Monday, November 28, 2011

POINT OF "NO RETURN" EUGENIA: Read How Ebay and Paypal Are Protecting A Thief!


This story is a sad one…so get ready cause it can happen to YOU TOO! Last month, I had a wonderful time at the Integrity Convention in Chicago. I was lucky enough to have my partner Peter go with me and therefore was able to get an extra convention package. I thought to myself,”This is a wonderful opportunity to help make back some of the cost of the flight, hotel and miscellaneous expenditures (aka: room sales dolls) that I will most definitely be incurring.” I started my process by selling one of my convention packages to a friend from Flickr named David East. He is an awesome, sweet guy and I was happy to do this for him. He was the first person that I had ever dealt with selling to internationally and that process went so well, I decided to open my eBay sales to International Bidders. Now, I’d never sold to anyone Internationally so I did not know all the “ins and outs” of the process, but I figured,”How hard can it be!”  Famous last words.
                The first issue was caused when the items that were prepaid by the conventioneers did not arrive in their homes until 2 weeks after the convention. Many other people choose to fly with their dolls in their luggage. I figured it was safer to ship them back. Many of my eBay buyers, of which 90% were international bidders (lucky me) understood that I didn’t have the items in hand and was waiting for them to arrive from Integrity Toys. Trust me, I was as anxious to get my stuff as they were!
All was going great, until I got the nastiest email from an individual in China that won my “Point of Departure Eugenia Giftset”, I got a bad feeling in my stomach. My gut instinct was letting me know that this person was an ASS! Well, first he asked me to lie about the customs amount (which I refused), then he asked for a type of mailing but did not want to pay for the extra service because he had already paid $40 and said it was my mistake not his….and he must have asked for the tracking number 20 time. Each time I politely let him know what his options were and that seemed to appease him. Finally, his package went out. I had a sinking feeling.
A couple of weeks later, I receive an “open case” email from Ebay from this sociopath who insists that he did not receive his package. Wow! What a coincidence right. The ONLY international package that was not received WAS HIS! Well, without so much as batting an eye…and although I provided all the information needed (aka tracking number..etc) eBay decided to put a hold on my Paypal account for the amount of $300! I was in shock. This person literally just stole $300 from me and according to ebay and Paypal there is nothing I can do about it. All because the buyer (who had obviously done this before) didn’t pay for the signature confirmation method of shipping required by eBay for anything over $250…..his item went for $260! I just got screwed out of $300 over $10! AMAZING! Now, I’m out the cash and the product and I cancelled all my ebay auctions until this whole debacle is resolved.
                What has this lesson taught me you wonder?
1-      DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH INTERNATIONAL BUYERS.
2-      Ebay and Paypal will ALWAYS defend the buyer.
3-      Karma is a bitch….and I hope this idiot gets what’s coming to him in spades!

Ok….I think I feel better….not really! ;-(

6 comments:

  1. Ugh--what a horrible mess. I'm so sorry. This has happened to me before, too.

    Insurance--it's a good thing. If you can, always, always, ALWAYS insure your items.

    If the USPS is too expensive, you can try InsurePost.com for some countries. They will insure some first class mail as well.

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  2. My friends I completely understand all your opinions...on the blog and on Flickr. I guess I have to add an addendum to my blog and say that from now on I will NOT sell Internationally off of EBAY. You'll note that at the beginning of my blog I mentioned David East...a mutual friend from Flickr. My experience with him and other off the FR WClub boards have been fantastic and that is what made me want to sell internationally in the first place. I, of course know that not everyone is the same...there are some unreputable buyers and sellers on eBay. Live and learn I guess. From now on...once the sting of this experience has passed, I will ONLY sell internationally to those people that I know personally or come with referrences. I'm sorry If I offendended any great and honest international buyers out there....it was not my intention. Thanks for your opinions....it helped me re-think my position on sales outside the USA! This blog is very cathatic for me....I'm saving thousands on therapy alone!
    xoxoxo, Frank

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  3. woww I can´t believe it ¡¡ its so sad that because of people like him,(we)international buyers gets banned from ebay sales or other kind of internet sales,personally I have bought and exchanged dolls without anyproblem(ebay flickr,pink parlor,you name it)recently I bought Count adrian von lamberg from a flickr and pink parlor member and we had no problem at all,I paid the usps shipping with extra insurance and it awas only 2 extrabucks,If you still have the tracking number you can open a non delivered case on your post office(where you checked the package) that way you can show ebay that the item was delivered,don´t let this thief rob you just like that,I hope this bad experience don´t leave you with a bad "international buyers" feeling...

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  4. Hi Kay,
    Thanks for joining the blog and showing that GIRLS are welcomed! lol!
    I know have come to the conclusion that there are bad apples in every bunch and you just can't generalize about everyone. I'm sure others have had bad experiences with people from the U.S. But for right now, I choose to not do business with International buyers that are virtual STRANGERS to me. I would much rather sell to someone that I can get references from that belong to WClub forum or others like it. I'm a very forgiving soul....I'm sure that eventually I will get over it and want to sing Kumbayah with everyone again! Thanks for chiming in!

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  5. your welcome ,but kay its just a nickname ,I am a boy,hehe glad to check your blog¡

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  6. Oops....I'm so sorry :-)
    Then you are IN the RIGHT Place! Welcome fellow MALE FR doll collector!
    xoxo,
    Frank

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