This Is Why I Hate Ebay

Sorry folks, gotta rant...

A fine gentleman buys five items from me on Ebay and requests Priority Mail shipping. I oblige.

Through either a glitch in Stamps.com or human error, the Priority Mail package ends up going to my previous customer. The fine gentleman contacts me after a couple days with a touch of "Hey I paid Priority, where's my stuff? Grumble grumble..."

I do the research and discover my error. So I contact the person who'll be receiving the wrong package, letting them know that they'll be getting two packages and one is not theirs. I ask if they will ship the package to the correct person, and I will refund the cost to them plus $5 for their troubles. They are friendly and agree. I figure this will be faster than them shipping the package back to me and then me shipping it back out to the correct person. Seems like the best solution to a bad situation.

Then I respond to the fine gentleman, informing him of the situation and letting him know that when his package arrives I'll be refunding his shipping charges in full. He does not respond, so I assume he agrees to my terms. A couple days go by before the wrong person is able to ship out the package, and when they do, I forward along the Delivery Confirmation number to the fine gentleman. Again, no response, so I figure all is well.

The fine gentleman's package arrives sometime on Friday (I assume) since he emails me Friday afternoon at 4:30pm to let me know. Generally I'm out of my email by then and the weekend has started, so I do not see this note until Sunday afternoon. During those 48 hours though, the guy gets all

and fires off five bolded, screaming, negative feedbacks to my account. 

SLOW LYING SHIPPER BURN IN HELL LIE TO ME LIE TO US ALL KITTEN RAPIST NEVER BUY NEVER FORGET LIE LIE LIE DIE DIE DIE 

I sit down Sunday afternoon to check email and tend to Ebay business and discover my account has been blasted. I send the fine gentleman a note asking him to reconsider his feedbacks as I'd been honest with him every step of the way and he can confirm everything I've said by simply LOOKING AT THE BOX HIS ITEMS CAME IN, but he refuses, responding that I'm a liar and never intended to give him a shipping refund and blah blah blah. 

I try responding with more calmness and logic, asking why someone with zero negative feedbacks on their account would promise a refund with no intention of honoring it knowing full well that it could result in negatives. I ask why they never responded directly to any of MY emails, yet I'm the one who "doesn't respond to emails". Of course that goes nowhere too.

So what the hell? You try and do the right thing by people in a bad situation and you still get the full brunt of their furious anger out of nowhere. Ebay will make its greatest strides when they require personality tests before you're allowed to sign up for their service.

Comments

[Joanie Adams]

Hi,
I just read with thorough appreciation your rant against ebay! Your closing line says it all. Actually, this will be a release for me too as using this electronic garage sale has turned a nice girl like me into a total mafiosa. Case in point, I do sweat the small stuff, I'm just wired that way! I recently sold an item of three solid glass trees to a member. I pride myself on my packing along with my 0 negative feedback. Just my luck, she emails to say one of the trees was shattered. Bare in mind she didnt insure and I didnt require (demand) it. I immediately addressed her problem and refunded her the full (postage as well) amount with an apology. She condescendingly thanked me by relaying her story of how she has received 30 different shipments of glass trees uninsured and never before had one break due to bubble wrap and flat rate boxes. Well, I did bubble wrap them very well and chose a box where shipping charges wouldnt eat a hole in her pocket book. I figured by the next day she would have some positive feedback for my generosity--but noooooooooooh! I had to ask her for it by going Moltisanti all over her! Done with ebay--you bet because this isnt the first time Mrs. Nice Guy has been !@$@ all over. Thanks for letting me rave.