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Bought some items off e-bay recently, but have not arrived, according to UPS they have tried to deliver three times, blatant lie, we are on a very small lane at the edge of what is probably the delivery radius of many courier companies and this happens more often than not, the only reliable delivery service we get is RM, lately DPD have been better with a new driver.

One advantage of the above, if you can call it that, is that delivery charges are nearly always re-funded once you start to ague.
 
marcros":36vt1i6x said:
Normally I would agree Bob. A few weeks ago, I got caught out. I bought a lawnmower on ebay. The woman wouldn't post but was happy to box up for a courier. I put the weight and sizes into parcel2go and it spat out a price of £8.99. It sounded a bit too good to be true because the next nearest was £25, then £50+. I bought the mower and then went back to book the courier. Same results came up but when I clicked on the £8.99 it suddenly decided it was too large and I had to use the £25 service. I had saved a chunk on the mower compared with new, so an extra £15 didn't break the deal but I can see how somebody would be annoyed having done everything correct at the pricing stage.

It was Hermes, they delivered it to the wrong house. Luckily I tracked it down and got a refund on the shipping after all that?!

Yes I can see how they would be annoyed as well and some of the web sites can be very iffy, these days like you did I always check several and compare though I rarely book a courier now. Hermes in our area is pretty good as it's rural and most people know the local delivery woman.

Actually something similar happened to me a few years ago but I'd forgotten and In my case I bought quite a large batch of mixed hardwood offcuts, the seller weighed them for me and gave a rough boxed size. I can't remember actual figures but booked a courier and when the package arrived was slapped with an overweight charge. Turned out the guy was being kind and thought I might like some extra wood, old spokeshaves and wooden moulding planes as he was clearing out so far heavier and a bigger box. It was appreciated though! :D
 
Lons":1fsw0r99 said:
I'm a bit puzzled how anyone selling can be so far out on postage costs except for a genuine mistake.

It's easy enough to measure for size and weigh the items, add a bit for box weight and get costs on the internet from Royal Mail, Parcel Force and any number of other couriers. Not exactly rocket science!

Agreed it is easy to get a quote online, getting counterstaff to accept it is another matter. It's easily thirteen or more years since they introduced the large letter size and issued a template to all branches to distinguish between the sizes. New starters excused, it amazes me that long serving employees still cannot recognise a C4 from a C5. I post quite a few C5 envelopes and regularly - almost every time! - have to point out it falls under the small letter size, not the large they want to charge. I had an item only the other week that I made my own packaging for, sized to fall well within the size limitations. Should have cost £1.51 to post; PO wanted to charge £4.92. I post often enough to know that wasn't right and she was adamant it was 'far too big' to be a small letter (could have frisbeed it through the template!) and even when shown she was wrong her 'best price' was still nearly double what it should have been. I do wonder how many infrequent posters are fleeced because they trust counterstaff to know the difference and the cheapest options available. I much prefer to use couriers wherever possible; even outfits like hermes offer an all round better experience than RM.
 
MikeJhn":19tzhc2d said:
Bought some items off e-bay recently, but have not arrived, according to UPS they have tried to deliver three times, blatant lie, we are on a very small lane at the edge of what is probably the delivery radius of many courier companies and this happens more often than not, the only reliable delivery service we get is RM, lately DPD have been better with a new driver.

One advantage of the above, if you can call it that, is that delivery charges are nearly always re-funded once you start to ague.

I know two drivers quite well who have told me that they usually have far too many parcels on the van than they can deliver in a day so invariably some of them go back to the depot and while those should then be prioritised to ensure delivery next day it often doesn't happen.
Some drivers are self employed as well and I suppose the incentive to go out of the way isn't great but there's absolutely no excuse for lying.

Only happened to me once and I was highly annoyed, especially as I'd waited in all day, no card but the website said one had been left. I had a DPD driver who dropped a compressor over a locked 5ft gate rather than leave with a next door neighbour and of course smashed it!
 
Lonsdale73":3rtajuzv said:
Agreed it is easy to get a quote online, getting counterstaff to accept it is another matter.
I guess it's all down to people, training and supervision in the end. We have an outreach post office counter in the village just a few hours a week and the woman who runs it seems to know what she's doing though I guess as you say the customer can be easily overcharged if they don't know prices.

I had an issue last year when I'd bought a s/h wheel and tyre as a spare for my motorhome from a dealer on ebay, a 16" commercial which when delivered I found was not the stud size he described and didn't fit. He sent me a label to post it back which I queried as it was over 20kg but he confirmed no problems. Local post office lady said it was over weight but would try so it went through the system and was rejected at a sorting office. 3 days later she dropped it back off at my house.
Seller said he couldn't be bothered so just keep it and sell it on if I wanted which I did on Facebook and got £30 8)
 
I’ve been on eBay for nearly 20 years and have never had a problem. As long as you follow their guidelines, PayPal have always refund without exception. If you are selling, as long as you ship to a verified address, get proof of delivery and send it insured for loss or damage, you’ll be fine. Sure, there’s plenty of dodgy a-holes trading there but there’s just as many (if not more) on Gumtree or Shpock!
If you’re not sure if it’s safe to buy / sell something on eBay to / from someone, just call them and ask - they’re always very helpful!
Just ask someone on Gumtree or Shpock if they have a receipt for that ‘unused’ £300 item and see how many seconds it takes them to tell you it was a ‘gift’!
There are dodgy people everywhere, just be careful when you dealing with everyone and know what your PayPal / eBay rights are.
 
Recently I ordered a scribe and received a feather boa! I wouldn't mind but it wasn'y my colour at all! Despite advertising as being in the UK it actually came from the Far East and, in fairness, the export label did state the contents as 'engineering tool' so can put that down to simple human error. I've had that happen with amazon. The seller apologised and offered a replacement or cash refund; I went for the replacement and it arrived very next day. Hope it last longer than the boa!

Speaking of amazon, some of the negative reviews left on there by people who clealy haven't read the description or were completely clueless about what they are ordering. Don't get me wrong, I've ordered things that weren't what I thought they were, most notably a scroll saw which I mistook for a bandsaw, not through the fault of a dupicitous dealer or a misleaading ad but purely to my own ignorance. I don't think it's right to hold amazon to account for my - or anyone else's - shortcomings.
 
Lonsdale73":27uvq8b9 said:
Recently I ordered a scribe and received a feather boa! I wouldn't mind but it wasn'y my colour at all! Despite advertising as being in the UK it actually came from the Far East and, in fairness, the export label did state the contents as 'engineering tool' so can put that down to simple human error. I've had that happen with amazon. The seller apologised and offered a replacement or cash refund; I went for the replacement and it arrived very next day. Hope it last longer than the boa!

Speaking of amazon, some of the negative reviews left on there by people who clealy haven't read the description or were completely clueless about what they are ordering. Don't get me wrong, I've ordered things that weren't what I thought they were, most notably a scroll saw which I mistook for a bandsaw, not through the fault of a dupicitous dealer or a misleaading ad but purely to my own ignorance. I don't think it's right to hold amazon to account for my - or anyone else's - shortcomings.


When your receiving money for facilitating trades then you have a responsibility to make rules and enforce them properly. If no one was held to account then it would be an even worse nightmare. This thread was started because in my opinion there is a disproportionate amount of listings that are simply misleading and out to dupe. Tools with parts missing not mentioned in the description and terminology like take a look at the photos they form part of the description. I'm not saying everyone is like that but there is plenty who are. I'm pretty much done with ebay its too much hassle. I got a bit of stick on here for exposing a seller I didn't tell the complete story just a bit of how I was blackmailed. there has been 8 transactions I've made since January that has resulted in having to open a dispute for a variety of reasons. 4 refunds 2 items coming very late and 2 I had to stand. A lot of time and effort as well as the stress. Its just not worth it anymore.
 
FatmanG":2rz262sl said:
This thread was started because in my opinion there is a disproportionate amount of listings that are simply misleading and out to dupe. Tools with parts missing not mentioned in the description and terminology like take a look at the photos they form part of the description.

If the photos show that parts are missing, where's the dishonesty? It's up to the buyer to look at the photos, not the seller to separately list all faults. The seller has - honestly - shown what's there in the photos.
 
Ebay, for all it's perceived faults, has been an absolute boon to home woodworkers (and many others).

Back in the 'good old days' before the internet was a thing, if you wanted good second hand or vintage tools you had far fewer options. You could attend auctions (occasional specialist, or local general), you could trawl the local junk shops, you could travel to the few specialist tool dealers, you could try word of mouth and see what emerged (rubbish, mostly), or you could await Bristol Design's next tool list, issued by post about six times a year, and hope that if there was something you wanted, your 'phone call to reserve the item beat everybody else. Mine usually didn't.

Now, you can relax in your armchair, and at a time of your choosing, scan through thousands of offerings. Sure, some will be dodgy, but it's usually fairly clear from the listing and description which are naff and which are more genuine. Yes, descriptions vary a lot in quality - I've lost count of the number of wooden bench planes described as 'block plane' - but at least you can look at the photo and make a judgement. Is this a shyster, or someone with no woodworking knowledge offering, in good faith, the old plane they found in grandad's shed? And if the price is right, is it worth a punt? Your call - but don't blame the seller if said jack plane turns out to be third quality rather than Marples Shamrock brand.

Really - it's a golden age for finding used gear. But one thing hasn't changed - used gear is used, and you take a risk when you buy used rather than brand, spanking new with guarantee and legal rights. Your choice, but don't cry foul when used turns out to be not quite as pristine as brand new.
 
I understood the point you were trying to make and I agree there are a lot of shifty / dodgy characters out there whose sole aim is to extract money from unsuspecting buyers; that's people for you. Any transaction - on or offline - requires an element of trust and awareness for both parties - some 'buyers' are worse than the sellers! However - and this is a most unusual statement from me - not everyone is naturally bad and out to con you. When I'm buying, if I ask a question then I expect an honest answer, even if that's "Dunno mate!" As a seller, I endeavour to be as honest and accurate with my descriptions, to the best of my ability and/or knowledge of the item. I have on occasion, sold items I didn't know a great deal about, usually starting the decription with a line "If you're looking at this then you probably know more about it than I do." This isn't a disclaimer or a get out clause and if someone asks a question I don't know the answer to then in the first instance I will reply that I don't know but will investigate for them. If nothing else, it lets a potential buyer know that you've received their question and aren't simply ignoring them. I'd like to think it also reflects that I'm honest (insofar as admitting I don't know) and helpful (that I'm prepared to do their research for them); this is reflected in much of my feedback.

As a seller - and as others have experienced - it is all too easy to get an online quote for postage that bears no resembalnce to what's quoted over the counter. This is a HUGE bugbear of mine. I can believe a £25 disparity between quotes; I've had it happen, many a time. I'm fortunate it that I post a lot of items so have some idea what cost should be. Others won't be and I'm sure many pay over the odds because they don't know any better.

Maybe you're right, maybe he did think he could get more for the item - that's not exclusive to ebay. About two years ago I agreed to the original asking price with someone on here, all that was left to finalise was a time to pick up. I never heard from him again but the same item, from the same part of the country and with self-same photos popped up on ebay a week or so later. So yes, I believe, having seen the level of interest shown on here, he figured he'd try his luck elsewhere. It worked out for him, he got at least 50% more for it than he'd asked for on here. It was ignorant of him not to have the decency to reply to me and the price he got was a truer reflection of the item's worth so was he wrong to want to recover as much as possible of his outlay?

Yes, ebay should be doing more to weed out the scam artists and the chancers but let's be brutally honest here: their prime concern is making money for ebay. I mentioned amazon first because it too has issues which are almost always down to human error; whether that's a case of the wrong item being picked in the warehouse, wrong label attached in despatch or the buyer selecting the wrong item. In the first two instnces, based on my own personal experience, amazon have NEVER failed to corect their errors. They are NOT accountable for other people's stupidity or ignorance.
 
I had a bad experience with a seller on eBay in early December through to January, I made a post about it here so I'll just copy and paste that.

I bought some spindle moulder cutters off an eBay seller at the start of December who was retiring/downsizing their business, in total it was about £240 for 5 or so different cutter blocks which was a decent price for what they were so I was happy enough. The 20KG+ box arrived and instantly I could tell something was wrong just purely the feel of the box and the rattling inside, the seller had used NO PACKING MATERIAL whatsoever to stop the cutter blocks from banging up against each other. Carbide tipped tooling absolutely wrecked, gouges out of other blocks and on top of that they sent me a wrong block that I didn't order and the one I wanted wasn't in the box. They initally wanted me to keep the mistaken block and they would send out the missing block to off-set the damage to everything else but the damage was more than the extra block was worth. So I initiated a return for the irreparable stuff and the wrong block and sent them back no problem at all, I got a message saying "You didn't send X and X part which were included with the original box." and after explaining to them that I simply did not have these pieces they were talking about they practically called me a liar and a thief and would take it to eBay.

I eventually got a refund for the damaged and wrong stuff in January, a whole month after purchase, I didn't get the block I wanted in the end either! :evil: I didn't end up out of pocket, but it was a mentally draining experience, especially when you're thinking they could keep the stuff you sent back AND your £100 you paid for the particular blocks. Fortunately, I was able to leave THREE negative feedbacks because of the multiple purchases which felt good. Cmon... No packing material in a dead thin box full of sharp and heavy cutters? Frankly, I'm amazed it didn't injure any transport staff. It wasn't eBay's fault but I'm warier of buying stuff from there now.
 
The ebay of today is very different to the original and in any case has much more competition now in the guise of Amazon marketplace, Facebook and Gumtree along with local on line outlets.

When I started using it was basically an on line car boot sale with a huge audience, low selling cost and the facility to determine a likely value by looking at other sales. Much of that still applies but with some major turn offs for me now mainly selling costs are much higher and the site is hugely overpopulated by dealers especially from the far east with multiple identities and often selling fake goods, ebay's policy of making it difficult to leave negative feedback even when obviously genuine says to me that all they're interested in is revenue.
They're easy to spot but I detest those clearly selling fakes and stating UK sellers and stock only to find the item has been posted from China, ( don't forget the disinfectant spray when opening those parcels at the mo :wink: )

All that said, although I now very rarely sell anything on ebay I do often purchase and am just, as with all other on line purchases take extra care when doing so.

There are genuine, honest sellers and buyers on ebay as well as fraudsters on both sides just the same as everywhere else!
 
Cheshirechappie":374ffhyl said:
FatmanG":374ffhyl said:
This thread was started because in my opinion there is a disproportionate amount of listings that are simply misleading and out to dupe. Tools with parts missing not mentioned in the description and terminology like take a look at the photos they form part of the description.

If the photos show that parts are missing, where's the dishonesty? It's up to the buyer to look at the photos, not the seller to separately list all faults. The seller has - honestly - shown what's there in the photos.
On the whole your right but when the photos don't show the missing parts and you are told the item is in used condition but working order how can you make the right call then? The plane worked but had no depth stop. If he'd of said perfect working order I'd of got a refund. Anyhow I don't think everyone is a con artist etc I got burned trying to buy too many tools too fast and learned a few lessons along the way. The main one being the amount of skills I could of improved in the time I wasted on fannying about on ebay. The 2nd being banks offer interest when they hold onto your money for time ebay/sellers don't. I shall buy brand new or off here in future.
 
E-bay purchase from Croatia at the beginning of January, never arrived, however the seller some how got hold of a GB Royal Mail delivery notification, which PayPal said was proof of delivery and found for the seller, I argued that there was no proof of posting or Customs declaration all to no avail, anyway to cut the very long saga short I went to the Finance Ombudsman who found in my favour and informed PayPal of that, fast forward a month and PayPal have sent a message to me saying they had acted in accordance with their terms and conditions and had closed the case as a final decision, however on this occasion to keep me as a customer happy they will re-fund me the full amount, seems the Ombudsman letter has a lot of weight, or was it just my perseverance and near fifty e-mails that made the difference? Don't think I will ever know, but a good result in the end.

To add for information the tracking No from RM was genuine according to RM but not signed for by me, because of the Covid restrictions post personnel are allowed to leave parcels and sign that they have been delivered, I trust our post deliverer and know they would not do this without putting a card or putting the parcel in our safe place, the worrying thing is the information from RM concerning gangs colluding with each other by sending a empty or worthless item to an address to obtain a signature or just to obtain a delivery notification, RM are aware of this, but are powerless to do anything about it.
 
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