Shopping Discussion

eBay/PayPal/Visa protection

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  • Jan 27th, 2010 5:12 pm
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Deal Addict
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Dec 24, 2005
2315 posts
2757 upvotes
Toronto

eBay/PayPal/Visa protection

I bought a wholesale lot of 100 HDMI cables from eBay. Was planning to sell them locally on Kijiji/Craigslist. Unfortunately things didn't pan out: http://ebay-experiences.blogspot.com/

Leave your comments here or on the blog. What's the best protection? eBay or PayPal or Visa?
8 replies
Deal Addict
Sep 17, 2008
1011 posts
104 upvotes
Give it time to go through the proper channels.

Read the ebay FAQ (I havn't).

AFAIK, ebay should take care of it. You may want to also contact paypal as well. If you get no feeback in 72 hours, contact visa.

As far as a business plan to sell 100 cables at 5$, for a profit of around 2.5$ per cable on kijii/craigslist.... depends on what you really want to get out of it - but seems like it will be a lot of running around for not much money. 100 sales is a lot to make, to only clear 250$.
Deal Fanatic
Oct 26, 2008
7022 posts
2907 upvotes
Victoria, BC
Here's my take:

That seller does 60 or so transactions a day, probably not as a full-time job.

Because of their reasonably good feedback, I can't see them pulling a scam - a sloppy job, possibly.

I think UPS could have been partly at fault here.

Maybe they shipped 2 boxes of 50, and one got damaged in transit.
20 cables fell out, but UPS resealed it without locating them.
And your parcel receiving company stateside overlooked to give you the 2nd. box.

Any clues from the UPS tracking on no. of boxes?

I'd say continue working with the seller, but don't expect lightning responses.
Deal Addict
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Dec 24, 2005
2315 posts
2757 upvotes
Toronto
ionic wrote: Give it time to go through the proper channels.

Read the ebay FAQ (I havn't).

AFAIK, ebay should take care of it. You may want to also contact paypal as well. If you get no feeback in 72 hours, contact visa.

As far as a business plan to sell 100 cables at 5$, for a profit of around 2.5$ per cable on kijii/craigslist.... depends on what you really want to get out of it - but seems like it will be a lot of running around for not much money. 100 sales is a lot to make, to only clear 250$.
It was a part-time test trial, not a concrete business plan. I wanted to see how many cables I could move a month at $5 USD (about $6-8 CDN). 200 cables/month would've been a nice $600-800 profit. Anyhow, that's not the issue here :)
macnut wrote: Here's my take:

That seller does 60 or so transactions a day, probably not as a full-time job.

Because of their reasonably good feedback, I can't see them pulling a scam - a sloppy job, possibly.

I think UPS could have been partly at fault here.

Maybe they shipped 2 boxes of 50, and one got damaged in transit.
20 cables fell out, but UPS resealed it without locating them.
And your parcel receiving company stateside overlooked to give you the 2nd. box.

Any clues from the UPS tracking on no. of boxes?

I'd say continue working with the seller, but don't expect lightning responses.
That's what I suspected, but the UPS tracking # doesn't mention the number of boxes. There was only 1 box at Bordermail (stateside) and those guys are supremely reliable, have never lost a shipment of mine. The box I received had the UPS label on it and wasn't torn or ripped apart, so there's no way 20 cables just fell out of it. What's more is that the box was already packed so tightly I really don't think an additional 20 cables would fit. In fact, it would be hard to get another 10 cables in there.

There is no indication that another box was attached to this box. If UPS is responsible then it's the seller's responsibility to follow up with UPS if they indeed shipped out 2 boxes. Still doesn't explain why this box only had 30 cables in it. If it had 50 cables in it then it would make sense that 2 boxes were shipped out and one got lost in transit.

The seller is just so horrible with response time and the one response I did receive after 72 hours was curt and brief and simply requesting pictures. That's when I decided to share my pictures not only with the seller but with the rest of the world.
Jr. Member
Jan 3, 2010
120 posts
15 upvotes
If it's not printed on a label somewhere (it should be) find out from UPS what the shipment weight was. Package it back up, and compare that to the weight of the box you received. That will tell you whether the seller shipped a box of 30, or if there were more when UPS received it.

My understanding is that Paypal is kicking most claims back to eBay - which could be beneficial to you. For a Significantly not as described claim Paypal makes you send the package back. The eBay process will usually provide you with a prepaid label to do so. They may also find that the seller isn't at fault, but will refund you anyway. The process is so new that there's really no predicting their response.

Make sure you note the # you ordered, the # you received, any any discrepencies in the package weight in your complaint.

It's a good thing that you paid with Visa - that gives you extra protection. But see how the eBay case pans out first. If by some small chance it is denied, you can fall back on your chargeback protection.
Deal Addict
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Dec 24, 2005
2315 posts
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celtic-redhead wrote: Also, their feedback sucks. Don't always rely on the percentage - for a high volume seller, the negs can be buried. Use toolhaus.org to filter the feedback results.

http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=d ... N&ref=home

Lots of screw-ups in shipments, lots of complaints about poor service and communication.
Wow! Thanks for that! Definitely lots of shipping complaints and communication complaints... guess I'm not the only one.
Member
User avatar
Jul 5, 2009
456 posts
4 upvotes
celtic-redhead wrote: Also, their feedback sucks. Don't always rely on the percentage - for a high volume seller, the negs can be buried. Use toolhaus.org to filter the feedback results.

http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=d ... N&ref=home

Lots of screw-ups in shipments, lots of complaints about poor service and communication.
Double thanks for that link. I had no idea that existed :)

I've found myself scrolling through pages of feedback to 'get the dirt' on a potential seller.
Caveat emptor.
Deal Addict
Dec 13, 2007
1590 posts
9 upvotes
Toronto
he has 100k in FB and hundreds of transactions a day, of course there is going to be dirt on him, we focus on % for a reason

the business is hard here...basically its bottom feeders, the suppliers do make mistakes, like everyone else, but because theres so little money you shouldn't expect them to be jumping to help you, you are pretty much out to lunch on your response

also your business plan is not going to be profitable, i assume you know that and are doing this for the experience?

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