How not to buy on ebay

In connection with the promise to open a full-fledged Russian-language website EBay, good posts appeared on Habré about how to buy, for example:

- Tips from personal experience from olyapka ,
- How to buy from darbin .

People had a successful shopping experience, and they share it. I share my negative experience so that other users understand: there is nothing difficult in purchases, but extra caution still does not hurt. It's always better to learn from the mistakes of others, and not from your own!

I decided to contact Ebay for a trivial reason: the phone that I really liked, namely the Palm Treo 500, crashed the screen. In Russia, to find parts failed. Rather, there was one screen in Moscow for 3,000 rubles. But when I came to the company, it was already bought.
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On Ebay, almost new and used Palm Treo 500 were sold for 20-30 €, that is, up to 1 500 rubles a full set. At the same time, more phones were sold in Germany, they were cheaper, and the delivery should have been cheaper. I started trying to buy on ebay.de.

Error number 1: not reading the instructions of the rules rush into battle

Looking through all the offers on the Palm Treo 500, I immediately threw away the offers above 30 Euro. There were a lot of goods for € 1, or € 1.5 for each. I realized that this is the initial bid, and poked at the first product. And then it turned out that I had already bought something for only 1.5 €. The mysterious word Display-that no translator could master.

I switched to payment, got a PayPal account. Money from the card was written off without any problems. A week later, I found a letter in my mailbox ... with 6 stickers on the screen! This is not exactly what I needed.

The fact is that there are not only auctions. Ebay has a lot of sellers who trade at fixed prices. You specify not the price, but the number of pieces. I almost bought 10 Rubik's dice for € 9, because I wanted to raise the rate. Well, the seller canceled the transaction, but it would have to pay, so as not to damage the reputation.

But with protective stickers I was pleased with everything! Everything went quickly and easily. In Tver, we have stickers on screens sold for 150 rubles for 4 pieces, and there is no Palm Treo, so in any case, I was the winner.

Ease and convenience inspired me, and I rushed to buy.

Mistake number 2: always trust all sellers

Started watching all the lots with used phones. I missed one by one lots, because at the last moment someone always bet half a € more. However, the detail later became clear: if you bet more than one step, the auction does not add the entire bid, but only half the euro more than the other opponent, until your bid is overlapped. Who is friendly with English, read the rules of bidding .

It looks like this: there was not a new Palm Treo. I set the bet at 20 €. The opponents bet 13 €, my bid itself increased the price of the lot to 13,5 €. In general, the bidding ended at 15.5 €, although I did not participate in the bidding, Ebay made bets for me. I won what I wanted at a price that suited me completely.

But why did not many people want to buy what was selling for 25 € nearby? Now I can answer: the seller, despite the 100% rating, was selling only small things for 1-2 €. Apparently, this scared the other buyers.

Mistake number 3: buy first, then think how much it costs to send a parcel

In the lot is always written below the approximate price of sending. Next to the phones was the price of 6-8 €. This price exposes the seller, he usually does not expect to be delivered to Russia. So you should not be guided by it.

While the point is, I found out that the delivery of a parcel from Germany weighing up to 500 grams is the cheapest at € 14, and express delivery is € 35-40. Finding out how much shipping will cost is your task. Solve it with sellers in advance.

So, the seller on the same day said that the cost of the parcel will be 10 €, and I, with peace of mind, indicated a total amount of 26 € in the design of the payment. Then he began to wait for the parcel.

Error number 4: did not complete the registration on PayPal - the fool himself

I was alarmed by the fact that after making the payment I did not go to PayPal. That is, the button “Go to PayPal” did not appear on the checkout page. I decided that the payment was made automatically, because there is data in the system.

It turned out not so. With PayPal, you can make small transactions up to 2 € before completing registration. For a larger amount, you must complete a full registration.

When a month passed from the date of purchase, I wrote a letter to the seller that I had not received the parcel. He replied that he had not received the money. I went to the bank to find out if there was a transfer, and I found out that there wasn’t. I had to carefully read the rules and learn how to make transfers from the card to PayPal.

It is done this way: you read the instructions, enter your data, € 2 is debited from the card, and in the letter with the money sent they write the code. PayPal has this money in your account. You drive the code into a special form. After that, your account is finally activated, and 2 € returned to the card. Only now you are a full account owner.

However, as you know, as long as you can withdraw money from the card and send it abroad. You can not replenish your account in Russia.

Mistake number 5: sending money bypassing Ebay - Ebay washes its hands

So, I activated my account and wrote about it to the seller. He answered me:

“Fine, send me money to such and such.”

I sent the money and started waiting again. And it was necessary to pay only through Ebay, because only then Ebay will receive its commission.

A month later, again knocked to the seller.

Mistake number 6: why knowledge of languages?

The seller wrote in German. He often used some words that the Google-translator does not understand. His answers were of some strange nature, that it was definitely not possible to understand what he wrote: either yes, or no, or no problems, or there are problems. I did not react for a long time. When I asked him to answer unequivocally the question:

Sent the package: Yes / no?

Received an even more complex combination with a bunch of exclamation marks.

If I started a correspondence with the seller in advance, I would not buy from such a strange character.

Mistake number 7: the timing of claims need to know

Deadline for submitting a claim to Ebay: 45 days from the date of victory. But this is the period for resolving disputes with sending a parcel, according to the quality of the goods. If the seller is wrong, Ebay can block his work.

Money back can be received through PayPal. There the term of the dispute is 45 days from the moment of the transaction. And the dispute should last 20 days. When you open a dispute, you first communicate with the seller, present all your arguments. If during these 20 days you do not agree, then you should have time to transfer it to the state of Claim. Then everything will be decided for you.

I obviously won the argument. The seller confirmed that he received the money, then he wrote that he had sent me the parcel. And then he wrote that for 10 € no post in Germany would send a parcel to Russia and asked for another 38 €. On the offer just to return the money to me the seller suddenly declared that he was unemployed, and he has no money. With this, I closed the dispute (translated into Claim) and asked PayPal to decide for themselves what to do next. Further the dispute was closed and silence reigned.

After the 20-day term came out, nothing has changed. I wrote another letter to the dispute resolution center and they answered me:
- there is no money in the seller’s account,
- you made a deal bypassing ebay.

Of course, not so straightforward, but politely, they say, we really appreciate your letter, we are doing everything for you. Like we wish you continue to successfully buy on ebay and so on. I replied:
- No, the transaction was made on Ebay, the transaction number is such and such. Agreement on sending money is in correspondence on Ebay, you can check it.

Important point: although you have a seller’s mail, conduct all the negotiations through Ebay internal mail. In which case you can refer to it.

I have already morally broke up with money and with the phone. Here is what is written on Ebay about this case:
- Call the police.

Decoupling

Yesterday came the answer:
- It is obvious that the seller has not fulfilled its conditions. We will take all measures to return your money. There may be a delay if the seller has no funds in the account. In any case, you get your money back.

Today, the money went back to the card. So, in spite of all my mistakes, justice is on Ebay and PayPal.

Organizational Conclusions

1. First get yourself an account on PayPal and go through the whole procedure of registration and activation.
2. Buying something, see the history of the seller. Better to contact him in advance by internal mail, find out whether he will send the parcel to Russia. Ask how much it will cost, and check for adequacy.
3. Get the opportunity to check the movement of the parcel (tracking). If there is no movement, you have 45 days to complain to the seller in Ebay.
4. Be mentally prepared to be deceived. This does not happen often, but it happens.

Acknowledgments

Made corrections to the article, for which many thanks and advantages to the karma of Z00 .

ilyaster recommends using the toolhaus.org service in order to learn in advance everything about the seller and his previous transactions.

Also thanks goodkat for valuable explanations .

Authorship

The author of the article is Vadim Galkin . When copying please refer to my personal page.