canthearu wrote on 2020-07-16, 13:08:
You generally would feel much more comfortable sending money off to a seller that promptly answers questions and appears to actually be there, then someone who makes absolutely NO effort what so ever.
I completely agree, but this is something that is generally better to check before bidding/buying. I have had multiple cases when I messaged sellers about items I had interest in, and when I received unsatisfactory replies (or none at all), I simply passed.
And I recall at least one situation when I wanted to get a rather rare item, and the seller only accepted bank transfers. I messaged them, asked if they would do Paypal; they agreed, provided I pay the extra fees. I said no problem, we agreed on the total price, I received an invoice, paid with Paypal, and all was good. Again, when in doubt - always better to close the details before agreeing to the transaction, rather than ask for exceptions after the fact.
imi wrote on 2020-07-16, 13:10:please read my original post again... the seller listed the same item twice! (an item you can't have multiples of, as it was a s […]
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please read my original post again... the seller listed the same item twice! (an item you can't have multiples of, as it was a specific lot of items) with the same pictures, and it got sold twice!
I only noticed that _after_ I bought it, which is the mistake on my part, so I asked the seller for clarification and never got a reply to any of my messages.
I also bought another item from the same seller, but since I did not get a reply whatsoever I did not pay for that either as the seller can't be trusted imho.
I also contacted ebay about this and they agreed with me.
interestingly enough the other buyer of the duplicate item has already left negative feedback along the lines of "no contact possible"
so they were clearly dealing with the same issue.
guess I'll just do the same now.
no way I'm sending them money without any possibility of recourse.
Oh, I am not disagreeing with you that it all looks very shady, and I wouldn't send money in such a situation either. But since you did buy it, and the seller does seem to communicate with you, you have to, at least temporarily, take the "unpaid item" flag. I believe that if eBay concludes that the seller is fraudulent, they will take any such flags off your record. However, if the seller, in principle, is willing to ship the item for the amount you paid and the advertised shipping costs, then you don't really have a case, no matter how unreasonable the shipping costs seem to you - since all information was fully disclosed up front.
With that said, eBay buyer protection should apply to bank transfers as well, if that is an official and approved payment method of eBay. My understanding is that some local eBay sites, e.g., in Europe, such as eBay.de accept it (and protect it), but others don't.
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