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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to ask for your annoying/ funny eBay seller or buyer stories?!

173 replies

scottishegg · 16/09/2016 17:13

Hi all just had a buyer leave negative feedback because the jeans I sold her didn't fit her despite me clearly labelling the size!! Bonkers!! Has any one else had any interesting eBay/ online seller stories!! This is genuinely for my own interest/ amusement!!

OP posts:
Puzzledandpissedoff · 17/09/2016 19:31

Tell me about it, Pani - I had similar, except mine was on Gumtree and yes, the items were being given away

I was clearing my late father's house and obviously needed it gone, but the number of timewasters not turning up was incredible. One let me down three times and still kept messaging to ask "when can I come instead?" He actually got quite snippy when I eventually stopped replying Hmm

Coconutty · 17/09/2016 21:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Vvlgari · 17/09/2016 21:28

I put a chester draws on ebay after we moved into our house because it wouldn't go up the stairs. It was on for a fraction of what it was worth because there was nowhere for it to go. A guy turned up and I watched him get out of his van, perfectly fine. Halfway up the drive, he suddenly bent over and started limping. He hobbled into the kitchen grasping his back theatrically and said he'd take the chester draws but could we lift it out for him and into his van as his poor back.

We both knew he was taking the piss, but we just could not be arsed to argue with him. He then tried to knock us down on the price which got a flat no, so we just put it in his van. Then, he demanded some blankets to stop it getting scratched. At this point, I burst out laughing and DH said ' do one, mate'.

DH recently sold some car wheels on ebay and thanks to a work emergency was unable to be there when the buyer turned up to collect. The buyer obviously took this as licence to try it on. He did the whole sucking of teeth and said that they weren't as good as he could get elsewhere for a cheaper price. I knew this was bullshit so I said that he was welcome to try and find better ones cheaper elsewhere. There was a brief standoff while he considered his options and he gave in. But then he tried to make me carry them out to his car!

Honestly, I would rather give stuff to people rather than deal with the cunts on ebay.

Whatthefuckis1tnow · 17/09/2016 21:38

Vvlgari - Chester draws???? Really?

Vvlgari · 17/09/2016 21:46

Sigh. No, not really. It was meant to be a poke at the dopey eBay/free cycle misspelling brigade but it looks like it fell flat.

I do know that it 'chest of drawers' rather than 'Chester draws'.

Whatthefuckis1tnow · 17/09/2016 21:51

Ah apologies, my mistake! It does amaze me how many times I see this written on certain sites. Mainly Facebook selling sites generally.

Sundaysmumisfullofwine · 17/09/2016 21:55

Was selling a dress that had sold out on the brands website in this size but was still available in another size in the sale. So, random ebayer starts messaging me saying "you know you can buy this dress cheaper on the brand website why are you selling it for more than they are selling it for?"

Despite explaining several times that a) it was sold out in this size and b) I don't tell people what to bid, it's their choice, the ebayer still didn't get it and kept on messaging me the link of the website listing.

CoolToned · 17/09/2016 21:57

Sunday - this happened to me!

JellyBelli · 17/09/2016 21:57

Coconutty You used to be able to reply to feedback...Grin

allsfairinlove · 17/09/2016 21:59

hah, sounds like she was hoping you'd not cotton on to her chancing her arm! Grin

Whatthefuckis1tnow · 17/09/2016 22:04

I have sold items previously on eBay but wouldn't bother at all now and haven't for a few years as the aggravation and hassle is too much. There certainly are a lot of strange people using it.

Heychickadee · 17/09/2016 22:05

I bought a nice Fatface dress from a seller, got a message saying to check out her other items as she was having a clear out. Most of her other items were socks, ranging from "worn once" to "used, slightly damaged" Confused

EarthboundMisfit · 17/09/2016 22:10

I once ordered an 'as new' book. When I opened the parcel, there was a pound coin taped to the book and a post-it saying 'sorry, I had a bit of a nosebleed while packing this'.

I never found any traces of blood. It was all a bit odd.

Cagliostro · 17/09/2016 22:18

like some kind of S&M elephant tampon

OK we have a new winner for 'best sentence I've ever read on MN' :o

Nothing interesting happens for me on eBay, couple of chancers trying to get refunds for damaged items and then mysteriously dropping the subject when we asked for photos... that's it though.

Haven't sold anything for a couple of years now, too many horror stories on here about dodgy buyers TBH!

MagikarpetRide · 17/09/2016 22:19

On gumtree I sold an icandy buggy. Buyer came and properly checked it out, handed the money and went off. Contacted me a week later to say it was broken in a place they had themselves tested so I thought this is odd but politely queried whether they meant that bit as we had all tested it. They said yes but apparently they can get it repaired if I forward them my John Lewis receipt. I didn't get it from John Lewis nor had claimed to. They never contacted me after that.

I posted on a different thread today about buying a small item from eBay, the seller initially didn't post it then sent me a lot of abusive messages when I said it still hadn't arrived two weeks after they said they sent it. eBay found in my favour and got them to leave me alone. Item showed up four days later, not tracked, postage date 2 days after the eBay case closed.

As a seller I sent three payment requests over about 2 weeks to a buyer who didn't respond. I opened an unpaid item case. They found a message, replied to it saying they just found my messages now but that I was rude for not messaging them before I opened my caseConfused

flippinada · 17/09/2016 22:24

This thread has cheered me up no end after my own ebay farrago this week. Glad I'm not the only one! Some of these are absolute shockers.

MagikarpetRide · 17/09/2016 22:27

Oh many many years ago I bought a slimline dishwasher from eBay. Bnip apparently. Box arrives and clearly it had been opened, but I figured that was ok as they'd probably tested it. Remove the washer and a piece of paper falls out. It's the faulty goods notice. With all the details of that machine. Seller swore blind he could not have known about that. Except his name was down as the owner on the faulty goods sheet. Oddly enough eBay accepted our request for a refund because we didn't really want to risk using known faulty goods that may not have been repaired.

Creativemode · 17/09/2016 22:34

I sold my eldest's moses basket and stand on ebay. They were collection only.

The highest bidder asked if I would deliver it 30 minutes away. I certainly wasn't expecting to and it only sold for about £10 from what I can remember, but I agreed I would. My mum and dad were babysitting and said they'd deliver it for me, all fine.

Only problem was my mum put ds' coat in the moses basket in the boot then forgot. So of course his coat ended up getting left at the buyers house.

I had to email her asking if she would mind posting it to me which she very kindly did!

It was all hardly worth it in the end! Hopefully she got good use out of the basket.

Only1scoop · 17/09/2016 22:37

Friend years ago bought a pair of cowboy boots.
X.

nwbmum · 17/09/2016 22:43

I recently sold a baby monitor on eBay and the woman who bought it accused me of selling her a broken one. I was really confused cos I tested it after posting and it was all fine. Googled a bit. Turned out she had another baby monitor that was the same model, and it caused interference.
Honestly some people immediately jump to the conclusion that sellers are untrustworthy. The time spent dealing with silly questions are just not worth it. Don't really sell anything worth less than £20 any more.

Caper86 · 17/09/2016 22:43

I sold a designer dress (bnwt) for £15, the international buyer asked if I would post it for free (postage was £5). I replied and said 'I'm afraid I can't do that.' Though the expression got lost in translation as in her feedback she wrote that I wouldn't send it to her for free as I was scared!

Avonandice · 17/09/2016 22:43

I sold a joblot of baby stuff and the girl who came to collect it turned up in a smart car. It was binliners full as i had an over enthusiastic cousin who passed on his triplets clothing.

She left her boyfriend sitting on our sofa while she went home, unloaded and then came back to collect the rest of it and him.

MurphyJim · 17/09/2016 22:50

We run an Ebay clothing business and get weird/awkward/demanding/cheeky buyers ALL the time.

Recent things include:

Someone who bought a pair of herringbone trousers, which were listed clearly in the title and listing as being herringbone AND photographed in a close up shot to show the pattern, started an Item Not As Described dispute because "The trousers have a pattern on them"

Someone messaging me asking if a pair of kids shoes I was selling would fit their child.

Someone starting an Item Not As Described dispute saying that a pair of shoes I sold to them didn't have a size stated in the listing. They did have a size stated, and a photo of the labels stating the size, but if it was the case why the fuck would someone buy a pair of shoes not knowing what the size was? And she started the dispute after messaging me saying that they were too small for her and she was surprised as they were a 5 and she was 'always a 5'.

Plus loads of people getting arsey when they can't fit into something, and trying to blame us, despite us putting sizes and measurements very clearly into each listing. Very rarely does anyone just politely say that the item doesn't fit them and could they return it; it's always done in an accusational way as if we've made their arse too big to fit into a pair of jeans or something.

And probably best I don't even get started on people who send a million questions about a £4.99 item before buying it, then ask if you'll accept £4.50! No! Just No!!

lozster · 17/09/2016 22:51

Sold a pair of Next baby dungarees. Address came through as joe blogs, Royal Mail sorting office Belfast, joe blogs, Dublin. Asked buyer to confirm actual address and got told everyone in Republic of Ireland received items via the Belfast sorting office as they 'always send it on and the postage is cheaper'. She got really shirty when I refused to send in this

NovemberInDailyFailLand · 17/09/2016 22:53

I sold a small item, easily posted, and I stated clearly I didn't offer collection.

The buyer's address was well over 100 miles away, but he began messaging me, insisting that he wanted to collect it from my house and demanding my address. He did stop after about 10 messages but it was rather odd and threatening.