The ebay rant.

[pjdog350]

Life has gotten harder. Ever sense CV-19 everything has gone to hell!

And the scammers are becoming a real problem. I don't even answer my land line phone anymore at all. I just use the cell. I'm even getting scammers on the cell but not near as bad. I ask  one guy to please stop calling. He said not a chance!

[Terry]

My cell phone is now telling me the caller is a "Spam Risk" when a telemarketer calls. I think anything from an autodialer gets the message. This was due to an update - nothing I did.

On the ebay front. . . we bitch but there are some big benefits to ebay.

Two weeks ago a woman gave me a box of books and small tools after I'd packed the trains I bought from her into the van. I sold a 1930s drafting tool from the box for $100 last night. Before ebay I could never have sold it for that much. I don't know how I'd have sold it at all. Maybe a pawn shop?

Earlier this week I bought trains from a woman and she threw in a Cox car and a few lanterns. (I got a 1945 Coleman lantern for my growing collection!)  25 years ago I would have known the Cox car was desriable but would have had no way to research it. Now with ebay I can have it gone for a good price in 10 days.

[pjdog350]

I think ebay has done allot to keep fine old things out of our land fills also.

In the early 80’s I was on my way to work and noticed a piece old Lionel track sticking out of a big black trash. I stopped and knocked on the door of the house to ask if I could have the track. The women that answered the door said that two black bags had old trains in them. In Louisiana it’s against the law to take someone’s trash without asking. When I got home I had made a big find of nice postwar trains. Today those trains are put on ebay rather than the trash?

[Terry]

The way we read it, sounds like it applies to both sides.

Jim was right.  . .  I just had my first book length feedback from a buyer.

[starfire700]

I hope it was positive. The lengthy ones that we get usually go into family history of trains, because we hit the nostalgia nerve.

[Terry]

I finally got my money from eBay. They held it since November 10th. I got it April 27th.

Here's what was wrong. . .  I had my seller account as a "Sole Proprietor/LLC" with the money going into a bank account in the LLC's name.

I had to change the account type from "Sole Proprietor/LLC" to "Sole Proprietor/LLC." Then I had to delete all the business information except the EIN which is the business's number like a social security number. Then aim the money at my personal bank account.

None of it makes sense.

The other account is and was set up the same way as an Sole Prop/LLC with the LLC bank account and the EIN without a single problem. The only difference is the account without problems has 15 times the sales volume and gets serviced by eBay in the US.

On a good note, I've been enjoying my extra free time.

One other point - I think I forgot to buy the "free" store boxes last quarter with the coupon.  I get
twenty-five  16 X 12 X 8 inch boxes which after the coupon costs me about $6. I use enough of them that they are in the house rather than the garage. 

[CNJRR]

I bought 224E-13 & 13 on 3/12/2021. They just arrived today. The 25th. That’s 13 days. USPS showed that the seller (Henningstrains) listed something they didn’t have. Bought a shipping label on the 12th but tracking never showed that USPS had the package? USPS was waiting fore the package to arrive at there site. Hennings trains ordered them from someone else then mailed them to me? That’s OK if they let you know that’s how they do business. I think it sucks to have a customer waiting for 13days to get restoration parts.

I’ll not buy from them again.

Henning's been in business for a long time since 1939 I think it is. They are up there along with my local train store which opened in 1934.
They don't stay in business that long doing what you say.
A lot of the problems are the USPS itself! And they will try to cover up their mistakes!
I won an auction on 4/20/21 the tracking showed the same as you describe. I track all of my things, USPS is the worst!
My seller had to open a search for the item on USPS, shipped out of St Louis, the tracking showed what yours did. They finally found it in Tennessee!
Well it made Jersey city NJ 4 days ago, I am STILL waiting for it to move.
I know someone who hangs out at Henning's, good friends with the owner. If I had known about your problem, he might have been able to help sorting it out.

All in all, in the end, I would blame the USPS 99% of the time, not the seller.
USPS s ucks, no wonder they are struggling to keep alive. 

[pjdog350]

Why didn’t Hennings answer my inquiry about the wait?  I think Hennings sucks. Will NOT buy from them again!

[starfire700]

I recently sold a Lionel standard ga 10 electric to a low-number buyer in a remote area of California, one of our most-expensive shipping zones. The listing clearly stated in 2 locations that it had original wheels, would sit ok on track but that the wheels had fatigue and would need to be replaced if the loco was to be run. He contacted me, after having it more than a week, and said there was a broken wheel flange and the loco derails when he runs it and wants to return it. I factually pointed out that the listing stated the condition of the original wheels and that they would need to be replaced if it was to be run. If a wheel broke, it was because he ran it without replacing them. There was no communication back from him for almost a week, until this morning he opened a case to return it for a refund.
Ebay automatically approves the return, he will return it in who knows what condition. We will not only lose the sale, but the cost of shipping and repairs so it can be sold again.
Many aspects of the Ebay system are seriously flawed and biased towards the buyer, especially to buyers who are dishonest, ignorant or otherwise do not follow basic rules of common sense.
Reviewing his low feed-back, shows that he has done this to other sellers. It is likely his feedback number is low because he was blocked by so many sellers that he had to come back with another ebay name. Ebay has his address and info, why do they allow this?
Most of our transactions are good, but the occasional A-hole like this makes me wonder why we put ourselves through this torture.

[pjdog350]

I think in your case EBay will support your argument! I would fight it. You did state that the wheels would need to be replaced. That should seal the deal!

[Terry]

Jim, That sucks.

There is a point where you describe the loco as being so poor so you don't have to take it back that you end up getting no money for it.

The problems with the MTH locos were so bad I now buy them with the intention of selling them as "Untested - for repair."  I'm basically giving them away, but I buy them to sell for nothing.

With that said, there is no other option. I get good prices on a lot of my eBay sales. Rather than obsessing on the few bad apples, I try to remember that most of my buyers just want trains to play with.

I don't even get upset about the poor feedback anymore. I have ebay remove some of it, but I think having a few negatives warns off some of the game players.

Jim - you should talk to an eBay rep in the morning about this. MORNING calls are taken by US based representatives and they are more agreeable than the off shore reps. I've had eBay give me the money in these situations and remove the feedback. It's worth the 15 minutes on the phone.

The last time I got money like this it was a buyer who bought an HO train to run on Lionel O gauge track and then complained it wouldn't run on her track. She wanted to send it back at my cost. Ebay forced me to take it back, and when  I talked to a rep in Texas because I wanted the round trip shipping, the rep gave me the entire transaction amount and credited me the return shipping. I got to sell the train again.

Ebay moved the "have a rep call you" link into the bottom of the automated agent bar.

[early0electric]

Terry, Now that's an interesting and useful piece of information about morning calls!

[Terry]

Here's something interesting. . .

The Medium flat rate box is now $13.34. It was $13.75 last Thursday.

Also, I got a note from eBay saying they overcharged me and had credited my account:

Dear Terry,

Between June 2-3, 2021, we experienced a temporary billing issue that resulted in you being charged an incorrect final value fee for select items you sold on eBay.

We have resolved the billing issue and apologize for any inconvenience. A credit for incorrect final value fees will appear on the Payments tab in Seller Hub.

Thank you for your understanding.

The eBay Selling Team

I don't see any credits in the past few days.

[Terry]

For the past month I've been running about 20-25% of my sales don't get paid.  That had almost zeroed out in the spring, but now it's back.

I put this picture in my listings a few weeks ago, and thought it had cut down on the BS questions:

 

But now I'm thinking ebay's message system is screwed up. I have a buyer now who paid but provided a PO box even though he selected shipment by fedex. Ebay used to prevent buyers from paying with a PO box for fedex shipments, but lately that function is only working sometimes.

To send the buyer a message, I can't just click on the contact buyer link in the auction page or order details page. Those links open the ebay message center.  To send a message I have to go to the buyer's feedback page, and use that.

I was trying to buy something last week and never got a reply to my messages. I thought the seller was ignoring me. Maybe he just never got the messages?

[Terry]

I had a guy yesterday morning complain because a Vintage HO Brass 0-8-0 Switcher loco ran slowly. I told him that he should oil it, but it was a switcher and designed run slowly.  Last night he was back complaining about the headlight not working.

I told him the headlight is a 35 cent grain of wheat bulb and he needs to take the boiler off to change it.

Here's his reply today:

copied from listing:
Nice Brass loco and tedner in boxes. This is Japanese by Tenshodo. the loco runs on my tester. This spent it's life in a display case. Loco has some paint nicks on the original factory paint otherwise it's gorgeous. Boxes are alos gorgeous with original inner padding and paperwork. This is a fantastic pair.PARAGRAPH COPIED FROM THE ORIGINAL LISTING:
This listing was advertised as gorgeous:
Loco has some paint nicks on the original factory paint otherwise it's gorgeous.
But in reality it is not because: 1.) runs poorly & 2.) headlight doesn't work.
I've try to explain that I am not a young man, and don't feel comfortable making these repairs, probably do more damage than good;
The main reason that I bid on this loco was: it was ready to run without having to make any repairs, it just had some minor scratches to the paint. I did some research into seeing if there was any local hobby shops that made repairs to ho brass locos, to my surprise, all the hobby shops in my immediate area are gone, forced to close because of the internet sales!I goggled locals hobby shops in my area, I found only one that was still in business, located about 10 miles from my home, after researching their website and making a telephone call to talk about having repairs made, I was shocked to find out that they have a set $$$$ fee to just bring the loco in before that actually do any repairs. $90.00 + $45.00 per hour + parts + pa tax = $144.45, more than I paid for loco/shipping. So I feel it's your responsibility to make the proper repairs to make it gorgeous, so with all that's been said please issue me a prepaid shipping label so I can ship loco back to you, only with the true intention of you making repairs & sending loco back my to me, thank you, Dennis

This old guy bought a 60-year old brass loco, and now wants me to pay to have it shipped back to me so hI can change the light bulb and send it back to him.

I'm going to fight this, but I bet eBay makes me take it back.

Added:

I checked this guy's feedback and eBay listings. Turns out he sells used HO trains and buys and sells brass trains.

He comes across as some old infirm guy who bought an old train thinking it would be like a new one, but is actually a Yahoo who bought a $100 loco for 135 and now wants to find a reason to send it back.