ebay problem

i bought some seeds off ebay for like 30 total. i know they got the money( had it for 2 weeks now) as emails saying so. i have had repeated send dates and now no commincation at all.

i also saw on there feedback as that others in the state below me have gotten their seeds but i havent recieved mine yet and have been told i was going to paid insurance and tracking and havent gotten those as of yet.

has anyone tried to get ebay to get the money back for them or am i just out of luck and have to face the lose of 30.00??? i am scared to shop on ebay anymore due to this as i have never had a problem till now. thanks for any advice on how to go about this. Marie

How did you pay?

by money order. i guess from now on i will go through pay pal after i get it set up agian.

I'll be honest Imzadi, two weeks isn't all that long for some eBay sellers although I do understand your frustration.

I'm assuming that you've tried sending emails via eBay and private email, some emails just don't get through, perhaps their emails haven't arrived in your inbox (had that happen before and it's embarrassing since the buyer is upset when it seemed I wasn't answering them).

In either case, I'd send an email both via eBay email and private requesting an answer that they are receiving your emails. If nothing by Sunday or if you feel like doing it now, request contact details from eBay and give them a call to find out if anything is happening, you are entitled to do this and a good seller would welcome it. It doesn't sound like a case of theft on the sellers behalf since others are receiving their goods.

actaully the item ended on oct 8th. i tried calling and no answer just the answering macjine and that was the other day. i am just fustrated about this. i cnat believe others are getting there stuff and i am not. i contacted the others and they got theirs with in three days. so i just dont know.

From the perspective of an ebay seller:

1. Some sellers ship daily others as infrequently as once a week. Within the US, location is not much of a factore in shipping time. However, my guess is that $30 worth of seed weighs too much to send first class (13 ounces is the limit), Parcel post does take longer to deliver than first class.

2. That others have received theirs and you haven't isn't necessarily a good measure. They might have paid via paypal immediately when the listing ended and have caught a day when the seller was ready to ship.

3. The issue that would concern me is that the seller is not responding to your emails and that as I understand it he has postponed intended shipping dates? How long has it been since you last emailed him and had he previously given you a reason for postponing shipping? (e.g. seeds not available, etc.)

4. Ebay will not and cannot do anything to help you. They are mearly the trading venue. The transaction is strictly between you and the seller. The least secure method of payment for a buyer is my money order. A paypal or credit card payment can be contested and reversed. A personal check can have a stop payment put on it. A cashier's check can be traced. A money order is spent as soon as you buy it are rarely can it be traced or tracked. I

And be careful about contacting other ebay members about a transaction you were not a party to. If any of his other buyers report you, (or if the seller learns you are contacting his other buyers, he can report you) you could loose your membership.

Ebay does have some help for you. Click on the 'live chat' link and they will tell you what they can do to help. We had good luck with 'live chat' in resolving an issue and were refunded our money.

one set of seeds i bought as a dutch auction with a friend. so as far as contacting the other ebayer i know them personally and we did this together. i wouldnt of contacted them if i didnt know them personally and did it together. they are the ones who told me about the seeds.


i was told on the 28th that they were shipped and no further contact has been made. i emailed them yesterday personally and this morning through ebay. no contact yet. i got their telephone number today and all i got was the answering machine.

the money order can be tracked and show who signed for it. no biggy there but the thing is i sent an extra 1. 30 for insurance and .45 for tracking and havent gotten any thing on those.

i guess i am out the 30 dollars. thanks for the advice and will check out the ebay live chat thing. thanks so much. marie

Ebay customer service, like any customer service, will sympathize with you and will suggest options. For a price they will even refer you to a square trade arbitrator. But legally and pragmatically, they are not a party to your transaction any more than your newspaper is for running a classified ad that you placed. Ebay can and will suspend sellers who have a proven history of fraud or repeated violation of Ebay user rules. Often that spectre is enough to get a seller to issue a refund on a specific transaction, but ebay has no vested interest and therefore, no authority, in a specific transaction. I think this is a good thing. As both a seller and a buyer, I do not want Ebay to dictate how I conduct my business anymore than I would want my local newspaper to. The faulty perception that Ebay's lip service intrusion into independent business transactions causes, is to make a lot of buyer's believe that Ebay sets the policies that all sellers must use which is simply not the case. The result of that perception however, is that a lot of buyers and sellers become frustrated when every transaction is not handled in the exact same manner. When you bid or buy on Ebay, you are not buying from Ebay, you are buying from an independent individual or company. Ebay is mearly the land lord for the space they rent as a temporary or virtual storefront.

didnt mean to upset anyone.

just wanted some advice. i have been buying on ebay for years and never had a problem like this come up. everyone i have bought from has been great and timely and just downright wonderful.

i love ebay and think its a great thing .

i just wanted some advice on how to go because shoot trying to find things on ebays new system is like pulling teeth sometimes painful.

i have never had to resolve an issue and was lost trying to find out on ebay and thought id ask here as many are sellers and buyers.

no offense meant to anyone and sorry if anyones feelings are hurt du to my question. marie

did you have contacted the seller by email, and did you get an answer, sometimes it takes forever to get an order, I had seeds ordered, they said they sent them Oct 10th, I notified them they had not arrived, they sent a new order on the 3rd, and I got then this morning

Marie,

Absolutely no problem. My appology if my posts came across as defensive, that was not at all my intent. I am only speaking from my perspective as an ebay seller and consultant.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say "signed for the money order". If you sent it via registered mail or signature confirmation then yes, you do get a record of delivery and acceptance of an envelope. I only meant, that in general, money orders are the least protective means of payment for buyers.

Another possibility is that your package was shipped but it was opened and confiscated by postal inspectors doing random inspections. There are a lot of federal and individual state restrictions on the mailing of plant materials.including the sender needing to provide certain certifications.

I don't think not receiving a response yet to your emails of yesterday or today or your phone message of today is cause for alarm. Most sellers have full time day jobs and so he/she may not have even seen or heard your messages yet.

Unless the seller specified that insurance and delivery confirmation was an offered option, he is not obligated to insure or tract the shipment even if you paid for it. The seller establishes his shipping practices and policies and if buyers have an issue or question about them, they should address that with the seller before bidding and not assume they can specify shipping options that the seller has not offered.

In any case, I wouldn't give up on the transaction. Give the seller an opportunity to get back to you. And please understand, I'm neither defending the seller nor trying to give you a hard time as the buyer. I'm merely presenting information as I know it and experience as I have had it or have discussed with other ebayers.

as far as the money orders. i found out recently you can pay the po a small fee(2 dollors here) to send you the canceled money order for purposes of seeing if it was cashed or lost. all you have to show is the other portion of the money order. this is good to show who cashed it ( signed it) if they say it never made it.

anyway i still havent heard back from them. yes tracking and insurance was offered in the ebay item description.

i havent given up hope yet but yet becoming ify on this. thanks marie

imzadi....I deposit money orders most every day but I am not required to sign them. It maybe what your are referring to applies to postal money orders that are cashed by the post office, or signature confirmation which requires an acceptance signature for the piece of mail but it does not go on the MO itself. My bank may cancel the MO by stamping it and returning it to the PO (I have no idea) but my signature is not required to be on it. I think you are paying for a lot of services (this MO service, insurance, delivery confirmation, etc. that do nothing to protect you in a transaction. Insurance and deliviery confirmation are for the protection of the seller, not the buyer. It lets the seller know if in fact a buyer has received the item should the buyer claim they didn't (this in fact has happened to me several times) but it does not track or locate a lost shipment. You as the buyer know when you have received it so delivery confirmation is of no benefit to you. Insurance also protects the seller so that he has a means to recoop losses if he provides a refund to the buyer for lost or damaged goods. As a seller, delivery confirmation is not an option in my listings, it is my requirement and I build it in to my fixed price or opening bid amount. If I feel there is need to to insure the package (ie. it is parishable or fragile, insurance is not a buyer option. I build that into my S&H fees. I also use FedEx ground for most of my shipments (over 4 lbs) because it is less expensive, includes insurance and actual delivery tracking, and guaranteed timely delivery....all things the PO charges extra for or doesn't offer at all.

What kind of seed were you buying?? Maybe some of us have some and could send it to you, I will if I have anything you want
Sandra