As I was surfing eBay last month (June) for a Euro tag when I ran into an interesting one. I e-mailed the seller in Germany to see how much he will sell the tag for and he replied promptly --- $5.99 + shipping, after I put a bid in eBay. I did not reply the email, and found that the item was removed from eBay the next day and I thought nothing of it. I never got a notice from anybody that the auction was closed. Then yesterday I got a warning from eBay for non-payment. The seller e-mail address on the notice is totally different from the one that I had e-mail exchange. I was told that if I don't pay the seller, I will be forbidden to bid on eBay again. I have a funny feeling about this because the e-mail address the seller used is not the same as the one I had communicated with. I copied eBay on the exchange that we had and told them I was not notified that I won the bid. So what do I do now? I hardly ever bid on eBay, so its really not matter much to me if I ever allow to bid on any auction.

__________________
95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204

Complain to EBAY!!!!! And that stupid seller. Send emails to both email addresses AND ebay complaining.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

Well, unfortunately, if you put a bid in (for any amount) then you should be prepared to pay that amount. If I'm reading your posting correctly, you did indeed put a bid in. Regardless of whether or not you replied to his email, EBay will expect you to pay the amount you bid. That the seller ended the auction early is irrelevant.

Now, if you DID NOT bid on the item, then it is not even possible that the selller could file a non-payment complaint on you, so I am confused as to how you could have recieved one. In order to file a non-payment complaint, the person you are filing it on had to have been the high bidder on the auction in question.

Incidentally, having multiple email accounts is not unusual at all for Ebay sellers. They will often have one account just for PayPal purposes, and others for communication with prospective buyers.

Zach
1992 300CE

Maybe I read it wrong, but I was under the impression that he had not bid on the item...I'd definitely complain FWIW

I think you're right, I was confused as to whether or not he bid on it. Apparently, he did not, so I am completely astounded as to how he could have recieved a non-paying bidder complaint. In order to be a non-paying BIDDER, you have to BID on something. If not, what would keep people from randomly filing non-payment complaints on anyone with an Ebay account??


Zach
1992 300CE

OK, let me clear this out. I put a bid on the tag, but the item number and the seller are not the same person I exchanged e-mail with. I put the bid in, then e-mailed the seller immediately. He replied the next day that he will sell the tag for $5.99. I did not reply to his e-mail. When I return to eBay to check if I am up against any competitor, the auction was closed and I never got any notification from eBay that I was the winner. I was ready to pay for the item because the tag will definitely looks good on my SL.

Now, fast forward a month. I have completely forgotten all about the incident and someone come knocking at my door and say "pay up" is just something I am very caution about. I don't mind the $5.99, that's just lunch money. But how come the item number and the seller address is totally different? OK, seller has many alias. Thats raised even more red flags. I never used Paypal so I am not sure how much damage it can cause if someone is being dishonest. I will be more than happy to pay for the item if I think this is an honest transaction.

__________________
95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204

Have you done an item number search? If I"m reading it right, you just said that the item number you're expecting to pay is different from what you had talked to the seller about. You can look up any item that's been ended, for up to 90 days if memory serves. If you do a search by the item number, that may clear some things up.

Something definitely sounds fishy, though...

The item number being different is a definite red flag. Here's what I would do: appeal the non-payment warning to Ebay. Ttell them you have a good record with them and you've never had trouble like this before, you're suspicious you're being scammed and you don't think you deserve the warning on your record.

Oftentimes, sellers will post non-payment warnings to people in order to collect the non-payment refund on the item from Ebay; basically, they're saying "I shouldn't have paid to list this item, because the high bidder never paid and it never sold" Ebay will then refund them the listing fee. What probably happened here is that the seller sold the item to someone else privately via email, then nailed you (the high bidder at the time) with the non-payment warning in order to fraudulently collect the refund from Ebay.

I would appeal it and mention that to Ebay. If you emphasize that all you're doing is trying to protect yourself, they'll clear your record and forget about the warning.

Zach
1992 300CE