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My EBAY Nightmare

Started by TempusFugitivus,

596 posts in this topic

TempusFugitivus

TempusFugitivus

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Posted

As some of you may be aware, I was listing my under-copies on ebay.

 

Basically, I tried selling this stuff on the Boards some time ago. It went well but I was not real happy with my end. I was simply too busy with work and family to do all the scanning, listing, responding, and mailing in a timely enough fashion. And, of course, some stuff did not sell when the idea was to get rid of it all. Lord knows that I need to free up some storage space.

 

So I figured that I would eventually get organized and try it again. Months passed and then more months passed with nothing done.

 

Then my son said that he would do the scanning, listing, and mailing if I would just respond to the messages. We worked out his cut (10%) and I told him to clear out as much underbrush as possible (all those duplicate modern 9.8s). He said he'd rather start with the higher value Spider-Man and X-Men and work his way down to more mundane moderns (no one has ever accused him of being dumb).

 

And it worked pretty well for awhile. The ASM and XM copies sold and I wasn't even losing that much money on them. The books got more and more expensive until a month in, we listed an X-Men 1 in 7.5, a Spider-Man 2 in 9.0, and a Spider-Man 1 in 8.0.

 

The XM 1 and ASM 2 did well and I actually made some money. But the Spider-Man 1 was a dud. It just didn't jump up at the end at all and sold for a loss at $14,500. I figured: "Oh well, you can't win them all."

 

Then I started getting messages..........

 

Messages from bidders saying that they had not been allowed to bid at the end of the auction. Before they could bid, ebay demanded that they verify their bank accounts, their credit card numbers, their identity before laying down a bid. The auction timed out as they tried to get through to ebay. Two people stated that they got the info down on time and then watched their bids time out without registering anyways.

 

I called up ebay. I was informed that, when an auction goes over $10,000, ebay requires unregistered bidders to confirm their identity. I told the rep that all these bidders were confirmed and gave the rep their ebay IDs (feedback scores ranging from 300+ all the way to 4000+ and everyone with 100% positive). The ebay rep said they did not understand it, these bidders should not have been blocked like that.

 

While this was going on, I began to realize just how bad this was. If the blocked bidders were being accurate with what they bid, the ASM 1 should have sold for over $17,000. As I realized how bad ebay had (messed) me up, I started calling and asking what they could do for me. Basically, all they were willing to do was refund my insertion fees (a whooping 50 cents). Other than that, their only answer was "Sorry about that."

 

So I keep calling, figuring that I would eventually reach someone who could help me. Well, this seemed to aggravate good old ebay/paypal. They responded to my complaints by freezing my paypal account so I could not remove money from it. I got a long laundry list of demands for my access to be unfrozen: Social Security number, credit report, etc.

 

At this point (after having spent way to much time talking to one ebay imbecilic fool after another and much much more time on hold), I basically just gave up and lost it. Rather than have these clowns sit on the money forever, I refunded everyone's frozen money and canceled all my active listings.

 

To (Hades) with ebay.

 

So....................

1) Think twice before listing something more than 10k on ebay;

2) Look for an ebay nightmare sales thread coming to the Boards soon;

3) Comiclink looks pretty good right now.

 

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Doc Joe

Doc Joe

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so does your account need to be verified for bidding on that particular book; or can it be verified in general for anything over 10K. i.e. once you get verified then you are good to go?

 

that really really stinks.

 

Makes you wonder how many other people that has happened to.

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skypinkblu

skypinkblu

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I'm sorry about your problem, but I'm a little confused. You mean Paypal froze your account?

Lately they have been requiring proof of receipt (or feedback) on very large sums,depending on your feedback. I had something for $1500.00 (much less than $10K) held 2 years ago, but they were fine once I called.

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TempusFugitivus

TempusFugitivus

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PART TWO:

 

Of course, there was the guy who actually won the Spider-Man 1. As the week wore on and I realized how bad I had been screwed over, I never heard from him.

 

So I finally contacted him and wrote:

Hello xxxx,

Since the end of the auction for this book, I have found out that ebay blocked multiple bidders from putting down bids at the end of the auction. In an auction where the bid is greater than $10,000, ebay will not let many bidders bid without having them confirm their phone numbers or addresses or other information first. With a minute to go, multiple bidders were timed out by this requirement. I have contacted ebay/paypal about what has happened and their response has basically just been: "Sorry" and they have, after evidently costing me thousands of dollars, graciously promised to maybe refund me a couple hundred dollars worth of fees. I have also found out that, by ebay's own rules, some of these buyers should not have been blocked at all. If you wish to contact ebay themselves about this, the session ID# is 24134773. I am presently undecided what to do about this but have decided to ask you if you would rescind the transaction in the sense of fairness.

 

He responded:

This is unacceptable. I'm going to have to file a complaint.

 

I wrote:

Hello xxxx,

I do not blame you. If I was in your position, I would be very unhappy. Please try to understand my position. If ebay had not blocked the bidders, I now know that the item would have sold for over $17,000 at least (as there may be blocked bidders who did not contact me). Upon informing ebay of the bidders that were blocked (who basically mass e-mailed after the auction), ebay admitted that, by their own regulations, it should not have happened. I have no problem with an auction won fair and square but this..... In any case, I understand your position and have no hard feelings about it. File a complaint, leave a negative, do what you have to do. You still have my apologies for the situation.

 

The seller then finally paid up with an e-check.

 

He responded:

I'll pursue a fraud complaint against you through Paypal and my bank.

 

I wrote:

Be my guest, I could care less. FYI, I canceled your payment. There is no fraud.

 

He responded:

you're a real **** (rhymes with punt)

 

I wrote:

The really funny thing is that, if you had simply paid quickly rather than taking all week, you would already have the book. I mailed books out on Monday and Tuesday for those that paid quick. As the week went on and I got message after message about the auction, I began to realize how I had been cheated by ebay. By simply being fast, you could have pocketed thousands.

 

Then I called him a few expletives of my own. lol

 

I've never been so happy to be sworn at in my life. It washed away any guilt I felt.

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VintageComics

VintageComics

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I'm sorry about your problem, but I'm a little confused. You mean Paypal froze your account?

Lately they have been requiring proof of receipt (or feedback) on very large sums,depending on your feedback. I had something for $1500.00 (much less than $10K) held 2 years ago, but they were fine once I called.

 

Sha, Paypal = eBay.

 

 

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TempusFugitivus

TempusFugitivus

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I'm sorry about your problem, but I'm a little confused. You mean Paypal froze your account?

Lately they have been requiring proof of receipt (or feedback) on very large sums. Depending on your feedback. I had something (much less than $10K) held 2 years ago, but they were fine once I called.

 

By froze my account, I mean I was not allowed to withdraw any money from it (and they limited the account in other ways that were not really important). There were two separate cases opened on my account: 1) one saying that there was potential fraudulent activity on my account [this was before I ever contacted the buyer for the ASM1 so it was not him] and another case: 2) that said that my account would be frozen until I provided paypal a laundry list of personal information including my social security number so that they could run a credit check on me.

 

When I called paypal, I was informed that my account access would not be lifted until I provided and confirmed all required info. When I asked how long this process would take, I was informed that it would be a minimum of 7-10 business days. When I objected to their request for my Social, which I don't like giving out at all, their response was my account would remain frozen until I forked it over.

 

I informed them how long I have been a paypal customer and their response was basically: "So what?" One rep just keep telling me that I simply had to follow the process and the policy like some damn parrot.

 

I asked for someone in charge but keep getting "policy and process." Eventually I lost my temper and did the only thing I could: I simply refunded everyone's money rather than let paypal sit on it for weeks and canceled all active listings.

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TempusFugitivus

TempusFugitivus

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The guy thought he won at a good price, and you didn't honor that auction win? Did I miss somewhere how this was his fault?

 

Edit: Don't get me wrong, it sounds like ebay messed up for you but I think the guy deserves his comic.

 

I felt for him too until he swore at me.

Now I could care less.

 

When I cared, I was hoping that ebay/paypal would make it up to me and I could go through with the auction. As far as I concerned, it was ebay/paypal's fault. If he had worked with me, perhaps we could have pressured ebay/paypal into making it right. But I wouldn't (relieve myself) on someone who was on fire after they called me a (rhymes with punt). I'm funny that way.

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Doc Joe

Doc Joe

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The guy thought he won at a good price, and you didn't honor that auction win? Did I miss somewhere how this was his fault?

 

Edit: Don't get me wrong, it sounds like ebay messed up for you but I think the guy deserves his comic.

 

I can see both sides BUT I think John is right. I know of books on Clink that went for less since other bidders internet went down at the magic moment. Or like me at dinner at the wrong moment and not being able to bid but being willing to bid more. (someone make a Clink snipe program please)

 

But since you cant do any communication people would not know.

 

I guess the solution is high BIN with make an offer?

 

and maybe one needs to say in auctions where it could go over 10K have a blurb in the listing saying they need to get the account verified.

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BaltimoreLauren

BaltimoreLauren

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The guy thought he won at a good price, and you didn't honor that auction win? Did I miss somewhere how this was his fault?

 

Edit: Don't get me wrong, it sounds like ebay messed up for you but I think the guy deserves his comic.

 

I felt for him too until he swore at me.

Now I could care less.

 

When I cared, I was hoping that ebay/paypal would make it up to me and I could go through with the auction. As far as I concerned, it was ebay/paypal's fault. If he had worked with me, perhaps we could have pressured ebay/paypal into making it right. But I wouldn't (relieve myself) on someone who was on fire after they called me a (rhymes with punt). I'm funny that way.

 

It's a tricky thing. He did win the book, be it if he swore at you or not. I've had plenty of buyers do that to me, but whatever. They get the book then I block them.

 

eBay did mess up big time though, and the end result was that you lost money on the deal. I'm sorry that happened, and I hope that never happens again with anyone who uses eBay. Sorry it happened. :(

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