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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To find eBay annoying

49 replies

ThisLittleKitty · 09/01/2018 23:31

Aibu to find it really annoying? First time selling on there but have been buying for years anyway listed an item for £10 got up to £24 then the highest bidder tells me he wants to cancel his bid because "his wife already bought one." Super annoying, don't bid on anything you don't intend to buy! Not even a thanks when I cancelled it. So now it's gone back down to £21. I have 13 people watching it but only 2 bids. Whats that about? Is it just me who finds it annoying?

OP posts:

MrGrumpy01 · 10/01/2018 20:13

Amazon drop shippers annoy me too. I make a conscious decision to avoid Amazon and then I get an Amazon parcel through my door.

I always filter to UK sellers only, amazing how many go, Malta, Australia and Germany seem countries of choice at the moment (not much wrong with that other than postage is 5 times the item price)

RosiePosiePuddingPie · 10/01/2018 20:15

I watch things in the hopes that if there are no bids, it'll get relisted at a lower starting price - eBay notified me when a watched item is relisted. There are some lovely doc martens I am watching right now with no bids and I'm hoping for a lower start price if/when they are relisted.

eBay has turned into a bit of a rubbish place for the average person to sell most unwanted items, though. Facebook selling pages, gumtree and preloved are often better.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 10/01/2018 20:37

Rosie I agree the auction-free format on Gumtree can be better, but don't forget ebay now own that as well

RosiePosiePuddingPie · 10/01/2018 20:38

I didn't know that, but now I understand why some gumtree ads went straight to eBay. Hrm.

Original poster

ThisLittleKitty · 10/01/2018 20:43

My sister sold a rug on sphock even delivered it to the woman for free. She seen it inspected it in her house and apparently used the term "I love it" later that day my sister got a very nasty review from her saying how disgusting the rug was! She viewed it with her own eyes. She then begin threatening my sister with court if she didn't give her the money back (my sister didn't agree as it was sold as seen) so she made a fake sphock account to pretend to buy one of my sisters items to obtain her address. It was all very bizarre she no longer sells on there and gets me to list her things now instead.

OP posts:

sothatdidntwork · 10/01/2018 20:51

What's an amazon drop shipper? Haven't heard of that.

The thing about ebay which means I use it instead of gumtree and facebook is that it can all be done by post - I wouldn't want to do anything that involves buyer collect. I haven't noticed problems with 'that's not my signature' but then again I don't sell much, and not clothes really - is it mainly clothes that that happens with?

reservoircats · 10/01/2018 21:06

I know how you feel OP. Sold 3 items recently and not received payment for 2 of them. The bloody buyers won't even respond to my messages! What's the point!!!

MrGrumpy01 · 10/01/2018 21:08

Amazon drop ship is where I buy an item on ebay, expecting for it to be posted out by the seller, but instead they order it from Amazon and have it sent to my address.

The 2 times it has happened it has been toys.

Original poster

ThisLittleKitty · 10/01/2018 21:08

Omg after reading these comments just realised I made a mistake!! I listed the item as just what eBay suggested for postage which is Royal Mail first class! Not signed for!! And cos there is bids it won't let me change it. Feel like ending bidding now as I'm no way sending it without it being signed for, but don't want to be out of pocket either. Is it that much different to send it signed for cost wise?

OP posts:

MrGrumpy01 · 10/01/2018 21:10

It probably isn't an issue for most, just for me I actively avoid Amazon and the item ends up coming from there anyway.

I should maybe have reflected this in my feedback but I did a whole lot on mass and just did it all half thinking.

sothatdidntwork · 10/01/2018 21:24

"Amazon drop ship is where I buy an item on ebay, expecting for it to be posted out by the seller, but instead they order it from Amazon and have it sent to my address."

How does that work for the buyer and seller - if it's cheaper on amazon wouldn't most people buy it from there rather than the ebay seller? And if it's same price, how does the seller make money doing it that way?

thebewilderness · 10/01/2018 21:25

Mind you, the Amazon drop shippers use their Prime business account and claim it is a gift so you have no recourse with Amazon if it comes broken. Basically they are in the business of passing on your order to Amazon for a small fee, and sometimes for a large one if you have to pay to send the damaged item back to the seller, not Amazon.

thebewilderness · 10/01/2018 21:26

Their Prime membership gives them free shipping on the fake gifts.

MrGrumpy01 · 10/01/2018 21:34

so they probably rely on people like me who won't use Amazon as a conscious (ethical) choice* (though I imagine we are not huge in numbers) or people who only buy occasionally so don't have a prime account, the last item I got was very low value so wouldn't have qualified for free postage.

*I am making no judgement on others that use Amazon.

NeverRed · 10/01/2018 21:52

Is it that much different to send it signed for cost wise?

No, if the item you’re sending is a small parcel it should only be an extra £1. Also insured upto £50.

ToadOfSadness · 10/01/2018 22:17

When people want to cancel I tell them to cancel the bid from their account. If it is close to the end of the auction they can't do it though.

However, if they don't pay they will get a non-payment strike from me which will go on their record and if seller preferences are set tight enough they will be unable to bid on some seller's items when they do it enough times.

If they pay to avoid a strike I send recorded even if I am out of pocket. If they try a return case I will have the messages in Ebay messages to appeal any defects or bad feedback.

After 15 years of selling on there I no longer take any crap, have already been there and done it. I follow the rules and do it by the book and protect my account. It is harder than it used to be and that is why I rarely sell on auction, most of mine is BIN these days, with immediate payment selected, they don't pay they can't have it.

IrkThePurist · 10/01/2018 22:20

ThisLittleKitty
Dont panic,. Ebay will let you end the auction if there's a mistake in the listing to do that.

And never take their recommendation for starting price or shipping!

Original poster

ThisLittleKitty · 10/01/2018 22:20

It's quite a large item (it's something for a babies pram like an added extra) might take it to the post office tomorrow to get a quote. Can't believe I made that mistake my sister has had so many people claim they never got stuff and I always say "why didn't you send recorded"

OP posts:

RippleEffects · 10/01/2018 22:26

When you buy on eBay and get something sent from Amazon it may well be a business seller using Amazon multichannel fulfilment.

I sell and buy on both eBay and Amazon. I warehouse products with Amazon and they dispatch my Amazon orders for me. Currently I send my eBay ones myself. I'd like to use Amazon to do the posting out for both (they will store, pack and send for less than the postage costs me) but the ebay boards are full of people assuming it's a drop shipped item and feeling negatively about it. The negatives would be too damaging to business.

MrGrumpy01 · 10/01/2018 22:49

ripple Thank you for explaining that, I guess from a sellers pov it is a very business savvy move.

I think it irks me more as I actively avoid Amazon, I think if I didn't it wouldn't bother me as much. Maybe it is the lack of transparency that annoys others though.

Firesuit · 10/01/2018 22:53

I don't usually care what I get for something, I'm just trying to get rid of it. I don't see anything wrong with cancelling a bid, it just puts the seller back in the position they would have been if there had been no bid.

Original poster

ThisLittleKitty · 10/01/2018 22:58

Not when there are other bidders and when thy have been out bid might decide to bid on something else so they also no longer want the item. Then yes it can actually mess things up as if I got out bid I would just go and bid on something else then I wouldn't want the other one anymore.

OP posts:

thebewilderness · 11/01/2018 03:14

I live in Amazon's home state. I loathe them and their employment practices so I boycott them. I am furious when I purchase something on eBay and the seller is not honest enough to say it is Amazon fulfillment.

CountryMouseCityMouse · 11/01/2018 04:07

I've had this happen quite a few times recently. One person claimed they'd only realised the jeans I was selling were a size 8 after the auction ended & this was the wrong size for them. The size was in the title, listing specifics & description. I'd also taken a photo of the size tag! The buyer refused to pay & I had to relist them where they sold for half the selling price the first time.

In the last 2 weeks I've had buyers ignore messages & only pay a week after the auction ends when an unpaid dispute is opened. This has meant I've had to take that one parcel to the post office alone & make a special trip despite having been the week before with everything else I'd sold for the people who paid on time. I made one buyer aware that because she'd paid over a week since the auction ended, I was now away & couldn't post for 5 days & she complained!

I've also sold a designer handbag which I'd bought myself from the store. I'd sent the bag with the documentation to show its authenticity & had sold the bag for around £60 as I no longer used it (original cost £300). When the buyer received it, she claimed it was a fake. I offered her a refund for the bag upon my receipt of it back because I knew eBay would likely favour her as they tend to with buyers. However, she refused to post it back & said she wanted a partial refund so she'd have paid £30 for a £300 bag! I refused this & asked her to post the bag back for a full refund so I could resell. She then started ignoring messages. She obviously knew the bag was authentic & was trying her luck to get a large discount!

I'd so much rather give things to charity now although do still use eBay for expensive things I no longer use as 90% of the time people are honest.

As much as the buyer shouldn't have bid on something he wasn't going to pay for, cancelling a listing after receiving bids because you've listed the wrong postage is also not best practice & may inconvenience/annoy buyers who think they have secured something & therefore missed out on another selling at the same time. It can also mean your selling is restricted according to the eBay website. In the one instance I listed the incorrect postage because the app had automatically listed their suggested postage which was much too low, I made up the difference myself as it was my mistake & didn't want to ask the top bidder for more to cover postage/cancel the listing in case it impacted my future selling/reviews.

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