To think that Ebay sellers must have rotten luck

[confused202]

I buy regularly on Ebay and often when things are delayed in being sent or if they don’t get sent at all, sellers often have quite elaborate stories as to why. I have just had one where I won a coat (new with tags) for a fraction of the price that it should have cost and a few days after I paid I messaged the seller to ask if the coat had been dispatched yet and she sent me this really long message back about how her husband had driven to Scotland (without her) to see a friend and had taken the coat with him but the car packed up on the way so the car was taken away with my coat! I also won some shorts last summer (again new with tags for quite a low price) and the sellers dog chewed them before she could post them to me! My favourite was when I won a Ted Baker purse (brand new with tags at a low price) and I messaged the seller and her house had been burgled so the purse was gone, but when I looked on her page the next week the purse was being sold again but at a higher price (I did laugh at this point). I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered eBay sellers with such bad luck?

It was a set where something rattling was not surprising. I asked for photos but it had gone in the bin then out to be collected all within about 30 minutes. Bought it for the starting price (approx £5) and didn't want the whole set just one piece which literally couldn't rattle

ive had both sides of this as a seller Hermes admitted they had lost a parcel, I refunded the buyer and Hermes made it impossible to claim for the parcel even though they admitted they were at fault, and as a buyer I ordered a tee shirt buy it now £10 and somehow the seller has managed to have it marked as delivered to me but I haven't received it and no refund to me , I sell for a charity and its amazing how many people pay days after winning or change their minds after they have won something and only when I do a not paid dispute do they come out of the woodwork and say don't want it now so I have to relist which costs more fees

I'm a genuine eBay seller - it's a bit like a hobby I guess. There are occasions when I've been packaging something up and realised there's something wrong with it, maybe a mark on the clothing I hadn't noticed prior to advertising. I wouldn't want to sell anything that I wouldn't be prepared to buy for myself and in that instance, I would email the buyer to explain. I give them the option of having a full refund or if they want it still, I would just get them to pay the postage.

I agree with those other posters who have used the "make me an offer" option then somebody offers a ridiculously low price. I have wised up now and in that case adjust the advert so that anyone interested can only make an offer higher (even if only by 1p) than the starting price I have put on. My reckoning is that if they want to make an offer, they must want it quickly and don't want to wait until the auction ends (usually 7 or 10 days on my adverts).

and had a buyer say that 2 framed posters I sent one had the glass smashed when it arrived, that's weird as it had plastic in front not glass, so did the right thing said send photos of the damaged poster and I will refund for it, funnily enough he disappeared and didn't persue a refund or send any pictures through

I sell on eBay quite a bit: never had 'bad luck' except once when I genuinely broke an item of china I'd sold as I was wrapping it. It wasn't a high-value item and the price paid was reasonable. Well, the abuse I got from the buyer that I was lying, had to send him pictures of the broken bits, etc! Unfortunately, it actually was bin day and the bits were away, so I couldn't provide evidence. I just thought he was a really suspicious person, didn't actually realise people do try it on like that!

*Twillow", I've been doing eBay for over 10 years and you do live and learn as they say. My best one was selling a laptop battery for a fair price. The buyer contacted me after about 2 weeks to say I'd sent some medical weighing scales batteries instead. I stood my ground (it was total fabrication of course) and said I would only refund the money when he returned them to me. Indeed, it wasn't a laptop battery that came in the post - but what he had done with the laptop battery, I have no idea. That was something to chalk up to experience very early on in my eBay "career".

@coconuttelegraph I think it's disgusting behaviour. Would you think so if similar happened in a shop? I hate the anonymity making people behave like dicks. Nobody has to let stuff go for less than anything. Start your bidding where you're happy to accept. Don't start it at 99p if you aren't willing to let it go for less than £30

this has happened to be a few times too. I always seem to buy from sellers with children suddenly rushed into hospital or family members in intensive care...

Every buyer on Facebook marketplace seems to have children who are rushed to hospital or have some other catastrophe befall them. Half my conversations are like:

Them: Yes, I want it. Please reserve for me.
Me: OK. When do you want to collect?
Me: (3 days later) Sorry, I am still tripping over this fecking item, will you be collecting soon?
(Days more silence)
Them: Sorry hun my rabbit got rushed to intensive care and my grandparent died horribly so now we don't need the baby walker xxx

@JagerPlease yes, you are very right! I was a seller on eBay when I first joined a few years ago but would never do it again now! There are loads of buyers who go to any length to get a refund. It really put me off and I found it so stressful!

@Ilovelblue I completely forgot another one! Before Christmas a buyer bought a camera and said it hadn't arrived, kept up messaging saying he would have to buy one locally so needed refund. He raised a case. I never bother with recorded delivery although maybe I should have as this was over £50 - but I checked the receipt code and even on 2nd class it was recorded as delivered. He never replied once I forwarded the proof of posting with the delivery code and the case was closed. I tend to believe people and was feeling bad about this but no, just a CF I guess.

@Ilovelblue I had something similar to this. I sold a pair of beautiful Hobbs trousers, posted them to the buyer. About a week later they messaged me to say they’d received a book on life boats- I said it wasn’t possible, I didn’t even own a book on life boats. eBay sided with them and told them to return the book to me to get a refund. They didn’t even send me a book about life boats. They sent me a book on the Vietnam war! It really bothered me because I had to refund them, but I can laugh about it now because it is odd!

Someone once left feedback on an item of clothing that I’d sold them stating that it ‘stank of fags and BO’. I had to laugh - not only had nobody smoked in my flat, but it was a size 10 and I was a 16 so the bloody dress wouldn’t go anywhere near me! I’d bought it in the vain hope I could slim into it and never did, so I’m not sure how I was supposed to work up a good sweat in it

The worst ones are the ones who make a fake account and then outbid everyone else before disappearing.
I once advertised a sofa, like new, collection only starting at £50.
Right at the last few seconds of its time a bid came in for way higher than the previous bid.
The ' buyer ' then disappeared.
I offered it to the last bidder prior to that, but they had already won a different one by then.
Four times that happened with that sofa!!
eBay basically shrugged their shoulders.
I deactivated my account after that.

I've had the 'child in hospital' and 'dying grandma' sellers. The abuse I got from the dying grandma seller was quite something. I'd been waiting for a month for my item, she told me she was at Grandma's bedside day and night and couldn't even begin to think about letting eBay buyers know their orders would be delayed, how dare I ?
I then pointed out that it hadn't stopped her buying shit-loads of stuff herself in that four weeks, I could see from her feedback.

Twillow and *confused" - my most recent gripe (which is totally moving away from the original post, sorry) is some bad feedback I had from the buyer, saying the item had taken over 10 days to arrive. I had used recorded delivery and although I'd not checked after 2 or 3 days to see if it had turned up, I did check once I received the feedback. How unfair - seems the postman had tried to deliver it twice and it was then lurking in the delivery office until she went to collect it. I did put a response on to say she hadn't bothered to collect it but it rankled at the back of my mind for several weeks afterwards.

The hospital excuse! I've heard the hospital excuse so very, very many times. Every time something is sent later than promised, it's always because the seller or their child has been in hospital.

Honestly, just tell me you couldn't be arsed because it was cold/raining and/or the post-office queue is one of the seven circles of hell and/or you couldn't be bothered for a few days, and I'll sympathise and relate and be fine with it and appreciate the honesty.

I get annoyed when I feel I'm being fed nonsense, but of course you can't ever cast doubt on a late excuse, just in case that's the one time someone really had to go to hospital because their leg actually fell off.

(seller) told me she was at Grandma's bedside day and night and couldn't even begin to think about letting eBay buyers know their orders would be delayed, how dare I ?
I then pointed out that it hadn't stopped her buying shit-loads of stuff herself in that four weeks, I could see from her

Perfect!!!

it's understandable if buyers don't want to let their stuff go for less than they think it's worth.
No it isn’t. EBay has a number of ways of ensuring that a seller can try to obtain whatever they think something is worth - none of which involve elaborate annoying and time wasting bollocks about items being consumed by fictitious fucking animals etc

@PollyEsterblouse you are soooo right! We’ve all been there, no one would be mad if they were genuine!