ebay seller: Thegamedungeon/thepaperrun/spiritriver78 BEWARE

[Dinkydarth]

just wanted to share my experience with the above seller. Hope it helps prevent what happened to me happening to others here.

This seller goes by the name of Jade Kelly. He is in SA.

Thursday:
He was selling a bulk lot of TFs, G1 vintage. I only wanted sludge and megatron, so message him to see if he would sell them individually. After negotiating a price, he asked me to pay him direct into his paypal account. I did so promptly.

After this he went on to offer me commemorative hot rod. We agreed on a price and I deposited money into his paypal account.

Friday:
The next day, he offered me megatron again. We agreed on a posted price. After this, he asked if I could pay $5 more for postage, then changed his mind and said he would cover the extra cost. I deposited the funds and was told dispatch would be monday.

Monday:
No message of dispatch, so I messaged him asking for an update- no reply.

Tuesday:
Still no contact made. More messages sent to seller, no reply.
I decide to file a dispute on paypal - just to protect myself, in case he did a runner.

Weds:
Message from seller - saying he was unhappy the funds were frozen, and that he was going to dispatch weds 1220pm.

Weds afternoon - no message of dispatch, messages sent to seller - no reply.

Thursday:
one week after payment. no reply from seller until afternoon.
Stated he had a life and was busy and couldn't dispatch, said he would have confirmation tracking number by friday morning. Even started to abuse me for being impatient and for having his paypal funds frozen. Started complaining of how he made this deal outside of ebay for me and how he has paid the extra postage for me.

I told him that I'd had enough and for him to refund me the money and cancel the order. I told him not to ship the TFs.
He said the deal was final and that he would ship on that day (thursday afternoon).

I explained that selling outside of ebay was his idea and it benefitted him, not me. Also we had agreed on the price and shipping already, and if he was so unhappy with the deal, he could refund me the money and keep the TFs.

By afternoon, I had received a tracking number. The seller then asked me to close the cases. (once closed the cases can't be reopened, and I don't know whether he has shipped the right items in proper condition).
Before I could respond, he starts messaging me, throwing abuse at me, saying I have to close the cases now that the tracking number had been provided. He escalates the claim into a dispute. Paypal messages me to hear my side of the story.

I messaged the seller asking him to calm down. I said I would close the case once I get the right TFs in good condition.

Friday:
Paypal finds one of the cases in favour of me, and reverses the payment ($45), sending the seller into a frenzy. He starts bidding on all of my items on ebay with his alternate IDs, and starts heaping abuse on me.
I told him I had no intention of scamming him and that I would pay him back the $45 as a gesture of goodwill. He continued to abuse me even after this.
I deposited $45 to the sellers account on paypal. No messages since.
I'm now waiting for the goods to arrive. Hopefully they will be in good nick and the right ones....

so just a warning to those shopping on ebay for vintage TFs... watch out for this seller....

[Trent]

I wouldn't have transferred the $45 back until you received the items. Let him rage all he wants and be a tool. If he had of provided good communication throughout, this whole thing would've been avoided.

Hope it works out for you.

[Jetfire in the sky]

Must be a full moon, I had a (not so) rad experience with a winner of a seller earlier this week

[jazzcomp]

I wouldn't have transferred the $45 back until you received the items. Let him rage all he wants and be a tool. If he had of provided good communication throughout, this whole thing would've been avoided.

Hope it works out for you.

+1.

[Defcon]

So you filed a dispute through paypal? It wasn't an ebay transaction, so ebay wasn't involved? Just reading your story it looks like you filed a dispute a bit to early, should of given the seller another day or two. The dispute probably caused the seller to then panic, and unfortunately it all developed into a negative reaction. Filing a dispute should always be a last resort. I understand the want for protection, but it can turn things sour.

I have had one dispute directed at me on ebay. I was pretty annoyed there was no contact beforehand to even let me know there was a problem. In the end it worked out but the seller wont be getting business from me ever again.

[Defcon]

I'm not defending the seller, because he still is a bad seller like you pointed out, especially because of the abuse. Totally not needed. I wouldn't wish it to happen to me. Hope it all works out

[Skullcruncher]

I explained that selling outside of ebay was his idea and it benefitted him, not me.

Didn't you ask the seller for sludge and megatron first??

You took a risk doing a deal outside ebay, sounds like the seller is first doing you a favour by splitting up his lot.

Isn't the timeframe for claims 45 or 60 days? The filing a dispute with someone doing you a favour so quickly is a bit of a kick in the guts to the seller. No wonder they took offense as they probably thought you were the scammer wanting the toy then just claiming your money back.

[Jetfire in the sky]

The freezing of funds is something relatively new and it happens on ebay and obviously now paypal. This never used to happen and as long as the dispute remained open it just covered you with the 45 day protection until it was resolved or escalated. I guess paypal must have got burnt a few too many times with sellers "running off" with money and closing their accounts that paypal could auto draw from to pay the buyer back. I'm surprised its taken so long for this system to come into place.

[BigTransformerTrev]

On the one hand if he said he would dispatch the figures Monday he should have done so. I've had folk both on eBay and on here string me along for a month saying they would post something and keeping pushing the date back, it can be a pain in the butt. People should back up what they say with the appropriate actions.

On the other hand, if he said he would post on Monday and it was only Tuesday that is really jumping the gun to start a Paypal dispute. I would have at least given it a week bare minimum and a few chances for him to respond to messages. People do get caught up in unforeseen circumstances that don't always allow them to get to the post office.

I'd just go through the proper ebay channels from now on to avoid this kind of problem.

[Dinkydarth]

Didn't you ask the seller for sludge and megatron first??

You took a risk doing a deal outside ebay, sounds like the seller is first doing you a favour by splitting up his lot.

Isn't the timeframe for claims 45 or 60 days? The filing a dispute with someone doing you a favour so quickly is a bit of a kick in the guts to the seller. No wonder they took offense as they probably thought you were the scammer wanting the toy then just claiming your money back.

I asked him if he would sell the items separately. I never asked if he would sell outside of eBay. He asked for funds to be paid directly to his PayPal account, saving himself eBay fees.
How does it benefit me when he saves on eBay fees, and I'm not able to leave negative feedback? If he agreed to selling separately he could always realist it as a separate item with a buy it now price. He was under no obligation to separate his lot if he didn't want to.
If he was that unhappy with the sale why did he not accept my offer to cancel the order, and refund me the money? And why the sudden lack of communication after I paid? He was very quick to respond when he was trying to sell his other stuff. Don't forget I simply asked him for sludge and megs, he then followed straight away with a price on sludge, and said megatron was taken. He then offered me a whole lot of other unlisted stuff, of which I picked one. Later on he came back to me asking whether I still wanted megs and that he'd throw him into my order without additional postage. I wouldn't say that he was exactly doing me a favour... he looks like he was very eager to make the sale.