More eBay outrage...

I only use ebay for buying, and tend to avoid the global shipping program if I can.

Will share a little story..
I lost an ebay auction a few days ago, the watch is now relisted and I asked the seller why?
Like was there something wrong it?

Seller just replied that the watch did not fit the wrist of the buyer, he then got a full refund from ebay.
It's a constellation from the 60s lol
And the auction had plenty of information about the watch.

Message from seller..
"Hi, all they said was "Doesn t fit my wrist well." They did pay for ebay's authentication service and it passed that"

I was gonna ask how true can this be?
But after reading this thread anything seems possible..

I share the OP's grief over a shady buyer, but you've got to be aware for shady sellers. I had been looking at a Vintage DSOTM Omega, as I recall it was $8,500 from a private seller. She directed me to her Facebook site where I noted SHE was a real "babe" and emphasized that a lot on her Facebook posts. She tried to coax me into buying it outside the Ebay system, so she could save on their fees. That set off my alarms and I walked away. I wanted to buy a watch--not sex.

I have an eBay f*ck up that took place back when eBay payouts were first introduced. It's a doozy.

I have regularly sold film cameras since 2017. 35mm Leica's, and medium format Hasselblad's, Pentax's, Rollei's, Mamiya's and more. All high value items, mostly sold internationally, and never once had an issue. When eBay payouts were first introduced, eBay sent me a notification that I had x amount of days to transition my account over from PayPal or I would lose my ability to sell. I have a separate Bank of America checking account linked to my PayPal that I use for "fun money" so I just connected that to the eBay Payout. It's not connected to anything else, so no harm in the event my eBay gets hacked. I sold a camera body for $1,200 dollars and pocketed $1,049 after fees were deducted. I've never had a buyer ask for a refund but I have always made it a practice to never spend that money until eBay's 30 day money back guaranteed had passed... you know, just in case.

Anyways, I sold this camera. The buyer messaged me saying it was perfect for a project he was working on. The day after he received it, he messaged me saying his project had changed direction and he no longer had a use for this specific camera, despite acknowledging it was beautiful. I don't accept returns but that doesn't matter. The buyer initiated a return saying the item didn't match the description. Instead of fighting it, I took it back. The day I received, all was fine so I initiated the refund. I got an email saying "thank you for completing the refund" and I put it behind me. 2 hours later I get an email from my bank saying my account had been over drawn. I look into it and sure enough, $1,049 was taken twice. Both transactions clearly stated the date, "eBay", and had a unique eBay file number. I took a screenshot of my bank statement and email from eBay saying I finished the refund. I had shared these two things with eBay a number of times.

I immediately called eBay and spent the next two hours on the phone with them. They promised that this would be reversed and that they could see that I had completed the refund, and that there was nothing I needed to worry about. They would refund my money as per an email I would receive after the phone call was finished . Rookie mistake on my end to be so trusting- I never got that email. I followed up the next day for an hour only to be told my issue had been escalated and to give them 3-5 days. 3 days later, the same thing. 5 days later, the same thing. One month later, I received an email saying "the return has been closed by eBay." The next day I received an email saying the buyer had initiated a dispute with their bank stating they had never received their money. So here I am, ebay taking $2,098 dollars from my account and a dispute against me for another $1,049. I spend the next month on the phone/email with ebay to repeatedly be told "it has been escalated please allow 3-5 days", "this is just a technical difficulty", "we can't just issue you a refund because we cannot see in our records this transaction (in reference to my bank screenshot)." Over and over again, each time new representative. 30 days after the dispute had been initiated, I received an email saying eBay had closed the dispute in favor of the buyer BUT they also sided with me because of eBay's sellers protection program, and all of the proof I had repeatedly shared with them. With a sigh of relief for not having to pay out another grand, I pushed back on my refund. A total of four months ad countless hours each time had been spent fighting for my money back, at which point they had finally sent it to me. As a side note, I have seen many people on here say that once you get paid, transfer the money out of one account and into another so they (PayPal/eBay) can't get it back... they can, by sending your account into a negative balance.

Luckily for me, I had been communicative with the buyer since they beginning and they had been completely understanding. Never left me a positive review but at the same time, never left me a neutral or negative... so that's a win.

#eBaysucks

I have some pretty valuable video games I want to sell and eBay feels like the only option. When I read stories like these though question if it’s even worth spending all that time photographing the games.

I think I’ll need to ship them around at local stores first and see if they’ll offer reasonable prices. The hard part is I know one would sell for $600-$700 on eBay, so anything less than $450 locally would be hard to stomach. I guess it all comes down to how much your time and frustration is worth.

I have a mamiya I bought while in college around 2003 that I loved. I always wanted to score a Hasselblad at a flea market or junk store but no such luck. I still have a dream that I would have room for a darkroom some time in life. Spending my weekdays working in software engineering I find myself anti computer and photoshop during my time off. So now I barely take photos at all.

I used to have that dream of finding those cameras at estate/garage sales and flea markets but I have never had such luck. eBay used to be the hunting grounds I had the most success with. I had found many below market value auctions where I was the only bidder (and won) because I purposefully searched using typos or super vague listing titles. Those days are behind us now. I have rolled the dice many times on terrible listing photos with great outcomes, but now many others are too. Four years ago I could purchase excellent condition and complete Hasselblad 500cm's with 80mm lens, A12 back, and pop up finder for 800$ and now it seems you'll be lucky to find just the mirrored portion of the body for that amount. Still to this day, the cheapest 500cm you can find is the "transition' model because still very few people know about them- They are branded "500C" and sell for 500C prices but have all the features of the 500CM. If I recall correctly, they were only produced for 12 months or just under 12 months. So, they aren't too common. I used to love developing my own b&w film too and when I had enough rolls ready to be developed, my wife let me convert our small windowless bathroom into a darkroom for the day haha. I have since transitioned to using labs but honestly, I haven't taken a single photo that wasn't a of a watch or my dog in maybe two years.

i agree this is f'ing nonsense on Ebay's part. They cannot simply authorize a return like that given the watch was represented accurately. what a load of cr$$!!

For me worst thing is that you cant talk with nobody normal. In last month I had 3 buyers that made me problems without any of my fault.
1. Sold watch for parts, described as notworking, just... needed to accept it back, reason: not working
2. Sold watch, used, working... need to accept it back, reason: it looks as cheap watch!!??!?
3. Sold bracelet, omega 1098... guy bought it for gold plated watch and he dont like how it looks on his watch...

And there wasnt any help from ebay...if it is "not as described" return is automatic. I have write, call, done all I could...

Ps. I do buy and sell on ebay for years...and usual there is one problematic user each few months but now.

I hope I'm a good buyer and I don't think I cause many or any seller(s) too many problems.

A recent issue I had was with ordering pins and tubes for the ref. 1610/930 bracelet. The photos showed what I needed and the description was adamant that they were "part of the description" and to pay attention to them. The item description and title said what they were for. Everything suggested they were correct so I ordered them.

What I got was NOT what was pictured in the photos and simply didn't fit the bracelet. They're aftermarket so I get they might look different but still work but this was not the case. They did not fit in the bracelet at all.

I contacted the seller, hoping a mistake had been made or I had misunderstood what was being offered. The seller was adamant that what I got was correct, was for the 1610/930, and that they've sold hundreds (or thousands) of these and no one has complained. After some more back and forth with me just trying to understand, they had me measure what they sent me and what I needed. There was a difference in length and diameter. Their reply was finally I should have ordered these other pins/tubes and they provided another item number. When I checked the supplied item number, the images were the identical to the first and the description was identical except it was listed for the ref. 1503/825 bracelet.

The item was listed as "no returns" and maybe it was asking too much to expect the seller to "step up" in some way after the way it went but after my special request to return - actually, exchange - the unused item went unanswered, I initiated a return through eBay.

In this situation, I'm glad for eBay's heavy-handed and often unilateral buyer protections but also see that some completely innocent and truthful sellers suffer mightily by it unnecessarily.