Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Online Auctions, eBay Craigslist Petroliana What would you do?

All right, I normally will not start a post like this, but am unsure how to handle this as the person I am having problems with is a member on here.

Here goes. I bought three items from a seller on ebay. He is a member on here as well and I am not going to mention the items or his name. I paid for the three items the very next day via paypal. One item had a 25 dollar shipping charge, the other two 10 dollars each. Total shipping was 45 dollars.

All three of the items came in one box, with the post office price tag listed on it as an even 15.00. The items were packaged terribly, and one of the items (cardboard) smelt so bad of cigarette smoke that I couldnt even put it in my office and display it.

I asked nicely for the 30 dollars in shipping to be refunded and complained about the cigarette smoke. My reply was that they never claimed in the ad that the items came from a smoke free home. I never got a respond to the shipping charges.

I opened a dispute with ebay over the item. Ebay must have had paypal remove the money from their account, because I got an email from the seller to return the merchandise as I was refunded. I told them that I was never refunded, and to this day, I have not been. I closed the ebay dispute this morning as they will not respond to it.

ebay single choice
	Keep the items and leave negative feedback
	Keep the items and leave neutral or positive feedback
	Try to get a refund and send the items back
	Try to get a shipping refund
Votes accepted starting: Sat Dec 25 2010 11:55 AM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

Need more info. You could be right, or the seller could be. Depends on a few things....
Were the shipping prices listed in the auction listings? Did you ask the seller to box the items together and reduce the shipping charges? Some of us will combine shipping without the buyer asking, but some will only do it if you ask......and some are jerks and won't do it at all.
Did all of the auctions end the same day?


A seller that's a smoker isn't likely to consider the smell of an item. If he didn't say anything about it and you didn't ask, I don't think you have a complaint about the smell.

Making a profit from the shipping is just wrong IMO. If the seller wants more for his item , he should just have a higher reserve or starting price. If 3 different people were the buyers, that $30 would not be in his pocket. And then some sellers want a "handling charge" on top of the shipping charges! Total BS

All of the items ended on the same day, minutes apart from one another. The shipping prices were listed on each of the auctions, separate. My feelings are if I paid for the shipping, they should have come in three different boxes like I paid for.

Out of all of the items I have purchased from ebay, this is the first that has stunk this bad of cigarette smoke, but I did not ask before the auction had ended.

IF A GOOD/HONEST SELLER WAS TO COMBINE THREE SEPARATE AUCTIONED ITEMS INTO ONE BOX, THEY SHOULD HAD THE NEW ADJUSTED/CHEAPER CHARGES FORWARDED TO YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN PAID. OR AS A CURIOUS BUYER, I WOULD HAVE INQUIRED AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THE 3 ITEMS COULD BE SHIPPED TOGETHER AT A LESSER RATE. TO ME IT SOUNDS LIKE A SIMPLE CASE OF LACK OF COMMUNICATION.

I VOTED FOR TRYING TO GET THE OVERCHARGED POSTAGE BACK.

CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW A SMOKING BUYER WOULD FEEL IF HE GOT SOMETHING FROM A FRESH AIR HOME SELLER? LOL! ANYTHING THAT COMES FROM A SMOKERS HOME IS ALWAYS GONNA SMELL FRESH TO THEM.

It was totally wrong to ship it all in one box if he accepted 3 different shipping charges. There is such thing as Excessive shipping charges that ebay does not tolerate. I would push for the refund of some of the shipping because of it all being in one box.
I have never smoked in my life, If I recieved that I would toss it outside for a week or two, just like I do our clothes when we spend an hour or more at my mother-in-laws house.

I agree with KZ, word for word.

refund the difference on the shipping.

I am confused you said:

"I opened a dispute with eBay over the item. eBay must have had paypal remove the money from their account, because I got an email from the seller to return the merchandise as I was refunded. I told them that I was never refunded, and to this day, I have not been. I closed the eBay dispute this morning as they will not respond to it."

How much money got removed from paypal? The whole purchase? The $30 you considered excessive?

From the sellers email sounds like you may have gotten a total refund. If so, I am going to vote you send the items back. But I will wait until you clarify these questions. John

I would go to ebay site map & find contact info. & call them.
I believe once you close the ebay case it is over?
At this point I would be calling paypal to explain this & see
if you have any options

Re check with e-bay about the refund. It should have shown up in your pay pal account.
I had a similar situation awhile back in which I was informed that the seller agreed to refund the purchase and shipping on an item. After nearly a week I informed e-bay that the refund had not shown up in my pay pal account. Within minutes I received an e-mail that the deposit was made and when I checked it was in there.

If he is an oldgas member and is stand up he could have just mailed you a refund.
Doesn't sound like someone i would want to buy from!!!

If the shipping charges for each item were clearly stated and you did not ask for a reduced shipping charge for combined shipping I don't think you have a valid complaint...no matter how many boxes he shipped your items in. You should have asked for a discount on shipping. Having said that, yeah, the guy is a jerk for not offering you a reduced shipping price.

If the seller is a smoker he probably doesn't realize the stuff stinks, so it's up to the buyer to ask.

I'd rack this up to poor communication on your part. While I don't necessarily think the seller did anything wrong, he sure didn't go out of his way to make things right.

When the seller doesn't charge enough for shipping do you offer to pay more?

I recently sold a bunch of cans on ebay. A buyer from Japan bought multiple lots. He balked at the $41+ shipping charge I invoiced him. I told him if the actual shipping charge was less I'd refund the over payment. He still complained but he paid. Actual shipping ended up costing $43+. The buyer didn't offer to pay the difference. Funny how that works.

Not to step on any toes here,but it looks like the seller did everything that they agreed to do.If the terms were stated and the seller did what was stated I guess I just don't see what the complaint is with the seller or ebay.The terms were clearly stated.Now, in defense of the buyer.If you asked for discounting shipping and the seller agreed but did not come through then I could see the complaint.Last, I would have to say from a sellers standpoint if a buyer purchased multiple items from me,personally I would thank them and offer discounted shipping just to show my appreciation without the buyer asking.Just a matter of principal.As a buyer if all terms are stated and the seller delivers I do not see the complaint with the seller or ebay.I personally would have done it different as the seller.The bottom line is the seller did what they agreed to do.

you got it anyway I sent cash to a member that contacted me on this site over 10 weeks or more. I dont have what I payed for yet! my last pm I sent asking if they could send them last week.I got no answer back but the member has all the time to post on here 4-5 times a day. I feel your frustration Ryan. marty

Gee Scott, you sent cash? Had a member wanting to purchase from me and wanted to send cash...I refused.....told him that I would take paypal, check or money order...He didn't understand. Explained to him that any of those 3 forms of payments would protect him and I...He finally understood and sent me a money order.

Get it figured out before you push the bid button. If I see an item I really want and I think the shipping-handling-as is clearly stated in his description is a high I would e-mail him about it. Even if he would'nt budge and I wanted it I would still bid accordingly. In your case Ryan I agree I,d be pi$$ed but would remember this guy, chalk it up as gotcha. live and learn. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Ron

There are a bunch of different points of view on this topic. This is why I decided to ask this here. I am trying hard to keep an open mind on this subject, but still feel ripped off.

The only reason I did not ask for a shipping refund prior to bidding is because I had bought from him before, heck he only lives about an hour away from me. I had not had any problems with him before either.

I have asked him three or four times in an email for the shipping difference to be refunded back to me, and he is just not going to do that, as he keeps ignoring it. I really dont want a complete refund, as two of the items I am ok with.



I dont know how much money paypal removed, I am guessing the whole thing. I believe they do this once a dispute has been opened, the money should have been returned now that I closed the dispute. After an ebay dispute has been open for a week, they want you to act on it. The seller had not replied to the dispute, and to be honest, I am tired of beating a dead horse on it, so I closed it, it was not going anywhere.

There are some good points made here for both sides.
But, when it comes down to it, it's all about customer service. That's just good business. Like it or not it goes back to a basic business principle "the customer is always right". If you want to survive in business you have to make the customer happy to win his continued business, that can be a challenge sometimes.
JMHO, Tom.

you are so right Tom

I guess I'm looking at it from another point of view;enjoyment of my collection.Personally,I would send everything back because I would not want a piece in my collection that I had bad memories about every time I looked at it.For that reason I have thrown things away,refused to accept "gifts" and have several items that I am going to sell at cost or below.

In a situation like that I always inquire before bidding if there is a shipping discount. Some people are great and others are jerks. It's hard to judge which you're dealing with through the computer.

You're ONLY mistake was not asking him to combine shipping. Even so profiting off excess shipping is the same as stealing. Shipping is to cover shipping, simple as that. I buy and sell on Ebay and I always offer to combine shipping, saves me hassle and the customer money. I think you can file a separate complaint with Paypal??, maybe not but I would pursue it. If you get a refund I wouldn't leave any feedback, if you don't a neg is in order. You paid for 3 separate shipments, you got one.

I love Tom's post... keep the customer happy.

Keep in mind Ryan posted this isn't just some guy on ebay... he is a regular poster on this site that is treating him this way.
I am with Ryan on this one, since he knows him personally.

I did not see the option of "out him" or "go for a visit"

So did not vote

LOL.

I just want to clarify, I did not post this on here to call the person out, but he did contact me through PM this morning. I have finally had some good communication with him and we are going to sort everything out. Thanks for everybody's input.

Ryan

Usually good communication is all it takes...and that's a two way street. Good to see you're getting things worked out.