Reluctant Seller?

[dangerdred]

I recently won an auction on an item that usually sells for 30%-40% more than what my winning bid was. Anyway, the seller is now telling me they posted it and got a tracking number, but still do not see the tracking details on the postal system and hope the postal service haven't lost the item. They have never disclosed the tracking number to me, and I'm wondering now if the seller is reluctant to go through with the transaction for the price of the winning bid. They messaged me the day after the auction saying they would update me once the item was posted, but the next message I get from them is almost a week later stating that they posted the item the day after the previous message but that the postal service haven't yet sent the item and they are hoping the item isn't lost, and how they will refund me if this is the case. Call me cynical, but I'm very doubtful about the seller's story. Surely when they originally posted the item and received the tracking number, they would then pass this on to the buyer (like stated in their first message).  If it subsequently transpired that the tracking number failed to appear, then an investigation would be conducted and if the postal service did indeed lose the item then the seller would reinburse the buyer. As it is, it seems the seller is already in the process of setting up the above scenario before actually going through the natural sequence of events, which is leading me to think the item will indeed end up being reported as 'lost' with the seller offering a refund, and then selling the item again hopefully for a higher price.

[seaandmountain]

Did you pay for the items to be tracked?

The postal service isn't back to normal as yet due to the holiday season.

[dangerdred]

I paid for the item and the seller has told me they received a tracking number, so they were using a tracked postal service. I just find it strange that on using this service and receiving a tracking number, that they then would not share the number with the buyer so that the buyer can track their package. Yes, hopefully that's all it is, and post Jan 6th, the postal service will kick into gear and get the package sent.

[gallovidian]

Whether you paid for a tracked or untracked service, he will lose an Item Not Received case unless he supplies ebay, not you, with valid tracking. If he bought a label through ebay it would alreasdy be tntered into their system. Otherwise he would have to add it manually.

There is nothing wrong with opening a case as soon as the delivery estimate exppires. But if you choose to communicate by informal messages first, one unsatisfactory answer is one too many, and refusal to supply a tracking number he says he has, is unsatisfactory.

Your suspicions about the price might be true, I have found the post office remarkably good in the post-Christmas period. It has more effect on what happens with items auctioned with an insuffiently protective starting price. But the winning price is what the seller is contracted to accept.

We hear a lot from buyers who lose item and momey due to tracking saying "delivered" and the buyer not receiving his item. I believe this usually due to coueier error or to the buyer ordering when his outine and the nature og his premises make doorstep delivery too likely. You don't yet know in you have a dishonest seller, but if you do, I don't know any safe and reliable way be can procure a fake "delivered" and get the item back.

(If anybody knows of one, it is probably best not to publish the details online.)

If this drags on, don't put in the cacellation request from your purchase history. That is a reluctant seller's dream, by letting him out of feedback and the other penalties for seller non-performance. It is meant for a buyer's change of mine, when all that is fair> Not for the buyer being worn down by attrition.

[dangerdred]

@ gallovidian "I don't know any safe and reliable way be can procure a fake "delivered" and get the item back."

I suspect the seller will never send the item, and instead go through the charade of the postal service losing the item, and then offering me  a refund.

[gallovidian]

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@dangerdred wrote:

@ gallovidian "I don't know any safe and reliable way be can procure a fake "delivered" and get the item back."

I suspect the seller will never send the item, and instead go through the charade of the postal service losing the item, and then offering me  a refund.

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Could be, but then he doesn'g get to keep the money. Unless you let him string you along past the INR deadline.

More likely, perhaps, is that he would cancel the transaction. "I didn't like the price" isn't among the very limited range of reasons from which they make him choose, and they will passon his choice to you.

If there is convincing evisence that he lied to ebay, that is time to report it to ebay. Not as an INR, because the refund is a defence, but as a breach of the cancellation polich.

Such evidence might include saying you asked him to cancel, or relisting at a higher price of an item he claims not to have. We often hear of an item selling for a very low starting price, and a very low seller refusing to sell. Still, doing so over 30 to 40% of what others are selling (or offering?) this item, is pretty unconving evidence. In fact it much reduces the chances of his actuialle doing it This could end up as a slight display of surliness, without actual dishonesty.

[dangerdred]

@ gallovidian I'm not sure you're understanding my issue - the seeler places an item in an auction but is unhappy with the sale price so they refuse to sell and instead pretend to post the item and for the postal service to lose the item. The issue is not about getting a refund. 

As it is I thought i was being over-cynical as after posting here I got a item posted notification. I thought nothing more about it and waited for my iem to arrive, but now that's it's almost a month later I see that the seller told me they got a tracking number but they have never given that tracking number to me or to ebay so I think this is probably a lie as I can't see any other reason to withold a tracking number as it's an attractive service offered by a seller.

In My Messages I have now asked the seller for the tracking number but they have not replied in two days and I really cannot see any tracking number ever materialising. As predicted, seller will offer refund when I lodge a not received claim and then they will again try and sell their item and hopefully get a better price than they got from me. Surely this is a clear breach of  ebay auction terms and conditions - why would anyone ever bid in an auction where the seller just pulls out of the agreement with no intention of selling?

[myriad*seller]

Make sure you leave feedback to warn other buyers

The seller cannot retaliate, as buyers can only get positive feedback, sellers cannot leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. 

[archie.b.77]

Don't waste any more time. Immediately file a request for a refund and choose "Item Not Received" from the drop down menu of reasons. You do this from your purchase page. At least you will get a refund if not the item. 

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

"The seller cannot retaliate"

I have heard of sellers buying something in retaliation from the buyer just to give them a neg.

[m25jet]

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@nigel_paul_wright7557 wrote:

"The seller cannot retaliate"

I have heard of sellers buying something in retaliation from the buyer just to give them a neg.

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The solution to that problem is for the buyer to add the seller's User ID to his/her Blocked Bidders List if he/she also sells on eBay.  That way the seller cannot make a "revenge purchase" from the buyer who left him/her the negative feedback just so that he/she can leave the buyer a retaliatory negative feedback as a means of payback for the negative that the buyer left in relation to the original purchase.

One thing that should be borne in mind is that the seller may either use a different account to make a retaliatory purchase with the intention of leaving unjustified negative feedback for the buyer in question.  Although it is possible that this may happen, if the buyer (who is now the seller in the second transaction) can prove that the person leaving the negative feedback is the same person that he/she previously left negative feedback for, and emphasise to eBay that this just looks like a classic case of a transaction being made for the specific purpose of leaving unjustified negative feedback, then there may well be a chance that eBay would remove the negative feedback and associated defect if a link between the two accounts could be found.  However, if this did happen, then the original buyer would need to add the seller's second eBay ID to his/her Blocked Bidders List in order to prevent any recurrence of the problem.

One other option to give the buyer a stronger chance of eradicating this problem would be to have two separate eBay accounts, the first of which is only ever used for buying, whereas the second is only ever used for selling.  If the eBay User IDs are markedly different so as not to draw any suspicions that both accounts belong to the same person then this ought to reduce the risk further of a seller purchasing something from a buyer just to leave retaliatory negative feedback.

[myriad*seller]

It is always better to have one account for buying and one for selling, for this reason...