My First Ebay … A Big EHeadache

Arlene Blackman Yolles ♦ December 21, 2014 ♦ 4 Comments

A little backstory: My husband purchased a Clipper Creek 220 charger for our all-electric Wheego and subsequently realized that we actually didn’t need it. The 110 charger we owned was sufficient for all our needs. It stayed in the box for several weeks until he asked if I wanted to try to sell it on Ebay. I jumped at the chance to get our $500 back and to learn about the site that I had never before used.

I listed the item, carefully copying the Specs from the manufacturer, put it up for bid (with a secret bottom line below which I would not sell) and eagerly checked every day to see how it was going. $200, $300, $325, $375, $445! Success! I dutifully wrapped it up, drove to my local UPS office, and shipped it off to newjerseydan.

That should have been the end of a good experience, right? Wrong. A few days later, I happened to look at Ebay and …. Surprise! My Clipper Creek 220 charger was being sold by newjerseydan! This f-cker wanted to make money on it. After it didn’t sell, he then told Ebay that “I’m sorry, I thought it was a plug-in model” (clearly not according to the Model number and specs) and was preparing to return it to me. After a lengthy phone conversation with Ebay, I was told “an email will be sent to the buyer; we are siding with you.”

That should have been the end, right? Wrong! A few weeks later, I was using PayPal to buy something on line when I was told I was not able to. Looking at PayPal I noticed that there was a negative balance of $445 pending resolution of my Ebay case!!

Calling up Ebay once again, I was told that the time has passed for him to return the item and that once 23 days has passed, I will see PayPal resolved. I did.

That should have been the end, right? Wrong. This morning I got an email from Ebay telling me that the case was reviewed and they are siding with the buyer!!! It seems newjerseydan reopened the case because it wasn’t a “new item” and it was a year into the warranty. Not so! The warranty card was included with the brand-new item.

I am now 54 minutes into a call with Ebay. I have gone from Angela to her supervisor, Jescelle. Angela told me “if you are unable to accept the item by Dec. 30th, or if the item arrives damaged or incomplete, call us and we will decide in your favor.” (Should I lie and say it was damaged?) This is not acceptable. Jescelle and I have been talking …. I will let you know in my NEXT blog post how it went.