eBay Burn--What to do?

Hi guys!

I recently bought a razor on eBay and didn't do my due diligence. The listing said it was in "usable condition" with a "good edge," the listing picture looked reasonable, and time was short, so I went for it.

It arrived, and I am underwhelmed to say the least. The entire edge is corroded, and I fear it may not be salvagable without a regrind.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...530-torrey.jpg

Now, it wasn't particularly expensive, but I'm still pretty choked; :rant:I thought I was getting something "usable" and got a corroded mess. I've still got time to file a claim with Paypal, but I have never had to do so before. I have attempted to contact the seller, but after a week I have had no answer. Oddly enough, the seller had great feedback, and it looks like he's sold a number of straights in the past.

What would you guys do?

EDIT: Oh, and sorry for the shoddy picture; clearly the seller was better at using pictures to his advantage. It's a Torrey razor--my first Torrey.

Here's a slightly clearer picture:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...rrey-clear.jpg

Talk with the seller and see what they'll do for you. If that doesn't work, your loophole is to file a 'item not as described' and get your money back.

file a claim sinse he dont respond
and if it was listed as good condition he deserves a negative feedback

Yeah, that is not a good edge. The seller lied so you can file a complaint with eBay and/or PayPal and get your money back. Maybe you did not do due diligence but the seller misrepresented the condition of the blade. Don't let him get away with it.

I wholeheartedly concur with the others, obvious misrepresentation. You could hone that blade almost to the spine and not reach good steel.

@Vulcan500rider,

Spotted the same razor on Ebay, but held back because of the poor pics. The advice given is solid: indeed file a claim (poor item description) AND demand your money back. Can take a long time, but certainly worth the effort......

Kind regards,

Razorback

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vulcan500rider

Hi guys!

I recently bought a razor on eBay and didn't do my due diligence. The listing said it was in "usable condition" with a "good edge," the listing picture looked reasonable, and time was short, so I went for it.

It arrived, and I am underwhelmed to say the least. The entire edge is corroded, and I fear it may not be salvagable without a regrind.
....snip....

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I saw that one and thought that the edge was a big risk. I think I bid
half of the shipping charge.

If he said good edge file a problem ticket.
The last thing a seller wants is across the board negative
feedback which is your final tool in sorting things out. If
you give neutral feedback Ebay pops up a grievance prompt...

If you end up owning the razor sand it down to get the worst of
the corrosion off mostly for sanitary reasons then hone it up and see
how it shaves. If it shaves well then sand it some more knowing
that you will never get it pit free without making the edge too thin.

If honing result in swiss cheese at the edge think twice before
shave testing it.

I have seen some rather pitted blades come off the buffers of
the better folk here looking clean tidy and ready to use.

If you sand it you own it... solve the eBay thing first.

It happens to us all eventually. Don't be loath to file a claim if the situation warrants it as that is what the option is there for. This guy deserves it. Not only has he lied about the condition but he is ignoring your emails. I'd leave negative feedback too unless there is a real good explanation for his failure to respond. People like this give sellers a bad name.

Thanks for all the support, guys. I guess I just feel bad because this is the first razor that I wasn't 100% on when I bid on it, and I got kicked in the arse for it. Lesson learned, I suppose.

I guess I'll start a Paypal dispute on it. I just feel bad because it's the first I've had to do. I guess I'll just have to wait an see what comes of that. :(

i left a negative on a few 5$ razors
several times i been offered money back to retract. But a lying descripton deserve a neg more then i need the money

(if you get a refund atleast he deserve a neutral honest feedback for misrepresenting)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vulcan500rider

Thanks for all the support, guys. I guess I just feel bad because this is the first razor that I wasn't 100% on when I bid on it, and I got kicked in the arse for it. Lesson learned, I suppose.

I guess I'll start a Paypal dispute on it. I just feel bad because it's the first I've had to do. I guess I'll just have to wait an see what comes of that. :(

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Ebay 101: You are never 100% sure of anything you are buying. Once you accept that, you are ready to buy again from the bay.

You should never feel bad for being honest, no matter if you are the seller or buyer. These guys have given you good advice and I agree with leaving negative feedback. You will be offered your money refunded if you remove the negative feedback...that's how they work. It's up to you how you handle it, but if more of us left negative feedback & didn't change it, ebay could be a more honest place...

Once you remove the rust, you will know immediately what you have under it. More than likely though, it's toast...err, a cheese grater. It happens to us all when we think we are "getting a good deal"...
Scott

Fair enough, shooter, and well said.

I see that now I have actually filed for a paypal dispute, the seller has sent me an eBay message stating that if I send the razor back, he will refund the transaction...But he didn't reply via the Paypal dispute (his was via eBay), so I don't think I'd have a leg to stand on if I sent it back and he doesn't bother to refund me.

I think I may respond, requesting that he ask again through the Paypal dispute, and send it back to him if he complies. That still leaves me out the cost to ship it back to him, but that should be fairly minor, I think.

for the return to standa claim with paypal you need proof of delivery
wich can cost a little more

Is there stated a return policy in the add?
if it is and you follow those and can prove it, then ebay message is ok

If not tell him to communicate in the dispute

oh and its not a full refund if your out shipping one way
(if the error in description is bad enough you may be able to file for shipping cost too)

I bought a razor that was not as advertised. First thing I did was contact the seller and simply say that the item was not as described and I wanted a refund. I ended up giving a decent rating to the guy, except for item description, because it was still a good interaction.

I've moved this thread to the eBay forum for better coverage.

I agree. If you do any refunds or anything like that, keep paypal involved so that if something doesnt go the way you want, you can fall back on them. If you're not sure how to handle anything, talk to PayPal and always keep them up to date with whats going on.

Good luck with it, and I hope you get it resolved to your satisfaction!

Thanks, Stubear! I somehow missed your post earlier.

I thought I'd update this for any of you who may be interested in how the whole thing turned out. I've been going back and forth with the seller, continually trying to confirm that the refund he's offering (when he receives the razor back) will include the $7 shipping charge. Rather than answer, he keeps sending messages demanding to know why I haven't sent the razor yet, and swapping back and forth between eBay communications and Paypal.

I reiterated that all I want is confirmation via the Paypal dispute of the refund amount, and I'm ready to send it, but he just sent me a rude message via eBay complaining about having three jobs and how much time this is taking, and another message on Paypal that states I'm just complaining about a razor I "don't like" and saying he has offered a refund if I send it back--no mention of amount, or shipping charge.

I was ****ed off enough that I've just escalated it, and hopefully paypal can deal with the guy. I just find this a little ridiculous considering the seller had reasonable feedback--99.6%, I think. How he got that, i don't know.

I've encountered EXACTLY that behavior. When a seller completely misrepresents an item, my argument is that I want full remuneration. That is, I would not have bid the price I bid nor paid for postage if the seller had fully disclosed. I want full restitution. Usually they argue that they are willing to refund the bid but not the postage. I argue back that to do that would allow them to be financially restored to neutral while I would still be out the cost of postage.

If they fail to fully disclose, I expect them to be the ones to pay for postage both ways. That's what I expect when sellers pull this crap and I stick to my guns to try to get reimbursed. Ridiculously, they always vehemently fight this.

I figure the type of person who deliberately don't disclose the true nature of their items are exactly the type of people who prevaricate in their communications. It's just plain anything for a buck.

well, look at the dispute page, it should say the amount the seller has agreed to refund. it should be clear that it includes the shipping charges if it does.
if in doubt it's better to contact ebay and ask them what exactly has the seller agreed on the dispute page.
if he doesn't refund the shipping charges and he has agreed to, or if he hasn't agreed to refund those, you can escalate the dispute for an ebay representative to decide.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gugi

well, look at the dispute page, it should say the amount the seller has agreed to refund. it should be clear that it includes the shipping charges if it does.
if in doubt it's better to contact ebay and ask them what exactly has the seller agreed on the dispute page.
if he doesn't refund the shipping charges and he has agreed to, or if he hasn't agreed to refund those, you can escalate the dispute for an ebay representative to decide.

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That's part of what made me so wary. He denied the request for a refund that is generated automatically through the dispute, and then stated in a message that he would refund me once he received the razor. Then he refused to confirm that the refund would include the shipping costs...

Had he just confirmed the refund, it would have been fine, but this has just been a nightmare...

Please be honest and leave honest negative feedback. eBay feedback has been completely bastardized by the commercialization of feedback. Honest feedback takes into account the honest response to the transaction and clearly even if you get ALL of your money back this has been a negative experience for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Please be honest and leave honest negative feedback. eBay feedback has been completely bastardized by the commercialization of feedback. Honest feedback takes into account the honest response to the transaction and clearly even if you get ALL of your money back this has been a negative experience for you.

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Oh, I certainly will. If it's allowable (any mods listening?) I'd be happy to post the seller's eBay idea, as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vulcan500rider

That's part of what made me so wary. He denied the request for a refund that is generated automatically through the dispute, and then stated in a message that he would refund me once he received the razor. Then he refused to confirm that the refund would include the shipping costs...

Had he just confirmed the refund, it would have been fine, but this has just been a nightmare...

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As far as I know a seller cannot just deny the request for refund without offering a different resolution, or escalating the case to ebay to decide.
As I already said why don't you talk to ebay? They have online chat and phone numbers in US, not sure how it is in Canada.

And no, you cannot complain publicly about a particular vendor on the forum, you should resolve the issues directly with them and ebay since those are the involved parties. SRP has nothing to do with your case and should remain neutral and uninvolved.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gugi

As far as I know a seller cannot just deny the request for refund without offering a different resolution, or escalating the case to ebay to decide.
As I already said why don't you talk to ebay? They have online chat and phone numbers in US, not sure how it is in Canada.

And no, you cannot complain publicly about a particular vendor on the forum, you should resolve the issues directly with them and ebay since those are the involved parties. SRP has nothing to do with your case and should remain neutral and uninvolved.

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Thanks for the info, Gugi; I figured posting the name might be out of line.

As far as the refund refusal, I'm not sure how it normally works (as I said, it's my first time through this), but I created the Paypal complaint, it said it was sending an automated request to the seller, and then about a day later I got a Paypal email saying that "the seller has declined your request for a refund to settle this dispute and posted a new message in the resolution center." The message he left was an offer to refund if I returned the item to him, which prompted my unanswered question of whether he would include shipping costs.

I'm kind of wary to talk to eBay now that everything is in Paypal's hands; I'd rather not confuse the issue.

Thanks to all for the advice thus far.

Give them a call and see.
If there not the right to talk to they probably ask you to talk to paypal instead

I see, I was thinking you did the ebay dispute, but you did one on paypal. Even though ebay owns paypal, they're still separate companies and ebay is better suited to handling your complaint. The buyer/seller protection policies on ebay are different than those on paypal, so you should take advantage of the fact that you bought it on ebay. They charged a whole bunch of fees and that's where some of it goes into.

For me, if a seller started getting unprofessional about a refund, I'd give one warning that if he doesn't resolve this in a decent way, I would escelate it. If he didn't give the refund then, then I'd follow through with the escellation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gugi

I see, I was thinking you did the ebay dispute, but you did one on paypal. Even though ebay owns paypal, they're still separate companies and ebay is better suited to handling your complaint. The buyer/seller protection policies on ebay are different than those on paypal, so you should take advantage of the fact that you bought it on ebay. They charged a whole bunch of fees and that's where some of it goes into.

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Oh. I had no idea I could lodge a complaint through eBay...:gaah:

As it stands, the dispute was escalated, and Paypal has confirmed with me the amount of the refund I will receive when the item has been returned. It's packed up and ready to go, so I guess I'll pop it into the mail today or tomorrow, post the tracking number, and wait for it to arrive.

Thanks for all the advice, gugi; hopefully I won't have to go through all this again, but if I do, I'll follow your advice and go through eBay to get it dealt with. Cheers!

Recently Ebay has effected a change with complaints regarding purchases made on the website. Basically even if you have used PayPal that want you to make the complaint through Ebay using their resolution process. Of course to my way of thinking it isn't a mortal sin if you initiated the complaint through PayPal using theirs. You should be okay but you definitely don't want to get both involved on the same case because they can close the case for violation of the terms and conditions (that ultrafine print no one bothers to read) that you agreed to when you opened the dispute.

In short use the PayPal complaint resolution when making purchases using PayPal off of Ebay and Ebay's complaint resolution process for items purchased there.