eBay update...

Why I'm thinking of never going back...

Published on February 15, 2004 By Foolhandy In Internet

A while back I wrote on here about how I didn't really trust eBay, but I did enjoy using it and so I carried on. The idea central to eBay is, so the company states, that everyone is basically good. The problem is that they're not.
Last month I sold my Dad's old car. A 12 year old Ford Granada with 150,000ish miles on the clock. In the description we said it was not A1, but OK. We said that is would "probably" last until the MOT ran out in September. We stated that it drove well enough, because it did.
Today the guy who bought it left me negative feedback because he says that a week after buying it (for just £170) the fan belt broke and the head gasket blew. Well that can happen any time can't it? Especially on an old, high mileage vehicle that cost less than 12 months car tax! At the end he put "not a happy bunny", as if I had purposely misled him into buying the car, knowing that something was going to happen to it. I'm not a mystic!
It's not so much the negative feedback as the fact that he's suggesting that I somehow screwed him. That I promised a vehicle that was perfect and would never go wrong, and delivered a heap. Well I didn't and it wasn't, something just went wrong on it that's all. I can't really describe how I feel about it, especially as I have to work out a way to express all that I have written above and the way I'm feeling into an 80 character feedback response.
This guy also messed around with another eBayer, bidding on their car and then not picking it up because he wanted (and won) mine. He wasted their time and now he's badmouthing me.
I've lost all interest in eBay now...and a word beginning with 'b' keeps popping into my head but I shan't lower myself to uttering it here...

Comments

dharmagrl

on Feb 15, 2004

No, people aren't all basically 'good'. I buy and sell on eBay, and have been doing so for 3 years now - and I've had more problems in the last 6 months than i ever had in the previous years. People don't read the item description, terms of payment, method of payments etc, etc, and don't seem to realize that what they're getting into is a legally binding contract. The car that you sold: you could have put an ad in the local paper for it, sold it, and had the exact same thing happen to it. Would you have been any more liable? No. It's just that the idiot who bought it from you on eBay had a forum to whine and complain and therfore took his opportunity to do so. By the way, did he contact you before leaving negative feedback, like he's supposed to according to eBay rules and regulations? The Feedback Forum is a great idea when it's used properly, but unfortunately there are those who choose to abuse it. I'm seriously considering not selling anything on ebay anymore; it's getting to be too much hassle. Your wanting to use the 'b' word is completely warranted, i think....

Joe Blogref

on Feb 15, 2004

The trouble with e-bay is that even if the buyer gets EXACTLY what the seller described, they can say anything they want about it or the seller after the fact. What if the guy had wrecked it? Would that be your fault? NO! But I wouldn't be surprised if you saw a bad review because "the car couldn't even withstand a simple 100 mph crash!" It's up to the buyer to decide if bad reviews are a cause for concern. It only goes to prove that if you want something bad enough, that's what you'll end up with. As a former (and let me stress that word) e-bayer, I received an article with undisclosed damage. I wrote the seller, telling him what I found out, and of course, he'd "never seen it." What good would a bad review do at that point? He had my money and I had the damage. I didn't bother posting a review because I believe that no deed - good or bad - goes unpunished. If you know in your heart that deception never entered the transaction, then sleep well. You don't need to defend yourself from lies or malicious statements if you know the truth. It only gives the accuser more weight and ammunition against you. Remember this: if you let them get to you, they will.

Foolhandy

on Feb 15, 2004

Thanks for the sentiments dharmagrl, much appreciated...
No, he didn't contact me before he posted it. I have two small items for sale at the moment and then, after that, I'm going to stop. It's not worth it. I think the thing that is most annoying is that I have no way (other than that 80 characters) to undo that negative feedback. Even if I managed to put together a statement that said what I needed to say there'd still be that red mark.
Also, it's interesting to read that you think it's got worse over the past 6 months or so. I suppose it makes sense that as eBay becomes better known and more popular it's going to be used by more and more people who don't understand how to use it properly, and people are going to try and play the system in ever more intricate ways. The bosses of eBay are probably half-hoping that it doesn't get any more popular, and is therefore ruined...

on Feb 15, 2004

Did you add "AS IS"? If so you is pretty much free of any concerns.

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