[Old Crow]

I have had my first negative eBay experience, though admittedly I have not had a lot of experience.

I won an auction which closed Thursday evening, 8/30, and I was out of town until Friday evening, 8/31. I advised seller I would send money order but could not send until I went to bank on Tuesday, Sept. 4 to purchase money order for total with shipping, due to intervening weekend and Labor Day, 9/3, during which my was bank closed.

I left the money order in a certified mail envelope on 9/4 with my secretary with instructions to mail it as I was leaving on a business trip for a week. On 9/4, the seller sent a message asking if money order had been sent and I responded yes. As it turns out, my secretary did not the mail certified mail envelope until 9/5, the next day, though I was unaware.

On 9/9, the seller sent a message that no money order had been received so he had relisted the item. No advance notice- he just unilaterally relisted. I wrote back that the money order had been sent and asked him to honor the auction. I pointed out his listing said both paypal and money orders "accepted" and did not indicate either was "preferred", and most importantly the listing did not specify payment was required to be received by a certain date after the auction closed. None of his messages before this had hinted paymeent must be reeceived by a certain date, and he knew the money order was being sent by certified mail and yet did not ask for receipt to track on USPS.com.

In responding to the Ebay dispute process I initiaated, the seller initially said on 9/10 that he had not received payment. I replied I did not expect shipment until payment received but also expected him to allow payment to arrive and not relist without advance notice, and reminded him that his listing had no time limit to receive payment. His response was to say he decided to relist on 9/10 and so advised me. In fact, his messsage about relisting was sent on 9/9 and said he had "relisted" item because payment had not been received by 9/8 (which was just 4 days after I had advised him payment had been mailed.

I provided the seller with the certified mail receipt number and advised that USPS.com showed the item arrived in the seller's town on 9/10. The seller confirmed he received envelope with money order today, 9/11, but still refuses to honor auction, and also said today is his final communication with me and makes no mention of whether or how he will return money order.

The money order arrived in seller's hand 6 days after it was sent certified mail, though I mistakenly said it was sent on 9/4 when it was actually sent the next day, 9/5.

Am I wrong or being unreasonable?

[STARMAN 352ND]

This sounds like a very unreasonable seller to me....Most sellers will give 7 to 10 days at least..
He should of honored it... you say the tracking say's he got it on Sept 10 and yet he says Sept 11th ??
Put a stop payment on the Money Order.....You should be able to get your money back that way.
Since he has the M.O. you would think he would cancel the auction and send it to you....

[Martin Baker]

You could ask him to remove the bad feedback

[PappyB]

sounds like a bunch of bollocks to me -- the seller is being VERY unreasonable IMHO... did you happen to win the item in quetion for a great price, sometimes that influences sellers to look for a way out of the deal.

Its absurd that he hasn't at least communicated that he is sending the MO back... sheesh!

Sorry OC, sounds to me like you did everything you could to make the deal happen.

[JustPlaneNuttz]

I have to agree with everyone here and say this guy is being TOTALLY unreasonable -- to be polite. What's your next step? Do you know if he plans to return your money or honour the bid? Before you consider ratting him out to eBay, or leaving him Negative Feedback, I'd advise him of this first. Perhaps he may have a change of heart. Then again . . .

The guy is a dingus, regardless. In the myriad of eBay deals I've done, I've never had to deal with a jerk.

[flaps]

I have to take the other side of the fence on this one. In this day of internet shopping and Ebay if you want to buy that way, you should get a PayPal account, then these issues rarely arrise. I have sold many old action figures and old toys on Ebay and Money Orders are a pain in the arse, people say they mail them one day and then they mail it another, then it takes 4 to 6 days to arrive, then you gotta drive to your bank ( special trip usually ) then the bank does not clear it for 3 to 7 days. Money orders are no longer like cash, they are subject to fraud and two banks here told me they are no longer handled as cash. Waste of time in my opinion. So you buy the item on the 30th, he does not see his payment until the 11th which is quite a long time , then he has to wait for it to clear.

He should have given you a few more days, but overall money orders area big waste of time and pain in the arse for all involved. Like I said above if you plan on buying on Ebay or the Internet in general which most people do, you can not beat PayPal, it is free for the buyer and the sellers dont mind the few percent they lose, because it makes everything easy and quick.

Heck I had one item sell, the fella told me he would have the check mailed the next day, did not happen, finally 5 days later he mails it, I got it 6 days after that from Canada, then I did not get to the bank for 2 more days, they held it a full 8 days because it was from Canada, so after all this I ship the guys item, and he complains of the time it took to get it. Most of which was waiting on this money order BS.

Just my ever so humble opinion. Lets get with the times on internet and Ebay buying, buck up and get PayPal set-up for yourself. I have been using them for 10+ years and I have never had any issues that I did not creat myself in some way. Safe and Easy.

Flaps

[skydriver]

Crow,

I would suggest you contact ebay immediatly with regards to getting this resolved. Also, I would let the seller know you will be leaving negative feedback about the transaction. No seller wants negative feedback. Granted, he can respond to your to your negative feedback with a comment, but still it could affect him.

If he still does not return your money, then contact the Secretary of State office in his state and file a complaint. They might be able to help.

Overall, is sounds like this seller is a f**king jerk, and you just need to realize that he probably could care less about you.

But Flaps is right, get a paypal account. It is so much eaiser, althougth every once in a while, you still might have to send a check.

Good Luck

[SKUNKY]

Yeah, I once won an ebay item where the seller would accept nothing other than a money order..He didn't accept Paypal.....I had to go into town, buy the money order, pay for a stamp, put it in the mailbox and then wait and wait...I decided then and there I would never do another ebay transaction with someone who didn't accept Paypal.....Like flaps said, it's the way to go if you're doing business on ebay.... quick, simple and hassle-free. (at least fom my experience)

[jim]

I have been lucky, I have never had a problem with Ebay, but I always use Paypal. I set up an account right at the start and have done around 100 transactions without a problem.

However in this case I think that seller is being very unreasonable and It seems to me he is trying to get out of the deal.
For the sake of others I would leave negative feedback and complain strongly to Ebay.

[TopHat]

I mostly use paypal for ebay purchases and only accept paypal for my ebay auctions for the reasons listed by Flaps. Too many "check's in the mail" stories.....