lombrozo
03-01-2004, 09:44 AM
Hope someone can give me some useful advice, it's a long story, but $500 of my hard earned cash hangs in the balance, so I hope someone can help. The auciton I won was for a Tapwave Zodiac 2 (a PDA), currently retailing at $400 but not available outside the U.S. There are quite a few sellers on eBay offering to export it should you win the auction.
Note that I am from the U.K. and he is in the U.S. I have an all positive feedback of 61, he has an all positive rating of 6.
Also note that during the whole process I constantly check his auction list on eBay to see if he is selling anything else.
Here's the history:
4th February
Win eBay auction, get contact from seller asking me what shipping I would like, options are $35: 6-16 days, $43: 5-11 days, $50: 5-7 days, $144: 3 days, he also says he'll insure the package for $500 and that'll be included in the shipping costs. I opt for $35 shipping. I offer to pay using bidpay.com because I don't have PayPal account.
6th February
Get reply, seller sends me his home address for me to sent the payment to. I send the money-order using bidpay.com
9th February
Recieve email from bidpay.com saying they won't authorise payment because seller hasn't got a high enough feeback rating. I email seller telling him this and tell him I'll pay using a mates PayPal account. In his reply (same day) he bregrudgingly agrees to PayPal payment moaning about a $20 fee he'll have to shell out to withdraw money from PayPal account. I send a reply email saying i'll split that $20 cost with him in good faith.
10th February
Recieve email from seller saying ok, he gives me his PayPal email address (same as his normal email address). I make payment of $500.
15th February
I send email asking if he recieved PayPal payment (he should have emailed me back telling me he had recieved the payment and that he would be sending the goods by now).
16th Febuary
Seller emails me saying he has recieved payment and that he is "in the process of shipping my zodiac".
19th Febuary
I send another email askling the state of play, he sends one back saying "It takes a couple of days for the funds to transfer to my account. From there, I pay for your device and it is shipped to me, and shortly afterwards I ship it to you. It's a slow process, and I apologize for the time it takes to complete it. Your impatience is understandable, the Zodiac is a great device." (I thought PayPal payments were instant, perhaps he is refferring to the amount of time it takes him to WITHDRAW the funds from his PayPal account?).
23rd February
I send email asking state of play
26th Febuary
I send another email asking state of play
28th February
I send another more serious email asking the state of play. I threaten to call him up (i have his telephone number, and the eBay dispute resolution guide advises to contact seller by telephone as first step in the dispute resolution process). Seller replies: "I'm sorry, I thought I replied to those messages. As I said before PayPal has some serious issues with speed and withdrawing money, and have suspended $360 of my money because of a credit card problem the last time I sold one of these. I have been actively selling additional units in order to pay the fees and afford the next device for the next buyer, but my last auction didn't sell, which delayed yours for an additional 3 days. My next auction already has bids, and when it sells in a few days I will be able to afford your zodiac and ship it to you, and probably the same for the next guy as well. In short, PayPal has put me in a death spiral of auctions and I'm a victim of it's system as much as you are. You'll get a zodiac asap, I promise. btw, I forgot to confirm your mailing address. It's probably on PayPal, but that's not always current. Also, to make up for the delay I'm going to ship it via global EMS, even tho you paid for a slower option. It'll come with a tracking number."
29th Febuary
I send email to seller asking for links to these auctions of his so I can determine if he is doing anything to resolve his cash flow situation. He replies with a link to a recently finished auction that started on 25th February and ended on 28th February. I find this strange because I checked his auction list ("view seller's other items") every day and he never listed anything since my auction.
1st March (TODAY)
Here are some very interesting points to note. Lets call the original seller of MY Zodiac seller 1 and the buyer of seller 1's recent auction buyer 1:
1) I check seller 1's feeback rating and notice that buyer 1 has already left positive feedback for him. The auction was won on the 28th February, and the feedback was placed on 29th February. How could buyer 1 have paid for the auction and recieved his goods so quickly? And more importantly, why has he recieved HIS goods when I paid for MY auction three weeks ago and still haven't recieved the goods. Also, why has he recieved HIS goods when seller 1 said he'd use the proceeds of THAT auction to buy my Zodiac!
2) I notice that buyer 1 bought the Zodiac from seller 1 for $300. But then the NEXT day the same buyer buys a Zodiac 2 from a different seller (call him seller 2) for $300 ($200 more than what I paid for mine from seller 1).
3) Seller 1 has feedback rating of 7, all positive, buyer 1 has feedback rating of 6 with one negative and one neutral. Seller 2 has feedback rating of 6 with 1 negative (from a different buyer saying he sent cash but seller 2 had not sent goods). Also, note that seller 2 only joined eBay on 1st February. Seller 1 and buyer 1 have been with eBay for a few years.
So, there you have it. My dilemma in a nut-shell. I'm starting to have some serious doubts about the whole thing, it's starting to look very dodgy, so if anyone can offer any advice, i'd be very appreciative!
Hope someone can help. Thanks!
Note that I am from the U.K. and he is in the U.S. I have an all positive feedback of 61, he has an all positive rating of 6.
Also note that during the whole process I constantly check his auction list on eBay to see if he is selling anything else.
Here's the history:
4th February
Win eBay auction, get contact from seller asking me what shipping I would like, options are $35: 6-16 days, $43: 5-11 days, $50: 5-7 days, $144: 3 days, he also says he'll insure the package for $500 and that'll be included in the shipping costs. I opt for $35 shipping. I offer to pay using bidpay.com because I don't have PayPal account.
6th February
Get reply, seller sends me his home address for me to sent the payment to. I send the money-order using bidpay.com
9th February
Recieve email from bidpay.com saying they won't authorise payment because seller hasn't got a high enough feeback rating. I email seller telling him this and tell him I'll pay using a mates PayPal account. In his reply (same day) he bregrudgingly agrees to PayPal payment moaning about a $20 fee he'll have to shell out to withdraw money from PayPal account. I send a reply email saying i'll split that $20 cost with him in good faith.
10th February
Recieve email from seller saying ok, he gives me his PayPal email address (same as his normal email address). I make payment of $500.
15th February
I send email asking if he recieved PayPal payment (he should have emailed me back telling me he had recieved the payment and that he would be sending the goods by now).
16th Febuary
Seller emails me saying he has recieved payment and that he is "in the process of shipping my zodiac".
19th Febuary
I send another email askling the state of play, he sends one back saying "It takes a couple of days for the funds to transfer to my account. From there, I pay for your device and it is shipped to me, and shortly afterwards I ship it to you. It's a slow process, and I apologize for the time it takes to complete it. Your impatience is understandable, the Zodiac is a great device." (I thought PayPal payments were instant, perhaps he is refferring to the amount of time it takes him to WITHDRAW the funds from his PayPal account?).
23rd February
I send email asking state of play
26th Febuary
I send another email asking state of play
28th February
I send another more serious email asking the state of play. I threaten to call him up (i have his telephone number, and the eBay dispute resolution guide advises to contact seller by telephone as first step in the dispute resolution process). Seller replies: "I'm sorry, I thought I replied to those messages. As I said before PayPal has some serious issues with speed and withdrawing money, and have suspended $360 of my money because of a credit card problem the last time I sold one of these. I have been actively selling additional units in order to pay the fees and afford the next device for the next buyer, but my last auction didn't sell, which delayed yours for an additional 3 days. My next auction already has bids, and when it sells in a few days I will be able to afford your zodiac and ship it to you, and probably the same for the next guy as well. In short, PayPal has put me in a death spiral of auctions and I'm a victim of it's system as much as you are. You'll get a zodiac asap, I promise. btw, I forgot to confirm your mailing address. It's probably on PayPal, but that's not always current. Also, to make up for the delay I'm going to ship it via global EMS, even tho you paid for a slower option. It'll come with a tracking number."
29th Febuary
I send email to seller asking for links to these auctions of his so I can determine if he is doing anything to resolve his cash flow situation. He replies with a link to a recently finished auction that started on 25th February and ended on 28th February. I find this strange because I checked his auction list ("view seller's other items") every day and he never listed anything since my auction.
1st March (TODAY)
Here are some very interesting points to note. Lets call the original seller of MY Zodiac seller 1 and the buyer of seller 1's recent auction buyer 1:
1) I check seller 1's feeback rating and notice that buyer 1 has already left positive feedback for him. The auction was won on the 28th February, and the feedback was placed on 29th February. How could buyer 1 have paid for the auction and recieved his goods so quickly? And more importantly, why has he recieved HIS goods when I paid for MY auction three weeks ago and still haven't recieved the goods. Also, why has he recieved HIS goods when seller 1 said he'd use the proceeds of THAT auction to buy my Zodiac!
2) I notice that buyer 1 bought the Zodiac from seller 1 for $300. But then the NEXT day the same buyer buys a Zodiac 2 from a different seller (call him seller 2) for $300 ($200 more than what I paid for mine from seller 1).
3) Seller 1 has feedback rating of 7, all positive, buyer 1 has feedback rating of 6 with one negative and one neutral. Seller 2 has feedback rating of 6 with 1 negative (from a different buyer saying he sent cash but seller 2 had not sent goods). Also, note that seller 2 only joined eBay on 1st February. Seller 1 and buyer 1 have been with eBay for a few years.
So, there you have it. My dilemma in a nut-shell. I'm starting to have some serious doubts about the whole thing, it's starting to look very dodgy, so if anyone can offer any advice, i'd be very appreciative!
Hope someone can help. Thanks!