but I no longer sell or buy there, and after one bad experience I refused to ship international when I was active and my listing noted that in bold red type. I also know that when international buyers use US based shipping agents to get around sellers preferences, sellers responsibility ends when the item arrives at the shipping agent US address. After that any damage or loss is the buyers problem to work out with the shipping agent, the seller isn’t responsible at all (as it should be IMO).

[Bang60]

I've found shipping on eBay to be very good but the issue for me is sellers who don't show photos of the actual club, and then wonder why the buyer complains about the damage to the club I bought. When I sell a club here I have clear close up photos showing every inch of the club, I don't have any issues with buyers but have had some issues with sellers here. I usually buy on eBay because it's 100% guaranteed, most people on eBay are very good...

[DiscipleofPenick]

I buy and sell a ton on eBay, both for golf and other stuff. I usually try to avoid buying anything that just has stock photos. And I'd like to second the comments that no one is obliged to ship international, and I for one do not. I'm not sure what the solution is here though? 

[rkj427]

I have bought and sold golf equipment and automotive items in the past, have shipped international, and always use actual pictures of the items I would be selling.

Whenever I would use it for a purchase, I would always look at those who have actual pictures of the items I was interested in, and always would ask questions if there were any doubts on my end, or things I may have questions on.

I only had (1) issue and that was with a buyer! Sold a NEW, UNUSED set of irons in OEM packaging, after 7 days the seller put in a refund request stating they were not as advertised, and Ebay sided with the buyer????????????? I refunded his money, and he shipped the irons back in not the OEM packaging with the plastic wrapping removed from the iron heads and grips. That was the last straw for me and using Ebay to sell items.

There is a way to contact Ebay, using the "Help Page" and sending a message to them through that avenue. There is no other method to actually speak to a human being.

You mentioned that you received a refund, but the seller didn't want to pay for return shipping, so does that mean you also are able to keep the driver, although it is damaged and not as represented, or are you liable for shipping it back? Just curious how that played out for you in regards to Ebay and their policies.

[Shapotomous]

Same as others, I do not buy on eBay unless there are pics of the item and not just stock photos.  I don't sell on there anymore. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

eBay has a report a seller option for things like not wanting to complete a transaction, offering to sell off eBay. 
 

They have a policy for filing complaints when an item received is different than what was paid for, arrived damaged, etc.

Filing a complaint with eBay because a sell won’t ship internationally isn’t going to end well for the buyer. There’s no requirement that an item has to be sold/shipped internationally. Most will list that they don’t.

Its simple, if you think something is wrong file a complaint with eBay or if you used PayPal file with them. More than likely if you paid for the item and it won’t be shipped internationally the money will be returned to you 

[Middler]

11 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Its simple, if you think something is wrong file a complaint with eBay or if you used PayPal file with them. More than likely if you paid for the item and it won’t be shipped internationally the money will be returned to you 

I don’t think you can use PayPal on eBay anymore, they took in payment processing and the fees in house. In the eBay significant transaction that I got screwed by a buyer, it was actually PayPal that screwed me…

[RickyBobby_PR]

10 minutes ago, Middler said:

I don’t think you can use PayPal on eBay anymore, they took in payment processing and the fees in house. In the eBay significant transaction that I got screwed by a buyer, it was actually PayPal that screwed me…

Interesting. I haven’t used eBay in maybe 3 years for buyin or selling.

The fees aren’t worth it for most items and the stuff I would flip it’s more hassle and time spent that the few hundred dollar profit is worth to me

[DiscipleofPenick]

1 hour ago, rkj427 said:

I have bought and sold golf equipment and automotive items in the past, have shipped international, and always use actual pictures of the items I would be selling.

Whenever I would use it for a purchase, I would always look at those who have actual pictures of the items I was interested in, and always would ask questions if there were any doubts on my end, or things I may have questions on.

I only had (1) issue and that was with a buyer! Sold a NEW, UNUSED set of irons in OEM packaging, after 7 days the seller put in a refund request stating they were not as advertised, and Ebay sided with the buyer????????????? I refunded his money, and he shipped the irons back in not the OEM packaging with the plastic wrapping removed from the iron heads and grips. That was the last straw for me and using Ebay to sell items.

There is a way to contact Ebay, using the "Help Page" and sending a message to them through that avenue. There is no other method to actually speak to a human being.

You mentioned that you received a refund, but the seller didn't want to pay for return shipping, so does that mean you also are able to keep the driver, although it is damaged and not as represented, or are you liable for shipping it back? Just curious how that played out for you in regards to Ebay and their policies.

Not with golf clubs, but I've had something similar happen like this a few times. eBay basically lets the seller return the item for any reason whatsoever. I've had one buyer return something because he didn't like the way I packaged it in shipping. I had another return something because he claimed there was a tiny defect that I didn't disclose. As far a buying, I've not had any issues other than where the seller shipped me a different item than what I won. But that got straightened out too. 

I've bought almost all my clubs off eBay, I buy my last 4-5 pairs of shoes from sellers closing out last year's items, and same with gloves and I'm getting into some apparel too. Golf clothes are too expensive to buy at GG etc.

[russtopherb]

eBay, like anything else, is buyer beware. I don't buy anything unless it's A) from an extremely reputable seller, and B) there are photos of the actual item or the condition is accurately described.

You can use PayPal to purchase on eBay but you cannot accept funds as a seller. Those now go directly to your checking account. 

[Kansas King]

I occasionally sell on eBay but I'm always very careful. In my experience, eBay will almost always side with the buyer if the listing didn't clearly distinguish something the buyer didn't agree with. So always make sure the descriptions states the obvious and anything that's not obvious and use real pictures of the item that are decent. I do sometimes believe that buyer disputes on eBay come down to the eBay employee tasked with reviewing the dispute if it's not just a computer. 

I also try not to ship internationally as the items I'm selling are not worth the risk of international shipping or the costs associated with potential returns. 

[Nolan220]

I had pretty good success on ebay with getting the items as they were described .. I did however win an auction and when I went to pay right away I got an error message and when I went back to my ebay there was an automated message saying the seller canceled the order do to being out of stock or damaged .. so nothing I could do I just figured the seller thought they were going to get more for it then the final bid amount .. but whatever 

[Bang60]

9 hours ago, rkj427 said:

 

You mentioned that you received a refund, but the seller didn't want to pay for return shipping, so does that mean you also are able to keep the driver, although it is damaged and not as represented, or are you liable for shipping it back? Just curious how that played out for you in regards to Ebay and their policies.

Yes I received a full refund, I tried to negotiate with the seller but he made a silly offer and told me to put in a return. He also didn't supply a tracking number for 2weeks, eBay has a policy of the seller paying for return shipping irrespective of whether the seller saying that the buyer pays for return shipping. And yes I sold the driver to a mate...

[Bang60]

9 hours ago, Shapotomous said:

Same as others, I do not buy on eBay unless there are pics of the item and not just stock photos.  I don't sell on there anymore. 

Unfortunately for me it took me getting screwed a few times before I got with the program, it's one of the ongoing problems I have to deal with after being in a Coma for a month in 2019. My memory is really bad and I have alot of screen prints on my phone so I now have programmed my brain to check it out before I do anything that I've not done for awhile lol...

[Bang60]

9 hours ago, Middler said:

I don’t think you can use PayPal on eBay anymore, they took in payment processing and the fees in house. In the eBay significant transaction that I got screwed by a buyer, it was actually PayPal that screwed me…

Yeah I wouldn't pis on eBay they are worse than useless, they gave me advise on how to make a complaint that was completely wrong and when I should of got a refund I got nothing except I learnt to dump PayPal...

[Bang60]

8 hours ago, Kansas King said:

I occasionally sell on eBay but I'm always very careful. In my experience, eBay will almost always side with the buyer if the listing didn't clearly distinguish something the buyer didn't agree with. So always make sure the descriptions states the obvious and anything that's not obvious and use real pictures of the item that are decent. I do sometimes believe that buyer disputes on eBay come down to the eBay employee tasked with reviewing the dispute if it's not just a computer. 

I also try not to ship internationally as the items I'm selling are not worth the risk of international shipping or the costs associated with potential returns. 

Yeah you'd like to think that the description matches what you see, but a number of eBay sellers play the numbers game by using stock photos because alot of buyers won't put in a return if the club actually is still doing it's job. But I'm particular about what condition my clubs are in, I take care not to damage them besides normal wear and tear...

I never thought eBay would favour the buyer in the case of returns, I bought a new 12deg stealth head only on eBay as part of my search for a better driver didn't work so after 2weeks I sold it on a local blog. The head sold on the 2nd day and the buyer said he changed his mind because there was no headcover, I'd been very clear about what was for sale and what wasn't. 2 weeks later after I told him if he didn't want it resell it he left feedback saying I was a great seller and he loves the head lol...

[Bang60]

8 hours ago, Nolan220 said:

I had pretty good success on ebay with getting the items as they were described .. I did however win an auction and when I went to pay right away I got an error message and when I went back to my ebay there was an automated message saying the seller canceled the order do to being out of stock or damaged .. so nothing I could do I just figured the seller thought they were going to get more for it then the final bid amount .. but whatever 

Yeah I've had some clubs I wanted to buy but the seller won't ship international, this is his choice and I've asked the seller if would ship international and some will and some won't. But what's annoying is after winning the bid then the seller saying he won't ship international, and that's prompted me asking this question. 

[GaDawg]

23 hours ago, Bang60 said:

I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this so Mods please move if you want...

 

Well I've been buying on eBay for a few years and it took awhile for me to work out eBays system, I bought a M6 driver that arrived with a small dent and marks on the face sole area's. Talked with the seller and his offer was poor so put in a return and got a 100% refund plus he didn't want to pay for return shipping from New Zealand, at this point I don't want to name the seller but he sells thousands of drivers on eBay. The problem was he users STOCK photos and his description doesn't say anything negative about the Driver, so now I can buy but he won't ship to NZ ...

I've bought 6 gloves "$14.99 US" which had a shipping cost when I started bidding but now when I went to pay I'm told he doesn't ship to NZ, I started using a NZ shipping agent in the beginning but realized they were charging triple and taking 8-10 weeks to ship from Portland to NZ just a joke. Just wondering if anyone knows how eBay works and if there's anything else I can do, I don't know how to contact eBay directly to ask for there help. Would appreciate your advice, cheers Colin..

In my opinion, E-Bay has changed a lot since I signed up in 2001 and mostly it's for the worse. I have had over 400 transactions using e-bay probably about 50% buying and the same selling. I don't sell on e-bay anymore due to high fees. I would never purchase an item without seeing actual pictures. I don't know the actual policy, but unless the seller advises in their post that they will not ship out of the states, they should do so. I will say that e-bay almost always takes the side of the buyer in an dispute.

If you find an item(s) that you are interested in on e-bay, I would try and contact the seller to see if they would ship to you prior to purchasing.

 

Good Luck

Edited August 3, 2022 by GaDawg
Added Information

[Bang60]

1 hour ago, GaDawg said:

In my opinion, E-Bay has changed a lot since I signed up in 2001 and mostly it's for the worse. I have had over 400 transactions using e-bay probably about 50% buying and the same selling. I don't sell on e-bay anymore due to high fees. I would never purchase an item without seeing actual pictures. I don't know the actual policy, but unless the seller advises in their post that they will not ship out of the states, they should do so. I will say that e-bay almost always takes the side of the buyer in an dispute.

If you find an item(s) that you are interested in on e-bay, I would try and contact the seller to see if they would ship to you prior to purchasing.

 

Good Luck

Yeah agree contact with the seller about shipping if they don't have a shipping cost up front, I've bought maybe a 100ish times on eBay with about 6 times had issues so I consider that a very small number that I'm happy with and will continue to buy on eBay. 

[Bang60]

12 hours ago, Nolan220 said:

I had pretty good success on ebay with getting the items as they were described .. I did however win an auction and when I went to pay right away I got an error message and when I went back to my ebay there was an automated message saying the seller canceled the order do to being out of stock or damaged .. so nothing I could do I just figured the seller thought they were going to get more for it then the final bid amount .. but whatever 

Yeah in NZ if you list something with a $1 reserve there's no selling fee BUT you have to sell at whatever the final bid is or you can't sell anything else unless you pay a fine lol, I don't do that I list with a reserve of my sell minimum is. Problems here is there is really only one website you can list anything for sale so that website does what it wants which is very little, when trying to get in touch with customer service it takes 3 days to get a reply. Pathetic....

[Middler]

On 8/2/2022 at 9:21 PM, GaDawg said:

In my opinion, E-Bay has changed a lot since I signed up in 2001 and mostly it's for the worse. I have had over 400 transactions using e-bay probably about 50% buying and the same selling. I don't sell on e-bay anymore due to high fees. I would never purchase an item without seeing actual pictures. I don't know the actual policy, but unless the seller advises in their post that they will not ship out of the states, they should do so. I will say that e-bay almost always takes the side of the buyer in an dispute.

If you find an item(s) that you are interested in on e-bay, I would try and contact the seller to see if they would ship to you prior to purchasing.

 

Good Luck

It's more direct to me. My first eBay sales years ago the total fees I was charged were 6-8%, this was quite a few years ago. My last few sales in the past year they took 13-15% - not worth the hassle anymore to me. I had a total of 88 sales grossing just under $11K before fees, 86 of them were pleasant win-win transactions. I only got screwed by unscrupulous buyers twice, one we just let go and the other PayPal totally screwed me even though eBay concluded the buyer wasn't entitled to any refund.

Once eBay’s seller/buyer growth inevitably slowed/stopped, they resorted to confiscating a higher and higher percentage from transactions to keep profits growing (since the top line stalled) - not a big surprise. IMO BIN professional sellers have ruined eBay anyway versus the days when it was mostly just regular peeps buying and selling via auction from one another. Now there’s no advantage to buying (new items) on eBay over Amazon and the like…