Ebay Resolution Center experiences?

[marvinmartian]

Like many of us, I've been buying lots of graphics cards on eBay lately.  All of them have been working fine, except one.  I contacted the seller and never got a reply (waited five days).  I also contacted eBay's Resolution Center who in their email to me said they'd get back to me in 72 hours, which have come and gone.

I've spoken to my credit card company (AMEX) and they claim they can handle it ... BUT ... their investigation will trump/cancel any other investigation by eBay or paypal.  So I figured I'd let eBay have a go at it.

Comments / input appreciated.  I think we all need to police the community for lame resellers who try to sell "working" items that are obviously defective.  In my case, the card locks up when loading the ATI drivers.

I actually had the above happen with a new card from NewEgg.  They replaced it in a week.  So I've seen it happen before.

[cicada]

In my case, the card locks up when loading the ATI drivers.

I actually had the above happen with a new card from NewEgg.  They replaced it in a week.  So I've seen it happen before.

This could just be a bad bios flash - if you're comfortable with doing so you can probably find / flash a stock BIOS image for the card and see if it helps.

[MelMan2002]

I'd say the best way to get results is through PayPal on the phone - it is the best way to get their attention and it gets results.  Oh, and they always side with the buyer.

[marvinmartian]

Ironically, moments after I made this post eBay replied, in my favor.  Go figure.

As an aside, I was going to suggest the following strategy:

1.  Deal w/ eBay first
2.  Deal w/ PayPal second
3.  Deal w/ credit card third (I have found that AMEX puts up a good fight and will most likely get you your money back)

As cards remain scarce, buyers definitely need to beware.

[airdata]

If the seller doesn't respond, file a dispute and they'll refund you.  They basically give buyers the benefit of doubt.  If you open a case, you will likely win.

I actually have proof that in some cases ebay doesn't even review the cases... they just settle them.  I sold a broken apple LCD which was properly listed as/is no returns and I guess the guy who bought it couldn't salvage whatever parts he was hoping to get from it so he opened a dispute.  Ebay sided w\ him and took money from my paypal account as soon as he opened the case.

Then after I replied they settled in his favor !

THEN.... I called ebay and it took less than 30 seconds for the guy I had on the phone to say " oh shit" and refund me my money.  I don't know if their system is automated or what but the guy told me that whoever did the case had obviously not read any of it.

They see dispute and they side with the buyer.

[CanaryInTheMine]

don't waste your time with all these resolutions even if you win a month later...

I say this since you have AMEX.  there is no BS with them.

I have first hand experience with AMEX and similar situation.  they are excellent.

don't let your money earn interest for someone else while in useless ebay/paypal disputes.

[haploid23]

one thing to note is that if you file something with ebay and lose, THEN go to your credit card company to file because you lost, credit card companies will pull money from ebay/paypal and ebay can suspend your account just for doing this. ya... they're douche bags in this sense.

[Elder III]

I've had the misfortune of being in Ebay/Paypal disputes a few times (as buyer and seller).  They do indeed side with the buyer, regardless of facts, documentation, photos, original listing, etc...  Once they removed the option to leave negative feedback as a seller it all went downhill.  I pretty much don't sell anything of consequence on Ebay any longer as a result.

[sgravina]

I'm in a dispute right now. 

I've bought six cards on ebay and one of them from one seller didn't work.  This was 24 days ago.  I asked the seller for a refund and got no response, knowing ebay will give him 7 days I filed a dispute the next day.  After 7 days the seller still hadn't responded.  Ebay send me a robot email that says the seller should have responded to me.  So I escalate to customer support.  Ebay says they will respond withing 2 days but don't respond for 4 days.  This is were it gets annoying.  Ebay sends me an email saying they will find in my favor if I can provide proof of shipment.  They put my case on hold for three days (over the weekend) and give me 10 days to provide proof of shipment.  I ask: Proof of shipment to me or proof of shipment back to the seller?  They don't answer the question but respond that the seller agreed to give me a refund once I shipped the item back but: "Unfortunately, you were not able to provide the tracking number for the return shipment. We have extended the timeframe of the case to request you to provide us with the tracking number of the shipment when you shipped the item back to your seller."  Also they "really do appreciate your patience."

I doubt they contacted the seller or that the seller agreed to give me a refund.  The seller never responds to me.

Now the big problem here is I don't have the seller's address.  The return address on the package was incomprehensible, it came from Rogers Ohio but the street address can't be read.  There was no tracking, just USPS parcel post.  It's amazing that it got to my house because the shipping address was very hard to read, as is it took two weeks to arrive.

So now every day I ask the seller for a shipping address and get no response.  I've asked eBay for the shipping address 4 days ago and got no response.  When I look at the case details it says, "You contacted Customer Support. Awaiting response."  It also says they will make a final decision by August 1 (today is August 3).

It's clear to me that eBay has a robot handling the case.  It might even be an off shore robot that doesn't really understand English.

I've never been in an eBay dispute before.  As a seller I always side with the buyer and give him a refund.  Sometime I work out a partial refund like when a figurine I sold arrived with a crack in it but the buyer still wanted it, yes I trusted the buyer.

Questions:  Should I leave negative feedback or threaten to do so?  Should I contact eBay or PayPal by phone to get the address?  Is there a better way to get the address?

Sam

[airdata]

I've had the misfortune of being in Ebay/Paypal disputes a few times (as buyer and seller).  They do indeed side with the buyer, regardless of facts, documentation, photos, original listing, etc...  Once they removed the option to leave negative feedback as a seller it all went downhill.  I pretty much don't sell anything of consequence on Ebay any longer as a result.

The feedback thing is rediculous... in the case i cited in my other post, the buyer left me negative after I'd already left him posative before he went psycho on me.  Ebay does have a "follow up" thing where you can reply to negative feedbacks to kind of give your side.

BUT they have a follow up for the buyer too !!!  So you can say that their negative feedback is BS but then they can come right back and get the last word ! 

And on the same case, ebay wouldn't take down the negative feedback because they said the case was sided for the buyer even when i showed them that in the case file it clearly says that ebay made an error when deciding the case ( because they didn't review anything before siding w\ the buyer! )

[Elder III]

Questions:  Should I leave negative feedback or threaten to do so?  Should I contact eBay or PayPal by phone to get the address?  Is there a better way to get the address?

Sam

Paypal will tell you in their email notifications where the item was shipped from.  You can also see the address for the Ebay member if you look at his account (not necessarily where it was shipped from though).

[sgravina]

Paypal will tell you in their email notifications where the item was shipped from.  You can also see the address for the Ebay member if you look at his account (not necessarily where it was shipped from though).

Unfortunately neither of those places contain the sellers address.

This is the auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250852603233&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

From which I get: rogers, OH, United States

And from PayPal I get his full name and email address, but no shipping address.

So if I did some detective work I could maybe find his address, but would that be the address that will satisfy eBay buyer protection?  Plus, I don't want to do detective work.  Ebay knows his address they should give it to me if they want me to mail it back.

This is really annoying because every single page ebay shows contains an advertisement for their "Buyer Protection".  I been with eBay for over 11 years and the first time I need this it is ignoring me.

Sam

[sgravina]

I sent a complaint to ebay customer service about their ignoring me and they responded the same day with a prepaid addressed label for me to send the video card back to the owner.  They could have done that days ago without me complaining.

[airdata]

I'd consider the seller having only 8 feedback to be a red flag.  His 8 feedback are spread over 12 months.  Plenty of hacked accounts for sale in the dark corners of the internet.