Whats wrong with PayPal?

I have not asked yet.

I can't return them now as I have had a go at fixing it. To be fair considering I had to remove the whole cone and skirt its not come out to badly. They sound rather nice, except they are missing an octave of bass, but then they are only 5 inches thick!

 

I've done near 300 trades and in the first 3+ years had a couple that went bad, in the last year 'n' half I've had 10 or more that've been difficult to bad. Possibly just bad luck or more people selling just don't give a **** now.

 

I think you need to be very selective when using paypal.

I fear i'm about to get stung again......get this.

10 days ago I sold a 25 year old Goldring G900IGC cartridge. The cartridge was perfect, less than 200 hours on it, boxed with manual and all accessories. The Instructions clearly state the tracking force range as 0.75 - 1.5 gram.

So what does the shmuck of a buyer do? - run it at 3 gram downforce bacause they read the spec for a 900E instead.

The cantilever has sagged and the cartridge is now damaged. I'm being told by the rather rude buyer than it is my fault, that it must have been faulty anyway and that she is lodging a complaint with Paypal!!! :grrr:

After several lengthy emails I have told her to shove the Goldring up her arse :bub:

 

I always take photos of any items I sell before I send them, including the item fully packaged.

Maybe that would have helped?

 

did the advert specifically state by whom it had been refurbished, when, and where?

Would it be reasonable to assume that a model of similar age might develop a fault?


TBH mate, things going wrong is something you accept when you buy second hand/used/refurbished goods. If you want to avoid that you pay the premium of new goods in order to get a manufacturers warranty.

 

It said it was refurbished by Nikon 'recently' and under the summery at the top it said 'condition - refurbished'.

I realise things go wrong but I don't expect something that has been recently refurbished to go wrong within 2 weeks of buying it, for nearly £200 second hand, and having used it only a few times! A model of similar age would not likely develop a fault if it had just been refurbished as Nikon would have replaced a failing part (I hope!).

Rob, it seems like you have no end of trouble with turntable stuff and eBay! I'll bring my Technics 205CMK3 on Saturday as well for some fun!

 

Rob there is not a cartridge on earth 25 years old and perfect.

Its this kind of advertising that leads to the sorts of issues Tension is having.

Trouble is people think eBay is a cash cow and they should get their pound of flesh so things are sold as perfect when they are not.

If your cart had been perfect it would have taken 3g with no damage what so ever.

 

I put up a virtually unused pair of Spendors described as in very good condition. Got a question from a buyer asking me to list every bit of 'damage' on them however tiny. Luckily they went to someone else as I knew if he got them there'd be some ding I'd missed and he would be back wanting some sort of refund.

As a rule I always under describe the condition and I have had questions from buyers that were clearly pressuring me to write that the item is 'Perfect' so they can complain when it isn't 'Perfect' if they win.

You have to so careful what you say as some people will always take advantage.

 

All this talk has even got me paranoid about SELLING stuff on eBay now.

I always thought that it was BUYING gear that was full of pitfalls! To me, there appears to have been an increase in the number "pick-up-only" auctions, not surprised after reading all this.

 

yeah, I sold my Nos Dac a short while ago anmd the buyer complained because he didn't like it - he ended up (after several e-mails) saying that it was broke! I had tested it before selling it and it was in perfect condition...

he's stopped mailing me now...flamin' cowboy!

 

Its a minefield out there.

Ebay is now far too big for its own boots, but I have had some gear I could never have dreamed of.

I was having a talk the other day with someone who has been in the industry for 30 years.

He is saying the whole hifi industry is on its knees, no-one is selling anything, shops in trouble, manufacturuers in trouble.

Blame? debt, mortgages, and EBAY!! It really is killing the UK hifi industry stone dead.

When it works, its superb, when it goes wrong, its dreadful. All ebay really care about is the money, and the scam auctions still give them money, so its not in their interests to pull them, unless someone complains. and they get comission via paypal, whom you have to yield control to if someone complains.

You can lose your money, AND your item, if someone says "not as described', they get your cash back, and goodness knows what they have done to your item? will you get it back in one piece, be able to sell again for the same price, do you have confidence in paypals procedures?

 

I think blame eBay less blame human nature more.

Thinking of eBay as Exchange and Mart rather than John Lewis helps.

 

Not sure I fully agree.

It seems obvious that eBay could do more for their customers if they actually cared, particularly regarding scam auctions.

It's like saying that whenever online banking fraud happens, blame human nature and not the banks security systems.

 

Despite being DOUBLE its MAXIMUM weight?

My main gripe with both eBay and PayPal is that the support teams have no ability to just be reasonable and make fair judgments. They do things so strictly by the rules that it is stupid. Rules fit everybody and nobody.

 

yeah, and the buyers can be as bad as the sellers - I sold my Nos dac at the beginning on this month - it was in perfect order when I posted it (1st class recorded), and I get a message from the buyer saying it didn't sound good (in fact he said it sounded like vinyl!) and wanted a refund - I said no way hosay and now he's claiming that it's broken! I've politely said that it was tested prior and that he should have investigated the product before it paid 100 (including p&p) for an item! blimey - an analogue sounds is what the Nos dac is famous for...

he's even threatened me with the small claims court...

 

I think I've been pretty lucky with eBay. I've done 530 deals and only got stuffed on one, which was for £10. I am extremely wary about offering paypal on my auctions, but sometimes do, when the amounts involved are small. I don't mind using it for purchases, though I am very aware it offers hardly any protection over & above BACS/cheques. Where possible, I buy on credit card, which does offer more protection than Paypal. I am extremely annoyed about the no paypal surchage policy - seems to be very loosely applied.

Regarding a recently sold turntable, I very carefully photographed it (with date/time watermarks) 40 in total, in case the buyer made up some poppycock about damage. I also ALWAYS say that the buyer is more than welcome to test/inspect the item before buying. That way they can't say they didn't have an opportunity to ensure it was in working order and good condition before purchasing. It also implies absolute confidence in the product you are selling, and that you weren't merely trying to rip someone off....

DT

 

Taking plenty of photos is definately the way to go for various reasons.

I managed to stop UPS dead in their tracks when they claimed that damage to some ATC's sent to Spain was the result of improper packing.

Fortunately, I had taken a photo of the boxes BEFORE the courier picked them up and the receiver send me photo's AFTER he received them. Boxes were completely f**ked and UPS were acting all cocky until I send them the photos - saved me a potential long court battle.

Document everything to the max. when selling.

 

Indeed, the advert for my PMC's was taken down because I said PayPal is fine but please cover the charge. Apparently you are meant to total that charge into the final sale price. I asked them how one is meant to do that when it is an auction and the seller does not set the final price, and that it was unfair to add that to the final price when they may not choose that payment method. I never got a response. They just want their cut of the PayPal fee, which is the same company anyway!

 

Indeed, which is why I always put PAYPAL NEGOTIABLE in big red letters at the end of the description. Buyers should be able to infer what I mean by that, but I do get some muppets e-mailing to know exactly what I mean

DT

Great idea Andyoz - forgot that photographing the package before delivery might save a lot of hassle!!

 

I disagree. At the end of the day the problem with eBay is many people new to it feel they can trust it as a brand, but when a deal with another person, where eBay provided a market place hub for the transaction, goes wrong they feel the result doesnt match the perception of the brand.

Would you blame Exchange and Mart if your lack of due dilligence left you ripped off after responding to an ad?