Read Experiences from eBay Sellers

About 3 months ago, I sold my PowerBook on eBay. To my satisfaction, the item sold to the winning bidder at $931! The buyer promptly paid using PayPal and so I shipped the item out the same day. 2 days later, to my surprise, I got an e-mail from PayPal stating the funds used for the payment to me were fraudulent and so they reversed the payment, cancelled my withdrawal, and then I was out over $900 since I had already shipped out the item. I contacted PayPal numerous times and they assured me they were working to resolve the issue, but in the meantime I should contact the buyer and have them resend payment. I tried contacting the buyer via e-mail and phone, but no response whatsoever. It turns out the buyer used someone else's bank account for the payment, but PayPal didn't catch it until after the payment was sent. The buyer was labeled as verified in the PayPal system, so I thought it was all legit. 3 months later and I still am out over $900 and I have yet to hear from the buyer or PayPal. Selling on eBay was definitely the worst experience, and I'll never do it again.

I have sold several items on eBay with great success. That was until the last item I sold, a tablet PC. It was my own personal tablet PC that was in pristine condition and fully operational. I listed it on eBay for a 7 day auction, hoping to attract a lot of buyers. It sold for a lot less than I hoped for, but I was short on cash, so the closing price of roughly $400 wasn't too bad considering all things. I waited to receive payment from the buyer, but after 3 days I still heard nothing from the buyer. I tried to contact them with their phone number, but the registered number was disconnected and no longer in service. Everytime I e-mailed the buyer, the message would get returned as non-deliverable. After waiting 7 days, I finally realized the buyer probably was not going to pay, so I relisted the item again on eBay. This time it only closed for $370. Fortunately though the buyer sent payment right away so I shipped it out the next day. About a month after I shipped the item, I got an e-mail from PayPal stating the buyer of the tablet PC filed a chargeback with the credit card company and so PayPal had to reverse the funds from my account in order to cover the chargeback. I provided proof of shipping with tracking information along with signature confirmation, but PayPal said the payment was sent with another user's credit card. How was I supposed to know that? Nevertheless, I am out almost $400 and I still can't figure out what I did wrong.

It took me 4 auctions and over 45 days to sell my Dell laptop on eBay. The first three auctions all involved some type of non-paying bidder and/or eBay issue that resulted in an unsuccessful attempt. The first auction closed at $740 (much higher than I anticipated), but the buyer had zero feedback and never responded to e-mails or sent payment. The second auction was ended early as apparently I had something in the auction that was in violation of eBay policy (I still don't know what it was). The third auction sold at $600, but this time the winning bidder claimed she bid $5,000 instead of $500, so she would not follow through to pay. Finally the fourth auction sold for $625 and this time I actually got paid, even though it took almost 10 days for the buyer's payment to arrive in the mail. 45 days later and after suffering almost $100 in eBay fees from the four auctions, I probably only ended up with less than $500 and spent over 12 hours combined trying to sell the item.

I was a newbie to eBay, but eager to sell my top of the line Alienware laptop. I am extremely meticulous, so I spent over 3 hours taking pictures of the laptop and writing up a description for it to sell on eBay. I was really pleased when the item sold for $1,850 even though it was about $1,500 less than what I originally paid for it. The buyer sent payment immediately through PayPal and they had a confirmed address. I shipped the item out DHL Express and I never heard anything from the buyer, so I assumed all was OK. About a week later, I get an e-mail from PayPal stating a dispute had been opened on my account. Apparently the buyer decided they did not like the laptop because it made too much noise. The buyer thought the sound of the fans on the laptop was a defect and that it should be quiet, when in fact all Alienware laptops (at least like mine) have fan noise as it is required to keep the laptop cool. In any case, I tried to e-mail PayPal explaining the fan noise is natural and part of any Alienware laptop. In the meantime PayPal put a hold on the funds (almost $2,000 with shipping) and my account had a negative balance, which forced me to transfer money from my bank account back into my PayPal account. Nevertheless, 30 days later I get an e-mail from PayPal stating they ruled in favor of the buyer and a refund was automatically completed and sent to the buyer. Keep in mind though, I never got the laptop returned to me! I e-mailed PayPal and asked about the laptop, but PayPal said the buyer issued proof to PayPal that the item was returned. Still to this day I do not have the laptop and I am out almost $2,000. I cannot begin to express how incredibly angry I am. I have followed-up by filing police reports in the buyer's county, but still nothing has been resolved.

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