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I am at a total loss as to how to handle an issue with eBay now. I'm wondering if anyone here has ever had a serious issue occur when selling on eBay and was able to find a resolution?

I sold two sets of action figures on eBay recently - both were sold to international customers. eBay has a global shipping program where I mail everything to a central shipping department run by a 3rd party, and eBay covers it. They then re-label and process the international shipping for cheaper than I could. Well, at that global shipping department they placed the wrong shipping tags on my boxes...they switched them. A buyer contacted me and said that he received the wrong items, it had a mailing label from eBay to him...but when he pealed off shipping label and revealed my handwritten address on the box, it was the other buyer's address...which is nice, it proved that it wasn't my fault at least.

Now I've called eBay 4 different times (and I'm currently on hold for a 5th time). I've been shifted around to various departments, they've taken notes about the issue, and said that the global shipping dept should contact me by email within 24 hours (now on the 5th call, they say that the global shipping dept doesn't respond for 72 hours!). That first request happened 4 days ago. The second request was 2 days ago. Still not a single word in email, or a phone call. Of course the buyers are upset, one has opened a paypal case against me to get his money back before he even ships the product back to me. It is just a damn nightmare!

And all the while eBay just keeps pushing it off...never once saying flat out that they will handle it. I mean how hard is it to contact both buyers...ask if they received the wrong package, ask what package were they suppose to receive, and then send them each tags to mail the items to each other??

OH and I nearly forgot...the first call I had to eBay, I was given two options:

1)Refund one buyer, charge the second buyer more - and allow them to keep the wrong items.

2)Pay to have both items shipped back to me, then re-label, and reship...all at my expense.

These were the options even after I explained that I have photographic evidence to prove it was their shipping departments fault, not mine.

Sorry Ghost, that really sucks. This is why I am loathe to sell anything on eBay. EBay + Paypal means you are fucked as the seller. It seems they don't particularly care what evidence you have or how strong it is. Seller complained? They'll probably get to keep the item and their money. I also never keep more than a few bucks in my PayPal account. I recently sold something on eBay, and they held my money for almost a month "just in case" anything were to go wrong. Total BS.

I sold quite a few things recently, and I withdrew the maximum amount allowed per month from my Paypal account, but still had some left over. Well I purchased a couple of things over the weekend through Paypal, and even though I have an account balance they are still just charging my bank account instead. I would assume because someone opened a case against me, so they're holding my money hostage until it is resolved. Unbelievable. I guess the lesson is never sell more than you can withdraw monthly, or Paypal will hold your money ransom. Ridiculous!

I think what you brought up @texasvinyl is the concern that the buyer could open a case against me, get a refund through Paypal, plus since they are international never have to be held responsible for the item being returned...that is what is worrying me the most. And of course having been on eBay for SO long and having great ratings to have to worry about that being shattered too...this is getting to be more frustrating than it is worth.

I feel for you @ghost. Hope this gets resolved and Ebay do the right thing.

That stinks!

I recently started selling on ebay again in an effort to purge, and have heard so many recent stories like this.

Maybe next time you talk to someone, you could record it (ala Comcast) for the record. Especially if they admit fault, but aren't doing anything about it.

@pyrexia - that isn't a bad idea at all. The last lady I spoke with did admit full fault, so that would have been really nice to have on tape! I'll keep that in mind if I have to call them again.

Has anyone ever come across any successful alternatives to eBay? I still have a lot of toys, comics, records, music equipment, etc that I want to unload. I would love to find an online market place that isn't so overblown like eBay. Craigslist use to be my go-to place if I wanted to unload some things, but for whatever reason where I am living at now, no one seems to use it at all.

It is only good for records and some CDs, but I have had good experience using Discogs. I don't sell a lot and have maybe 80 total sales on Discogs, but so far so good. No listing fee but they will bill you for 8% of your completed sales.

@texasvinyl - I do agree with Discogs, I buy/sell on there often and love it.

I need to find a place to sell everything else! heh

Unbelievable. I had my 6th call with eBay today, still nothing. On Monday, the customer service rep told me to expect an email from global shipping within 72 hours of contact, which she said showed in their system as very late on Thursday (so technically Friday), and since they do not work weekends...I should hear from them by the end of business Tuesday. Well here it is the end of business Wednesday, not a single word. So I call them again...the service rep says well sir, please just give them more time and maybe you'll hear from them tomorrow. That is the ONLY response he can give me.

Meanwhile, Paypal has put all of the money on hold, so my balance now just says zero until all disputes are settled. eBay sent me a reminder email to address & settle a dispute someone has opened against me on their site as soon as possible. It's just unbelievable how disjointed their business is. You really can be screwed extra hard as a seller.

I think I'm going to pull all my auctions, and I'm going to open a table or two at some flea markets coming up with a friend to start selling direct to people - I just cannot get any decent service on eBay, and there doesn't seem to be any good alternative.