Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Saved Searches - Get Emailed Immediately?

When I save a eBay search, eBay will email me when an item under that search term is listed. However, it only emails me once a day with a list of newly listed items. Is there a third-party service or custom script that I can use so that I can get emailed immediately after an item is listed?

Seller selling Public School property without disclosing

OK so I bought a musical instrument for restoration and resale in my store-front brick-and-mortar shop. It arrived in a case with a New York High School's name stenciled on it, and the instrument was branded on the back with an inventory number, plus "Property of Public Schools". The seller's photos had not included these markings, he did not mention them in the description, and gave he no indication that the item was (at one time) Public School district property, obviously initially purchased using taxpayer's dollars. How am I supposed to sell this in my shop? People will think that I stole it from the schools! Do you think that I have a valid case of "gross misrepresentation" against this seller? Last time I looked he was doing the same thing again...|||Yes, I would say that qualifies as Significantly Not As Described, if you wish to file a case. Before doing that however, you should contact the seller with your concerns, and see what they say. No need to file a case if the seller is cooperative. Just be sure that when you return the instrument, you get Delivery Confirmation (Signature Confirmation if the payment was $250 or more). It's likely that your seller purchased the instrument at a school auction or sale. Our schools around here have those every couple of years, as they replace old inventory with new (desks, instruments, computers, etc.). You might be able to put a sign up next to the instrument telling it's known provenance.friends Director,|||I think I might be tempted to contact the school and see if they are missing any instruments that walked away or if it was legally sold. I guess that would depend on what mood I was in that day.|||It is entirely possible the instrument was purchased by the seller at auction. The seller should have noted,mentioned and shown a photo of the "property of". I would pull your seller's contact info (phone number) and calmly discuss the matter. If the seller does not agree to accept the item back, then go ahead and file with Ebay/Paypal for SNAD. IF you return the item either directly to the seller or at Ebay/Paypal's instructions, make certain you use delivery confirmation (under $250 value) OR Signature Confirmation (over $250 value) to prove the return. You can gt your seller's phone # using this link( click the word link) Link|||If it is a NYC Public school, they have very poor records and may not be able to tell for sure, if this was a stolen or auctioned item. If it is a Non NYC school , then call calling the school could be more feasible.|||Odds are likely he got it at auction. Could it be stolen? Possibly. Seller was foolish to not mention this in his listing.|||Right. Odds are high that this was an auction buy. School systems sell their stuff like this all the time. There are even specific websites set up to do it. He indeed should have mentioned this (since the instrument is marked) in his auction. That will likely give you a valid excuse to return it.|||We just had a school auction here from an entire town that closed down, and they had the coolest giant gorilla for sale, the mascot! Link I soooo wanted it, but, my space is limited.|||wow james, we went there as mom grew up there. Grandpa worked in the mines for years when she was growing up. it's a small world.|||Oh wow! Not to be smarmy, but is their health okay? If they're with us of course.|||no , all have passed. Granda pa first og lung cancer , but he smoked for 60 years , so couldn't blame it all on the lead dust. mom passed a few years back . we didn't buy anything at auction as was just taking photos to put in her book for grand kids.|||I guess mining has it's risks no matter what or where. But you know, that gorilla would've made a great lawn ornament. Would've out-classed the mobile home around the corner that just put out a lawn jockey! (I'm serious.)|||yep, i saw it and my wife said no , but heck no , lol. we just wanted photos before the whole town was gone. shoot the town next to us has lost all businesses over the years. the school is only thing holding it together. there's nothing there for sales tax, not even a gas station.|||Folks, never mind us. Just making small talk until the OP returns!|||Feel free friends! OP here! I did contact the seller. He said that he did repairs for the schools and they paid him partly with instruments. He did not offer a refund. The school itself was closed a few years ago... Thanks very much for the suggestions! Sort of a complicated decision, but I will keep the instrument mainly because I like it and I think I can make some money on it. The markings can be de-emphasized using some skill in retouching... At worst it can go out as a rental. But I would not deal with that dishonest seller again. thanks again. JL

Seller backing out of auction

A Seller left me this message on my PayPal account. "Hello. Both my FedEx and UPS stores are trying to charge me way more to ship this than they should. So, unfortunately, I'm going to have to refund you instead of pay the exuberant fees. Thanks." He left no messages in EBAY, and the refund he is trying to do is with ECHECK (slow) I have left very few if any NEGATIVE feedback but this may be one. Any suggestions or comments? Thank you|||File a non performing seller complaint HereIt may not be your fault but it is your responsibility Silver rule "do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you"|||"exuberant fees" ? LOL You can leave neutral or negative feedback. Calm factual feedback is more effective than exclamation points and name calling. In addition, you can express you opinion with Detailed Seller Ratings. Remember than ONE is the lowest rating. No rating is a free pass. Before you do either you should contact the seller and politely express your disappointment that he did not do his homework before listing the item and shipping fee. Don't mention feedback at this point. Just let him think... misfitfun makes a good point for him It may not be your fault but it is your responsibility|||I'd just neg. If they complain I'd offer to remove it if they send your item.|||Suspect there's going to be a lot more of this happening. New sellers will be trying their hand with the 100 free starting at 99 cents aren't really invested in NPS strikes, red donuts, stars, etc. If the price isn't right or they screwed up on shipping costs, they'll just bail out and say "the heck with it ."|||If the item is heavy, there was free shipping or there is some understandable situation, I'd be understanding and leave a positive "seller backed out of transaction b/c underestimated shipping" or the like. shipping fees really can be high at times and shocking IF you are a new seller. However, the whole echeck is just rude. That means that the seller already took your money and put it in his/her bank account. If you are really annoyed, I'd leave a neutral but not agree to cancel the transaction so that the seller eats the costs. femmefan gave great advice!|||The "e" check wasn't the sellers fault. It's Paypal policy and it sucks.|||Thank you all! The Seller still thinks he did nothing wrong. Wow with so few options I left negative feedback. I know this in only one small transaction but If EBAY does not police better and help the person who was wronged it will get less of my business. What is EBAY becoming ? Amazon?|||What would you like them to do?There is no practical way to force sellers to ship. If he garners enough non performing complaints and poor feedback ratings he will be restricted from selling.It may not be your fault but it is your responsibility Silver rule "do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you"||||||Sounds like the underestimated the 414.99 shipping OR didn't get enough for the item, $4.99. The echeck refund seems like they took the money out of PP (or spent it) and are having to fund the refund from their bank account. Non-performing seller for sure, too late to file an INR if they set the refund in motion. I would've negged until the refund was complete though. But it's very obvious they were just trying to squirm out of the transaction one way or another.|||If EBAY does not police better and help the person who was wronged it will get less of my business. Wronged? He made a mistake and decided he couldn't afford to go in the hole for you. You could have been understanding or forgiving, but you chose not to. What more do you want from him? Blood?|||It's probably not legal to mail blood, so I'd settle for the freakin' golf club!!!!|||I want the putter. I won the auction per his rules (starting price and Shipping) I paid for it. He did not ship it. He quit. He is Non Performing seller. What else can I do? Thank you|||What else can I do? Search for the item and buy from another seller.

Please let it be a stolen dvd and not a bootleg

Brain Fart I guess. I bought a new dvd box set for $71 a week after it was released. What was I thinking. This price is below the wholesale price. How do sellers sell things for less? Any other options other than bootleg or fell off a truck?You are entitled to your own opinions; but you're not entitled to your own facts|||Actually, you were the high bidder on the set. The seller might have thought that the bidding would be driven up to something more in line with the market price of this set. Then again, it is possible someone gave it to them and they didn't want it, so they listed it. But it looks like the going rate here is generally about $65-80 from US sellers, and many of those listings, via Fixed Price. That does seem a bit low. Maybe it carried a really cheap wholesale price? It's probably not a bootleg. They look like a good US seller.|||I checked ahead and decided they looked like a good seller. What is bothering me is that this dvd set hasn't been out even 2 weeks.You are entitled to your own opinions; but you're not entitled to your own facts|||Is it possible that the seller has access to wholesale items? I'm not as familiar with DVDs, but I do sell used books on another venue. Most of my inventory comes from thrift stores. Granted I live in a big city, but I regularly find new books at the thrift store. Sometimes they;re advance reader copies, but often I see books that have Costco or Borders pricetags on them, and appear to have never been read. Just throwing another possible option out there along with the possibility that the seller listed a gift or duplicate item. Or perhaps the seller took a risk that the item would bid above the retail price?|||Should clarify, the new books are also new in terms of publication date.|||All of these things were legitimate reasons for someone to be selling this for a low price. What is now kinda bothering me is that it was released March 23rd. and listed mere days later. That's an awful quick turnaround.You are entitled to your own opinions; but you're not entitled to your own facts|||I don't think there is nothing wrong here. The seller looks to be a dvd and cd seller so he probably gets copies in early but can't sell until a certain release date and they are getting it at a discount for being a legit dealer. I've found it as cheap as $49.99 online so we know that seller is making money on it and this ebay seller started it only $5.00 less so i don't see a problem. Most of them online that I found were around $79.00. With this seller and what I found online I think you are getting a good legit dvd.|||I sell brand new, "released yesterday" stuff all the time. I put up listings last night for items that will arrive today, that the public has never seen before. Wait until you get it before making a judgement.|||Whoa! So those are going for $181.49 new on the River, and used ones there are $887.99 and $888.00...? But other new ones there are as low as $114.39. WTF? I hope it IS stolen.|||James - I saw the 887.99 and 888.00 listings, too - I have to think they meant to list at 87.99 (and 88.00). If not... WTF indeed.|||Nah. I sell used books on The River, and for some odd reason, that is a strategy some sellers there use. Maybe they're counting on the River running out of stock? I have NO idea who the wackos are who buy from the sellers who use this strategy, but I see it often. More fun than the penny sellers there, at least! And on the flip side, I've seen items that sell for a penny Over There going for MUCH more than thought here.|||I'm scratching my head wondering why it would be better to received stolen CD's than bootleg ones. Either way, I would be a receiver of stolen goods.|||Someone has mentioned on the boards more than once that a very large portion of the DVD's sold on Ebay are fake.||||||

Does eBay turn a "blind eye" to SHILL BIDDING?

Q. WHY THE HELL WOULD EBAY MAKE BIDS ANONYMOUS? A. LESS REPORTS OF SHILL BIDDING! THINK ABOUT IT!!! THERE'S NO OTHER REASONABLE ANSWER!!!-i love ePork|||A couple of years ago someone scammed eBay buyers for around $5 million using fake second chance offers. That's when they started with the anonymous bids, to prevent that from happening again.||||||"MORE shill bidding complaints: Usually from clueless eBayers.....|||And the from a seller (OP) with less than stellar feedback and stars...LOL|||So you have to be perfect to express an opinion here?||||||NO WAY do they turn a blind eye.. THEY WILL, they do, and the keep an OPEN SEEING EYE for this. and they will catch anyone who dare try it.|||eBay makes $ off any bid , so they don't care who bids on what. the way ids show now blocks any reporting of possible shilling. so eBay can say they didn't get any reports to check. there's only one thing to do to help reduce your risks , bid in last few seconds only.|||yes they do. They will catch anyone who try's it.. they don't tolerate shills. Maybe not today or tomorrow but they do catch it eventually. I read a lot of times on this board and more places how serious of a crime it is. The have prosecuted a lot of people in the past that has done this kind of thing. If they don't care, then they are just as much in the wrong too and it's against the law to allow it. I just can't see how they wouldn't care?||||||NO WAY do they turn a blind eye.. THEY WILL, they do, and the keep an OPEN SEEING EYE for this. and they will catch anyone who dare try it. Now that's funny. Before the masked IDs when shilling was at times incredibly obvious, eBay would do nothing. Now, when it is much harder if not impossible to determine shilling, eBay doesn't have to do anything. Saves them time and money on customer service reps to investigate reports (other than those clueless eBayers who file reports saying the seller must be shilling because all the other bidder IDs l***k funny), makes them more in final value fees, and is a PR boost too. eBay can claim that there is less shilling because less valid reports are coming in. The masked IDs were originally put in place to prevent fraud like the fake second chance offers and other phishing expeditions. Shill bidding is just an extra bonus for eBay.|||Ebay will only do something if it is reported by multiple members and it is blatent.Ebay is not policing the listings-they expect members toIt may not be your fault but it is your responsibility Silver rule "do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you"|||with the changes coming and more 99 cent starts , exspect shill bidding to become the norm. eBay will ignor reports as they want both ids. you can't get both ids as they are masked by eBay.|||I'm convinced eBay lets power sellers shill bid all they damn want.-i love ePork

Seller Mutually Refunded Bid Items but Pay Now remains on top:

(thebalsastore) refunded to my PayPal Account all 7 items I bid on and won the bids for. The reason he refunded my money is because he grouped a set of 3 bids and another group of 2 bid items together and invoiced me with reduced shipping invoices. The last two bids of the 7 items he invoiced separately and did not combine for reduced shipping. He does state down below his listings "I do not combine shipping". Yet he chose to do so on the group of 3 and the group of 2 items he actually did combine. I clicked on pay for the items and a total invoice appeared showing the combined shipping of the 3 and 2 items and gave me a total amount due. I paid the $110.88 with PayPal. He sent me a message and billed me an additional $34.95 and would not ship unless I paid this additional amount. I replied to him since he actually sent me 3 invoices for the first 3 items that were grouped finally as 3 items on the last invoice for those three items that he combined the shipping for, as well as the group of 2 items which he did the same thing for. He invoiced first one item, then the second invoice contained the original item plus one additional, and the 3rd invoice grouped the first and second items along with the 3rd item of which all 3 items had just one combined shipping fee. He did the same thing with the 2 items he grouped together. I was concerned with all these invoices and his drew back his invoiced of the grouping of those 3 and 2 items. I replied to him and gave him two possible solutions to resolve the matter. I said either he could send me the items I won as I paid his invoice in full, or he could cancel each and every invoice he sent to me and refund my money. He replied back and told me that since it took me so many hours to go over the invoices and try to figure out what was going on, he would rather refund my money than deal with a person like me. which I am copying and pasting below for your review. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Dear flyboydale54, Dale we seem to have a problem here with the EBAY invoices.. your total purchases with shipping charges amounts to $145.83 you sent a total of $110.88 therefore you still owe 34.95 most of which is shipping charges as each item was charged shipping as stated in the description that I do not combine shipping Please send the additional 34.95 by paypal and I will have your items shipped on MOnday upon payment being posted to Paypal I will send you a Paypal invoice Sorry for the confustion Please email me your phone number as these are going to ship FEDEX and I need a physical address and phone number thank you - thebalsastore" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He refunded my $110.88 in full to my PayPal Account and did so under each of the 7 items separately. That is fine with me. However, under these items under my Won Category, it says at the top of the 7 items he refunded, the new price with shipping listed separately of $63.88 + shipping of $81.95 for these 7 bids of Balsa Wood totaling $145.83 and says "Pay Now". He re-listed the items and sold them, which is fine with me, but my question and concern is how do I remove the part at the top where it says pay now? Since I do not owe him any money, I am afraid this will result in some action against me from E-bay for not paying this part where it says "Pay Now" above the 7 items in my Won Category. I do not want to get any cases opened on me for non-payment. The only part I really want removed is the part where it gives a new amount and says Pay Now. Does anyone have any suggestions or comments to this issue? I have been a member for a few years on E-bay, but only as a buyer, and I just received my blue star certificate of buying 50 items. I just need to know if this can in any way jeopardize my E-bay Account, or if I should just ignore it. My experience in the past is not to expect anything to go away or be resolved by ignoring it. I am not sure either how I get the answers from this community and am not sure how to get back to this Post. I wish the answers could be emailed to me. Thanks, flyboydale54|||Your seller chose to refund you. Once this was done, the Items Won on your MY Ebay page will once again/revert to show the items need to be paid. This DOES NOT mean you need to repay. Your MY Ebay page is for your eyes and record only. It has no effect in this case on your acct. Just either ignore or mark the item(s) paid. Your seller will likely ask you via email Ebay alert to "mutual cancel" the transaction. You should agree, so the seller can recoop his Final Value Fees charged by Ebay for the listing. It costs the seller money to list and again , if the items sells. It sounds like the description was clear, the seller does not combine S&H. Somehow , the invoices were altered/combined in error either by the seller or more likely Ebay.|||Mark them as paid, and if the seller says he won't combine items, believe him.|||Delete them from your won items listIt may not be your fault but it is your responsibility Silver rule "do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you"

Hey buddy! Any chance of me getting my buy button back?

Did the collective braintrust do away with the buy and sell buttons? If so, is there any way of going back to the old page setup? Its like the people who run ebay have no idea how people use the site to do the shopping/looking/researching. I (for one) used to love to just click buy when I wanted to look for something different. I also used to check completed listings (for a month back) and was able to filter search by number of bids.....can't do that anymore. (don't even get me started on recommended for you when looking at auctions that have expired......makes me want to put my foot through the monitor) Hey Ebay.....raise your fees if you want, but leave the %$#$#@(* layout alone. I have to go check the word inept in the dictionary......I am pretty sure there is a very colorful ebay logo|||What did you use the Buy button for? Number of bids is still a search option in the advanced search, BTW.|||Odd, The number of bids in advanced search is there....but It won't let me select them. as it has been for a bit. When I would get a few pages deep into auctions I used to like to use the buy button to "reset" the search so I could start with a blank slate. It is just more steps to get to the same spot. this new way.|||The Buy button at the top of eBay pages went away. Apparently not enough people were using it, else it would have stayed. You can reset any search by clearing the search box, entering new keywords, and hitting the search button again. Or you can just hit the search button again if you want to use the same keywords. You can browse eBay by using the Categories button up top.friends Director,