I hope this doesnt get deleted, but I dont know who else to ask. Im sure many of you have had experience with ebay and paypal.
I recently sold some old cylinder heads and rocker arms on ebay. The postal service damaged on of the boxes and repacked it, apparantly forgetting to repack the rocker arms. Im probably going to lose out on that money.
I didnt insure it. My trust has nipped in the butt.

I also sold an expensive radio that a customer is claiming he did not receive. He will probably get his money back also. Since I didnt insure that or track it, there is no way to prove that he did in fact receive it.
Nipped again.

Theres a total of about 700 bucks that Im about to lose, that I cannot. In the future I will insure and track everything, but the only way I see to keep from getting screwed by paypal here is to close my paypal account, close my bank checking account and open another one.

Paypal can shove off. They dont have my SS number, so I dont think it will hurt my credit.

Anyone have any experience here, or any tips?

To anyone that reads this: always and insure and get a tracking number!!!Cover your a$$ against fraud!!

 

I have sold a number of items on E-bay and used Paypal with no problems. After reading your Post, my opinion is your inexperence as a seller is to blame and NOT E-bay & Paypal.

 

Problem is I didnt insure the stuff. Not really a problem I have with ebay that just goes along with it.

To dive deeper, the problem is they freezed my account and retracted money from a sale from my bank account in case I dont pay up. Paypal isnt a bank so they dont have to follow bank rules. They can do what they want with my info.

All in all yes this is my fault for not insuring. Problem here is this guy can "claim" he didnt receive this stuff, when he actually did, and theres nothing I can do about it. Well Im trying to change that.

I dont need 700 bucks taken from me, if the buyer truly didnt receive the item, that sucks. But he wont take the hit, paypal will.

Paypal you bastards.

 

I agree... Ebay & Paypal are doing what they do correctly... If you had insured / tracked then at least you wouldn't be out the $$$... I know it sucks to owe them $700 but the few extra $$$ to insure / track could of prevented all this.

I've been using Ebay for 11 years & paypal for about 8 or so... I have no complaints...

Raf

 

So let me see if I've got this right... despite knowing what the possible outcome was, you made an informed decision to not take standard precautions to protect yourself, and you potentially got screwed... and somehow that makes it ok to screw someone else?

 

I ship everything UPS and insure it, I have never had a problem and attribute part of that to the tracking and insurance. It may cost a little more up front (I make the buyer pay for it) but as you situation illustrates it saves money and potential frustration.

There are some people in this world who will try to take advantage of the shipping and trust aspect of Ebay.

And then there are those who never think anything is their own fault.

Sorry about the loss, good luck in the future.

 

yes this was all your fault and not the people you sold to, You need t learn to pay the extra and get the insurance, I refuse to use paypal.......

 

Yea man, you need to protect yourself with delivery confirmation, insurance and other things. Either cut it into your profit or have the person pay for it. Noone out there is going to directly side with you. I for one have had a couple people do exactly what has happened to you. You grit your teeth and go back to it. Nothing you can do now, and i do NOT suggest USPS for much other than little things. They are worthless otherwise and lose way too many things. Good luck man!

 

Also just a FYI paypal wont take the hit if your not a verified seller. Paypal will take what money is in your paypal account and refund it to the buyers. But if there is not enough money in your paypal account then the buyers are SOL. So your not ripping paypal off for your mistake. Your ripping the sellers off FOR YOUR MISTAKE.

 

hhmmmm.........not insured twice.....

 

I didnt know this...I completely overlooked the insurance. It was 2 of the first sales ive ever done on ebay. Got effed with both. I figured usps had more of a handle on things....

I offered the guy with the rockers half his money back. He took it. I didnt think he would. Not sure why he agreed to only take half, if he didnt get them. I wouldnt. People just seem to be more dirty every day. I used to trust everyone until they give me a reason to do otherwise. I've been finding I cant do that anymore. There was a guy on this board that I bought a complete TPI setup from 2 years ago. I paid him and never got it. Forgot his name so I never posted it. The world is taking a turn for guilty until proven innocent.

I wish I could just trust everyone to just do their damn job correctly, and not try to scam a buck.

I hope the guy that bought the radio doesnt end up losing out, but if I had to take a guess whether he didnt get it and usps screwed up again, I take the guess that he did get and is trying to work me over.
I gotta provide food for my.............camaro, it wants a moser rear.

 

I feel your pain. I made that mistake once and I know the scumbag got what I sent, He was just a dishonest person, I did this before I knew how the paypal didnt receive my item process worked. It was my fault, but was my first sale and he got me. Its sad, but true, people dont care who they F over in the process.

 

I just got ripped of by a seller on Ebay and paypal is giving me back my money. Always charge extra for insurance and tracking to the buyer with high dollar items. And always use paypal to shop online

 

Always, always use ups or fed ex, they provide tracking numbers to all shipments made with them and they actually tell you where the package is when it's in transit. In my experiance usps may give you a tracking number but it is worthless till the buyer recieves the items. I have always used ups and have never had them mess up anything on there end fwiw.

 

If you understand the rules you can use them to your advantage. You got to cover yourself and you will be fine. I love PayPal and use it all the time selling and buying. How else can you buy something while sitting in your easy chair and 2 minutes have it paid for right out of your checking account?
And by the way, I work for the USPS and I send EVERYTHING by UPS and request them when I receive anything. Just a heads up.

 

Very clear there. So when the usps loses a package, what happens to it? Why do they seem to lose packages and not letters???

 

Why blame ebay or paypal when it was you who made the mistake? Why would you want paypal to take the hit when it was YOUR mistake? I used to refuse to use paypal too. Try and use a money order. I used to use only postal money orders, untill I got a seller that didn't send me what I paid for. Then you are at the sellers mercy. Credit cards or Paypal is about the only safe way to make tranactions with people you know nothing about. They can do a charge back if they don't do things right. I use ups for every shipment, and have only had 1 claim. And it was for something that was damaged in shipment. We all have to live and learn. Hopefully you just learned something and won't let it happen again.

 

I sell alot of stuff on ebay and I can honestly say you kinda screwed yourself but you also learned one of the things they always preach about in the ebay community

 

You have to remember letters are handled in different facilities than parcels, Processing & Distribution Centers(P&DC's). Parcels are handled at BMC's (Bulk Mail Facilities). Letters and First Class mail is the bread and butter for the USPS. 98% of their revenue comes thru P&DC's. The equipment and technology is always the newest and best at the P&DC's. The BMC's are the red headed step children, the equipment there is basically unchanged since 1974. FedEx and UPS have modern facilities and keep them updated. They have much stricter regulations on how things can get shipped. The USPS will let you ship anything as long as it has the correct postage. Have you ever seen a bowling ball in a cardboard box trying to go up a conveyor belt at a 10 degree incline. I have and it aint going to happen. Anything shipped in a cylinder has a lot of problems. 50 lbs of metal in a 25 lb box with one piece of duct tape holding it together. Lots more of examples I can detail but in short
any parcel of peculiar shape and weight should be segregated "Non-machinable" and worked by hand, but rarely happens. Blame it on a government workforce protected by 3 different unions, who know they can't get fired, who know every loop hole and are managed by people half their age.

Whew, I feel a lot better now

 

Paypal cannot retract money from your personal bank account- only from your paypal account. If they did you should contact your bank immediately and dispute the charge/withdrawl.

The fact that you say you have a bank account tied to your paypal account (as most do) makes me think your credit will be screwed if you close the account before the dispute is resolved. If they refund the seller and you owe them money they WILL go after you, they'll send it off to a collection agency that will hassle you all day.

And for future reference, delivery confirmation is $0.65, even if the buyer doesn't spring for insurance atleast delivery confirmation protects you somewhat.

This is exactly why I don't accept paypal as payment since the seller gets screwed over so easily if you aren't careful. If you're buying it's great- and if you fund it via a credit card you're likely protected by them as well.

 

1) This is why I only give Paypal my credit card, not my bank account.

2) USPS won't take anything. I looked at getting my GMMG shipped through USPS, but they said it was too big.

3) Use Express mail with USPS and you get a tracking number. Can insure that too.

4) I've had way too many bad experiences with couriers and their hidden fees. Haven't had fun with USPS either.

 

Package your stuff better, especially heavy stuff like cylinder heads, that way the post office wont damage it and have to repackage it. Insure it. And send things with a signature required when recieved.

 

Why do people keep saying it was his mistake. The mistake was made by the the ****ers who lost his packages. Him not getting insurance is not what caused the packages to get lost.

So if you get shot and bleed to death, should I say its your fault because you didn't wear a bulletproof vest? I think if USPS lost something they need to pay for it. Not having insurance should not make it okay do what the hell you want to peoples packages. He paid for a service and they did not do it right.

 

Your right, but that only works in an honest world.

 

I've never sold anything on E-bay only bought things and I've for the most part had good experiences there,but a couple of people tried to screw me with the wrong parts,you've got be oh so careful anymore that's why I only pay with a credit card(american express)so I don't rely on what paypal will or won't do for me,However I ship something it has some sort of tracking number to provide proof it was sent and arrived,someone in Texas tried to say they didn't get their parts back in a dispute over his sending me the wrong parts(he knew what he did!),that tracking number and the date and time of arrival saved me, Anyway I would never,never let paypal take money directly from my account unless I personly new who it was,this is not a dig at paypal just to many dishonest people out there!!just my 2 cents I hope things work better for you in the future,it stinks that you had to learn this way.


Ken

 

It's the buyers option to pay the extra money for the insurance, if he buyer elects not to, then he;s out...you're only way to protect yourself at that point is to save he postal receipt to prove you shipped the items.

If you show proof of shipment and show that the buyer did not want to insure them, it's the buyers fault, not yours.

Now if you didn't save your receipt, then you have no way of proving you shipped anything.

 

I wish that was the case. I had the receipt but they didnt care I didnt have a tracking number. I tried to give them a copy of the receipt. I was pissed, I also had the invoice with the option for insurance and him not wanting it.

 

Something doesn't make sense...I had this happen to me last year, I sold a crossmember to a guy through Ebay, the guy didn't want insurance because he didn't think it could get damaged.

He payed via PayPal, I sent the box...he claimed he never recieved it and filed through PP.

I took a pic of the USPS receipt, it showed the price I paid, zipcode and weight,and some other stuff, IIRC, and sent it to PayPal.

PP responded that the itrem was shipped, the seller (me) did nothing wrong, and the buyer would have to eat the loss.

There was also a note that PP put in the deciion email, stating something along the lines of "it's the buyers resonsibility to request insurance or tracking information...yadda-yadda-yadda".

 

Thats basically what happened to me. Had a receipt and still got screwed.

 

That's not right, don't know what else to say...now makes me kinda leary to use PP...I always thought it was the best protection (asides from the cost) when selling on Ebay...usually the only cmoplaints I've heard about with PP is from buyers...like them not getting the decribed product, but not getting a refund/etc...never heard of sellers getting the shaft until now.

 

Yeah, it really sucked. It was only 40 dollars, but thats a lol when you are 21 trying to make it on your own and make every dollar count.

 

Yeah, I'll tell (won't make you feel any better) but 40 bucks still means something to you when you're twice your current age and raising a family

Sure, you have a few extra bucks here and there to not worry about, but when you can't find that twenty you thought you had, you still go nuts looking for it

 

I had a tracking number on one of the packages. It didnt do any good. Postal service sucks and the nearest ups drop off is almost 15 min away and people get up my **** when I dont ship stuff the next day. Oh well, still better than letting stuff get dusty in the garage.

 

You're so right! I buy alot of things on e-bay and the last thing I have ordered was shipped when there was no-body at home. Instead on leaving a message and kepping the package, they put it near the door, letting everyone see it! F****** bastards!

 

I've never had a problem w/Ebay or PayPal, and I have bought and sold things using both many times. I've never really been screwed over, however I have heard some horror stories that made me almost close my PayPal account and switch banks. Not because of anything I did, but because of stories I've heard about PayPal taking money out of peoples accounts, and freezing accounts for doing regular business that is legal, but PayPal thinks otherwise. I never realized this until I bought something from someone on Ebay who refused to use PayPal. I got a hold of him and asked him why and he told me basically: if the buyer doesn't like what he gets, even if it is exactly what you tell him it is, all he has to do is complain to PP and he can/will get his money back. He told me he sold something, the buyer received it and told him it was what he wanted, etc...but later to PP it wasn't what was advertised and wanted his money back. Complete BS. I've read that PP protects the buyer, NOT the seller. Not to mention FROZEN PP accounts. This is why I NEVER keep a balance in PP. I either deposit it, or spend it quickly. Check out www.paypalsucks.com and just read some of the stories.

 

Sure second that. Even insured by the post office is not really a good tracking number unless it's for a high amount. Lots of crooks out there who'll not admit receiving the product, burn you for serious money and Paypal is a joke when it comes to that. No tracking number/results, no action.

 

I agree, you don't have a leg to stand on with eBay or PayPal. The problem started with you not taking reasonable steps, with part of the blame with the postal service for messing up the delivery (at least in one case - the other may have been a scam because you left yourself open).

Poor packaging and/or labeling are the main reasons things get lost. Sounds like you didn't package at least one of the items properly. Once the item gets separated from its label, they'll try to figure it out, but secondary labeling is your best bet there (after proper packaging and proper labeling).

If these transactions were disputed and you didn't respond, PayPal will find for the one who initiated the dispute. You can count on that.

To give you a little case study on eBay and PayPal, I'll relate what happened to me as a buyer. I found what was listed as an "LS6 intake manifold". The pictures were not taken in such a fashion so you could see the distinguishing features that showed whether it was LS1, LS2, or LS6. I asked the seller if he would provide the p/n (which is molded into the part - most sellers post a picture of the p/n), he never responded. Figuring I could rely on the description, I went ahead and bid on it and won. When it arrived, I immediately knew it was the less desirable LS2 manifold, and immediately sent him a message saying so, including the p/n of the manifold, and the p/n's of LS6 manifolds. I demanded refund of what I paid and for him to pay shipping for me to return it. He responded with a tirade about preferring contact by email rather than eBay message, and how ignorant I was, that Vettes may have different p/n's, and it was an LS6 manifold. I researched some more, responded again (by email this time) with links to sites that proved it was an LS2 manifold, and he finally said what it came off of ('05 GTO, which had LS2's). I repeated my demand for refund. He didn't respond, so I filed a dispute with PayPal. Now, my eBay/PayPal "expert" sources advised me that PayPal would refund my money if they found in my favor and after I showed proof of return at my cost - to my surprise, two weeks after I filed, they found in my favor and returned the funds (for bid and shipping - not return shipping). He responded by leaving negative eBay feedback on me, calling me a scam artist and thief. Well, that got my ire up, so I sent him emails asking him to retract the feedback and I'd return the manifold. He responded that I was a scam artist and thief. Now, I ask you, what about my actions would constitute me being a scam artist and thief? He's the one who lied about what he was selling (or, at the very least, was ignorant), and had the audacity to blame me for bidding on it.

Sorry for the long story, but at least in my case, the eBay and PayPal systems worked. In your case, you didn't take due diligence, and for that you get a $700 lesson in due diligence. The seller in my case was either trying to pull one over on the bidding public, was ignorant or misinformed, or just plain stupid - right now he's out of the cost of shipping and a manifold (I'm holding it hostage until he retracts the negative feedback).

I think you owe eBay and PayPal an apology for dragging their hard-earned good names through the mud in this thread.

 

I dont think anyone owes ebay or paypal an apology. After 40 transactions on there I only had 2 problems and when it came to the dispute process I was screwed on both of them. You are protected as a buyer very well, but not as a seller.

The call in customer service line is a joke, you get charged my the minute for it, Of coure after going through all of the key in options you finally get the option to talk to a represenative after waiting a while. They get to the phone and cant help you at all. You ask to speak to someone in the dispute review dapartment and they dont even got one with phone service its all online. theres no option to send a message to the dispute review people you can only send a tracking number or other things they ask to have your account restored, I was asked to send invoices from my suppliers for the items I was selling, I dont have a supplier because the items are ones of mine sitting around the house. its insane

 

Ultimately, your right. I didnt insure the first package, but tracked it. That was the one that was damaged in shipping. 2 boxes of cylinder heads, one with 16 roller rockers. The box was damaged in shipment, not the head, and they failed to repack the rockers. My legal fault for not insuring. Not his fault either. I offered him half the money back for the rockers. He took it. Nice guy, he could have pushed for all of it.

The small handheld radio, my first sell in 7 years, was packed well, taped well and used their address sticker. No tracking number, no insurance.

I'm responsible to make sure the package gets to its destination in the end. Sh!tty but thats really how it is. I trusted the post office too much apparently. Not really ebay's or paypal's fault.

Hey I gotta blame somebody for this BS! Tracking and insurance should be a standard option for mail carriers. Im paying them to do a job.

Whoops my fault for believing that you are going to do something that you state you will do. And because I didnt send a little personal bodyguard with it, my loss.

 

The same guy that owns Ebay owns Paypal, so you really ain't fighting with two different owners.

That's just what i have heard from a few other workers that work on E-bay.