Question on How Best to Handle a Problem on Ebay

I never thought I'd have a problem dealing with a direct purchase from an Ebay store, but I bought this item on November 20 and paid for it immediately.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230112505153&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=013

It hasn't arrived yet, and my three queries to the seller about its status have gone unanswered.

I assume it's just a slow shipment and a jerk seller, but at what point do I take further action, and what would be the best way to proceed?

I would give them to the end of the week. Then file with ebay, and leave neg. feedback. I've only lost out once.

I wouldn't be so quick to leave negative feedback. Perhaps it should be left after all other options have been exhausted.
Often I've seen negative feedback left for someone, which does seem to get them off their big wide duff to do something
about it, but then they leave you negative feedback, and it is very hard to get rid of it once its left.. and so on..

However, you should pursue this soon. There is a time limit for filing grievances with other parties on eBay.
I can't remember what it was.. 30 or 60 days. Once that time limit has passed, the options you have to get this resolved
disappear quickly.

I've never negged anybody and I don't intend to start. But, obviously, it's an option depending on the outcome. Unless somebody is obviously trying to rip people off, I would tend to just not leave feedback, or to leave "positive" feedback with a negative or cautionary message. I see this guy has at least one of those. Or neutral, I guess.

Waiting until the end of the week is good advice.

The guy might be having inventory issues... he might have sold these to you without having them in stock. He's afraid to answer, so he doesn't. Either that, or he's overwhelmed on a personal level and can't give as much time to his business as he used to. Based on his feedback, I wouldn't worry about not getting your fittings... just be persistent. I also wouldn't leave negative feedback. Go through eBay's channels... they usually work.

More good advice. I don't like being ignored, especially when I'm trying to be polite.

The out of stock possibility is one I thought of. However, there's nothing to stop somebody in that situation from going down to Home Depot and buying the fittings and shipping me what I paid for. Nothing unique about them, other than the price.

I originally thought the the shipment had been shipped to one of my other shipping addresses, one of which is, at the moment, vacant. But I can't determine that if the guy won't answer my emails and tell me where he shipped it. And the ship-to address in my confirmation is the right one.

I'm not worried. Just annoyed.

eBay problems for me have been rare.
Only once did I have to go into a dispute becuase the guy stopped payment.
Often we forget about family problems or illness.
I know it is frustrating...been there
Give it a couple more days, my wager is they will get back to you and be all apologetic.

I had a similar problem on Ebay and a day before I was going to notify Ebay, he emailed me and he had a death in the family. That was the only problem I had. I just wanted to throw my 2 cents.

Every morning I send this guy an email that's a bit less friendly than the one the day before. Tomorrow I'm going to tell him that I'll file a complaint with Ebay on Saturday if I don't hear from him or receive my stuff before then.

I did run the Ebay request for the guy's name, address and phone number. Not surprisingly, there was no email address, a "name" consisting of initials, an obviously bogus phone number (area code followed by 7 zeros) and nothing else.

I'm sympathetic to family tragedies and all that stuff, but the guy has an Ebay Store. That makes him a business in my book which obligates him, it seems to me, to communicate with his customers, especially those who have paid for items they haven't received.

If the end result of all this is that I get my money back after a few months of red tape, then needless to say, I'm not going to be very happy.

If you paid with PAy PAl, also let them know and file a complaint with them. They will mediate and if he don't come through, they will act and possibly reimburse you, or take it from his account to yours if he has the funds to cover it. Ebay & PayPal are pretty good about this stuff.

Eric, this may have no bearing on your situation but I've noticed that everything I've ordered online since about the middle of November is taking about twice as long to reach me, via UPS, as it normally would. I don't know if all the online Christmas shopping just has them swamped or what but they sure are running behind in this part of the world! :grrr:

Hope this all works out for you!

Eric,
Have you contacted any other buyers from this ebay seller?
Often a coordinated effort helps, especially on open auctions.
What kind of feedback does this character have?

As an ex-owner of an eBay store, they (eBay) usually go through a more detailed screening process to let you set up a store. I'm sure this guy has more credentials on file with eBay than the (obviously) bogus profile you saw.

The guy's got great feedback, though he did get one recent neg for slow shipment and no communication. That's why I've been relatively patient so far.

The holiday mail mess might explain the slow shipping, but in my mind, there's no excuse for ignoring repeated inquiries about the status of the order.

This morning I wrote him again expressing sympathy/condolences for any personal tragedy he may or may not be going through, but I also explained my intention to file claims/complaints with both Ebay and PayPal tomorrow if I don't hear from him before then.

And yes, homebrewz, there is a fairly narrow window of opportunity to claim a refund. You have to read the fine print and pay attention to the deadlines.

All this for a lousy $35. But that's less than half what I'm going to have to pay retail to get this project done (after all this delay) and that pisses me off to no end.

That's what I'm thinkin, too. If that's the case, then my money is probably still sitting in his PayPal account.

5,000 posts, BB. Congrats.

I negged the guy and filed a claim with Paypal today, as promised. Apparently PayPal's buyer protection program applies in this case, so I get my money back one way or the other. The seller has 10 days to respond to the claim. If he fails to do that, it goes in my favor. Should the stuff arrive before then, I can cancel the claim. Can't retract the neg, however.

Seems to me that's the price one pays for being irresponsible with other people's money.

After filing the claim with PayPal and pretty much giving up on this transaction, I finally got an email from the dude tonight. He's been busy. The parts will ship on Monday, along with "some extras" to make up for the inconvenience.

I'm relieved. Good thing I didn't get around to buying the parts at Home Depot at twice the price, or I'd be cheesed off in a big way. Anyway, I said thanks and I'll drop the claim when I get the parts. Sorry, can't do anything now about the negative feedback.

I appreciate all your sage advice, most of which turned out to be accurate.

I thought there was a way that you could do a "follow on" to a Negative Feedback to say problems were resolved or some such... Not positive since I've never actually needed to do that, but seem to recall seeing something about it.

Gooserider