Ebay international shipping

Ebay has a great feature where you can ship an item to many different countries around the world. You ship it to a ebay forwarding service, and they use whatever carrier works best and forwards the package to its destination. Recently I sold an Apple iPad to a person in India. I shipped it to the ebay forwarding service, and they sent it via Deutsche Post (a German shipper) to India. After a few weeks, I got a letter from Deutsche Post saying they could not ship my item because it had a lithium ion battery to India. They could not return the iPad either. They said they could send it to an address in Germany. I contacted ebay and told them about it. They didn't do anything. I called again, and they finally said I could file an insurance claim. I said I wanted the iPad to go the buyer in India. Ebay said that wouldn't happen. To file an insurance claims, the buyer needs to ask for a refund. I had to contact the buyer and explain the entire situation and tell them to request a refund. After quite a lot of effort, the buyer got a refund, and I got reimbursed from ebay insurance. None of this should have happened. Most consumer electronics has lithium ion batteries inside. I know there are some obscure consumer electronics, but I am pretty sure Apple and iPad's are not obscure at all. Ebay knew I was selling an iPad. They should know what carriers can ship electronics with lithium ion batteries, and which cannot. They made it my responsibility to deal with their mistake. I have shipped many consumer electronics domestically without issue, including iPad's, kindles and the like. Ebay needs to fix their international shipping to choose the correct carriers based on the contents of what they were shipping. I even marked on the outside of the box that it was a used iPad, as the buyer requested it.

vikyhwt and eBay

Everyone has heard of eBay. Most stuff you get there is sold by decent people, however there are always people who will take advantage of honest people. EBay does try to some extent to weed them out, but as long as eBay is making money, I suspect they don't try too hard to weed out the crooks.

Recently, I was the high bidder for a watch on eBay. The auction ended. I paid within a few hours. Since the seller was local and they said local pickup was ok, I decided to not pay the shipping charge (as the ad stated). Here is what I wrote:

I drive by Alhambra twice a day, in the early morning, and the late
afternoon. If one of those times is good, I can pick up the watch. Otherwise,
I can stop by almost any time that is good for you this weekend, as I live in
******.  

Please let me know what time is good for you, 

Here is their reply:

I am sorry. Actually, I moved out from ALhambra almost a year ago. And this
item I didn't put local pick up was available. Therefore, please pay the
shipping so that I can ship you your item immediately. And if you still have
any concern please feel free to emial me. Thank you for your purchase again. 

Here is my reply:

The item *does* specify local pickup is available, check for yourself. 
Your paypal address is also listed in Alhambra. 

Where are you currently located? 

A few hours later I got this from paypal:

wan huang (vickyhwt@yahoo.com) has issued you a full or partial refund for
your payment.  

Message from merchant: 

Next I got the following:

I am sorry for the incorrect post, but I live in SAN JOSE now. The old address
is the the address I registed in ebay and paypal. Sorry for that mistake I
made. I just gave you full refun for the transaction. Sorry again.

Next I got the following from paypal (note the address):

wan huang has cancelled the shipping label for the reason below: 

Changed Mind

Your package will no longer be shipped using PayPal Shipping with U.S. Postal
Service.  

Ship From:

wan huang
316 W. Ramona rd
alhambra, CA 
91803
United States

I asked ebay for his contact info, and I was given the following:

User ID: vickyhwt 
Name: wan huang 
Company:  
City: alhambra 
State: CA 
Country: United States 
Phone: (626) 823-7839 
Registered Since: Saturday, Aug 02, 2003 10:40:10 PDT 

I really wanted the watch, and since the seller refused to let me pick it up, and claimed to live in San Jose, I decided to pay the shipping charge. I could have simply contacted ebay, but I fear they don't really care, as I will show below. I eventually got the watch, which was postmarked in Los Angeles CA. What is wrong with this picture?

• The seller offered local pickup in the ad, but then claimed that he didn't.
• The seller said he lived in Alhambra in the ad, but then claimed that he moved to San Jose a year ago, and forgot to update his info with ebay and paypal. He lied about that, as the watch was shipped from Los Angeles, and the return address on the package was in Alhambra.
• The seller was selling 8 other items, and in each one he listed his address as Alhambra, and said local pickup was ok and free.
• Even if he didn't want me to pick up the item, he should have offered me free shipping, because I agreed to bid on the watch knowing I would be picking it up as the ad stated (even though it would take longer to arrive that I would like). He didn't offer free shipping.
• According to ebay "When a seller lists an item and a buyer purchases it, the seller and buyer have entered into a contract that both members are expected to honor. For sellers, this contract includes both formal requirements, as well as informal, common-sense obligations to provide good service to their buyers." There was a contract, and the seller didn't honor it. 'Changed Mind', isn't a valid reason to cancel the contract.

I suspect the reason that he wanted the item shipped was it was a light watch which would likely cost about $5 to ship. Since he was charging $11.99, he was making about $7 profit, and ebay gets zero percentage of shipping costs. Just speculation on my part

I contacted ebay and told them everything. They said "I understand the frustration you're feeling. Please know that we are working to resolve this as quickly as possible.". That was 3 weeks ago. They told me that paypal had to deal with the issue. I contacted paypal and after about 2 weeks, I finally got my money back, and I got a letter from paypal saying the issue was closed. So I presume that paypal pressured the seller to pay me back.

A few years pass, and the watch died. This is a solar powered watch that has a battery that is supposed to last for at least 10 years if exposed to light regularly. I took the watch to a Casio service center, and they told me the watch had the wrong battery inside of it. The correct battery is a rechargeable lithium coin cell, but the battery was a non rechargeable coin cell. The problem is the watch tries to recharge the battery using its solar cells. The non rechargeable battery won't recharge, and could easily get damaged. So either vikyhwt or someone before him switched the battery with a much less expensive, incorrect battery. The watch has a water resistance rating of 200 meters. Smart people don't open well sealed watches unless they have to, because it may compromise the sealing of the watch, so I didn't check that the correct battery was in place.

computerville and eBay

I sold a partially broken notebook and power adapter to computerville. I have sold several notebooks, and this was no different. I wrapped the notebook in bubble wrap, and stuffed the power adapter in a box. A few days later, I got an email saying the power adapter was missing. I told them to look in the box. They said the brick was missing and they wanted me to send them one. Of course, I couldn't as I had already done so. They opened an ebay dispute and said they wanted their money back. There were two problems. The first was the shipping was $16, and I would not be paid back for that. Worse, they wanted to return it without a power adapter, which would make it harder for me to resell. Looking at it from ebay's perspective, how could they tell who was telling the truth? I decided it would be cheaper to refund the amount a power adapter was selling for on ebay, which was $6.86. The only explanation that doesn't involve significant deception would be if the package was damaged during shipping, the power adapter fell out, the notebook stayed inside, and the package was resealed. Not very likely. I did ask if the package was damaged during shipping, and I got no reply. Needless to say, I don't recommend doing business with computerville.

datavis_sales and eBay

Recently, I bought some computer cards from datavis_sales. A few days later, I got an email saying "Unfortunately the item that was listed was an error. We have rectified the issue causing this error and we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. For that reason the order has been canceled." I went to their ebay store, and they are currently selling 35,442 items. According to ebay "Bidding is a lot of fun, but remember that each bid you make is a binding contract to buy the item if you win." A binding contract binds both parties. If you win the auction, you have to pay, and they have to deliver. I called ebay, and they said that since it was a mistake, datavis_sales didn't have to ship the item. Needless to say, I don't recommend doing business with datavis_sales.

tcglabs aka Technology Concepts Group Inc. and eBay

I bought a belkin kvm switch on ebay from tcglabs which is really Technology Concepts Group Inc. 1701 Broadmoor Dr Ste 210 Champaign, IL 61821 Phone: 217-766-8918. I won the auction Apr-27-2017.

I got a message Apr-28-2017 saying Hey there. We have been busy writing a proposal the last few days and I haven't had a moment to ship your KVM switch. I have left a note for one of my coworkers to ship it out on Monday. I'll keep you in the loop. My sorry for the delay in shipping. Cheers, Travis

I replied the same day saying Ok. Can you ship it with some quick shipping method due to the 4 day delay between purchase and shipping?

I never got another email from them.

May-02-2017 I sent another message: I would appreciate a tracking number so I can know when to expect the kvm switch.

May-03-2017 I sent another message: I need a tracking number, so I will be around to accept the package. Please send it as soon as possible.

May-06-2017 I open a dispute, saying I have had no response from the seller, and I want my item.

May-11-2017 I get a refund saying: Very sorry for the mix-up. During the listing the incorrect shipping information was used resulting in incorrectly calculated shipping cost.

I did call the company, and the person I spoke with apologized and said the seller person was traveling for 2 weeks. Perhaps they were traveling somewhere where there is no network connections? They assured me the item would ship soon. I called again on May-11-2017 and they said they miscalculated the shipping charge, but were shipping it anyway. I did get a tracking number, but it only said that a label had been printed. That was on May-10-2017. As of May-14-2017 is still says 'label created.

People make mistakes. The weight and/or size of the package was likely incorrect in the ebay listing. They made a mistake. They did nothing for 2 weeks, they never answered any of my emails. They didn't offer to split the extra shipping cost or anything. They have only 15 feedbacks, and none in the last 12 months. They clearly don't understand how ebay works. When they list something and someone pays for it, that makes a contract. They need to fulfill their end of the contract. Issuing a refund doesn't cut it. After calling ebay, they walked me through how to leave feedback (the item isn't on my purchase history). Unfortunately, there are a few incompetent or dishonest people in the world. I don't know which one Technology Concepts Group is. In either case, I would avoid doing business with them.

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