NonPony eBay Frustrations (DuPont Lighter)

[Eskara1862]

It's no secret that I hate eBay. I hate it with a passion. Some of you may even remember my thread about how evil eBay is from three years ago when they decided I was a sub-standard seller over one person leaving low DSR ratings without contacting me. I swore I'd never sell there again. I must have been a battered wife in a previous life... Because I went back.

I quit working retail last June in an attempt to focus on building my own business. I was doing pretty good with the convention season running strong. I knew Jan/Feb would be lean months and that Nov/Dec are the best months to make money on eBay. I made the brilliant decision to start selling up a storm through the holiday season and actually did fairly well for myself. Then my life went on a little topsy-turvy trip in the middle of December (divorce, moving out of state, maxed out credit cards, all the good stuff you want to happen at once). I really, really needed money and started selling even more through January. One of my friends gave me a DuPont lighter to sell; he wanted $100 for it and anything beyond that I could keep. We were thrilled when it went for $225- after fees, we each got $100. We both immediately used the money to pay bills.

Now, the problems. I had a bad feeling about the high bidder from the start; no reason, just one of those gut feelings. They never contacted me with questions during the auction. I shipped promptly when they paid. Then they decide to e-mail me that they suspect the item is a fake and I will receive negative feedback if it is. I replied saying that my feedback is important to me and asking that they contact me after verifying the lighter's authenticity and before leaving neg/neut feedback. The next response was that they wanted a return and would leave me five star feedback if I accepted.

I started jumping for joy at that message! Could there be a more clear cut case of feedback extortion? I reported them and considered the matter closed.

Last night, they filed for a return with the reason being that the item is a fake. They 'had a local dealer verify it and he is 95% certain it's fake.' I called eBay and, after two hours of frustration, finally got the return escalated into a dispute. Now, he has five days to prove through an authorized DuPont dealer that it is a fake.

What totally and completely frustrates me is the hold on my PayPal account. They have placed a hold for almost $250, putting my account in the negative. I have auctions ending this week. Because of that hold, when my buyers pay me, that money will be completely unavailable to print their shipping labels. eBay's response to paying for the shipping labels is to "deposit money into PayPal to bring the balance into a positive number." One, I don't have the money. Two, the lighter is real and the buyer is trying to force a return out of buyers remorse. Three, screw you eBay/PayPal! I don't have the money.

So, yeah. That's where I stand right now. I don't know if any of you have advice for me or not; but, I feel better just being able to rant a little bit to people who understand.

[bluerose9978]

My best advice is if your friend has a PayPal account or if you have another family member with a PayPal account to connect it to your eBay and ask if they would be able to help you finish your transactions. My husband and I each have separate PayPal accounts just in case we run into this kind of thing.

You also can ship out your packages through the USPS website. You cannot ship first class but it takes credit card and still allows a discount and you can print your labels online.

[StarFaerie]

I suggest you accept the return. If eBay decide the lighter is fake, even if it isn't really,  it won't be sent back to you, it will be destroyed by the buyer! And eBay will repay when photos of the destruction are supplied. If you believe it is real, get it back and resell or you could be out everything. There are plenty of cases of real stuff, very valuable things, being destroyed under this policy.

[ponylady]

Yikes what a mess  I hate guts feelings because they almost always come true.

My best advice is if your friend has a PayPal account or if you have another family member with a PayPal account to connect it to your eBay and ask if they would be able to help you finish your transactions. My husband and I each have separate PayPal accounts just in case we run into this kind of thing.

You also can ship out your packages through the USPS website. You cannot ship first class but it takes credit card and still allows a discount and you can print your labels online.

I think this is good advice. Although I think I might ask my friend to return the funds that were paid to them when the lighter was originally sold. Hopefully with that and what you are selling on eBay it can bring your account into good standing, without linking someone else's account to yours.  I say this because if eBay does rule in their favor and you have to accept the return/refund, your friend is going to have to pay you back the funds you are out anyways.

*sigh* I really am at loss otherwise on what to do. I used to sell for other people and it took a case like this to stop me from ever doing it again.