E-bay Frauds

[beekar]

Friends, all of you know that I buy and sell coins in eBay. My buying helps me to fill up the gaps in my collections and my selling helps me to get rid of my extras and the money, I get is utilized in buying new coins for my collection. While buying some coins from some eBay sellers, I have faced some problems, which I am going to describe below. I hope this will definitely help other friends who wish to buy items from eBay sellers. In this thread I will describe my experience one after another. My friends are requested to excuse me if some of my descriptions are a bit longer.

The first seller:
He advertised to sell a lot of 10 coins in auction, all 1 rupee cross coins of 2006, of India. As this particular coin was not circulated in my state, I had none in my collection. So I wished to buy this lot, placed my bid in the auction and won the item for Rs.699/-.

But when this lot reached me I found all the coins to be issue of 2005, not of 2006 as advertised by the seller. I asked the seller why has he done this. The seller said that he has revised his advertisement and he has mentioned that all the items belong to 2005. I wrote to him that he is not entitled to revise any item during the period when the auction is active and wished to return his items for which he agreed.

After this I returned back the received item to the seller, reported this matter to eBay and claimed refund of the money paid by me. Finally I got my money refunded from eBay. At the end, I put a neutral feed back to this seller. I did not put a negative feed back to him as he agreed to my proposal and this was his first coin sale at eBay.

[Coinsforever]

I feel it is reasonable if seller has refunded  the payment  after whole episode.

Read this thread with opinions shared by lot of  forum members about buying strategies.

Cheers 

[beekar]

I feel it is reasonable if seller has refunded  the payment  after whole episode.

Paisapay of eBay has refunded me the payment, not the seller.

[UK Decimal +]

Please, don't knock eBay (the title suggests that you might be anti-eBay).   The fact that one might have problems with a particular seller is not the fault of the eBay system.

Throughout the course of several hundred transactions, I have only had one problem and that was with a recorded delivery which did not arrive.   It still shows as being as the Post Office where it was posted.   In agreement with the seller, we left it for two weeks and then he refunded my money.   As an aside, there was also the problem that the coin was silver and being a precious metal the Post Office regulations are rather dubious.

I have never bothered to look at the record of sellers; if I want the coin I just bid up to what I think it's worth to me.   Some I win, some I lose.   Overall, no problems whatsoever with eBay, even for items bought from abroad.

But I'm in Britain ... ...

Good bidding,

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

Paisapay of eBay has refunded me the payment, not the seller.

And this is one of the advantages of eBay.   It might take a bit of time, but at least the system works.

Bill.

[beekar]

Please, don't knock eBay (the title suggests that you might be anti-eBay).   The fact that one might have problems with a particular seller is not the fault of the eBay system.

Thanks Bill. I am never anti- ebay. Because only due to Paisapay Buyer guarantee system(indeed a good system) I was able get my money refunded. The actions taken by eBay is commendable.

But this is not my single experience. I will describe my other experiences in this thread.

And this is one of the advantages of eBay.   It might take a bit of time, but at least the system works.

Bill, You are 100% correct.

[Coinsforever]

And this is one of the advantages of eBay.   It might take a bit of time, but at least the system works.

Bill.

I too agree with Bill , if  seller doesn't want to refund (even if refund policy exists ) ebay system  works.

Beekar -As you  have mentioned that neutral feedback was given by you , it shows that you are satisfied  by system of ebay (obviously the deal with seller was unsatisfactory at all )

Cheers

[UK Decimal +]

Then we're all happy!   

Bill.

[Bimat]

One has to be very careful while buying from any e-bay seller. I'd not buy anything from a seller having feedback less than 99%, no matter how attractive his prices are.

Second thing to be considered (Especially when buying from e-bay India) : Check the items he's selling. If the listed items are so called East India company gems (which are actually temple tokens), the probability that you will be duped is 99.99%. Also, anything advertised as 'very rare', 'ultra rare', 'very very very rare' and (all other versions of these descriptions) is likely to be fake or a very cheap in most of the cases.

I personally find e-bay a good place to buy coins. I don't use it so often but whatever experience I've had so far is very good.

Aditya

[Coinsforever]

One has to be very careful while buying from any e-bay seller.

Aditya has put very valid points .

Buying from ebay are  individual's decision & throughly screening of seller is also responsibility of every one , despite  it if such things happen it would be disappointing for any one.

Cheers

[UK Decimal +]

Also, it would appear that the location of the seller is important.

Most of my dealings have been with sellers in Britain, but some have been from abroad, especially Malta where one particular dealer seems to get those odd dates that are not common in Britain.   Possibly a large proportion of the coins of a particular year were sent for use in Malta - there is no doubt as to their being genuine.   A very useful source for filling the gaps in my collection of older (pre-decimal) coins.

Bill.

[Bimat]

Also, it would appear that the location of the seller is important.

Very true. Personally, I'll never buy from any Italian seller. Italian post is very dangerous; letter sent by ordinary mail will be lost most of the times and sending registered letter from Italy is very expensive. Same applies to US : Expensive shipping. (But some very good dealers)

Other EU countries (Slovenia, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Austria for example) are relatively safe and postal charges are also reasonable. (For example, Slovenian post charges $8 for registered letter; weight upto 250 grams)..

Aditya

[Alan Glasser]

Just my 2 cents on E-Bay...I have over 1000 transactions, mostly buying...and 100% ratings. I met a LOT of great sellers and had ALMOST no problems in 10 years + I do not hesitate to give negative feedback when it is well deserved. It has only happened twice...and on both occasions the seller wrote me and asked for revision. NO! For whatever reason, the seller did not live up to his promise...in my mind...bad business is bad business and doesn't deserve a "neutral".

Someone in this thread mentioned E-Bay India. By any chance, would anyone know which branch I should try for a virtually impossible to find Tonga coin? I don't guess there is an e-Bay Tonga??? No...probably not. 

Alan

[beekar]

I have over 1000 transactions, mostly buying...and 100% ratings. I met a LOT of great sellers and had ALMOST no problems in 10 years + I do not hesitate to give negative feedback when it is well deserved. It has only happened twice...and on both occasions the seller wrote me and asked for revision. NO! For whatever reason, the seller did not live up to his promise...in my mind...bad business is bad business and doesn't deserve a "neutral".

Alan

Alan, you are very lucky for having no problems in your over 1000 transactions. I also appreciate your words, " I do not hesitate to give negative feedback when it is well deserved. It has only happened twice...and on both occasions the seller wrote me and asked for revision. NO! For whatever reason, the seller did not live up to his promise...in my mind...bad business is bad business and doesn't deserve a "neutral". "
I have thought of posting about the frauds, I faced, one instance, per a day. I am going to describe my experience with the second seller. Thanks for your reply.

[beekar]

My experience with the second seller:
He advertised to sell a 5 rupees Dandi March coin in Cupro - Nickel in auction. As I had no such coin in my collection, I wished to buy this coin, placed my bid in the auction and won the item for Rs.605/-.

But when this coin reached me I found this coin to be a FSS coin but not a Cupro- Nickel coin as advertised by the seller. I asked the seller why has he sent me a FSS coin in place of a Cupro- Nickel coin. The seller admitted that it was his mistake. I wrote to him for detailed clarifications about his mistake, whether he has sent the wrong item to me and can send me a Cupro - Nickel coin as advertised or he has placed a wrong advertisement.  After a series of communications, he finally admitted that he placed a wrong advertisement.

Finally I sent his item back to him and reported this matter to eBay and claimed refund of the money paid by me. Finally I got my money refunded from eBay. After this I put a negative feed back for this seller. The seller did not challenge my feedback in eBay forum.

Yesterday he requested me to revise my negative feed back, to which I simply declined.