[29Colossus]

I am a solid ebayer. I have sold a lot of high dollar items. I ran an auction lately that was perfect. Great description. Great pictures. I answered question after question in detail. I made sure interested parties had their questions answered. I talked to several real bidders on the phone, long distance, several times.

In the last 6 seconds of the auction, the bidding was heated and the winner sorted out. The winner had great feedback. I sent an ebay invoice immediately. I was happy and expected payment immediately as the auction required. I packed the item up that night so that it could go out on Friday. If I got paid that is. I didn't get paid.

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This is what happened next. I sent an email:

This is just a payment reminder. I sent an invoice at auction close, but just wanted to make sure you got it, and all is OK. I would like to get the bike shipped out on Monday if I could. It is all packed up and ready.

Thanks, and congrats on the auction win. It is a great bike.

----------------------

He replied to my email:

Holy Crap! OK, I am out of the country right now, and I had asked my Dumb Ass brother to bid on the auction for me. Only I had told him to bid on "The [item removed]", This is not even the right freaking bike, the bike he was supposed to bid on goes off around this time tomorrow. I didn't even care about the part groupo, as I had planed on stripping down my Foes FXR, swapping frames and then sell the Foes with all new parts.

I can not believe this happened he is such an idiot, look at my history I am no flake I have 82 @ 100%, but if you look closer it is actually 90 @ 100%, because of buying and selling to people that I have already done business with. I have four very high end bikes, and planned on using the -------- as a light freeride machine, with that being said I would never buy one with the DHX Air.

I hope you will be caring, and sympathetic to my dilemma here, because I don't want a bad review.

---------------------------

I was over being all that nice about it as you can see below. I see this crap too much and BS excuses make me hot so I replied:

Amazing. I am so sick of this kind of crap on ebay. The auction ran for 7 DAYS. I am not responsible for the issues with your brother, or what country you might be in, or the excuses you want to make. I have to pay for you being precisely what you say you are not. I answered over 100 questions. I spoke with several REAL bidders on the phone several times. All long-distance, all week long. Question after question. I spent hours taking pictures and resizing and watermarking. I spent hours writing up the auction, and setting it up. I took the time at night after the auction ended to package the bike so I could ship it on Friday immediately after payment.

Negative feedback? This type of irresponsibility in bidding and lack of payment is precisely what negative feedback is for. It is my responsibility to give you negative feedback no matter what your feedback retaliation is or is not.

I am disappointed. I will begin the process of non-payment with Ebay after waiting the required 7 days. They will charge my account, and then a month later give me some money back. Great. Thanks. Thanks for wasting my time and money.

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He didn't like that:

If it is mutually withdraw, and then re-listed it doesn't cost you one penny, and I am sorry for your bad experiences through E-bay, but none of those are my fault. I never asked you a question about the bike, talked to you about the bike, or was even watching the bike. It is my brothers fault, although partially mine for not being specific enough. If you leave negative feedback I will be forced to do the same. Let's act like adults here, I don't know how old you are, but I am 35 with a wife, kid, and good career. I would never do this in my right mind. I will ask nicely one more time, as stated above "mutually withdraw, and then re-listed it doesn't cost you one penny". I myself had to do this with a few dead beat bidders; that I am not. I will do whatever it takes, you don't have to freak.

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He will ask nicely? Unbelievable. More:

I'm sorry, but I don't really believe your excuses. Even if I did, they would still be irresponsible at best. I am an accomplished ebayer myself, and I don't sell junk. I spend a lot of time on my auctions to make them fair and honest for the consumer. I spend time during the auctions to make people that have questions, informed and confident. Your irresponsibility has wasted me several weeks. That is money. If you let your brother bid on the WRONG 3,000 plus dollar item, that is YOUR fault. I realize that you will leave negative feedback for me upholding my end PERFECTLY. That is what irresponsible buyers do. They retaliate with negative feedback when they get angry about their own irresponsibility. I trust people to check it out and see for themselves who was irresponsible in this auction. It will speak for itself, and you know it will.

I OWE the ebay community to do what is right. It is not responsible to allow others to bid on your behalf on ebay. You KNOW this as it is common sense, and I don't think you are an idiot. But that does not absolve MY responsibility to the community to report this irresponsibility in the form of feedback. You know this. The way you handled this auction was unacceptable. Trying to place blame outside of your responsibility for your account is unacceptable. This bad experience is YOUR fault. That is the only experience I am concerned with today. I take ebay seriously. I will do what I have to do to be sure that others take it seriously as well.

Maybe next time you will be more serious about your ebay account.

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I have since sent him a list of possible negative feedback messages so he can feel my pain a bit more clearly. I hate to ruin a perfect feedback score of an accomplished ebayer, but allowing family or friends to bid for you is not responsible. Why should I have to clean it up? The fact is that I shouldn't have to. He needs to learn, and other ebayers need to know that he has little control over his account it would appear.

I like Ebay. It works when people use it responsibly. The feedback system just sucks. This guy screws me over. He takes ebay and it's members for granted. He has his brother bidding on items he doesn't even want.

And in the end, I will get negative feedback over it. I don't even care anymore. Perfect record since 1999. 7 years. Now I get this loser with no responsibility for his actions. I would have bought the bike and sold it, taking the lumps along the way if I had to. Not this ahole though. He blames it on his brother like he had NOTHING to do with it.

Ohh well. Not even ranting about it makes me feel better about it at this point. I guess I will just have to go for a ride. Some people need to get the puss beat out of them to learn to respect and have consideration for others. It is a pity that it can't be readily done in some instances.

Rant over. Sorry.

 

[Speedub.Nate]

I sincerely feel your pain, but it's not worth getting worked up over.

No seller cares if a buyer has a perfect record, as long as they get their dough (in most cases). Face it -- the negative you give him isn't going to mean **** to anybody else down the road.

And obviously the dude isn't about to fork over three grand.

Protect your feedback and move on.

 

[Sideknob]

Hmmm, he's overseas, and can presumably access his email, but not ebay??

Surely, if it was that important and expensive an auction, he'd have made more effort.

In addition, I'm sure he could have put the CORRECT item on his watch list early on, to ensure his brother didn't stuff it up, as he claims.

 

[NY2CO]

His brother? Moron.

I have 0 tolerance for people like that.

Negative feedback? Absolutely.

Make sure you record any and everything you receive from this person in text. Then email ebay with it and tell them you are being extorted for favorable feedback. I assume that ebay would resolve it for you.

 

[rafdog]

The internet is choc full o' flakes....you obviously had the misfortune of "selling" to one.

 

[lboya]

Do you have a link to the auction?

 

[Shad6Bones]

You have my support and understanding. He started his e-mail off sounding like an 18 year old... Later he is magically married with a job. I would have let my wife spend the family money.

There are no doubt 1,000 of "I'm sorry, let's cancel each other out" stories everyday... You are doing the right thing. (Considering your investment - time, energy, etc)

I myself have taken it from others before, when I should have done what you are doing. You are setting a good example.

It is tough. Maybe if it were a 20 dollar pair of blue jeans you could repost/relist the auction and mutually withdraw. But one gruiling week... 3,000 dollars. Time, energy, effort, phone calls... Definately.

I have a have perfect rating. One day, my rating will be ruined not because I had a bad tranaction, but for a just cause. I imagine someone will deface my score, because I wouldn't let them out of a tough situation (bc so far I have been diligent to pay when I purcahse, and diligent to send upon payment when I sell)...

Good luck on the repost.

It is against eBay policy, but almost merits contacting the 2nd winner with an email saying Hey want the back for somewhere around his offer (maybe a little lower since you are in a bind).

Let us know what happens.

-S6

PS: The other guy could end this whole drama if he'd go ahead and buy the bike from you. Offer it to him again for his perfect score. Ha!

 

[abmtnbkr]

Ok, my turn to rant. I won a bid on ebay for a bike frame and fork back on May 10, 2006 and paid for it immediatley. You know what? I still don't have it. The seller hardly replies to email and then when he did, he wrote that he broke his ankle and has not been around a computer to reply. Then he writes in the same email that he shipped it out via UPS last Thursday and he has to find his reciept to find out the tracking number. It's now June 24....still waiting, still no tracking number, and thinking about demanding a refund and getting Ebay involved. I've had buddies tell me I've been an idiot to wait this long. I'm starting to believe them.

 

[Sideknob]

That's a bum too.

 

[Shad6Bones]

Ok, my turn to rant. I won a bid on ebay for a bike frame and fork back on May 10, 2006 and paid for it immediatley. You know what? I still don't have it. The seller hardly replies to email and then when he did, he wrote that he broke his ankle and has not been around a computer to reply. Then he writes in the same email that he shipped it out via UPS last Thursday and he has to find his reciept to find out the tracking number. It's now June 24....still waiting, still no tracking number, and thinking about demanding a refund and getting Ebay involved. I've had buddies tell me I've been an idiot to wait this long. I'm starting to believe them.

abmtnbkr, please keep us informed.

 

[bikerboy]

Send a second chance offer to the next highest bidder, assuming their max bid was high enough to satisfy your financial needs. You should be able to access the second chance offer right on the page of the auction.

I would leave the deadbeat bidder a negative, but wait till the 89th or 90th day after the auction closed. After 90 days, feedback cannot be left. This way the deadbeat will likely not realize he was given the negative until it is too late for him to retaliate.

 

[Speedub.Nate]

It is against eBay policy, but almost merits contacting the 2nd winner with an email saying Hey want the back for somewhere around his offer (maybe a little lower since you are in a bind).

This is an example of the 100% legitimate "Send a Second Chance Offer" that bikerboy refers to.

 

[Speedub.Nate]

I would leave the deadbeat bidder a negative, but wait till the 89th or 90th day after the auction closed. After 90 days, feedback cannot be left. This way the deadbeat will likely not realize he was given the negative until it is too late for him to retaliate.

eBay's 90 day rule isn't so hard and fast, so be careful with this one. Usually you can leave feedback after this period has expired.

 

[Hardtails Are Better]

I agree, go for a second chance offer. Also, keep all your emails with that jerkoff, and send 'em to ebay. They'll probably make things right.

 

[notrelatedtoted]

I agree with this one...

I sincerely feel your pain, but it's not worth getting worked up over.

No seller cares if a buyer has a perfect record, as long as they get their dough (in most cases). Face it -- the negative you give him isn't going to mean **** to anybody else down the road.

And obviously the dude isn't about to fork over three grand.

Protect your feedback and move on.

But I disagree with the last part. I'd say, "gee that's too bad. But your bid is a contract, etc. etc. I am required to leave accurate feedback. Sorry it didn't work out. Let me know if you change your mind." End of story.

There's risk on ebay to both buyers and sellers - which is precisely why I believe that there are no good deals on ebay anymore...

 

[skiahh]

Isn't it a violation of ebay's TOS to give someone your account name/password?? Don't worry about ruining his perfect record, get his whole account shut down!

Plus, leave him the negative feedback and when he hits yours, send ebay all these emails where he threatens to retaliate and ask them to remove it. (I don't know if ebay would or not, my limited experience is that as long as they're getting their fees and nothing hits CNN, they don't really care about their users problems).

Otherwise, you'll have to rely on people who actually read the feedback vs just looking at the number. Good luck; you're in the right on this one.

 

[mtnbikej]

Ebay has a great function when it comes to leaving feedback. I use this all the time. When someone leavews feedback...whether good or bad.....they have a function to "Reply to Feedback." This usually posts right underneath the feedback left for you. I have had 2 or 3 buyers leave negative feedback in retaliation for thier negative feedback. If you recieve negative feedback from him, just type in the link for this thread...or....story too long, email for explanation.


IT works. Give it a try.

mtnbikej

 

[Mattism78]

I feel your pain. Except from a buyers standpoint. I just resolved an almost month long saga over a bike purchase on ebay. Apparently the seller was out of state, and attempting to sell items still. I won my item, and paid immediately. As I always do. After 2 weeks of my bike not shipping I got rather annoyed. I FINALLY got my money back. Minus 3% of course (thanks paypal)

 

[29Colossus]

I went ahead with the negative feedback. He gave me his, and I replied.

This is what he said:

"Psyco! Not the first time he's sold the same bike twice look @ history F-!!!!!!"

I just had to laugh at that. Indeed I had to relist another frame not that long ago due to the same issue: Non-payment. The guy bid the frame up, and after he won, did nothing. I emailed him a reminder just like I did here. He finally said that he was sorry after a week. He said that he had no money, and was a flake. Those were his words. He called himself a flake. I sure felt like going "Psyco" after that one! Hehe. He got negative feedback from me. He gave me positive feedback.

I did reply to this new negative feedback. I just said:

"I can't sell a bike when the winner doesn't pay now can I? Complete immaturity."

Now I wear my 98% with pride. I will add an explanation to any and all retaliatory feedback in every auction I have from here on out. I will no longer tolerate non-paying auction winners. My feedback will be an example of what a seller is SUPPOSED to do when auctions go bad from simple non-payment due to irresponsible behavior.

When I sell a product on Ebay, I do it responsibly. I demand that the consumer is comfortable with what I am selling, and with me. I want them to know I am honest. I will bend over backwards for anyone if they treat the process with due respect. That is the only way it works.

Responsibility, respect, and accountability.

These 3 words apply to the buyer and the seller. It's a brave new world out there for me now! The 100% glass barrior has been shattered! I will fight the good fight in the filth and mayhem of the front lines from this point forth!

Hehe. I feel better now. On to the trenches. Thanks for the comments everyone. It is comforting to know I am not alone, although I am not happy to hear about the problems. I just got a email from an ebay user that says he got a second chance offer on the fork I sold last week. I was paid, and the fork has been shipped. It never ends! Ebay won't let me reply to the message. It says that I don't have a current transaction with the user, so it decided to block my reply. What is that all about?

I just have to keep smilin'!!!

 

[mtb_biker]

As a power seller i always make sure the buyer leavers feedback first. You should've tricked him into giving you positive feedback first imo.