The Perils of Ebay - Be Very Careful

[tincanman99]

This is a warning for everyone that buys stuff off of Ebay. Ebay continually harps about their "Buyer Protection Program". Read on to see what Ebay WONT DO for you.

Back in April I purchased a swiss titanium watch off of Ebay. Not a tremendous amount of money - $80, still is money though. It was supposed to be new. 2 weeks after I got it the watch died. Took it to a jeweler who replaced the batter. Actually he used multiple batteries. The watch would not run. He checked the battery and examined the watch movement. He said there is something wrong with the movement it will need to be sent back to the manufacturer.

I promptly contact the seller who blew me off. This guy sells tons of new watches off of Ebay. To make a long story short after a number of emails back and forth he told me to go scratch. He said the watch is under warranty from the manufacturer and he wont help me. Send it to them. I warned him that I was going to leave negative feedback and contact Ebay. He said knock yourself out.

So I filed a dispute with Ebay over the watch. This has been draggin on for over a month now. In a nutshell initially Ebay told me to contact the seller which I did. Ebay/Paypal would contact the seller too. Never heard nothing from Ebay. Than finally I got an email like a week before the dispute time would end - I had like 5 days to file a claim. So filed it. The first thing you find out is you will only get back like 50 cents on the dollar up to $200. Nothing more. So god help you if you buy something expensive.

Than you have to go through the gyrations of providing an original receipt of payment and an appraisal of the item. You have to get an appraisal from a qualifed "appraiser" with a letter on company letterhead with an address and phone number. See below for details.

Now the fun begins - just who is going to give you this letter - got me? Jeweler maybe? I don’t know. I also told Ebay I already sent the watch back to be repaired and don’t have it my posession. Its in Switzerland, like duh.

I originally contacted the credit card company but because it was in the next billing cycle already it made it very difficult to correct the transaction. Amex is working on it though.

Anyway the moral of the story is that if you buy something off of Ebay you should only buy from reputable sellers when you can. Be very, very careful. Because if you don’t you may be out your money and there is very little that can be done about it.

Good luck.

==========================
==========================
From: claimsdept@ebay.com
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Receipt of your eBay Protection Claim (US)
Date: XXXXXXXXXX [View Source]


Hello,

Thank you for contacting eBay. Your online claim regarding item number XXXXXXXX has been received by the Standard Purchase Protection Program team. Your claim is very important to us and will be fully investigated. Please do not reply to this email, as it is a confirmation of receipt of your claim only.

What happens now?

Your claim has been assigned to a claims administrator who will fully review your case.

Within the next 14 days, your claims administrator will contact you via email requesting Proof of Payment and a Letter of Authenticity or Appraisal (for Significantly Not as Described claims only). If your claim has been resolved and does not need to be pursued, please reply directly to your claims administrator’s email.

Proof of payment may be provided in the form of a photocopy of the front and back of a money order, receipt, cashiers check, personal check, etc. - whatever form of payment you used to pay for the item. If you paid via PayPal, please provide a copy of the payment history or the email payment confirmation for the item. If you paid with a credit card (either directly or through an online payment service other than PayPal), eBay will require proof of denial of reimbursement through the credit card company (if applicable). This will typically be in the form of a letter from your credit card issuer.

The Appraisal or Proof of Authenticity based on an independent authenticator's physical inspection must be on company letterhead of the authenticator and must include contact information for the authenticator (name and telephone number).

Please refer to eBay’s Standard Purchase Protection Program – Coverage and Eligibility requirements at the URL below:

United States and Canada: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/esppp-...igibility.html
Australia: http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/tp/esp...igibility.html

Please do not reply to this email notification; it is a confirmation of receipt of your claim only.

Best Regards,
eBay Claims Administration

========================================
========================================
From: claimsdept@ebay.com
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Receipt of your eBay Protection Claim (US)
Date: XXXXXXXXXX [View Source]


Hello,

Thank you for contacting eBay. Your online claim regarding item number XXXXXXXX has been received by the Standard Purchase Protection Program team. Your claim is very important to us and will be fully investigated. Please do not reply to this email, as it is a confirmation of receipt of your claim only.

What happens now?

Your claim has been assigned to a claims administrator who will fully review your case.

Within the next 14 days, your claims administrator will contact you via email requesting Proof of Payment and a Letter of Authenticity or Appraisal (for Significantly Not as Described claims only). If your claim has been resolved and does not need to be pursued, please reply directly to your claims administrator’s email.

Proof of payment may be provided in the form of a photocopy of the front and back of a money order, receipt, cashiers check, personal check, etc. - whatever form of payment you used to pay for the item. If you paid via PayPal, please provide a copy of the payment history or the email payment confirmation for the item. If you paid with a credit card (either directly or through an online payment service other than PayPal), eBay will require proof of denial of reimbursement through the credit card company (if applicable). This will typically be in the form of a letter from your credit card issuer.

The Appraisal or Proof of Authenticity based on an independent authenticator's physical inspection must be on company letterhead of the authenticator and must include contact information for the authenticator (name and telephone number).

Please refer to eBay’s Standard Purchase Protection Program – Coverage and Eligibility requirements at the URL below:

United States and Canada: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/esppp-...igibility.html
Australia: http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/tp/esp...igibility.html

Please do not reply to this email notification; it is a confirmation of receipt of your claim only.

Best Regards,
eBay Claims Administration

=================================

From: eBay Customer Support
To: XXXXXXXXX
Subject: ND eBay Purchase Protection Claim XXXXXX (XXXXXXXXXXXXX)
Date: XXXXXXXXXXXXX View Source]


Dear eBay Member,

I have been assigned as the Adjuster for your Purchase Protection Claim
regarding item number XXXXXXXXX. Your claim has been assigned Claim
Number XXXXXXX.

In order to complete your claim submission, additional documentation is
required. The required documentation described below must be received
before we can begin processing your claim.

1) Proof of Payment

If payment was made using a check or money order, please send a copy of
the cashed payment. You can contact your bank or the establishment the
money order was purchased through if needed to request a copy of the
front and back of the cashed check or money order.

If payment was sent via an online Payment Service such as PayPal, you
can simply print out and submit a copy of the online records for the
payment. Deposit receipts, credit card or bank statements, or other
bank documentation or records relating to the payment may also be
acceptable.

If you paid with a credit card (either directly or through an online
payment service other than PayPal), proof of denial of reimbursement
through the credit card company is also required. This will typically be
in the form of a letter from your credit card issuer.

2) Appraisal of the Received Item

(Note: An appraisal is not required if the merchandise has already been
returned to the seller or if no merchandise was ever received)

The Appraisal must be based on an independent authenticator's physical
inspection. Please take the item and a copy of the item listing to a
store or neutral third party that specializes in the product and have
them determine the value and condition of the item. Have them write
their response on store letterhead. We will also need the name and phone
number of the person who does the evaluation for verification purposes.

3) PayPal Payment Details

If your claim is approved, your claim payment will be issued through
PayPal. If you do not already have a PayPal account, you can register
an account at www.paypal.com. In order to facilitate payment through
PayPal, we need you to specify the email address the payment should be
sent to. This would be the email address you used to register the
PayPal account.

--> Full Name:

--> PayPal Account
Email Address:

--> Street Address:
--> City:
--> State:
--> Postal Code:
--> Country:


Please fill in all of the details listed above and include them when you
submit the other required claim documentation. Please fax the required
documentation to us within the next 14 days.

(866) 754 - 0426
Attn: Willow Claim # XXXXXXX

To assist us in quickly processing your claim, please insure that you
reference both my name and the claim number when submitting the
documentation. Please allow 7 days for a response once you have faxed
the required documentation.

Please do not forward the documentation as an email attachment. Due to
security limitations we are not able to open or receive email
attachments.

Upon receipt of the required documentation within the requested time
frame, we will begin processing of your claim. Please be aware that we
must receive this documentation within the next 14 days. If the
necessary documentation is not received by the eBay Claims
Administration by Wednesday, June 21, 2006, we will be forced to close
this claim.

As a reminder, the maximum coverage under eBay's Standard Purchase
Protection Program is $200.00 minus $25.00 (to cover processing costs).
Please be aware that additional charges such as shipping and handling,
and/or escrow fees are not covered under this program.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Willow
Claims Adjuster
Standard Purchase Protection Program
eBay Trust & Safety

[fred3]

Waaaay to long a read. All you had to say was that buying without seeing in person is dangerous and let the buyer beware.

There is nothing on e-bay that I "have" to have. I'd always rather spend a bit extra for the peace of mind.

[G-reg]

i save money on ebay, ive never had a problem but i dont plan on buying any watches... also wouldn't this be classified as other discussions?

[emc]

Caveat emptor but sometimes you can get stuff so cheap it's like theft

[tincanman99]

Sorry about the rant.

[Mizunogolfer]

Buying from a reputable seller sounds like common sense to me!

You should also post his user ID so we know not to buy from the a-hole and avoid his auctions like the plague.

Ebay and PayPal are great until you really need help from them. Dealing with PayPal is worse than getting a root canal.

[ironman]

i look at ebay seller's rating, esp from buyers' feedback, and do not buy any complex stuff or electronics, and ask some questions to what kind of responses you get: even from e-mails you can guess about a man's character (or lack of).

from 60 EBAY transactions i've had one traced to my house by UPS, but had never receive it: likely not the seller's fault.

when i really want good stuff, I'll go buy from a local dealer: for example I purchased two bows: one for my son and one for me to try things out, but when it was time to get a good bow (Martin Hunter recurve) I went to a local archery shop.

same with golf clubs: I've set up my family with decent used clubs mostly from EBAY, but once our swings are grooved and we're shooting near low 90s i plan to buy new custom fitted golf clubs. nevertheless, i have found some golf club gems (1025Cs, 975F for example) from EBAY..so easy to buy used and try then to buy new at full price and try.

and cars, trucks, and bicyles I'd only buy if i can "kick the tires"...same goes with cellos, guitars, or rifles...

[tincanman99]

Complex items can be bad. I wont be doing it again any time soon. Its not a super expensive watch, I could never justify that.

I will have to be more careful in the future.

[Belly]

I got burned a few years ago on a $38 sand wedge, never been back to ebay! It was not the dollar amount but the negative experience.

[Scott K]

So, you contacted the manufacturer and sent it to them under warranty?

[tincanman99]

They would look at it get back to me. They will decide if they will do it as warranty work or not. I already dropped $$$ on shipping to/from them.

[neverman]

Was the watch used and not "new"? What did the seller do wrong in your eyes exactly? Sure, he could've comped oyu a new watch and dealt with the mfg on his own. But, if it really is under warranty than you have nothing to really ***** about. Jeez, you bought a cheap watch, it's a lemon and it's the sellers fault? Good watches don't stop working after a few days... If you buy a disposable watch it should be from Costco or somewhere else with a no hassle return policy.

Sorry your watch was crap but Ebay isn't the culprit. You hve TWO strong allies in this mess, the Credit Card company and the Warranty. If you lose out with those two behind you than you're leaving part of the story out.

So much Drama about nothing IMO.

[LyleG]

Its a watch, meaning it has no relation to golf at all. So in other words it doesnt belong on this forum.

[goudesta]

Or you could nut up and buy a damn rolex. Or just buy 10 watches from your local thrift store and when they die use another one. Hope I helped you.

[graffixjones]

Its a watch, meaning it has no relation to golf at all. So in other words it doesnt belong on this forum.

Well, if you want to know what time it is when you're out on the course, then I'd say that it's related... or do you suggest he carry a portable sundial?

[Mizunogolfer]

Well, if you want to know what time it is when you're out on the course, then I'd say that it's related... or do you suggest he carry a portable sundial?

Heh! Sundial.

[rew70]

Well, if you want to know what time it is when you're out on the course, then I'd say that it's related... or do you suggest he carry a portable sundial?

Just use the clock on the cell phone

of course I am not serious

[emc]

I can't swing at all with a watch. It just cuts into my wrist when I hinge. I have no idea how Phil can do it....

[wofat]

Or you could nut up and buy a damn rolex. Or just buy 10 watches from your local thrift store and when they die use another one. Hope I helped you.

I think he's looking for a watch that works... meaning keeps time. Rolex's are dog$hi7 when it comes to keeping time. Their market is in pretenscious aholes who want people to notice that they spent $3000 to $10000 on a watch that can't keep time.