ALERT to anyone selling w123 stuff, esp on eBay - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Zacharias · #1 10-07-2014, 12:45 PM

Beware an eBay member with an address in Carmichael, CA, who would be probably be purchasing w123 Coupe parts. The eBay user handle he used was dixrya.v7zell4 and his initials are RD.

He bought a window regulator from me more than a month ago, now has filed a chargeback claiming it was a fraudulent charge to his credit card through PayPal.

I have researched it and found there is someone by that name at the address I shipped the parcel to. So evidently if we are to believe this crock o'scat scenario, someone signed and accepted delivery on a part they did not order, then did nothing about it until the credit card invoice arrived.

PayPal has had the equivalent funds of the transaction on hold in my account for more than two weeks now, while they "investigate" and I am furious.

Beware.

gatorblue92 · #2 10-07-2014, 01:29 PM

Their "investigation" will likely result in the buyer getting their money back. One reason why I try to avoid selling anything on eBay.

badgator · #3 10-07-2014, 01:45 PM

I have sold a lot $$,$$$ on ebay.

The buyer always gets the benefit of doubt, I sold a r129 selt belt accordian to a guy in Jamaica (trans-shipped thru a Miami mail box).

Eventually, I got my $$ but, Ebay refunded the guys money, and got to keep the part, because he thought it was the driver side (right) in Jamaica.

I don't sell parts on ebay outside the US.

Ebay is changing their anti-seller rules once again, extending their arbitrary "Buyer protection" from 45 to 180 days.

Hopefully Alibaba will take on Ebay in the US.

I created a couple websites to move parts sales off of ebay, don't offer shipping on ebay.

Thanks, added to my Blocked Bidder list.

Hogweed · #4 10-07-2014, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorblue92

Their "investigation" will likely result in the buyer getting their money back. One reason why I try to avoid selling anything on eBay.

quite simple....block people that do not have paypal accounts and only ship to a confirmed address. i have had all claims resolved in my favor to date. overseas sales are great. all you need to do is get it to kentucky and you're off the hook. i sold some $200 taillights to a guy in australia that never arrived although they were marked as delivered. he filed a claim and paypal automatically reversed it because it had arrived in ky. after that it was pitney-bowes problem

DieselPaul · #5 10-07-2014, 03:14 PM

Selling overseas is where 90% of my sales go and the only people who have ever filed claims with me were in the US. Too bad eBay won't let you not sell to Americans lol. Too many people treat eBay like Walmart and try to return **** they used and decided they didn't like months later.

Zacharias · #6 10-07-2014, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hogweed

quite simple....block people that do not have paypal accounts and only ship to a confirmed address. i have had all claims resolved in my favor to date. overseas sales are great.

Well that gives me some hope. I shipped to a confirmed address and used a barcoded, signature-required service.

Hell I ship anywhere except Africa and Italy. I have shipped to mainland China, Burma, Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, etc etc etc. Never, ever had an issue with people in other countries (except for postal delays).

What I am wondering is, whether the fact he used a credit card as opposed to PP deposit funds makes a difference on these kinds of cases.

A long time ago, when PayPal first started, I know that was the case. If it was charged back from a credit card, you were screwed. So I used to watch to see the type of payment that had been made. Now I am not sure that is shown.

I have been on eBay since forever, more than 800+ on this user ID and probably 500 on the previous one I used earlier. This is my first experience with a chargeback.

I have had a couple of dirtbags who tried to get money back claiming damaged goods on receipt, and impatient dickheads who opened cases for shipping delays (after paying for surface shipping to Timbucktoo), but never an actual chargeback.

ScooterABC · #7 10-07-2014, 04:40 PM

I've sold on ebay for many years and had maybe one or two problems along the way. I find that about 50% of my items go overseas. Paypal is extending the buy protection from 45 to 180 days which is disgusting, but paypal claims are _generally_ handled through ebay. Paypal and ebay have signature upon receipt requirements for items over (I think) $300.

The biggest _problem_ with sales for me has been inconsistency in the post office both in terms of insurance and in terms of where they deliver. My way of working allows me to _never_ go to the post office to drop off a package, but that's because my residence is safe for me to leave a package outside for pickup. That's a great luxury and mostly has to do with the size and location of my mailbox.

The only financial problem I have had with overseas selling has been when I have sent a part to Australia that the buyer has thought to be defective. Shipping to Australia is frightfully expensive and the way my policy is worded, I accept returns but buyer is responsible for shipping costs both directions. That's not my practice if I send a defective item. In the case where I lost money, I gave the buyer the benefit of the doubt and shipped a replacement item with no return of original required. I was a nice guy.

I will _never_ sell via Paypal to a non-confirmed address. Nor will I accept paypal as payment for a local-pickup item. That has to be in cash. If you take paypal for a local-pickup item you have no proof of delivery and a charge back can occur.

Paypal Now (mobile app for phone that lets you swipe credit cards) also offers absolutely zero seller protection. I won't use it even though I have it.

Ebay and Paypal are both heavily geared to favor the buyer over the seller, but if a seller has a consistent good reputation and the buyer sounds off, ebay has in the past sided with me and the buyer has lost out. In contrast, when I bought JUNK Volkswagen electronics from China and sent it back, ebay sided with me and refunded my money paid. I did have to pay return postage to China but it was cheaper than Australia!

I strongly dislike the USPS in terms of lack of delivery confirmation to many countries. This doesn't mesh well with Ebay's requirements for delivery confirmation. So now, some foreign shipments are at my risk to some extent, but I take out the insurance for those. Like I said, I haven't lost money on it yet.

And I _DO_ have a rather extensive blocked bidder list on eBay. Basically anyone who writes to me and wants to say that my shipping costs are too high, etc, gets added to my blocked bidder list rather than ending up in a subsequent dispute. I don't need those buyers.

For off-ebay sales I prefer a personal check but will invoice with paypal if they prefer. For local pickup, unless I know the person, it's cash only.

I hate ebay. I hate paypal. But there isn't a practical alternative if you want to sell for $$$ globally.

Zacharias · #8 10-07-2014, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScooterABC

And I _DO_ have a rather extensive blocked bidder list on eBay. Basically anyone who writes to me and wants to say that my shipping costs are too high, etc, gets added to my blocked bidder list rather than ending up in a subsequent dispute. I don't need those buyers.

Good point. Even worse for me. You think US postage is expensive? Hah, try the Canadian post office, which was spun off by the government many years ago into an independent agency that isn't subsidized by taxes anymore. It has to break even. Our postal rates are going from bad to OMFG year by year. The price to send a 4-ounce plastic diecast car in a small box to a nearby city (120 miles) is just under $12. I have actually apologized to purchasers AND taken my small boxing charge ($1.50) off the total twice in that situation.

I consistently have to underprice eBay listings that I know are most likely to sell into the States (which is most of them) to compensate for the Canadian postage rates, and even then I know I am losing sales.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScooterABC

I hate ebay. I hate paypal. But there isn't a practical alternative if you want to sell for $$$ globally.

I hear you loud and clear. More so every month when their extortionate invoice arrives.

I would not mind paying their commissions, were there some form of intelligent human contact available to deal with questions/problems/disputes. Their level of automation in their processes is truly something, but for the buckets of money they make, the lack of service is the least funny joke I know of.

ScooterABC · #9 10-07-2014, 05:04 PM

A problem is that the ebay alternative is Craigslist. And it's super flaky. And the forums is a good selling option but you can't charge retail on the forums. More money from ebay and international. Good guy prices on the forums. I do both. I don't buy-forum-sell-ebay cuz that isn't fair. (What I mean is that I don't buy parts on the forum to flip on ebay. I buy parts on the forum for personal use and I sell parts on the forum for better than my ebay prices).

uberwasser · #10 10-07-2014, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zacharias

Good point. Even worse for me. You think US postage is expensive? Hah, try the Canadian post office, which was spun off by the government many years ago into an independent agency that isn't subsidized by taxes anymore. It has to break even. Our postal rates are going from bad to OMFG year by year. The price to send a 4-ounce plastic diecast car in a small box to a nearby city (120 miles) is just under $12. I have actually apologized to purchasers AND taken my small boxing charge ($1.50) off the total twice in that situation.

Just to clarify things, the USPS is not taxpayer funded either. It gets small subsidies to help disabled and overseas voters mail in their votes. That's it though. Otherwise, it does its best to survive (despite being jerked around by Congress) on its postage charges. First class mail is a pretty good bargain, despite that - that 4 oz car could go anywhere in the US for a few bucks. Priority mail costs quite a lot, unless you're able to use flat rate. However in almost every instance I find the USPS is cheaper than UPS or FedEx, even for very large packages. I sent a rear Euro wagon bumper from Tucson to the LA area and saved $10-20 by using USPS versus the other two. Shipped on Saturday, arrived Monday. Impressive.

Much of my sales on eBay over the last year have been overseas. The global shipping program on eBay makes it pleasurable, and the overseas buyers are usually super excited to pay my prices (I always price lower than the other ads I find on eBay) and the shipping costs. They are great to deal with.

Thankfully my biggest annoyance so far on eBay has been the low-balls ($18 for a OM617 oil cooler for example) but it's easy to decline or counter offer a more reasonable price knowing they'll probably just let it expire.

JimRockford · #11 10-07-2014, 09:18 PM

Ebay has changed so much since I last was on it. I would buy vintage dealer promo cars at bulk and sell them on eBay. I made a lot of connections, built up my own collection and paid for a few semesters worth of books while in college.

When PayPal started I signed up and that was the beginning of the end. Last time I bought from Ebay, 2004. Nothing but issues with PayPal and the ever changing rules/prices Ebay was doing.

ScooterABC · #12 10-07-2014, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimRockford

Ebay has changed so much since I last was on it. I would buy vintage dealer promo cars at bulk and sell them on eBay. I made a lot of connections, built up my own collection and paid for a few semesters worth of books while in college.

When PayPal started I signed up and that was the beginning of the end. Last time I bought from Ebay, 2004. Nothing but issues with PayPal and the ever changing rules/prices Ebay was doing.

eBay was very different in the beginning. Lots of small guys selling a few things at auction. It was great. It was fun. It's mutated into the Amazon of clearance centers, opening and closing doors for buyers and sellers at the same time. Lots of auction sites have tried to get a foot end and none have made any progress because eBay has what is needed - critical mass. The next closest thing for the little guy is Craigslist. Or Amazon (on which I have also sold items). One extreme and the other.

Paypal filled a niche that needed to be filled - U.S. Banks have made it nearly impossible for people to easily transfer money between individuals and they like it that way. Contrast with the German banking system which has relied on Uberwiesung (Bank Transfer) payment between individuals and business for many years at low or no cost. Banks don't like Paypal so now they are making it easier to transfer money, but still not painless.

Paypal for business purposes is in my opinion a lousy choice, but the only choice for small businesses like me. They've done will with making money conversion easy and they have become sufficiently global that selling to a buyer in China is trivial. It's great in that way, but it, like ebay, like google, like Microsoft, etc are their own special brands of evil empires. They do it for profit, we accept their invasions for convenience.

But could you imagine what would happen if eBay, Paypal, Amazon, Google Search, gmail, etc were dismantled? We would have to go into stores again, possibly even <gasp> write letters again, and people just won't accept that level of inconvenience. Our society says "OK, you can have my privacy in exchange for your convenience". And so it is.

I don't like it, but I'll play the game because no one else has a game to play.

meltedpanda · #13 10-08-2014, 09:12 AM

get this i bought a GPS from a guy on ebay. Little did i know he had stolen a credi card and ordered the item in the name of the guy that was on the card and dropped shipped to me. Then I get a registered letter from the company ( I think it was Cabella's) saying to return the item as the card was stolen and I was in reciept of stolen property , pay ( again) for it or return. 4 MONTHS later get this worked out . Ebay as even impressed with the ingenuity . I still sell alot , but am weary of the whole thing

Zacharias · #14 10-09-2014, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScooterABC

eBay was very different in the beginning. Lots of small guys selling a few things at auction. It was great. It was fun. It's mutated into the Amazon of clearance centers, opening and closing doors for buyers and sellers at the same time. (snip)

I don't like it, but I'll play the game because no one else has a game to play.

As Brad Pitt would say: EXACTLY.

Glad to see someone else remembers when eBay was an adventure, well sort of. It was a new idea.

Canadians for some odd reason were very, very slow to catch on to the idea - even though we were one of the most advanced nations in terms of people getting onto the Net, at one point. Even now I have coworkers who have never even visited it.

I have bought everything from socks to computers to cars. Sold a pile of car parts for a while. Had a nice little thing going with a guy in Germany, back when their postal rates were still incredibly cheap (and ours were ok enough to ship heavy parcels to the US). He was shipping me two or three sets of euro lights at a time and I was selling them on eBay for a tidy markup. This was before Depo was around with their knockoffs. I also sold a lot of dealer promo cars (but not Mercedes).

Right now eBay seems obsessed with getting the last holdout demographic to accept it, and it's doing so by trying to look more and more like an online mall. It's irritating and I don't find the last two listing page redesigns accomplished anything.