Okay, Now what is going on at ebay?

[TractorGuy]

We had the "What is going on at Amazon" thread. Many including myself chimed in saying we had switched to ebay for most purchases.

NOW I am trying to buy an axle shaft for my wife's Kia Sorento and the order has been taken, charged, then canceled by 3 different sellers. Actually the first seller was Rock Auto direct so I guess that one doesn't count. The second was JC Whittney on ebay. They took 8 whole days to figure out they couldn't provide the item advertised so in essence they will have used my money for about 10 days for something they never had. I reordered from a seller named "partscontainer" and they canceled and refunded within hours of taking the order and charging for it. They showed 5 available and still showed 4 available after they canceled my order. I placed an order for the part one more time through another seller. Of course the price goes up each time because I search for items then sort the search by lowest price. I negged JC Whitney for taking so long and the other guy got the option to leave feedback taken away before I got to it. I wasn't going to neg the second guy anyway since they caught it quick but I did report the item to ebay for them having a listing that still showed 4 available.

I had another ebay seller cancel a sharpener I ordered earlier this week.

I am starting to wonder if anyone there actually has stock or if they are all drop shipping and being dependent on their source to have and supply the items they are listing?

 

[Steppenwolfe]

We had the "What is going on at Amazon" thread. Many including myself chimed in saying we had switched to ebay for most purchases.

NOW I am trying to buy an axle shaft for my wife's Kia Sorento and the order has been taken, charged, then canceled by 3 different sellers. Actually the first seller was Rock Auto direct so I guess that one doesn't count. The second was JC Whittney on ebay. They took 8 whole days to figure out they couldn't provide the item advertised so in essence they will have used my money for about 10 days for something they never had. I reordered from a seller named "partscontainer" and they canceled and refunded within hours of taking the order and charging for it. They showed 5 available and still showed 4 available after they canceled my order. I placed an order for the part one more time through another seller. Of course the price goes up each time because I search for items then sort the search by lowest price. I negged JC Whitney for taking so long and the other guy got the option to leave feedback taken away before I got to it. I wasn't going to neg the second guy anyway since they caught it quick but I did report the item to ebay for them having a listing that still showed 4 available.

I had another ebay seller cancel a sharpener I ordered earlier this week.

I am starting to wonder if anyone there actually has stock or if they are all drop shipping and being dependent on their source to have and supply the items they are listing?

Yup, same thing here. I believe a lot of these ebay sellers list an item and then order it themselves as a dealer. Kind of shady, I think.

 

[MMfrompa]

Went through the same thing, my kids college commute car is a 2008 Ford Focus, needed a power steering line. Nobody local had one. Bought one on EBAY, they charged my card then two days later said part unavailable, they did refund my money but I wasted three days. Did some checking and nobody had one. These places just list every part you can think of, take your money then order it, mark it up a few bucks and have it directly shipped to you. Ended up only two were available in the US and bought one straight from a dealer 1500miles away.

 

[kelving884]

Yup, same thing here. I believe a lot of these ebay sellers list an item and then order it themselves as a dealer. Kind of shady, I think.

You didn't say anything about shipping. I think another con they got going on is they offer free shipping to get buyers. Then if shipping is over a certain amount they cancel the order.

 

[Oldpath05]

I thought bad sellers when reported are removed from ebay so they cant sell there again.

 

[TractorGuy]

I thought bad sellers when reported are removed from ebay so they cant sell there again.

Not sure if they ever get removed but this is why I gave negative feedback for one and reported the other. When they cancel an order on you if you don't act fast the order and feedback opportunity will disappear from your purchase list. I was wondering the second seller didn't look at feedback I've posted and cancel my order to avoid me. Either way they still listed 4 of the items available and that is why they got reported to ebay.

When I receive an item that is as described and shipped in a timely manner I check to see if the seller left positive feedback for my immediate payment. If they did I make sure and leave them positive feedback for the purchase. This is how I think it should work. Some sellers won't leave feedback until you do and for those I just don't leave feedback unless I am dissatisfied.

 

[ultrarunner]

Same with the new top I had ordered for the Suzuki Samurai...

I had the split top where the part over the front seats was separate from the part over the back and they were independent and well made... but 16 years exposure did it in.

Numerous on line sellers advertised them, ordered and my card was charged and then 2 to 5 days later I get an e-mail stating my card has been credited.

The same happens with medical supplies... the seller advertises and says quick ship and two weeks later nothing...

The reality is many are nothing more than marketeers or middlemen... they have no warehoused inventory and simply process orders taking a cut...

 

[TractorGuy]

My wife's step mother does this. Sits in her retirement home and runs and ebay store. I think she confirms stock with the supplier before she lists items but I don't know that to be a fact.

ebay needs to crack down on people listing items they don't have. If they have a lot of cancellations they should remove them but nothing stops them from signing back up under a different name.

Another thing ebay does is removes items from your sales list if you have made a claim or requested a refund. They don't allow you to leave feedback after you request a refund or report a problem.

I ordered a set of landscape gauge wheels from Titan on ebay. They threw the parts in a flimsy box with no packing material and shipped them out. They arrived in a damaged box with one of the mounts missing and one of the wheel assemblies was missing half the spacers and the hitch pin. On top of that one of the wheel bearings sounds like it's packed with gravel. I sent them a message with photos yesterday and haven't heard a word. ebay has removed the item from my list so no matter if or when the problem is resolved I won't be able to leave feedback. I had a problem with Titan once before so I won't buy from them direct. The first time they just ignored me until PayPal gave me my money back. A month later they wanted to make it right and I told them if they wanted the parts back to send a label which they did. I had to repackage better than I received them to make sure they would ship okay. Not going to do that with these gauge wheels. If they want them back I'm gonna tape up the box just the way it came and slap the sticker on it. I'm kinda getting off topic in my own thread huh.

 

[scdeerslayer]

I figured most ebay sellers were selling things they didn't actually have possession of.

I kind of went through this same thing recently, but not with ebay. On my 10 year old pickup the driver's side nerf bar, which I was never really happy, rusted around the bracket attachment and came loose, so I decided to order the ones I wanted to begin with. Ordered from a place that said had them in stock. They didn't and gave me the option to cancel or wait several weeks for backorder. I canceled because I found another place that said had them in stock. They didn't either, gave me a ship date a week or so out, then canceled the order after that date passed. There was one other place that listed them in stock, but wanted a $150 oversize shipping charge, every place else listed a shipping date several weeks out. Then I found carid.com that listed them in stock also, and for cheaper then every other place except for the place that wanted the $150 shipping charge. Well, they didn't have them in stock either, and gave me the same ship date everyone else had listed, and offered me 10% off for having to wait. I wound up having to wait, but they shipped on the date they were supposed to ship, and I got a good price.

Seems every place only sent these items from the manufacturer and never had possession of them. Oh yeah, I also checked those places that actually didn't have them in stock, and they all still said they were in stock. I try to order hard to find things only from places that show them as in stock, but it seems that even with that there's no guarantee that they actually have it.

 

[TractorGuy]

I kept going down the list of sellers showing this axle and 4th order was the charm. Fedex claims it's on the truck. I usually don't have a problem with ebay sellers but thought it was weird to run into 3 in the same month that were selling stuff they couldn't deliver.

On my Titan gauge wheels I talked to them yesterday and they are supposed to be shipping out the missing parts so I am in hopes that will turn out okay.