eBay

Back in prehistoric times, bosses worried that workers were using the office Internet connection to look at pornography. After that it was Amazon.com. Now it's eBay and the other auction sites.

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Walk through any office around 8:30 a.m. and everyone's logged on and ready for another day. Only thing is, instead of reading the CEO's latest rantings, they're buying antique waffle irons on eBay and selling some left-over parts from that old Studebaker out in the back yard.

The whole thing works more or less on the honor system, which is pretty much how speed limits work. Our suspicion has been that if you held up a radar gun, you'd find a lot of people speeding -- and a lot of others (or maybe the same ones) not coming through with the merch.

Here are a few of the more recent complaints we've received:

Cassie of Miami, FL November 21, 2009

I was selling a nice pair of diamond earrings and a gold necklace on ebay. A buyer was showing interest and I recieved an email from ebay saying that my items have been sold so I went through the steps and sent the items out to Europe. I waited a few days and never received a payment so I contacted ebay and apparently the emails I received were fraudulent and fabricated from an unknown source. I now have been dealing with filing a internet crime cases that took days. On top of it the hacker has erased all traces of the transaction and ebay is not going to refund me for the two very expensive items I have lost. I just want everyone to know that ebays customer service is absolute crap! I have all proof of purchase through the emails and I also have all my shipping and tracking information and ebay is still not willing to pay for my loses!!! I'm so angry with this system the have running, they are suppose to be a secure site and when some one breaches that security they are liable for that!!!

anita of cranbury, NJ November 19, 2009

i ordered a magazine.it was ruined when it arrived due to it not being protected.it was just in a paper thin envelope.i emailed ebay a few times about this to get my money back.first they say they can help-now i'm being ignored.i paid 17.01 u.s dollars for it.that's 9.98 in united kingdom dollars.i paid the 17.01.i have proof of everything i'm telling you.i got a copy from my paypal account of the proof of everything.i even have the ruined magazine.all i want is my refund.i have proof-they shouldn't be so ignorant to me.ebay is the main source to go to for damaged items.

barbara of greenbrae, CA November 18, 2009

i, unfortunately, bid on crock pot that has shown up on a recall list. the seller withdrew the offer when i questioned whether it had been repaired and refuses to discuss with me. i want to report this to the proper goverment authorities. i believe ebay should be taking care of these things and the sellers should be held reponsible. no consequences to me, but many are available from the same seller, all listed as new. it seems this seller, at least, is on the honor system...and selling hazardous product.

Kim of Lindsborg, KS October 26, 2009

NON-Paying Buyers and Bidders: Even though they do not pay Ebay still lets them buy! If they have new Ebay ID's with little or no feedback,,,BEWARE! All they have to do is create a new Ebay ID after they get a couple of NON Pay strikes. If the commits have been removed by Ebay in the commits section at the green feedback dot they are NON Payers!

Remember: You cannot leave negative feedback for a Ebay buyer or bidder now! Remember: even though a bidder may have NON Pay strikes,,,You as a Seller can't see them! remember: even if they are a worthless Ebay member,,Ebay will do nothing! You as a seller will have to wait up to 2 weeks to get your listing and final fees returned.

Vanessa of Columbia, SC October 13, 2009

According the listing by Smittal, I purchased a pair of acoustimass double cube speakers for 95.00 plus 4.00 for insurance. However, I only received one. I notified the seller requesting him/her to send the other one. Seller denied request and stated "I bidded only on one speaker and was a misunderstanding on my part. In the bottom of the ad it states you are bidding on a pair of double cube speakers. I kept the actual listing that states I won.

I contacted seller on several occasions in which I demanded a refund due to the sellers refusal to honor the bid of a pair. I also contacted Ebay and they of course would not do anything and would not allow me to place any feedback on this seller. The actual email from Ebay telling me I've won has been taken off the site.

These are the most untrustworthy people I have ever dealt with. Something needs to be done about it. There are thousands of complaints against Ebay business dealings and practices, but no agency or attorney is willing to take them on. It's appalling that unscrupolus sellers can hide behind Ebay and deceivingly cheat customers out of their money and no one is held accountable. I have lost money and any trust with buying from any buyers associated with Ebay.

kim of Margate, AL October 9, 2009

i purchased a new treadmill from their ebay site. on arrival 30/6/09 it was faulty and not in working order. i contacted them immediately and they said they would order me a new motor and send it. i am still waiting neally 4months and keep asking for my entitled refund with no avail. i cannot use my product at all and have since had to hire another tredmill as i am a professional triathlete.

Gina of Simi Valley, CA October 5, 2009

I purchase a cell phone on e-bay and they sent me a non working phone twice and one bad battary. Now they are ignoring my request for refund and i am having to send the phone back and pay for return mail.

Vincent of North Fort Myers, FL October 2, 2009

I am extremely concerned about eBay's new Preferred Seller policies. It places Big medallions next to certain sellers search results... and has added a box along side the search results that pops up and lures people to a Preferred Sellers ONLY area. eBay is supposed to maintain a neutral position when it comes to competition between Sellers. The feedback system has worked for the most part, except that Sellers are no longer allowed to issue any feedback other than 'positive".

Then the star-rating system was instituted giving Buyers even more choices to make regarding several categories of service...totally arbitrary opinion. eBay has created a scenario where the message is NOT simply " BUY FROM THESE PREFERRED SELLERS," but in the reverse. "DON'T BUY FROM THESE OTHER FOLKS WHO ALSO HAVE ITEMS FOR SALE ON THESE PAGES."

I have been a hard-working eBay member since 2003 and have always abided by the rules. But, this current evaluation system is lop-sided and unfair. I don't know what to say here. I have over 1200 auctions and, this policy is openly and purposely distracting potential buyers away from them. My feedback is great. 99.5%. The rating stars are arbitrary. There are many folks who just as a matter of tendency do not give 5 stars.

It's one thing to sell a product like a cell phone case or television antenna and simple things like that. But, I sell shirts... that involves the fabric, the size and length, the color, the quality. It is infinitely more difficult to please folks completely on every count. It's bad enough that eBay is now selling advertising and placing the advertising near the bottom of a search page BEFORE the numbers of subsequent pages in the search. Many potential Buyers will not realize that if they scroll down below the ads, there are more pages for them to continue to.

Yeah they probably should make it a habit of noticing the number of results from their search at the top of the page. But before it didn't make a difference because the subsequent page numbers were right there after the last item listing on the page.... not deliberately buried beyond the group of paid advertisement like it is now. It's not done that way by accident. And, those ads actually potential buyers away from that search and many that take you out of eBay, altogether.

Also, eBay has forbidden Sellers to offer Money Orders and Personal Checks as payment options in our auctions. It isn't that we're not allowed to accept Money Orders and/or checks as payment for purchases, it's that we're just not allowed to tell folks that we accept them. As a matter-of-fact, we were given a deadline by which we were to have all such information out of our auctions or suffer the penalty of HAVING OUR AUCTIONS CANCELLED! As you might expect the only payment methods that we're allowed to mention is PayPal and one other payment acceptance service... both owned by eBay related companies. Never mind the "floating" of funds by PayPal on a regular basis.

It is my conclusion that these practices violate a whole host of ethics standards and probably many business and commerce laws, rules and regulations. I am now experiencing a huge dip in my Sales.

K of East Rochester, NY September 28, 2009

I had an appointment with Apple-Genius Bar to have they evaluate the damage to the ibook. No Microsoft software is installed on the laptop at all and the Screen damage is due "to compression". They described compression damage as a heavy object or pressure put on the outside case and the hardware that is behind the screen causes damage to the screen. Janice has made a third offer, 50.00 toward the purchase of the Microsoft software and for me to put a claim in to the USPS for the damage. I explained that she packaged the ibook with no bubble wrap in a long large Priority Mall Box and just threw the ibook, adapter, paperwork and recovery disks in haphazard....if she wants to she should make a fraudulent claim...

I believe the ibook was damaged before she put it in the shipping box because there is no damage to the box. Janice further said I should have asked for different packaging and shipping if I wanted it done differently. I continue to have a lose of 247.27 because I paid with a USPS money order and the seller refuses to refund my money and take the ibook back.

After numerous telephone calls to Ebay, and at their suggestion, I attempted to put feedback on Ebay for the seller and Ebay has blocked me from doing so. My only thought is, they blocked me because they have seen what I wrote which is factual and with merit and they are penalizing me for a buyer that they are allowing to be deceptive. Is this what Ebay does to a person when they are ripped off by one of their sellers? Why can't I give feedback on the Ebay website so others are aware of how the transaction was handled by the seller?

K of East Rochester, NY September 25, 2009

Bid on Ebay Apple Ibook G4 Laptop and won the bid on 9/11/09 in the amount of 228.62 with shipping 13.95 and insurance 4.70 which I paid for with a Postal Money Order on 9/12/09 by sending it to her. Janice B. listed the item as mint condition and that it had Microsoft 2004 Student Edition Package. Received it on 9/21/09 and was shocked to find that she had thrown the laptop into a box with no padding or securing it in anyway to prevent damage. And upon receipt I found it to be filthy and to have no Microsoft software installed and no disks to install it.

The mint condition was less than described...deep scratches on the bottom, significant scratches on the top lid, the screen when turned on had damage....a two inch long and a half inch wide whitish area that had a half inch area coming off the longer area. Above the line, there are several round white areas on the screen. And along the left hand side there is a long thin white area to the screen. This defect is not on the outside of the screen but, behind the screen. Very noticeable when laptop is on and I wonder how it effects printing out pictures and documents etc. to which this laptop was purchased for (that particular use).

Emailed Janice B. and she stated that it was my problem that it had no Microsoft "You get what you get" and that the laptop had no scratches or damage to it. Notified the seller that I was not happy, she offered to take the laptop back and return only half of my money. I refused. She then offered to have me pay to ship the laptop back to her and she would inspect it and send me what she felt was adequate in a refund. I refused. I demanded a full refund and then I would send the laptop back to her and if this was not agreeable to her I suggested we meet halfway between New York and Virginia for her inspection or she could go home to Pa. and I would meet her. Instead of responding to any of these offers, she has avoided me.

So my economic damage is 247.27 plus the aggrevation of dealing with this issue. The laptop was purchased for business use and since it was not as listed on Ebay and of no use to me, I bid on another laptop and won the bid. So, it has cost me 192.01 plus 10.00 for shipping 5.00 for insurance for the second laptop which is exactly what the seller offered in her listing. I protected myself by explaining to the new seller my situation and she reassured me to my satisfaction.

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