eBay rant

[CRracer]

Ugh....

I've been on eBay since 1998, 100% feedback both bought and sold. Never had an issue.

I guess my time has come.

Wanted a factory luggage rack for my 08 crf230l. It's discontinued from Honda, and my usual online places had no stock. There's also a factory bag for that rack. One of my usual places had that, so I bought it.

eBay showed two listings for the rack, one seller showed 3 available at a little off retail and free shipping. The other just showed one, retail plus shipping.

Obviously I chose the cheaper with 3 available. Purchased April 17th. Come April 24th, still hadn't shipped though eBay showed estimated arrival of 27th or 28th. I contacted seller asking if they had an idea of when it might ship. On the 27th they replied, apologizing for an inventory error, they don't have any, wanted to know if a refund was ok(duh?)

I replied saying that was fine. Today, no word back, and no refund notice through PayPal, I messaged again asking if they'd hurry and refund so I could purchase elsewhere.

They immediately reply saying they can't refund through eBay messages, that I must go through eBay and request a cancellation, and give a reason why....

I go to my purchases, select other, select cancellation. eBay says it's too late to cancel and to contact seller to work things out...

I feel my patience wearing thin.

I contact again, explained eBay won't allow a cancellation. Seller gives me the exact same cancel through ebay message and the obligatory appology for the inconvenience.

Sent yet another message, and apparently they now understand what won't allow item to cancel. Supposedly issuing a refund.

eBay won't let me do anything because even though eBay shows the item hadn't been shipped yet, it still may arrive by the 28th....

Sorry, just had to rant.

[Stu]

Not good!

Ebay is a pain in the rear for this sort of thing!

Although why can't the seller just send you the money via PayPal

[Wingstyle]

Don't want to jinx myself, but I have been pretty fortunate with the issues I have had on ebay. I always pay with paypal. Not sure if you can pay other ways. Have always been able to get paypal refund. Of course I have had to do the message thing back and forth with the seller several times and even had to do an ebay resolution case (not sure if that is official name) once. It was a China item where I ordered two new items each with several parts. I got enough loose used parts to make one item work with a couple of spare items. Cost to ship back would be more than what I paid. Seller kept saying he shipped replacements and to give him a good review. I never got shipping info like the first shipment so I waited for a while and then contacted ebay resolution and after a few days they told me to keep the item and issued a refund.

Like Stu says, not sure why the seller can't refund you through paypal. Good luck.

[CRracer]

Well, they finally refunded through PayPal, with an official eBay reason of buyer asked for refund...

Im not sure why the reason wasn't that they didn't even have the item, but at least I'm free to look elsewhere.

There's one more on eBay from a dealer in New Jersey. They want the same money, but charge 36 bucks to ship. I don't think so... I messaged asking if they actually had the item, but hadn't heard back.

There's a place called PMRacks that make one that looks the same style, cheaper too, made in the USA. Just gotta figure out if my bag will attach as it was designed to strap to the OEM rack.

[Stu]

They do it that way so it can't go against them

[CRracer]

The other place in New Jersey showed to have two available. They're the ones I contacted about actually having it.

Glad I did. They never replied, but I noticed that listing is gone today.