View Full Version : Stupidest Unpaid Item Strike Ever?
I recently contacted a seller about shipping a complete copy of E.V.O to Canada (It was a US only item) for an additional fee, but assured him that I would provide a paypal confirmed US address if he could not ship internationally. He didn't respond for a few days, so I just bought the item with a Buy it Now and waited to hear from the guy. Anyway, after a few more days without hearing from him, I sent him a quick note asking for an invoice, and whether I should give him my US or Canadian address and I got a message from him saying "I do NOT ship outside of the US." I figured, fine, and responded with "Did you recieve my message stating that I would provide a US address?". About a week later I'm left with an Unpaid Item dispute, which turns into an Unpaid Item Strike the next day. If you guys are interested I can provide a copy of the dispute. Why am I left with an Unpaid Item strike when I was willing to pay for the item under the auction's rules? Has anyone else had experience with sellers being biased against international bidders, and not just international shipping?
kevin_psx
12-05-2005, 02:48 PM
Lack of communication - problem. He thought you were not paying.
All need do is click the "I have paid for this item" in the Dispute Console & you will not get a strike. Had the exact same problem & no Strike was issued against me.
Jibbajaba
12-05-2005, 02:49 PM
Why did you even ask? If you had a US address to send it to, why didn't you just BIN the item, and pay him via paypal using the US address as the ship to addy?
Chris
number6
12-05-2005, 02:50 PM
Is the US Paypal confirmed address linked to your Ebay account? The seller can only get Paypal protection if the account you use to pay for the item is linked to the Ebay account you won the auction with. I am guessing your US paypal account is not linked to the EBay account you won the auction with and that is why the seller is giving you a hard time. Like the seller stated in the auction terms "US only" means US only. You should not have bid without getting a response back from the seller.
I should have immediately provided a US address, but the Canadian address is a lot more convenient. I think the main problem is that the seller freaked out when he saw that I was a Canadian buyer, despite my repeated promises to provide a US address. The main reason I just went ahead with it is that in my experience US only sellers are generally very quick to respond to questions, and for the most part, willing to ship internationally for some extra cash. The confirmed paypal address is not linked to my eBay account, but I could fix that easily, and the seller did not know it was not linked to my account, as he never sent me an invoice. Unfortunately, I can't click "I have paid for this item" as he closed the dispute. The seller only stated that he would not ship outside of the US, why would he care where the bid came from?
kevin_psx
12-05-2005, 03:35 PM
Canadian? That's ridiculous. I too ship "US-only" but if my friendly neighbors from the north Win My auction - will ship for an extra $1. Canada = U.S. Part 2 = Safe, not some banana republic
Think the seller is being an uptight/anal-retentive ass. Should just ship to Canada.
Link to auction or Seller Feedback please?
Here's the auction link:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8235790183&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1
The dispute conversation was as follows:
eBay 04-Dec-05 at 10:04:07 EST
An Unpaid Item dispute has been opened for the following item: SNES Super Nintendo E.V.O.: Search for Eden RPG CIB NR (#8235790183)
Reason given for Unpaid Item: The buyer has not paid for the item.
Buyer actions reported by seller: Other reason.
zathras_eleven 04-Dec-05 at 10:07:32 EST
I do not sell outside the USA. This user enetered "CANADA" as a U.S. Postal Zip Code to get around
that. Please fix your system eBay!!!
geenyam 04-Dec-05 at 11:53:27 EST
Hi there, I am not trying to get around anything. I said that if you will not ship to Canada, I can
provide you with a US address. Please send me an invoice, and I will provide you with the US address
where I would like to have the item to be shipped.
geenyam 04-Dec-05 at 12:38:31 EST
I did not enter "CANADA" as a U.S zip code, I simply bought the item thinking I'd ask if the seller
would ship to Canada. I intended to provide a paypal confirmed US address if he would not ship
internationally for an additional fee. As for the non-paying bidder dispute, the seller wouldn't even
send an invoice. I'd be happy to provide a copy of our correspondence to eBay staff if need be. Thanks!
zathras_eleven 05-Dec-05 at 06:59:12 EST
He asked if I would consider shipping to Canada! Then, before I could reply decided to FORCE the issue
and entered "Canada" as the U.S. Postal Zip Code to get around my USA only policy. Tsk, tsk!
zathras_eleven 05-Dec-05 at 07:00:07 EST
As for the non-paying thing, eBay INSTRUCTED ME to do it that way. No reason to send an invoice to
someone in Canada when I only sell to the USA!
zathras_eleven 05-Dec-05 at 07:02:13 EST
I will NOT be forced into selling outside the USA because eBay has a hole in their system. Please fix
it so that text cannot be entered in the Zip Code field! Geez!
eBay 05-Dec-05 at 07:02:19 EST
The Unpaid Item dispute has been closed for the following reason:
The seller has ended this communication and filed for a Final Value Fee credit.
Finally, here's my appeal to eBay:
Hi there, I recently bid on a USA only item which stated that it would not ship internationally. I purchased the item and contacted the seller to ask if he would ship to Canada for an additional fee, though I assured him I would provide a US address if he would not ship internationally. He seems to think I entered "CANADA" in the zip code field, though I was never prompted to enter a zip code, and would have entered my postal code had I been given the chance. Please remove the Unpaid Item strike from my account. I was entirely willing to pay for the item, and did not expect him to ship to Canada (I have access to a PAYPAL CONFIRMED US ADDRESS). Thanks for your time!
If this doesn't go through or he leaves me with a negative I'm going to file a Seller Non-Performance complaint.
kevin_psx
12-05-2005, 05:29 PM
eBay 04-Dec-05 at 10:04:07 EST
An Unpaid Item dispute has been opened
Thought we had 7 days to reply to these Unpaid Item disputes??? You only got 1! That don't seem right.
I'm going to file a Seller Non-Performance complaint.
A what? Never heard of that! What is it?
Think the seller's being an ass refusing to ship to Canada - what's so bothersome about Canada shipping?
eBay 04-Dec-05 at 10:04:07 EST
An Unpaid Item dispute has been opened
Thought we had 7 days to reply to these Unpaid Item disputes??? You only got 1! That don't seem right.
I'm going to file a Seller Non-Performance complaint.
A what? Never heard of that! What is it?
Think the seller's being an ass refusing to ship to Canada - what's so bothersome about Canada shipping?
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html
Like I said, I'm waiting to hear from eBay, but I don't think he should go unreported if he's unwilling to deliver the goods. I still think the funniest thing about this is that he thought I exploited some loophole in eBay's system.
Griking
12-05-2005, 05:48 PM
I knew I remembered the eBay user name zathras_eleven from somehwere.
Link (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27678&highlight=zathraseleven)
I wish I had seen that before I bid! The guy seems absolutely crazy.
I was just reading through his feedbacks, and he's shipped to Canadian buyers in the past!
video_game_addict
12-05-2005, 09:11 PM
zathras_eleven is a well known asshole. He's also an idiot as ebay does allow him to block bidders outside the US he just doesn't have his preferences setup correctly.
Even still you are at fault here yam, you bid without permission on his game. If he only ships to the US and you do not live in the US you can't bid just because you want the item. There's no case for a non-preformance here, because you broke the rules of the auction. Seller non-preformace is there for sellers who back out of transactions, like not being satisfied with the closing price of the auction, or maybe sellers who receive a higher offer on a item shortly after the auction ends and tells you it's lost or something. If a seller states US only and you bid without premission, you're just an idiot. Granted you may know someone in the US to have the game shipped to, but unless you have them use the BIN or change your ebay profile to a US setting at their address and provide the confirmed US paypal address, there's no reason for him to ship to you. He's only interested in CYA, he's looking out for him own, and that means no shipping to other people's addresses after the auction is over, and no shipping to Canada.
I have a US address associated with my paypal account but it isn't confirmed. As I stated earlier, it would be easy enough to associate a confirmed US address with my account. By your logic, there was also no cause for a Unpaid Item complaint, as he refused to accept payment. I bid on the auction assuming that he would honour his claim that he would ship to US addresses and that the worst case scenario would involve him requesting that I pay the listing fees.
video_game_addict
12-05-2005, 11:46 PM
Unpaid item complaints are initiated in an atempt to recoupe the FVFs of the auction. Of course it hurts you in other ways too, but for the seller he can get a little of his money back.
If you are not paying with a confirmed paypal account attached to your ebay handle shipping in the US, you leave him open up to buyer complaints, false chargebacks, and other headaches that he just doesn't want to deal with. That's why he is a no international bids type of guy. Even with a confirmed paypal addy in Canada, which is now possible, he is at a lose if it's shipped without tracking, and Airmail is not trackable, so you need to use EMS or probably send items UPS or DHL or something to be covered by paypals buyer protection. It's not worth some seller's time to ship out of the US. I recently changed myself, and I still had a few international bidders on my most recent auctions. I guess they do not read. I don't have a problem dealing with members of websites I hang out at, but 99% of the foreign bidders no more do I want the hassles. I can completely understand zathras ignoring your emails, and not wanting to get in the middle of something with you emailing saying you have an address he can ship to. You broke the first rule of the auction by bidding in the first place when it was not your place, so you deserve whatever treatment he dishes out in the end.
kevin_psx
12-06-2005, 01:02 AM
If Airmail is not trackable - what about sneding surface? That's trackable.
Hi there, I recently bid on a USA only item which stated that it would not ship internationally. I purchased the item and contacted the seller to ask if he would ship to Canada for an additional fee, though I assured him I would provide a US address if he would not ship internationally. I was entirely willing to pay for the item, and did not expect him to ship to Canada (I have access to a PAYPAL CONFIRMED US ADDRESS). Thanks for your time!
Think the above paragraph confused the Seller. I know it confuses me. I'm thinking - "WTF??? Does he live in Canada or United States?!?!? Huh? What?"
Simplify dude/
If you have a U.S. adddress. Just say so. Don't give me a history lesson about Canadian/U.S. relations or confirmed/unconfirmed accounts. I don't care.
All I care is
-Did he pay?
-Is it U.S. address?
My tiny brain can't handle anything more complex. LOL LOL LOL
XianXi
12-06-2005, 01:32 AM
I know how you feel, I live in Hawaii and for some strange reason I keep thinking Hawaii IS a state but some ebay sellers insist it's not.
SoulBlazer
12-06-2005, 02:46 AM
Yeah, I THOUGHT the sellers name sounded farmilar. Defentily a ass.
The only fault I see with the buyer is that he should have used the US address right away to ship to when he paid and then stated that he has a confirmed PayPal addy in Canada that the seller can check if need be.
But I would'nt deal with that guy and I'm in the US. :)
kevin_psx
12-06-2005, 10:58 AM
eBay 04-Dec-05 at 10:04:07 EST An Unpaid Item dispute has been opened Thought we had 7 days to reply to these Unpaid Item disputes??? You only got 1! That don't seem right.
Filed a non-paying strike today. Now see how it works. If the buyer ignores the dispute - he has 7 days to find a solution. If buyer responds, seller can close immediately. - I had 7 days 'cause I ignored the Dispute until the last day. - You only had 1 day 'cause you responded immediately.
Conclusion - it better to ignore a dispute & resolve the problem - one email every day for a week - until the Seller agrees with you.
Gotta remember that.
EBay removed the strike. Maybe they know what an asshole zathras11 is.