eBay problems, resolutions, shenanigans, questions and info (not bike finds)

Aye it's a buyers game, and they do play the game. Only negative feedback I've had was for 99p items (both really worthb£10-15) that there was no problem with. Folk who get stuff uber cheap are often the worst

I'm on the verge of buying a bike on eBay... I know lots of people find bargains there but I've only ever bought a couple of things from the site and only random low value trinkets etc.

I've been keeping an eye on things for the past few days and the auction ends this evening and there are currently no bids, although since the starting bid is towards the high end of what I'd be prepared to pay, I don't have much wriggle room before I'm outbid.

Are there any tips to try and keep the price as low as possible? Should I bid now or wait until later? In the olden days people always used to hold off bidding until the very last minute and then there would be a flurry of frantic 'who can bid fastest' in the final few minutes, but I'm not sure that that tactic exists any more with the current bidding system?

#luddite

If something comes up that I really want. I bid my maximum bid with 10 seconds to go. If someone has bid more than you then fair enough, you won't win. But at least bidding so late, you don't give other a chance to react to your bid.

Maybe 8 seconds if I'm very confident in my internet connection..!

If no one has bid. I put in a bid that matches the starting amount striaght away.

My thinking here is to put off the bargin buy/resell vultures.

Then With like 5 Seconds to go I put in my max bid.

5 seconds? Balls of steel!

Just bid the starting price...

Terrifying! :-)

boom... gamed the system (sort of...).

Won as the only bidder.

Auctionsniper type last minute bid behaviour is the most price efficient.

I've just had an email from ebay saying they've removed an item I won.

No explanation, just that. It goes on to say that if I've paid I needn't do anything else unless my item doesn't show up.

Wut?

It's some trainers. I bought and paid on Saturday night after a liquid evening out so I wonder whether they might be knockoff and I didn't notice, but since ebay has removed the listing I now can't see the pictures to check. They've not turned up in the post yet.

The seller has 120 positive feedbacks since 2013 and the account is still active.

Whagwan?

Grab the eBay listing number from your PayPal invoice and see if Google has cached the page to get the pics. What trainers were they?

It's not cached anywhere. Theyre like this:

TBH I don't mind if they don't turn up as I'm not quite as keen as I was after 5 Holsten Pils.

AM90 Independence Day - Highly likely they were fake

I figured that was it. Let's see:

A) if they turn up
B) how shit they are

And then

C) how the ebay returns thing works. I've never done it.

Lesson: don't click when drunk, kids.

Sorry, no they're [supposed to be] solar red hyperfuse not Independence Day - no flag on the tongue. Probably still snikes of course.

This is because the item you bought has been marked as counterfeit by ebay, it has happend to me in the past and i got the exact same message from ebay after i bought an item.
I already payed and received my item, but i demanded a refund from the seller because it was a fake and got it.
If the goods are fake, in theory you can get your money back without returning the item, because returning the item would be illegal in many places.

Cool. Free shoes for doing the gardening in.

won a bike located in paris nearly a week ago. the buyer was good with contact and answering questions and stuff, said he would post yesterday but sent me a message saying that his national post wouldnt accept my parcel as its too big, and if i wanted a private courier i would need to send him an extra 100 euro on top of the 70 euro i already gave him for shipping. my friend is calling bullshit and saying he is attempting to swindle more money out of me. my skepticism stems from the fact his ebay is new with zero feedback. ive suggested to the seller that he dismantle the bike more and put it in a smaller box, upon finding out he hadnt already done so, and as of yet, he hasnt replied.

has anybody got suggestions regarding postage, i dont want a refund i would much rather the bike, and as im an impatient individual would also like it quite soon :(

70EUR to the UK from Paris is fine.

For 170EUR you can book a return flight or Eurostar and collect it yourself!

Ask him for refund of the postage, along with the dimensions and weight of the parcel and send a courier to get it?

Italy has http://www.truckpooling.it/ which I am not entirely sure how it works other than it spends a day in some kind of limbo before being passed on to a reputable shipping company. However I managed to get a frame+fork from San Marino to London for €45 giving 4.9kg as the weight just to be on the safe side. Maybe France has something similar?

@Vince might have a good insight into shipping options from France?

search any bike name/ brand on ebay and it defaults to 'bikes' although one might be looking for a frame or other part. V annoying.

I get french bikes across to London when I get a Champagne delivery so I technically never get them shipped from France...

So, I won an item of cycle clothing last week that was described as "worn, faded but useable". There were three photos.

The item arrived. It was indeed worn and faded as described. But there was also a large rip on the front and a separate big hole that you could stick a thumb through. Both would have been obvious to the seller. I made contact to say that the item was not as described and ask for a refund.

Response was "sorry, I must have missed that, you can keep it and have 50% refund or return for a 100% refund". I opted for the full refund and asked that the return postage (£2.80 so really no big deal) be included and once received I'd send immediately.

Radio silence so I followed up again today. "Sorry, family emergency, I'll refund you as soon as I get the item back". I replied again to say that as soon as the refund was received I'd pop them in the post. No response.

Seems like stalemate. What next - escalate to a formal dispute? If so, via eBay or Paypal? And what evidence to provide?

Any thoughts or suggestions gratefully received.

Go through the eBay dispute process. Be factual, concise and take photos. Copy the correspondence you've had so far.