Thursday, August 19, 2010

Yup, I Got Sucka'ed



What a moron.

I should have known better.

I even told my kids that 9 out of ten times you get sucka'ed when you buy something on eBay.

Listen to my own advice? Why, that would be too easy.

So it happened to me just like I predicted it would. I bought a dress on eBay for $207.00 and I got completely bamboozled. If the fact that the dress was too small for my waif-y daughter Frack wasn't enough to make me want to hurl, now the seller is not responding to my requests to return the item. AND that particular seller has no items for sale at this time.

How interesting.

So what's a girl to do?? This morning I sent out another message to the seller to request a return, but I fear it may be too late, considering the buyer must return the dress to the seller within 7 days of purchase. The buyer must also contact the seller to request a return, but here's the kicker, it takes 3 to 4 business days for the seller to return a response. Day 6 and still no response. Something tells me I will get no response at all.

Should I write a scathing review on the seller to post for all to see? I'm thinking they will just re-emerge under another name. This particular seller had a 100% positive feedback rating and from what I saw it looked legit. I should have been a little more leery when I realized it was coming from Shanghai. If it seems like it's too good to be true, then it most certainly is too good to be true.

I have bought many things on eBay before, mostly stuff for my kids, but this was the first time I went out on a limb and purchased something with a higher risk factor. I think I'll wait it out for a day or two then contact eBay if I get no response. I'm not sure if that will do any good because I'm sure crap like this happens all day, every day.

Shoulda known better.

PT Barnum may have been on to something.....sucka.

15 comments:

RW said...

Yeah the rule is pretty much stay away from China. Don't feel bad, I had to learn the hard way too.

Verdant Earl said...

Leave the scathing review anyway. You never know.

Verdant Earl said...

Oh, and contact eBay about the seller not responding to your messages. We did that and we, eventually, got our money back.

The Dental Maven said...

I hate that crap. But, like B.E. Earl says, contact Ebay and go through their resolution center. I've done that and had it work for me as well. Good luck Girl!!

VEG said...

You know, I've had over 800 Ebay experiences and only one of them was even mildly a bad experience and it got resolved easy. Usually it's a pretty reliable service in my opinion. I've never been scammed or anything. However, most sellers don't accept returns unless the item was misrepresented or they're an actual store who states in the listing they accept returns so you might be out of luck. Sucks to spend $200 though and have it not fit.

cfoxes33 said...

Bummer.

Heff said...

Huh. I figured "All Sales Are Final" on Ebay.

I usually do pretty well on Ebay, but I buy Bass Guitar "fixer-uppers" cheap, and work on 'em.

Jim said...

I stick with merchandise related to "The Island of Misfit Toys," and have been lucky so far.

XO

sybil law said...

Write the review and definitely contact eBay.
It's happened to far too many of us!

will said...

Looks like its your turn to (re)sell the dress.

Anonymous said...

You should DEFINITELY report them. I would do so all the way up the command chain of eBay headquarters, citing fraud, inaction on the part of the seller. And if the item in question was sent through the US mail system, it may even be considered mail fraud.

And for kicks, contact the local news and have them do an expose on your story. Then you can post it to YouTube, use the seller's name and put 'em on blast!

Even if they change their seller name on eBay, if you give enough of a description to the kinds of things they sell, they'll still get busted.

I bought two pairs of Levis on eBay several years ago. They were marked size 32, but when I got them and put them on, they couldn't have been more than a 28. When I posted back on eBay to re-sell, I got an email from someone who had also purchased the same jeans a few people before me, and told me that were gyp'd on the sizing too, and they too re-sold them.

As it turned out these jeans were re-sold about 5 times on eBay because the sizing was wrong, and each subsequent seller NEVER made note of it in their sale. I corrected that by indicating the jeans fit much smaller than a 32 waist.

They still sold and I recouped my money (except for shipping). Live and learn.

wallycrawler said...

Don't fret. Go through eBay's dispute center and if that doesn't work Pay Pal will get your money back.

I know it's a hassle. It will work though.

eBay is a pretty good company.

Stay away from overseas clients. Live & Learn.

Cora said...

Definitely contact eBay's dispute resolution center. DEFINITELY. Ebay can refund you your money even if the seller is ignoring your emails - I've had it happen. Ebay will contact the seller and "investigate" and, generally, eBay will side with the buyer. Give it a shot. All is not lost!! ((((HUGS)))) :-)

Scott Oglesby said...

The only thing you really have to go on is the feedback rating. I know that we made a killing selling art on EBay before we left but I think the market has dried up thanks to the assholes.

the walking man said...

Take comfort Candace in the fact that you just made me happy to have never had any experience with e-bay.