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eBay

follow up

EBay Decides To Contact Tim About His Laptop Auction Problems

Timothy, our hapless eBay seller who kept having problems listing his laptop on the auction site, was contacted by a Real Live Human from eBay the day after we posted his story. "Garrison" apologized for the frustration, and said he'd be making a note on Timothy's account to keep it from getting shut down by other agents. He also suggested several listing options that were pretty well-covered by our commenters in the original thread. More »

Nigerian scammers

It's Now Completely Impossible To Sell A Laptop On Ebay

The cool thing about eBay's support system is it will always answer your question; unfortunately, that answer will always be a form letter on how to reset your password, as Timothy discovered when he tried to figure out how to sell his laptop to someone who wasn't a Nigerian scammer. Timothy has discovered the awful truth behind today's eBay—something many readers here already know—which is that it's become virtually impossible to sell any sort of medium-to-high end electronics there anymore. More »

ebay

Man eBays $103,254.11 In Debt

This lady is trying to eBay her family's $103,245.11 in debt. It comes with her house and car (loving family not included). I guess it could be useful if you're trying to decrease your tax liability, or you just want to feel part of the credit crunch crisis. Maybe you could work out a Prince and the Pauper thing.

My Debt, all of my worldly bills comes w/house and car [eBay] (Thanks to Ryan!)


cautionary tale

Seller Gets Scammed On Ebay, PayPal Won't Help

Matt just got his first taste of Ebay, and it wasn't good—as soon as he mailed off the Best Buy gift card to the buyer, the buyer reversed payment on Matt's PayPal account and stopped communicating with him. We're pretty sure he's screwed on this one, but does anyone have any good advice for what he can do next? More »

scams

This Buyer's Experience Pretty Much Sums Up What's Wrong With Ebay

Veteran Ebay buyer/seller Monty has just come off a triple play of misrepresented auctions, each from a different seller, and has had zero luck getting things straightened out with any of them. More »

shipping

Shipping Is Getting Expensive

Emily noticed that the weird puppet crap she was thinking of buying on Ebay would make her PayPal account explode:
I know shipping products can be expensive, what with the rising fuel costs and all, but this shipping charge from the UK to Utah is ridiculous! Maybe the seller's just padding the fee, I don't know. :)
More »

worst company in america

Round 14: eBay/Paypal vs COX

This is Round 14 in our Worst Company in America contest, eBay/Paypal vs COX cable.

eBay has become a hothive of international scams. Coupled with its faceless transaction processor Paypal, a number of our readers report having disputes unfairly judged against them, victims of scammers who know how to manipulate eBay/Paypal's myriad policies.

We don't receive many complaints about Cox but some of the people who nominated them took issue with paying $30 just to get 12 local channels, and another complained about his in-state long distance rate being doubled without explanation.

More »

cars

eBayed BMW M3 Resolution Hits Pothole

The guy who won a BMW for $60k on eBay only to have the dealership back out is chaffing at the conditions the dealership imposed after the two, following an international onslaught of criticism, came to terms. The two conditions the dealership asked for were 1) That Ken not sell the car for a certain number of years after he bought it and 2) That Ken has to go around to all the internet sites that picked up his story and tell them that the dealership worked out the deal. Ken's lawyer was able to get the first one struck but Ken really doesn't like the second one, especially after the following quote from the dealership appeared in the Journal-Star, "These bloggers out there, they have lots of time on their hands to do this." To this, Ken wrote, "I got placed under the impression that the dealership really isn't sorry for anything they have done here. Their attitude, it seemed was that I am to blame for the firestorm that culminated, implying that I wasn't being proactive enough in getting the word out...I had no intention of becoming a pawn for this dealer, not after the way they treated me!" For their part, the dealership says they are ready to sell the car at the agreed-upon price once they receive payment from Ken.

It's not up to Ken to do the dealership's PR. Any new impositions by the dealer are moot. You can't add on conditions after the fact.

Won ebay auction at 60K for E90 M3, BMW of Lincoln refusing to honor [m3post]
PREVIOUSLY: Facing Online Onslaught, Dealership Honors eBay Sale
BMW Dealer Refuses To Honor eBay Sale


followups

Facing Online Onslaught, Dealership Honors eBay Sale

The dealership that refused to honor a BMW 3 Sedan for sold on eBay for $60,000 seems to have buckled under the deluge of criticism, emails, and phone calls made by irate internetizens sympathetic to the buyer's plight. A post by buyer Ken on m3post.com says that the dealership has agreed to honor the original price. However, there will be certain "conditions," which Ken wasn't yet able to specify. Ken's story appeared in various auto forums, and on Autoblog, Consumerist, Fark, and Digg (although for some reason, it got buried even though it has 475+ diggs...dealership sockpuppets at work?). Online social justice networking is in effect.

PREVIOUSLY: BMW Dealer Refuses To Honor eBay Sale


complaints

BMW Dealer Refuses To Honor eBay Sale

UPDATE: Facing Online Onslaught, Dealership Honors eBay Sale

15 minutes after Ken won a no-reserve eBay auction for a new BMW 3 Sedan for $60,000, he says a salesman at BMW of Lincoln nervously called him up and said that the price was a "mistake." "When I pressed the issue and raised the possibility of legal action," Ken wrote on the m3post.com forums, "this guy had the nerve to condescendingly laugh and say we are a multi-billion dollar company, ebay will definitely side with us." Actually, that's not how eBay works. eBay says its sales are legally binding contracts. Ken has already started the dispute resolution process and eBay seems inclined in his favor. If the dealership loses the appeal, they will also lose their eBay seller account.

BMW dealer auctions new M3 for $60K on eBay, doesn't want to honor the deal [AutoBlog] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
Won ebay auction at 60K for E90 M3, BMW of Lincoln refusing to honor [m3post]
[eBay Auction]


ebay

What Can You Do If PayPal Holds Your Funds For 21 Days? Gamble With It In Their Money Market Fund

EBay's highly criticized fee changes—lower listing prices but a 67% increase in seller fees—kicked in last week, and next month eBay's payment service PayPal will start holding certain deposits for up to 21 days if PayPal considers the transaction "high risk." PayPal earns interest on any money it holds—and it's perfectly legal because PayPal is a deposit broker and not a bank. If you do find your money stuck in "high risk" detention, there's only one way you can attempt to earn money from the delay, and that's by sticking it in PayPal's Money Market Fund. More »

auctions

eBay Boycott Having An Effect? Listings Are Down 13%

USAToday says the eBay boycott over fee and policy changes has driven listings down as much as 13%: More »

boycotts

The Great eBay Boycott Is Officially On, Will Anyone Notice?

Here we are a few days into a week-long eBay boycott over policy and fee changes and no one is sure if it is having any effect. It appears that listings are down 3%, but no one is sure if the drop is the result of the boycott. More »

auctions

Study Says Shoppers "Save" Money On eBay

EBay doesn't share data on bidders' maximum bid amounts, so it's always been difficult to quantify whether or not buyers are actually saving money, but a new study has attempted to put hard numbers behind the transactions. The study's authors use data from bidders who used a specific sniping agent—by measuring what those bidders were willing to pay versus actual winning amounts, they've determined that the average winning bid comes in about 30% lower than the maximum amount the buyer was willing to spend. More »

crime

Archivist Arrested For Stealing Historic Docs To Sell On eBay

Daniel Lorello, an archivist with New York's department of education, was arrested this week and charged with "grand larceny, possession of stolen property and fraud" for allegedly "stealing hundreds of historic documents, many of which he sold on eBay." Lorello pleaded not guilty, but investigators countered by releasing a written statement from Lorello in which he admitted to stealing as many as 400 items. Ah, the wily archivist, foiled by a letter from his own past!
More »