The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: xkappax on May 30, 2012, 03:50:38 AM
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Hi,
I was wondering if you arena members could help me. I'm relatively new to the whole pony buying thing, that is, I don't do it a whole lot... and I am going through a situation on ebay that is similar to the ":muffin: Pony incident" that I faced a little while ago.
I am dealing with a seller that has 100 percent positive feedback and they have tons of sales, but I still have a potential problem happening.
I won a pony from them for WAY less than it is worth. WAY LESS. I guess no one saw the auction and I got a great deal. So... they marked the item shipped on the 17th of may, and it is not at my house.
Given the history of what happened with :muffin: Pony, I honestly do not think this item is even shipped, and I believe that the seller may be giving me a few lines and that she is ultimately just going to refund my money and relist the pony to get what she wants for it. I am hoping this is not the case, but I am wondering what steps can be taken by me to make sure that this item has actually been shipped.
If this ends up being true, is there a way I can contact Ebay and let them know about this? That the seller is relisting an item that should have been sold to me?
And is there a way that she can go to the post office and get me proof that she did, in fact, send this thing? I know that was what ponyadore was asked to do during the :muffin: Pony hooves incident, and she failed to comply.
Again, as usual, this is something I really wanted. It's not something that a refund would fix.
So, I ask you guys as a community, what can I do or say to help get this item to come to me instead of just getting a refund?
I seriously found 4 four leaf clovers this week whilst gardening. This is not the sort of luck I am supposed to be having. :( Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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I am taking it that you have contacted the seller to see where your item maybe? If so may I ask what kinda lines she is giving you?
If she has it marked shipped then she should have a postal receipt. And on that postal receipt whether it be first class, Priority, etc. there should be a number you can plug into USPS to see when the package was accepted at the PO. I would tell her you would like the number.
In terms of ebay, you will have to open a case and if she does not provide the information that I stated above the case will close in your favor and your money returned. Just make sure you handle this within a 45 day time range or you will not be able to. Also at the bottom of this link you can report her for non-performance:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html)
Unfortunately, though they can not force her to send the item. The only recourse would be to leave negative and a low detailed star rating. If she cares anything about her feedback or reputation she will do what's right and ship the item.
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This is EXTREMELY useful information, ponylady. My paranoia might be just that at this point, but with the :muffin: Pony incident... well... you know, I'm a little wary of people.
I'll request this info when she emails me back.
She's probably an honest person... and this has probably gotten legitimately lost ... because that is the sort of luck I have, LOL!
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If she has it marked shipped then she should have a postal receipt. And on that postal receipt whether it be first class, Priority, etc. there should be a number you can plug into USPS to see when the package was accepted at the PO. I would tell her you would like the number.
Is this only for postage printed online? Because I've looked at my own receipts (paid at the counter) and don't see any such number on them. Of course, my receipts do show the date, time, and zip codes for everything I sent; so if that's the way her receipts are, a scan/picture should prove she shipped. However, I once shipped a package at a very tiny post office and the receipt only showed the total and not what it was for (I'm not sure it even listed a date and time) - hopefully, she uses a larger post office than that one!
I hope she comes through for you!
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I have always had some sort of number on my receipts for domestic and International. I could be wrong about the first class but for Priority most definitely and same for International postage.
Actually I am not sure why she did not just print her label from ebay because there is a number that automatically shows up not matter how you ship. Plus it's cheaper.
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I'm still, as of now, awaiting a reply from her. The thing that is really tripping me up is that this is a reputable seller. I really REALLY want to give them the benefit of the doubt. But right now, it's just seeming a little weird. The :muffin: Pony situation may have made me paranoid, but this is the way I see it.
The buyer offered me a refund if the item doesn't show up by today. ... (my mail doesn't come till 4:30, so it might actually show up, in which case I will feel like an amazingly huge idiot) The buyer was very quick to offer me the refund, instead of offering to check where the item was. This is fishy to me only because if this person offers me a refund, they are now out of an item AND out of the money. If I were the seller, I would check with the post office to make sure that the buyer (me) is not lying. I am not... and I have 100 percent feedback, though, so maybe they're just trusting me.
After what happened to me with :muffin: Pony, I have to approach everything as if the person is lying to me or scamming me, and I hate it. I want to believe that people are good (which most of them are) ... but that incident changed me and really made me think twice about buying things online.
If this goes down badly, I may give up on the whole online collecting thing. I really hope this package is at my house tonight, because I really don't want to have to file any sort of dispute or anything. The ponyadore/:muffin: Pony incident was upsetting enough to me.
But... I'll speak with the seller and see if we can resolve this somehow. I REALLY want to give this person the benefit of the doubt. I just also wanted to know what to do just in case this does go bad, so thank you. :)
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I am in a similar situation for a pony from ebay. Ebay indicates an estimated delivery date which has past but it also shows 5-11 business days for the shipping method so I am waiting until the 11 business days have past before taking any actions. Most other shipments made at the same time, even international ones, have already arrived. So xkappax you are not being paranoid or anything like that. I would be suspicious too.
OT: Ponylady: Do all USPS international shipments get a tracking number of some sort regardless of shipping method?
Edited from 10-15 days to 5-11 days! I better contact the seller!
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Yes they do. The only thing is First Class does not track it but it will show proof of acceptance at your PO.
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Good to know. Thanks!
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I'm so sorry to hear you are having another seller problem xkappax :sad: I understand why you are worried of course, since the item sold for less than its value, and the seller was quick to offer a refund :yikes: .
However, if the seller does have lots of good feedback, it might just be that she is worried about getting a neg so thats why she/he is offering to refund so quickly. The best thing they could do though rather than just refund you at this point, is to show you a copy of the shipping receipt which would prove they sent the item :awake: . Is this an international item BTW? international items do take longer than 2 weeks generally sometimes they arrive within 5-7 days, but more often its 3-5 weeks). Just keep an eye on your 45 day deadline and you wont be out of monies. If the seller is genuine and they refund you, but they have already sent the pony, then you can send the payment back to them once your pony arrives.
In the meantime keep a watch on this sellers other listings, just incase they do attempt to relist your item (in which case report them) ;)
Here's hoping that the pony arrives safely and you dont end up having to deal with another bad seller! Please let us know what happens :hug:
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It was an item coming from florida, and it should have been here by now. Ugh. The person seems very nice... and she said she'd check with the post office today. I'm going to wait till tonight and hear what she has to say. I'm still giving her the benefit of the doubt, but I will ALWAYS have the ponyadore situation in my mind when buying rare things from now until eternity.
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:hug: Kappa. If I had to personally go through that whole ponyadore experience, I would feel the same way. I am still shell-shocked over it and I was on the outside looking in.
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Than you. :) :) That was literally one of the worst things I have ever had to deal with... but it did have a relatively good outcome in the end, and while some people got ripped off, I think pretty much everyone who got ripped off got at least some of their stuff back... but... going through that and thinking "I'm going to have to confront this person".... when I'm not a confrontational person... it was the worst feeling in the world. I was sick over it.
I always get wary when someone says "lost in the mail" or whatever.. I always think they're trying to pull a fast one on me now.
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My item was also coming from Florida and she also said she is checking with the PO today. Hmmmm...PMing you xkappax.
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Well, it's a few days later, so I thought I'd post an update. No pony in the mail, and contact from the seller has stopped. I'm beginning to think the worst and that my suspicions were right, but I'm going to wait until monday for another contact from the seller. If that doesn't happen, i'm going to have to file a dispute with ebay and I REALLY don't want to do that. I will keep you posted.
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Thanks for the update :hug: how disappointing though that the seller has stopped communicating ,and still no pony :sad:
Giving them until Monday is a good idea since some people arent online much over the weekend, but if the situation hasnt changed by then (ie you get the pony, or the seller responds and sorts things out with you), then open the case
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I wonder if our sellers know each other or something. Same for me too. :(
Post Merge: June 02, 2012, 09:55:22 PM
Just an update for my issue. My seller responded quickly and refunded my money. Hope your issue is resolved soon! Good luck!
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Just an update... the seller responded today and refunded my money, saying it was lost in the mail. I'm still not convinced that the thing was even shipped, but at least I'm not out of the money. I will be watching to see if the item is relisted, and if so, I will report the seller to ebay. Oh well. Thanks for all of your help, everyone.
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That's good to hear that you itleast got your money back.
I am finding it hard to believe though that it was lost in the mail. It's very rare that a package actually goes missing. I am not saying that it does not happen but again it's rare.
I would definitely keep an eye out to see if it gets relisted ;)
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I hate to say it but I'm weary that it was actually lost as well. I usually don't think sellers are trying to pull a fast one but this is very odd...
Keep us posted if you see the pony again.
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Yeah. The reason I say that it probably wasn't "lost" was....
A. Seller was quick to refund my money.
B. Item went for way less than the same item
C. This is something that, if I were selling it, I would be disappointed at how little it went for.
D. Seller wouldn't check with the post office.
I really REALLY think they're going to relist the item and try to get more money for it. They may have more than one name, though, so they might relist it under another name so as not to arouse suspicion. There's nothing I can do if they do that. If another one pops up in a few days, I'm going to know that I was right.
This really stinks. I know I should just let it go, but packages simply don't just get "lost in the mail" nowadays. If Mimic can make it here from France just fine, I highly doubt that something coming from very close by got "lost".
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Oh I agree and I think it's lame if that's what they are doing.
If they printed out a label on paypal or ebay they would automatically get a tracking number. So why don't they have a tracking number?
Also, if a package goes missing you ask the buyer to wait longer to get it. You don't just refund immediately. Who would want to do that? You would be shocked that the package wasn't there!
Any idea why the pony went so low? Was it a poor photo or bad keywords?
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I'm not sure. I think it was just that no one was expecting anyone on ebay to have it, so they didn't search for it or something. I seriously was like "There is no reason I should be getting this for this little money"... I sort of expected that it wasn't going to show up. I don't know why, but I have a sixth sense for this sort of thing. If something is "too good to be true" it probably is. Especially considering the ROTTEN luck I always have.
If it were me, and I were selling something, I'd be crazy with worry if the package had been lost. Here I am with 100 percent good feedback, and now someone's telling me that something I sent didn't come? You would bet your butt I'd be down at that post office chewing them out and asking them where the hell it was. Asking them how in the world they lost something that was going such a short distance.
I would be especially concerned to be out the money. I am by no means rich, and I would not just refund someone without checking their story. I mean, what if I actually had the pony? What if it were sitting here right now? And what if I were lying?
I'm not, but the seller has no way of knowing that. Yes, I have 100 percent feedback, but if it were me, I'd check into that, too.
But that's not happening. That's what worries me.
I just seriously don't know why these sorts of things keep happening to me. And it's never stupid things I don't care about. It's always some rare thing that I can't get anywhere else right now.
And with my luck, the seller is probably a member of these forums and they're probably reading this and either thinking one of two things:
1. CRAP! She's on to me... or
2. this girl is crazy, she's NEVER going to get her item now! MWAHHAH HAHHAH HAHAHAHAHAH!
or, there's always option number three, which is
3. Item is legitimately lost in mail, seller is telling the truth.
Either way, it doesn't look good for me.
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Please let us know who the seller is, so nobody else falls victim to the "I lost it, I shouldn't have put it up for sale, I mailed it without tracking...." excuses! :( So sorry you are going through this...
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In my similar situation, to xkappax but different seller.
1. Says item is shipped.
2. Item never arrives after waiting 2.5 weeks
3. I contact seller.
4. She quickly refunds money
5. *Item is relisted for the same price but a different picture.*
I too am wondering if she ever sent it in the first place.
ETA: I am a bit mad about the wasting of my time. I couldn't figure out what I was feeling. I was happy to be getting an item and then nope! No pony. Grrrrr....
@xkappax: I understand a bit what you're feeling. It's a hard to let go when you feel scammed! :enraged: Not a big scam since we got our money back but still.
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Teresat, if it is the same item, you could report her to eBay. That is very much against ebays policies. I find this interesting that both our sellers are located in Florida. Makes me think they are the same person.
Edit: i was reading through the person's feedback and saw one that said that this person I bought from did not honor their low bid. I believe I will be contacting eBay tomorrow if the seller cannot provide proof of shipping.
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I think you both should contact Ebay about this person (if it is the same person).
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What is the best way to do it? Should I call eBay?
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Yes, I believe that is the best way. Maybe there is a section where you can report sellers who refuse to go through with a transaction.
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The only problem I think I have is that the relisted pony is a different picture. She can claim the one she sent me was lost and the new listing is a different pony. I do have my doubts. It wasn't cheap either. I just can't even imagine the motivation for not sending except that it was free shipping. Maybe shipping cost more than she planned since she was sending a G3 Styling pony from Florida to California.
I'll check with ebay about the seller's policy. Thanks RockinPrettyBeats!
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I second the request for the seller to be named. She is someone I really would like to avoid :(
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I'm going to be calling ebay this morning and speak with them on how to proceed. They will not give me any sort of confirmation that this thing actually shipped. I wrote the seller an email last night and have not gotten any sort of response, and I don't think I will get another response.
Once I hear back from ebay, I will let you know who the seller is. I am very concerned right now that I am falsely accusing someone still, even though the evidence points in a different direction. I don't want to post names until I know for sure, though, if that is okay. Don't want to send an innocent person to the slaughter, if you know what I mean.
I will say this: Both of my scamming incidents involved extremely rare things that are not released yet, i.e. :muffin: Pony and this most current one. I urge all of you to be extremely careful and extremely suspicious if s omeone offers you one of these rare items for a good price. And if you win one of these rare items on ebay for WAY less than it should be going for, and it gets "lost in the mail"... it probably isn't lost in the mail at all. It probably was never shipped.
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I urge all of you to be extremely careful and extremely suspicious if s omeone offers you one of these rare items for a good price. And if you win one of these rare items on ebay for WAY less than it should be going for, and it gets "lost in the mail"... it probably isn't lost in the mail at all. It probably was never shipped.
Yep even in pony land, if it sounds too good to be true... it probably is. :( *pony hugs* Hope you are able to get some answers from Ebay.
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I hope ebay can guide you in the right direction kappa. Please let us know what they advise you to do?
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I reported her. They said they'd put a flag on her account, but unless someone else reported her doing the same thing, they can't do much. I sent her one last message yesterday, if I do not hear from her by tomorrow, I will be leaving negative feedback with a message saying exactly what happened.
I'm done dealing with this crap, seriously, it makes me want to stop collecting ponies. I have honestly NEVER had this bad of a problem buying other things. Some of these sellers are NASTY. :(
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Some of the buyers are equally nasty. I don't know why... I used to think that pony buyers were the best until I started selling more.
(Only Ebay pony buyers, not the ones on the Arena)
But yeah, I think it has to do with many young people being into it and the very vocal community (which is also a plus at the same time).
But anyways, I'm happy you reported her. I hope you decide to list the Ebay id. I think that what she did is as lame as someone not paying.