Taking a beating on EBAY lately

[Buffalodiv1968]

Hi,
I'm attempting to model the B&O RR Buffalo Division as it appeared in 1952 [my username Buffalodiv1968 refers to the year my Father and I started the layout] with an Erie and PRR connection. I've had a rash of bad transactions on EBAY over the past month, and I'm wondering if it's just me, or if any of you have had similar problems. It seems that many dealers are either not looking at the item that they offered, and then ship the wrong item errantly, or they are using the advertisement to get rid of items they have that are similar, but not what they offered. Here are 2 examples: I bid on a Walthers B&O troop sleeper that was advertised as the blue REA version, and I recieved the later C&O style green version used by M of W crews in the 1970's and 80's. The other is a bit more interesting, because the dealer actually called me to ask if he could send me a different item. I won the bid on an Alco S1 with Erie RR markings, and he called and asked if he could send one with a different number. I agreed as long as it was Erie. Well, it was Erie alright, Erie-Lackawanna! Now I will probably have to paint and decal the darned thing to get what I wanted. There have been quite a few other screw-ups recently, and my question is, are some of the dealers taking advantage of the Ebay rules that favor them?

 

[Selector]

No. I don't deal on ebay. Too many iffy stories from too many people, and not just in the hobby.

-Crandell

 

[Laidoffsick]

I've been buying and selling on Ebay for years. I've had only a couple bad experiences buying, and 1 of those was my own fault. You have to be very careful when buying, especially nowadays with the economy in the state that it's in. People are not concerned about negative feedback for the most part, they just need money!

If those items were bought from someone with an excellent standing, they should fix the matter. Unfortunately getting things corrected takes a lot of time using their process, but in any case, you get what you paid for or file a claim and get your money back.

I bought a Lionel F7 set last year, ABBA from a guy who said like new. Well, needless to say they were NOT! I came to arrangement with the seller which he renigged on and I filed a claim with PP and Ebay. About a month later PP issued me a full refund $900 and told me to keep the engines. I was blown away. Now obviously that don't happen everyday, but if you take the time to put in the claims and wait for the results, you will get it corrected.

 

[Trucklover]

So far, ive only had two bad experiences since i created my ebay account back in July last year.

Both were this year and in the last 2 months. One was a seller, a guy was brand new to ebay and receiveing positive feedback's for auctions from other sellers rapidly. He won 3 backround structures from me and his total was somewhere in the mid $70's with shipping (dont remember the exact total). All he was doing was making up excuses and promising me my money by a certain date. After he had not paid for them for about a week and after sending 2 invoices i sent him a message on ebay and asked what was up and why he was not paying. I got a reply that said he is in the hospital and has not been able to pay for his auctions from any of the sellers he has one auctions due to the hospital bill. Then he told me when his tax return comes (which was in like 15 days after he won the auctions) he would pay for the auctions he won from me. Stupid me i agreed to this (i even stated payment is expected within 4 days of auction end, but i decided to give him a break since he had said he was in the hospital). After a half a month had passed, i began looking at his still rapidly growing feedback, and noticing he had payed for both auctions that had ended around the same time as mine did, and new auctions from after my auctions had ended. This means he was paying them but not me. So then i thought, well crap he just doesnt want them and im not going to get my money out of him. I told him this that i noticed him buying and receiveing feedback for other auctions, and then he tells me ohh opps i thought i had paid for them when i paid for all the others and it would be another few days till i got his money. This is where i put my foot down, and this had now been exactly 1 month from the end of the auctions that he won from me. I said this is ridiculous, and if i dont receive the payment by a certain time (5:00PM Saturday) the next day, that i would be reporting him and getting him suspended from ebay. No reply back from him and the next day at 5:01PM i opened a non-paying bidders strike against him. This is when the nasty emails started coming after i had told him i had opened a non-paying bidders strike against him and he would most likely be suspended from ebay for good. I also offered these auctions to other people who had bid on them, and 2 of the 3 sold, still have the other one listed right now lol. Long story short, he apologized for the nasty emails and we agreed to just forget about the auctions and cancel the strike as long as i would get my fees from ebay back which i did. Hes since been suspended from ebay by another seller, and im assuming that it was due to a similar situation.


The other was a Walthers structure i bought. It was the Red X Cement plant (the super detailed kit of the medusa cement plant which both have been retired). The auction had free shipping on it and a extremely low price on the kit, so i bid on it and was winning, i got outbid and then bid again in the last few seconds expecting this kit to skyrocket in price since i see them sell on ebay for $100 and more. Well it was at $35 when i was outbid and it was down to the last few seconds, so i placed a bid of $75 (what i was willing to pay for it) and well wouldnt you know it i won it for $42.18 with FREE shipping!!! It retailed for $59.99 and i got it for a steal of a deal!

Well guess what, it came in the mail and i opened it, WRONG KIT! He had sent me a refinery kit (Walthers) that had ended at the same time as my kit did but this one went for somewhere around $75.... I was like CRAP! I emailed the guy right away and told him he had sent me the wrong kit, got a reply 2 days later and he apologized and said he would send the right one out to me asap. i then told him, i wanted him to pay for shipping to ship this kit that he had sent me back to him. I got a refund for $6.00 (thats all i asked him for back to ship it back cuz thats what it would cost me) a few days later. I said thank you and that it would go out back to him the next day and asked about my building that he said he had shipped to me. He then replied back and said im sorry ive been really busy it will go out tomorrow to you. I said okay, both structures went out the same day, passed each other and arrived at both our doors the same day. I was very happy with his efforts to fix his mistake, and i left him positive feedback. Hes a good guy and made an honest mistake i think, so i left him very good feedback for fixing the mistake.

Now what i didnt understand is how he was able to ship my structure so fast to me? This didnt make sense to me and i thought he would have shipped mine to someone else too? I didnt get it lol.

Anyways, all of my other experiences on ebay have been good so far, "KNOCK ON WOOD"!

 

[bnsf971]

I have noticed that some dealers will put "may be a different road number or name" deep within the product descriptions. You have to read the auctions more carefully than you used to. I've seen many auctions where the item is described as "NIB" or "MINT", but if you read the description it says it has "very little run-time". I'm sorry, when it is placed on the rails, and moves, it is no longer "New In Box" or "Mint". "TRO" is another one, if you read the description the seller may seem to think anything less than 500 miles is a test run.
If it's been run, say so. If I want it bad enough, I'll probably still buy it. Just don't lie to me.

 

[bnsf971]

Now what i didnt understand is how he was able to ship my structure so fast to me? This didnt make sense to me and i thought he would have shipped mine to someone else too? I didnt get it lol.

He may have had more than one, and shipped the second one to you. Or he may have deliberately shipped the wrong one to you for some reason, and hoped you didn't notice. Either is plausible, depending on how suspicious you are.

 

[jayl1]

Seems ebay has become a scammers paradise with the recent changes - no seller given negatives and non-payers , Pay-not my-Pal payment only unless you ask the seller to accept check or MO , (or use a PP clone) etc. I would suggest reading the eBay community page reay-not my-Pal to see some of the problems. I left the site 18 months ago (with 3400+ feedback - and one neg from a scammer) & don't miss it one bit. Seems to me that they are trying to get rid of the little guy. Case in point - Laidoffsick - a $900 engine kept as well as a refund. Typical Pay-not my-Pal. Thanks to PP a seller is out an engine set & money. Laidoff did what I would have done BUT where does PP have the right not to have the incorrect item returned to the seller before refunding? I hope newbies read the PP agreement before signing up. Pay-not my-Pal protects themselves first & the seller third after the buyer at this time.

BTW - terms like "AS IS" or "All Sales Final" are worthless as is setting a "Pay within XXX Days" term to your item. You can also expect chargebacks from scammers well after 90 days.

 

[stationmaster]

I've been eBaying for a few years now. I've filed complaints four times, I believe. One was for a set of Bose speakers that were DOA and needed refoamed and were obviously misrepresented by the seller. Another was for a set of Klipsch speakers in similar disrepair. Easy fixes, but that wasn't the point. The others were similar complaints, misrepresentation by the seller or inferior/damaged products.

I have been selling on eBay lately. I describe the product as I would want it described and be as fair as I can be. I had an engine I sold recently, that somehow lost a horn in shipping. The buyer said that it wasn't in the box.He wanted a $1.50 refund, I gave it to him. I mean, $50 for an Athearn Blue Box DC engine was quite a sale. I'd take that everyday.

EBay has recently instituted a new policy on feedback and bad feedback. It seems that they are having more problems now than ever before, judging from what I've been hearing.

Bob

 

[NH Mike]

I've only bought one item off Ebay and that was a non train item and a loooong time ago. No problems with the item or the seller. Just after that I began seeing and hearing all sorts of horror stories so I decided not to bother risking any further deals. Ever since then I check out forums I subscribe to for what other members may be selling or list things I am selling and have had nothing but good experiences both ways. Yes, that method might limit my possibilities for selection versus Ebay or whatever but it's better than being shafted. Bust a deal, face the wheel.

 

[bnsf971]

I've only bought one item off Ebay and that was a non train item and a loooong time ago. No problems with the item or the seller. Just after that I began seeing and hearing all sorts of horror stories so I decided not to bother risking any further deals. Ever since then I check out forums I subscribe to for what other members may be selling or list things I am selling and have had nothing but good experiences both ways. Yes, that method might limit my possibilities for selection versus Ebay or whatever but it's better than being shafted. Bust a deal, face the wheel.

There is a section on the forum here with links to forum members' Ebay auctions, you could buy something from a forums member through Ebay, if you saw something you wanted.

 

[Selector]

I attempted a purchase of a Genesis SD75M from the buy-it-now rack because the item was declared new and the price was, I thought, quite decent. It turns out the fellow does lots of sales and has a modest store front. We chatted a bit, he sent the engine, and I found the engine to be missing the tabs that keeps the shell on the frame. No big deal, but the rest is as he said. I would say I did okay.

That part of the milieu is okay, particularly if I get to know two, three, or four sellers. But some of it, and the auctions (losing them....because I would only ever bid on items I really wanted) would put me in an early grave.

I guess all of us who dabble or play hard on ebay should be grateful for the volume and depth that it has, even just in the hobby, even just in any one scale. It does help a lot of us out, can be exciting, can be a less costly way to get something highly desired, but it can lead to the occasional sting. In that respect, I can deal with several online retailers who regularly discount and ship, and I know I am getting the item, as declared, and for a good price.

-Crandell

 

[NH Mike]

There is a section on the forum here with links to forum members' Ebay auctions, you could buy something from a forums member through Ebay, if you saw something you wanted.

Good point. I've browsed that section here but haven't followed it through onto Ebay. I'll take a look if something of interest for me shows up. Thanks.

 

[stationmaster]

Ahhhh, Thunder Dome. Tina was AWESOME!!!!

I think for the most part, most deals on eBay are on the up and up. There ae scammers, but nothing as bad as Craigslist. Scammer heaven there.

The thing to do i if you don't have a satisfying experience on eBay, file a complaint. PayPal, the finance/payment part of eBay, is becoming more and more customer friendly. Not that they are anti-seller, but there seems to be more sellers that are scammers than buyers. The rule of Murphy's Law does sometimes rear it's ugly head.

I've found about 20 sellers that I deal with pretty much all of the time. We have developed a relationship over the years. A few even email me if they have something to post that I may be interested in and let me buy it as soon as it hits at a "Buy It Now". Good deal for me and them, I think.

Communication between buyer and seller is the key. Dialogue is ALL important. Still if there is a scam going on, at least you can save the emails and have evidence in case of a problem.

Bob

 

[Larry]

Everyone is always telling me to buy stuff off EBay, well, about 5 years ago I kept getting emails from EBay that I hadn't paid my sellers fee's & they were way past due. I kept telling them that I had never sold anything on EBay. This went on for about 3 months. Finally they had a collection agency contact me saying if I didn't pay w/in 10 days it would mess up my credit. I told them the same thing that I had never sold anything on EBay & I wamted to see the transaction number & the amt.
Anyway to make a long story a lot shorter I had to contact my family lawyer & he took care of the problem. Now, I can't ever buy or sell anything on EBay ever. I finally got a letter from EBay that they had reversed the last 4 numbers on the sellers contact, whatever that meant & they were sorry for the problems. I asked many times how they got my email as the seller & they couldn't come up w/a straight answer.
Everytime I try to sign on as a buyer I get kicked out.
That's OK, because I've made up my mind that I will never, ever buy anything from EBay.

 

[Buffalodiv1968]

I can honestly say that I'll still use EBAY for most of my RR purchases. I"ve had pretty good success overall, it just seems like the issues have come about recently. I've ordered some pretty expensive models from EBAY dealers with no problems to speak of.
Thanks Terry for the info about EBAY dealers selling through this forum. I bet that I'll find something to order through one of them or more.

 

[kjd]

You can even find people who aren't exactly truthful in the for sale section on this forum so I am not surprised things happen (or don't happen or mis-happen) on Ebay.

 

[jbaakko]

I've been on eBay for around 10 years and in the last year its gotten really bad. I've only had one or two problems with sellers in my whole time, this past year, I've had 7 total.

 

[blownoutcylinder]

I've been on eBay for around 10 years and in the last year its gotten really bad. I've only had one or two problems with sellers in my whole time, this past year, I've had 7 total.

The result you're looking at is seen in recessionary periods apparently. When times get hard for some people, the tendency appears to be that those same people start acting in odd ways regarding sites like evilbay. The scam numbers jump. I've done the antique thing for a number of years and can tell you that this is occurring just about all over the place. I was tracking an auction site for a client not too long ago and found that this site had at least 6 scammers/spammers nail that one site 12 times in a week. The buyer/seller scamming is continuing apace-----

All I can suggest is just keep the ol' eyes peeled---if you sense something fishy beg out----it's way better than getting clobbered a few grand---

 

[bigford]

so far in 5 years ive only had 2 or 3 problems on the bay
i buy all types of hobby stuff from slot cars to n scale r.r.
i never worry about the deals as i only buy from stores
like plaza japan,dans trains and jimsmodeltrains and so forth
the worst people seem to be on ebay motors
and i buy from all over the world....

1) shcnabel car form germany came with black forrest gummie bears
2) slot car from england came with a small union jack flag
3) a tamiya bruiser from down under came with a plastic roo
these 3 sellers were all very nice and sent multi e-mail making sure
everything worked out well and that i was happy
with the feedback they left

 

[stang_crazy]

So far, ive only had two bad experiences since i created my ebay account back in July last year.

Both were this year and in the last 2 months. One was a seller, a guy was brand new to ebay and receiveing positive feedback's for auctions from other sellers rapidly. He won 3 backround structures from me and his total was somewhere in the mid $70's with shipping (dont remember the exact total). All he was doing was making up excuses and promising me my money by a certain date. After he had not paid for them for about a week and after sending 2 invoices i sent him a message on ebay and asked what was up and why he was not paying. I got a reply that said he is in the hospital and has not been able to pay for his auctions from any of the sellers he has one auctions due to the hospital bill. Then he told me when his tax return comes (which was in like 15 days after he won the auctions) he would pay for the auctions he won from me. Stupid me i agreed to this (i even stated payment is expected within 4 days of auction end, but i decided to give him a break since he had said he was in the hospital). After a half a month had passed, i began looking at his still rapidly growing feedback, and noticing he had payed for both auctions that had ended around the same time as mine did, and new auctions from after my auctions had ended. This means he was paying them but not me. So then i thought, well crap he just doesnt want them and im not going to get my money out of him. I told him this that i noticed him buying and receiveing feedback for other auctions, and then he tells me ohh opps i thought i had paid for them when i paid for all the others and it would be another few days till i got his money. This is where i put my foot down, and this had now been exactly 1 month from the end of the auctions that he won from me. I said this is ridiculous, and if i dont receive the payment by a certain time (5:00PM Saturday) the next day, that i would be reporting him and getting him suspended from ebay. No reply back from him and the next day at 5:01PM i opened a non-paying bidders strike against him. This is when the nasty emails started coming after i had told him i had opened a non-paying bidders strike against him and he would most likely be suspended from ebay for good. I also offered these auctions to other people who had bid on them, and 2 of the 3 sold, still have the other one listed right now lol. Long story short, he apologized for the nasty emails and we agreed to just forget about the auctions and cancel the strike as long as i would get my fees from ebay back which i did. Hes since been suspended from ebay by another seller, and im assuming that it was due to a similar situation.


The other was a Walthers structure i bought. It was the Red X Cement plant (the super detailed kit of the medusa cement plant which both have been retired). The auction had free shipping on it and a extremely low price on the kit, so i bid on it and was winning, i got outbid and then bid again in the last few seconds expecting this kit to skyrocket in price since i see them sell on ebay for $100 and more. Well it was at $35 when i was outbid and it was down to the last few seconds, so i placed a bid of $75 (what i was willing to pay for it) and well wouldnt you know it i won it for $42.18 with FREE shipping!!! It retailed for $59.99 and i got it for a steal of a deal!

Well guess what, it came in the mail and i opened it, WRONG KIT! He had sent me a refinery kit (Walthers) that had ended at the same time as my kit did but this one went for somewhere around $75.... I was like CRAP! I emailed the guy right away and told him he had sent me the wrong kit, got a reply 2 days later and he apologized and said he would send the right one out to me asap. i then told him, i wanted him to pay for shipping to ship this kit that he had sent me back to him. I got a refund for $6.00 (thats all i asked him for back to ship it back cuz thats what it would cost me) a few days later. I said thank you and that it would go out back to him the next day and asked about my building that he said he had shipped to me. He then replied back and said im sorry ive been really busy it will go out tomorrow to you. I said okay, both structures went out the same day, passed each other and arrived at both our doors the same day. I was very happy with his efforts to fix his mistake, and i left him positive feedback. Hes a good guy and made an honest mistake i think, so i left him very good feedback for fixing the mistake.

Now what i didnt understand is how he was able to ship my structure so fast to me? This didnt make sense to me and i thought he would have shipped mine to someone else too? I didnt get it lol.

Anyways, all of my other experiences on ebay have been good so far, "KNOCK ON WOOD"!

Just a responce for the section where ya said you put in the item desription that payment is to be made 4 days after auctions end. You can put 2 days or 2 hours it dont matter.

ebays rules say the buyer has either 7 or 10 days after auctions end to pay. So putting that ya want payment 2 minutes after the auctions end is pointless. Ya have to wait 7 days before you can even file a NPB complaint.


But as far as problems on ebay in the last 9 years ive been on there, i think ive had 2 problems. 1 when i first started buying, which was my fault, & one about 2 years ago, which i never got my item.

as of lately its all be great in about the last 2 months ive boughten and sold about $3500.00 worth the stuff. (yes i do alot of buying and selling on ebay lol