Ebay Hassle?

Okay, so I purchased a PH meter from a seller on the 10th... on the 21st, still no meter. I contact the seller, he sayes he will look into it and for my trouble send me free 7.0 and 4.0 buffer.

The next day he tells me it was the USPS that messed it up, they had been holding the package? So, two days later I recieve my FREE PH buffer and magically the PH meter.

Personally, I feel he dropped the ball and sent out the PH meter and the Buffer on the same day after I pointed out that it had not been scanned at all by the USPS.

I left him NEUTRAL feedback on Ebay. I stated that it took 13 days to recieve the item, supposed USPS issue, but I got FREE PH buffer solution.

I left neutral because I think he is a liar, and regardless I waited nearly 3x as long as was originally stated to recieve the item. I wasnt about to give NEGATIVE feedback.

Now, the seller is messaging me demanding that I change the Feedback to POSITIVE. Maybe I have had a long week, and my tolerance is at an all time low... but sorry, no vendor should be telling ME how to feel about my interaction with them. It wasnt negative, but it wasnt positive, and personally I am not shopping with him again. Sure he is a great dude, but not a great first impression.

Looking at his feedback, others have recently had issues with shipping times too.

I know I am a complete jerk... but really?

I had a similar situation when I "won" a pH meter on eBay. It was used, but the description stated that it was in working condition. When I received it, it was inside a very nice, undamaged protective case, but the meter itself was broken in half! It took over a week of back-and-forth e-mails to get a refund. The seller's correspondence was rather curt and rude, and I wound up having to pay to ship it back. I left neutral feedback (which I thought was rather kind, all things considered). She left a scathing remark in her negative feedback to me, calling me something like the scum of the earth and completely retarded.

I rarely use eBay anymore. There are too many large companies and "power sellers" whose prices aren't even competitive with other businesses (from whom I can buy with less risk), and there are quite a few scam artists.

I know on ebay a "Neutral" review is essentially the same as a negative one when they come up with the final % scores, but just the same its your right to vote how you wish. I bet if he just manned up and said it was his fault and said he would throw in the free stuff to make it up to you you would have given him a better response.

The Pol said:

Okay, so I purchased a PH meter from a seller on the 10th... on the 21st, still no meter. I contact the seller, he sayes he will look into it and for my trouble send me free 7.0 and 4.0 buffer.

The next day he tells me it was the USPS that messed it up, they had been holding the package? So, two days later I recieve my FREE PH buffer and magically the PH meter.

Personally, I feel he dropped the ball and sent out the PH meter and the Buffer on the same day after I pointed out that it had not been scanned at all by the USPS.

I left him NEUTRAL feedback on Ebay. I stated that it took 13 days to recieve the item, supposed USPS issue, but I got FREE PH buffer solution.

I left neutral because I think he is a liar, and regardless I waited nearly 3x as long as was originally stated to recieve the item. I wasnt about to give NEGATIVE feedback.

Now, the seller is messaging me demanding that I change the Feedback to POSITIVE. Maybe I have had a long week, and my tolerance is at an all time low... but sorry, no vendor should be telling ME how to feel about my interaction with them. It wasnt negative, but it wasnt positive, and personally I am not shopping with him again. Sure he is a great dude, but not a great first impression.

Looking at his feedback, others have recently had issues with shipping times too.

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The bolded parts are, to me at least, the most important points here. Is USPS, even with all of their faults and problems, never entered it into it's system, the onus lays with the vendor and no one else. For him to demand that you change your rating is pretty ballsy !

I know I am a complete jerk... but really?

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I don't know about "complete", but's your jerkiness (?) irrelevant.

I mean, I dont want him to leave me some crappy feedback, but come on. I was nice and left factual feedback. It isnt like a got a helluva deal on the meter, and the fact that until I mentioned it to him, USPS had no record of ever recieving the package for shipment, leaves me to think that it was not them.

Coincidence that I recieved my "free" stuff on the same day I got the meter that I had ordered two weeks prior.

I hate that vendors can contact buyers about feedback, that is BS.

you did the right thing, someone with neutral feedback can still have a 100% feedback rating as neutral feedback is ignored by the rating system on ebay. Some people are just jerks.

The ebay feedback system is biased heavily to support the power sellers, because that's who pays the bills there. Feedback ratings there are never about being honest; they are about intimidation and identifying who has the most to lose.

A lot of people circumvent this by rating the feedback positive, but then leaving very negative reviews in the text.

You did the right thing, tell it like it happened. I do the same thing when I run into sellers like that.

USPS tracking system should just simply be ignored. I have received items that never showed up in their system until a week AFTER i got it in my hands. Its a very poor system.

Nova5 said:

USPS tracking system should just simply be ignored. I have received items that never showed up in their system until a week AFTER i got it in my hands. Its a very poor system.

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+1 to this....I had some GABF tix that were delivered on a wednesday according to the USPS tracking system, I didn't have time until sat morning to go ***** about it at the post office, magically my tix appeared with my mail sat afternoon. I guess this is the opposite problem of having USPS having no record of a package, but either way don't consider USPS shipping info as gospel

Pol, I vote with you...

I would explain to the seller that you answered nicely how you feel about the transaction... NEUTRAL. Explain to him you are not shopping with him anymore, but are giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Not that I like explaining myself... the only change I would make would be to NEGATIve.

I am with Yuri as well... I find fewer deals on ebay and rarely find myself purchasing anything on there. Too many people buying stuffing and parting it out and driving up prices... or just wanting too much.

And too easy to google search and get it elsewhere. It was cool in 1999...

So stick it to them and open a new account when you get black balled (just like tthe scam artists)

kjung said:

the onus lays with the vendor and no one else. For him to demand that you change your rating is pretty ballsy !





I don't know about "complete", but's your jerkiness (?) irrelevant.

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irrelevant, cept in matters karmic, which ebay transactions are.

also, a demand to change the feedback would force me to leave the ****** negative feedback, and post a copy of his demands in said feedback.

The only thing good about ebay anymore is the 8-25% off you can get through bing. And that I would only trust for small items I wouldn't care about.

uglygoat said:

also, a demand to change the feedback would force me to leave the ****** negative feedback, and post a copy of his demands in said feedback.

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Oh yeah!!!!!!!!! Please Pol, do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nova5 said:

USPS tracking system should just simply be ignored. I have received items that never showed up in their system until a week AFTER i got it in my hands. Its a very poor system.

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Sure, but the item took 2 weeks to make it to my door. So obviously, something was up. Poor system or not, it was accurate in stating that they had never seen it.

I would also say that the USPS tracking system is flawed. I have had packages show up at my door before the tracking system would even indicate that it had even been picked up. But the postal stamp won't lie. All packages and letters get stamped upon arrival. The only way this wouldn't happen is if it happened to get lost at the PO before it got stamped, and you would probably still be waiting for it. I agree that this guy just dropped the ball and either forgot to ship it, or didn't intend to until you called him on it.

As for the feedback, I would email him back and tell him that you refuse to change it and to stop his whining. You stated things factually and that's the end of it. It wasn't a bad transaction, just slow. If he persists, change your feedback to negative due to badgering by the seller.

Just my opinion.

Isn't there a date on the shipping label?

Thanks fellas... this is what I thought. I dont like dealing with ****** bags that cannot take responsibility for what they do or dont do.

I was very kind in my feedback, stated three facts (not that I think he is a liar) and gave neutral feedback.

Meh, Id respect him more if he admitted that he f'ed it up, that is just how I roll.

Skins_Brew said:

Isn't there a date on the shipping label?

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Believe it or not, NO... not on either package!

Well, the dude is going to get his negative feedback. After a long week away at work, I arrive home to open my pH meter.

The cap that is to contain the pH 4 storage solution, completely dry. The probe that is to remain wet at all times, completely dry. So I use the little bottle of pH storage solution that comes with the meter to refill the cap and it reads 7.04 in a 4.0 solution.

Keep in mind this thing is triple calibrated at 4.0, 7.0 and 10.0 at the factory. I just sent him a not so kind message. He can have his friggin pH meter and refund my money is exactly what he can do at this point.

For your reference I bought it at Affordable Instruments... do yourself a favor and spend your money elsewhere.