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Thread: Dealing with *some* Ebay sellers!

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    Buggered If I can find out how to get ebay involved. Every path I take it leads me back to return opened and get a Label or follow the status of the return. Endless fking useless Circles.



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    Quote Originally Posted by george65 View Post
    Buggered If I can find out how to get ebay involved. Every path I take it leads me back to return opened and get a Label or follow the status of the return. Endless fking useless Circles.

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    yep, found that page, many times.

    Because I have an open request no matter what I seem to click, it always takes me back there to the status of the return page which is a dead end.
    I'll use the email chat thing I found tomorrow. Only open business hours so I'll get onto them then.

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    If you have a open request its in the process.

    The process takes time for the seller to respond.

    No response, ebay kicks in.....

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    Initially It said I had to wait 7 days. It's 10 days now and they still haven't even provided a link to get them involved. Seems the seller putting up a Lable thing seems to settle it for fleabay.

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    I don't think fleabay auto notifies you unless they finalise the case, regardless of whether the time for the seller to respond has passed or not.
    Seems it's up to us to keep chasing things up, which I find usually works.

    This is what I see when going through this process, just done it now against the broken light seller as that seller is ignoring my requests to confirm the wattage of their lights.

    Click on My Ebay > Purchase History, scroll down & down the bottom is a Returns and Cancelled Orders header.
    Click "See Return Details" on the desired item and if the allowed time for the seller to respond has passed there should be a button "Ask us to step in and help".
    Click it & you get to select a reason and add some details about why you want Ebay to step in.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jma View Post

    Click on My Ebay > Purchase History, scroll down & down the bottom is a Returns and Cancelled Orders header.
    Click "See Return Details" on the desired item and if the allowed time for the seller to respond has passed there should be a button "Ask us to step in and help".
    Click it & you get to select a reason and add some details about why you want Ebay to step in.
    I'm not getting that. Was the sort of thing I was expecting to see but it's definitely not there.
    Meant to get onto them the last couple of days but I got pre occupied with things outside and forgot. I'll leave myself a reminder to do that next week. I'll look again and see if they are there the weekend and give them a try saturday as well.


    I bought some Linear actuators that are supposed to be rated at 600KG. I have doubts about that.
    I also don't have any scale or way of measuring them. I could fill a 44 with water and hang the actuator off my Crane and see if it would lift that. Just visualising it and looking at the things, even 200Kg seems an ask.

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    Quote Originally Posted by george65 View Post
    I'm not getting that. Was the sort of thing I was expecting to see but it's definitely not there...
    Sometimes adblockers can block those buttons from appearing, modified hosts files designed for ad blocking can do the same.



    On another note, I now have to return the 4 original lights to the broken light seller if I want a refund, fleabay has issued a return postage sticker with the usual apology about problems with the seller, hopefully they'll do something about them.
    Suits me as they weren't worth keeping anyway.

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    Time for a little update ... the 20w lights advertised as 48w lights saga is technically complete - I got a full refund with no returns. As old'mate george65 knows... who I roped in as an interested 3rd-party observer on the negotiations (after all, he pointed my to the light to begin with =), the whole negotiation exchange is whacky to say the least ...I'll paste it all up later once I've finished playing with my new toy... the seller who sold me the lights... and what an interesting toy it is, I must say...anyhoo...

    While that entity deals with the anguish & mental breakdown I served them with the last message, I need turn my attention back to this electronic kit with no assembly instructions...it's been 7+ days or something but I'm just getting fobbed off ...

    Hello,
    This item has arrived, but I cannot find download link for assembly instructions.
    I need assembly instructions so I can make the item and check it works correctly and leave feedback.
    Do you have a link to assembly instructions please?
    Dear customer, we will check it for you. Thanks sincerely.

    Hello, Thank you for the reply.
    Have you found the assembly instructions yet?
    I wish to leave feedback and conclude this transaction.
    We are still checking it for you
    Hello,
    I am still awaiting a response regarding assembly instructions.
    I will be leaving feedback this coming Friday, that reflects the current situation as unsolvable.
    Please try to locate assembly instructions before then.
    Dear customer, thanks for your email. We have learned about your situation.
    We have contacted the purchaser and waiting for a reply now.
    We will deal with your problem as soon as possible and give you a reply. Yours sincerely

    //Class: Anatomy Task: Dissection//

    ....okay, pay attention...first 2 replies came from the same person at a hunch, last reply came from someone else -- different wording structure, the font changed. Curious...someone like me just earmarks a flag or two about the last reply - very likely a different person, possibly a change of gender as well, maybe a change in nationality as well. I know some readers will be now thinking, how the hell would I start deducing things like that, just from the above exchange? It's called edukayshun..

    ..pattern matching & knowledge of seller scenarios. If you've read this thread, you've come to realize it's incorrect to assume you're dealing with an individual seller, in mono-et-mono fashion, you could merely be dealing with a piece of software and/or selling bot. The first 2 replies I get from the seller above, are meh...that's some form of automation it's either bot software set to bounce 2 generalized meaningless 1 line replies before forwarding it to a human, or, some person sitting at a desktop screen is clicking on multiple choice solutions for replies, and forwarded it to 'their boss'...typically but not always, person sitting at the console is a chick.

    scenario #217 -- likewise, never presume you're dealing with someone of Chinese or east Asian ethnicity...especially when it comes to the entity of 'their boss'. There are many (mainly blokes) who've set up shop as a drop seller/shipper who are of all nationalities. One such scenario is guys who buy brides in certain countries, and they setup shop like this, with the missus minding the (ebay) shop, and the boss is their husband. There are so many variation on this, you just don't know ; what I know, is these scenario exist, and the pattern and wording of replies lends a clue.

    If you want a truly out-of-the-box thought that is a very real possibility of happening in a game like this? That last reply could've come from an aussie bloke just like me living in HK, and I've just pissed his wife off and she's dobbed me in. =)

    However, someone asked me about O/S sellers, and this one is listing in ebay.co.uk

    Seriously, what an epic game this is...hidden agendas, intrigue, business dealings that defy all normal business logic, ebay policies & guidelines cleverly disguised as the rules of play....AI bots, selling network software, slight of hand (digitally) .. you would be seriously hard pressed to find such engrossing, interactive online gameplay like this anywhere else....but I digress.

    Today is indeed Friday..oh my, just checking the message dates, it's actually been 14days since my first contact. Some folks get frustrated by this process, but once we get to this point -I- go.."oh goody goody, time to ramp the voltage up" Why do I say that? Well...a lot of these kits/system, and of course ebay itself, is centered around a US model, with localization applied for different countries/consumer laws. Ergo, one should weaponize themselves buy having a refreshing read of the stuff described at ...and you will understand why 14 days is a comfy chair, all you have to do now, is push the right buttons on your 'mote.

    When I bought the kit, I got one of those automated 'thank you from buying from us' blabla emails, and at the bottom it says;





    Wow...caps no less, must be important...customer service department?....it'll take some time to come up with a fitting analogy to that... read this again;


    We have learned about your situation.
    We have contacted the purchaser and waiting for a reply now



    ...'purchaser' ... as in...
    Purchaser Job Description. Sometimes known as Buyers or Purchasing Agents, Purchasers buy goods, tools, and equipment for their own company or for resale to customers. Purchasers work full-time, doing market research, inventory monitoring, and various other duties within the office. If that's correct/true, then they've emailed the entity that bought the initial MOQ batch (before breaking that into pieces to supply 100 online ebay stores). Rest assured, this purchaser won't have a clue, all they see is brown cardboard boxes and inventory numbers ; they rarely speak in terms of the item/product you're complaining about itself.

    'Now' ..as in 'as of now and not as previously indicated in reply?' type of 'now'...shouldn't the reply have been 'we are still awaiting a reply from our purchaser' ...?...ok, wanna play it that way do we? Good, that's the idea.

    ...purchaser? [brain's still hung on that]...who uses that word in general vernacular there days?...I usually leap to 'agent' or 'buyer'...'supplier' even, but purchaser?...pommy...



    ...and all the pieces slowly slide together. M'kay...so now I re-read the last message, and know we're dealing with someone in the UK... awesome... I have an irc buddy of 30years standing living in the UK, and I can just toss that question at him... ie; ...what nationality of folks living in nottingham would be into ebay drop selling/shipping to AU? ..he'll get back to me when he wakes up...nothing like boots on the ground, uh-huh? [insert: mate in the UK reports back the seller is likely from India or Pakistan] So now we have an ebay seller name, a UK business address, and a chinese entity & business address ...time to get curious...time for maps.google ;



    ...ok, Casper Trading Co Ltd ... google, come on down... .... that takes you to here -> ... which goes on to lead you to here --> .. and you keep scraping the google hits until you find their non-ebay website, you just know there's gunna be one, as exampled earlier in this thread;

    Notice straight away, how that non-ebay online store, has exactly the same form & feel as the aussie non-ebay websites shown before...I told you it was a big operation, but anyway..nationality of UK distributor/seller established... now, who exactly is 'IMC international Ltd' in Futian District? What are they? I'm trying to figure out who this 'purchaser' is in this selling framework --> ...yep, that's them, same address, different floor...or different building..

    ...but notice, now the word 'manufacturing' has been added... 'IMC INTERNATIONAL MANUFACTURING CORPORATION LIMITED'... this'll be the floor/building where the assembly lines are... they don't actually 'make' anything, they just assemble and/or package...hmm...maps.google again, lets see where exactly Weipeng Garden is in Shenzhen.... and what the blazes is that other address about?...yong yee kok E, 5th floor, same road and district?...wait up, I found that address tagged with a BMX pushbike bracket being sold in the UK..that has to be it, the entity without manufacturing in the name, is the purchaser, and the entity with manufacturing in the name is the supplier...gee, we're getting a long way from ebay...





    .....ready? --> they're in a process of image/logo change, but they haven't updated that page yet...this, is the top of this particular food chain. This seller in the UK likely has no idea of the size of this monster, there's most likely a middleman between them and IMC. You should look around that totally Caucasianed Chinese site, and read what is there, *knowing* what they're actually talking about is procuring goods from local manufacturers who produce items they've researched are popular and will sell, then provide the logistics and support to supply dealerships and ebay store packages (recall I said there was *always* a MOQ?...you can buy these store packages in bundles of 10 etc), and ship the goods to their country, with all the local postal charges prepaid at lowest rate possible ..and you hit pretty much every country on Earth in the process... AND ...IMC are just one company like this, of literally 100's.

    Welcome, to part of my playground...this is a huge game =) You can level up from here too...IMC are the top of this chain ; there's another level above yet.

    Knowledge is power ...next message I can pop in the very subtle "nice black BMW you got there...wassit like?" ...or contact a mate in the UK, and them to slip a note under their door that simply reads..."I am still waiting for you to find and provide the assembly instructions" ...and suppose I'm the only buyer complaining about that right now...[insert twilight zone music]...you don't do this, of course, I'm just obviating some of us could. Why would one do that?..oh, I dunno, maybe give them pause to consider they should block those mad bastard ex-convict aussie buyers..or even better, unlist their store from ebay.au ; I'm easy. However, something like that is probably outside ebay guidelines/policy, so best not go there and joke about it instead.

    The no assembly instructions focus, is a red herring of course...at least part ways -- nowhere in the listing does it actually state 'assembly instructions included' , and it's not included in the 'package contents', so there's really nothing to suggest that I should expect any instructions to be included ; that's why I said I couldn't find the download link, not the instructions themselves...but it's flimsy ground ; it's a red herring, because I can put it together without any instructions, but not as though I want to do that right now, because I feel a photo session coming on. They've taken the bait of course - if banggood says there's no instructions for this kit after more than a few tens of their customers have asked the same thing, there are no instructions for this kit ; full stop. While they're away chasing a rainbow at the end of a link they think exists but doesn't, time to plan the next move.

    Forget about the instructions, I'll pick on something else and rope in the instructions...hmmmm....did I mention there's certain advantages in just following the script stuff they get, and -appearing- to be a chinese seller? Don't under-estimate anything here, game can get complex. So I probably know more about the seller right now, than they will ever suspect...me being down-under and all ; I perhaps know more about their supply chain and distribution contract that they might not even know about. The return address is in the UK - a return is going to cost them -- sometimes with O/S sellers, that can work as a key ; request a return & refund instead of refund no returns...counter intuitive but often works. Everything you type in messages, you treat as those things said that may be used in evidence ...it's all recorded, turn their words against them.

    This seller hasn't covered off their email addresses ; I've got their ebay.hk address and their gmail address ... oh good grief... there's a damn good search string ... feed this into google ... Yong Yee Kok E, 5th Floor Zhen Zhong Road Futian District ..and skim the results...lots of ebay stores, lots of countries....so, who is Zhenping Yu?...multiple social media accounts, each one a dead-end placeholder. Futian District is down by the wharves ... IMC's operations are just to the north of there in the business district.... Longhua New District ....that means the original, old Longhua District has been demolished, and they're built a new business/commerce 'trade park'...probably moved into a new building, likely the cause of the branding logo change. Zhenping Yu must be a shipping agent, or, they're selling ebay kits/stores as well...now, that search will turn up this;



    ..ebay.com.au, right? Here, I'm dealing with a seller on ebay.co.uk ...what's their ebay seller's name?





    What I'm going to use here, is ...photos that don't accurately represent the item. No need to tell them that now tho', keep letting them think it's about assembly instructions... something like this "Hello again, thank you for your reply. Yes, I already know you are waiting for a reply, that's what I thought you meant previously by you were 'checking'. It has now been some 14days since I made you aware of this, and you have not yet resolved the issue. As I cannot use the item, I will have to start an ebay case to have the item returned and my money refunded. As this is the Easter weekend in many countries, I will start the ebay case process this coming Tuesday, if you cannot work out a resolution yourself before then.... love & kisses, cheeky aussie bastard" Never forget the Vegemite.

    OK...if you didn't know what the system looks like, now you have a better idea of the sheer size & organization involved here....I have referenced it briefly before, this has been a somewhat deeper expose. That's about 5-10mins worth of research on the 'net for me, mainly because I know how to research - it was something taught to me in school ; they don't teach it any more I fear. What I really do hope, is folks read this, and 'reset' their expectations & outlooks when it comes to buying on ebay, regardless of country. This is just one selling schema makeup that's very common, but there are others...the brand name knockoff area is slightly different again. Things like 'cheap' shops (aka. 'dollar' or 'pound' stores in other locales etc), have a similar supply chain MO - they are orchestrated by other companies like IMC, who specialize in physical store fronts rather than the online variety. Other aussie found companies like super retail group...umm...this;



    ...have a similar but different supply chain ..(which has little to do with topic of ebay sellers, so I won't go there). I have watched in real time over the years, this kind of bidness modeling totally undermine the western based capitalist system with the ease of a very hot and razor sharp knife cutting through soft butter. I often think it's proceeded under the dream/premise of China becoming the manufacturing base for the entire world, and if that were so, they've not done too bad so far, and the battle is far from over, believe me.

    Inspiration for this post;

    The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.

    Sun Tzu

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  • #150
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    Finally -seems- I have a resoloution to the 200/6W Lights.

    Seller sent a return label after telling them I could not take it to the PO. With Wotnots pointers I found that the SELLER is responsible for return of items, not the buyer.
    Seller has been ignoring me for a couple of weeks so I finally thought of this at the right time ( Business hours) and after Fking around in endless circles, got onto the ebay chat bot.

    Went like this:

    I want to return an Item that was not as described which seller has sent a return label for but refuses to collect as I am unable to take it to the Post office.

    ( selected Item from pop up window)

    Checking on...



    2x 4 inch 200W CREE LED Light Bar SPOT FLOOD 3Row Offroad Work Fog Lamp
    Item no.:362767258138





    Assistant
    It looks like there's already an open request or claim on this. Checking on it for you.


    OK, since your item wasn't as described, you'll receive a full refund, including postage.

    You don't have to return the item and you should get your money in the next 48 hours.


    Glad we could sort this out for you. If there's anything else I can help with, please ask.


    Assistant
    Done for now


    Glad to help. Thanks for choosing eBay!


    Assistant

    Whole thing from the time I finally found the window for the Chat help till the time it was done was probably under 30 sec. I am impressed IF the Refund comes through which seems it should as this is from Fleabag themselves.

    I am wondering if the fact I sent the seller several messages that were not returned helped the very speedy Decision?
    I was starting to wonder if I was going to have done my dough on this one which would have been a real pisser given how pathetic and useless these things actualy are. The 48/ 21w lights aren't bad at all in themselves. Couple on the tractor light up the whole yard. I might put a couple on the back and front verandahs with a Rectified Halogen transformer as they would do well for that. Also good for lighting up the big tree out the front for Xmas.

    I now have renewed confidence buying not as described items is pretty safe now. Might start upping the ante with some better things.

    I have Bid on a large Light bar from China. It's advertised at 594 W, going by the 80 Leds, I expect it to be in the 80-100W range. That is of course as I get it, pretty sure there are bots at work with the sellers that will bid an item up to the Min value they want. Repeated experience has well lead me to that belief.

    Given the speed of the ebay res with the 200W lights, It might be easier to open a return request straight away for not as described goods if a seller stalls and do it that way. Either way, seems if they stop talking they are cutting their own throats.

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  • #151
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    The kit saga continues...what I sent back was..




    ...that's the civil, polite way of pointing out their inaction will be the cause of any ebay case, not for want fo the buyer trying to resolve it. I've given them the weekend off, but yesterday this arrives ;




    M'kay...2 things here ...safety 1st, create a temp email alias on your free ISP webmail account and use that here - that way if they sell off your email address to spamnational, you can just delete the alias, no biggy. Second... 'the' manual..you mean, 'the' manual pertaining to another kits that's nearly the same as this kit but uses 16resistors as depicted in your item description? Or 'the' manual pertaining to the kit I received, that only utilizes three resistors? Time to play spook...



    I posted that minutes after their reply hit me -- still no instructions : this is their last chance to avoid the inevitable, ebay guidelines & policy clocks are ticking ; T -12.24.00 and counting...

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    Got confirmation of my refund tonight.

    Time to Re invest as you did wotnot and see what else I can find.
    So far I have 4 square Lights, 2 batterys and a pair of lights that might be good for something?

    Strapping to one of the batterys and making a weak but long lasting Torch?

    I could use some of those small solar panels for some projects. They are all well known to be over rated. Might look at them. Be costly to return I imagine! :0)

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    ....and now T -10.00.00 I get this;



    ...Reply?...you bet ;



    ...this is..umm...'garnish'.... something really intended for ebay's eyes more than the seller's ; also happens to be the truth. Anything you can demonstrate as being the buyer doing everything reasonably possible, and the seller failing to meet 'high quality' customer service, helps your cause. I think it helps to be a sadistic bastard when turning the thumb screws. They have 2 email addresses, the ebay members HK one and a gmail account ; it'd be unlikely coincidence for both to fail....I wonder which they will use..or if...

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    OK... now the 48watt lights that george65 pointed out way back in this thread, which are only 20watt. This tried to follow one of my typical buyer scripts, but Murphy jumped in right from the get go and derailed things slightly, so this became very comical, very quickly. I'll just point out here that I reached out to george via PM to bring him into the loop of how this interchange played out in my case, him having been through the same thing ; he's been a good interested 3rd party observer =)

    This starts off with 'contact the seller' > 'I have a question about using my item or I want to send the seller a message' You can use 'Other' as well, but it's all recorded regardless of option chosen ; you haven't requested ebay step in, nor is this an ebay 'case' ; I'm following the ebay guidelines and trying to resolve things with the seller directly, as the guidelines suggest. I sometimes choose the incorrect option here and contact them about something else, just to throw a wrong'un into the mix.

    This script maintains that you have 2000characters limit for your message, use every single one of them, use exactly 2000chars. I will edit this first contact, reword it, use different synonyms, whatever - hit 2000chars. This, to me, is an exercise in the use of English, and all I want to do here is accurately describe to the seller, the predicament I'm in as a result of buying the item(s) that they listed on ebay. *Do* notice, I'm being extremely particular with my choice of words there.

    Also note, in this initial contact situation, I *know* one should include images/photos etc of the problem, but, I'll burn up too many chars itemizing those details, so I'll follow that up with a subsequent message a couple of hours later (as it turned out, this is where Murphy jumped in =) ...it's more important to me at this stage, to describe to the seller those words underlined above, m'kay?



    My only regret there was not being able to retain 'significantly' when mentioning the amount of heat generated - had to cut the chars down to 'a lot' to hit 2000chars...<grin>... we were taught this at school...iirc, this is the practice of 'creative writing'. The seller should see this and conclude 1 thing - trouble. The last para gets very tight, very quickly...2000chars is not a lot of room to soften the blow, you get that...but the last sentence, in chess, is called out 'check'.

    We'll call that the salvo, let it sit for a little while, and follow up with some tracer fire, just in case they try and come back with the 'can you provide pictures please?' line ;




    Then I get this reply...




    There's a lot of 'we' and 'us' in that, mental note, and what is being asked for here is pictures of shipping label & item to make sure their inventory numbers match and they can write off the item as bad...they're not asking for any further 'proof' as such ...and as I mentioned to george65 at the time....what about my $4 offer? I mean, you know... hashtag_FFS ...you test the lights, check them out, see how suitable for purpose they are, if they'll still be useful, point out you're entitled to a full refund, but all things considered, you'll take a $4 refund & keep the things, and that gets ignored? Wtf... anyhow, in reply I say;





    They're only interested in the label really, but I needle them with 'my resolution previously given' bit, purely because I want them to respond to that ; I don't appreciate being ignored.

    They reply with;




    This is when it became clear to me what had happened - 'my partner' had mistakenly deleted my first message or responded to the 2nd message by mistake - this is why that delayed double-tap of creative writing + facts and attachment followup a few hours later is a useful tactic, but whatever, we've ended up at the last para of my first post anyhow....sans the $4 refund, no returns offer.

    However, I'm an honest chelovick and try one more time to steer things back to my initiate first message and the offer made - this is me, still willing to overlook their partner's mistake, and fall back on my words;



    Right?...haha .. about now, I started calling them 'Johnny' ...iirc, from that Milo ad of the mother trying to get their son to drink their milk =) This is me trying to get them to drink their measure of milk of human kindness I've afforded them, and at the same time, telling them how to proceed. I get their reply ;



    Moments after I received that, I also received paypal notification of the transaction reversal (notice I didn't use the word 'refund' there)...and somewhere inside there's this grumpy old man pounding on the table and yelling 'what about my $4 offer dammit!' ...you know what I'm sating, yeah?...you sell something for $9, buyer comes back and sez they're only half the power they should be, so give me $4 back, I'll keep the lights, and not quibble about fifty cents ..3 frigging times ...and they still take the $9 hit. This doesn't make business sense, it doesn't make common sense, it doesn't make social sense, it just doesn't make sense. I can become reasonably rabid if something that doesn't make this much sense, ignores me multiple times.

    It would be now time to stand them on their heads - if you want to ignore my kind offer, and adhere to the ebay guidelines as your mantra, then so be it ;



    Of course, they haven't replied to that =) Not yet anyway, and nor have they received any feedback yet. I'm being polite, asking valid questions based on ebay guidelines&policy, in fact it's hard to discern any agro or venom in that at all.

    Today, it was time to chase that up...





    If they've 'closed' their end of this exchange, which is still being recorded btw regardless, I might start a new message with the same content under the 'Other' option. Having established this record of messages, you can now level up to and if you read that, you'll see 'This isn't an exhaustive list – see' ..and the policy this item listing breaches is

    So I can get ebay involved here still if I want to, and when they see this much not making sense, it'll be bye bye listing. I don't actually know how much it'd take to report a -seller-, because I haven't found one yet that can survive this sort of pressure. When you think about it, $15 for the last 3 is a very reasonable offer all told, yeah? They still show 3 in stock....hmmm....I know! Attack from the Z axis...lets see if this will work....maybe not making sense is the common element...girlfriend is better ..

    Here we go, same seller, same store.... and what do these lights look like?...




    I am perhaps dumb enough to think if I see the same lights, with the same description and specs, at a 200% markup from the $9 lights I bought, may have the real 3w leds in them (ahem, cough cough, not really), but of course I can't buy from this seller 'coz they've blocked me whatever, but if you can believe 2 unfortunate souls did fork out $20.85 more than I did, each, a lot of what didn't make sense starts to make a whole lot more sense.

    Alright, lets try...find another store selling the same item, coz they're part of the same ebaykit, and I can cut & paste everything I've already done, to another seller selling the same junk ... this shouldn't be too hard.. ...yep, can still buy from that seller... and done. In a week, wash rinse repeat.

    Next...bound to be someone in HK with the same thing...errm, yep, here we go.... ... I'll wait until later for that 'after dinner ebay shopping' look, and buy them as well... and when they get here, wash rinse repeat. As george65 points out, for what they are, they're pretty good lights, and being able to reverse-rort things so they end up costing you nothing, they make very good stocking stuffers for you mates if you can't use them... share the love. This is a reverse inflection of the perception that ebay never does anything about these sorts of sellers, these kits, these bots, these schemes. Fair enough, it's their marketplace, so for mine... if they're going to do nothing and leave these sellers out there so that they become legitimate targets for folks like myself? Thank you ebay, thank you...I'll be sure to tell all my mates =)

    The game continues...

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    Quote Originally Posted by wotnot View Post
    for what they are, they're pretty good lights, and being able to reverse-rort things so they end up costing you nothing, they make very good stocking stuffers for you mates if you can't use them..

    if they're going to do nothing and leave these sellers out there so that they become legitimate targets for folks like myself? Thank you ebay, thank you...
    The game continues...
    I did the same thing.
    Found another seller flogging the same lights with much the same description ( pretty sure it's the same seller under a different name) and this time, bought 3 sets !

    Mrs asked about the refunds on the CC and pointed out the lights and mentioned them for out the back and under the tree and she said yeah, get them.
    So I did.

    Also found a solar Controller marked as MPPT. Pretty sure I have the same one with a different window dressing on the front and again, Not a bad unit at all, programmable and works well but it's PWM not MPPT. For my application, could not care less. On a hunch, I checked YT and there are are about 6 Vids on the exact same unit, several opening them up to show there is no inductor so definitely not MPPT. Hardly needed a vid to show me that. Nothing under $50 is MPPT and again, same unit I have with an updated front sticker.... which conveniently says MPPT.

    There were also a whole bunch of incorrect specs in the listing so this one should be a walk in.

    I also thought of something for a bit of amusement, when they ask me to send a photo of the item. I'm going to send them a Pic or link back to the picture in their own listing. That should confuse them. If they come back and ask for a pic of what I have, I'll tell them it's obviously the same exact one because they sent it to me.

    The solar panels I had a look at but gave up on. None are what I want anyway and most I can see are going to be too crap to bother with. I can see that a LOT of people buying these things must be getting badly stitched up though.

    It's getting to the point now where I'm looking at things and being a little disappointed when I actually think they are legit and the description is correct. Can't use accurately described products to my advantage. Luckily though, there are still plenty of shonks.

    I see my battery guy is still peddling his same fake wares. Might be time to go back and have another bite at him. Also noticed my neg feedback has disappeared.
    I suspect the guy that rang me has shown ebay the bit where I said I would revise the feedback. I never said I would change it from neg but I'm sure that's how he spun it. If the same guy gets back to me again I'll be asking what he is doing with my info and why are they Still selling Misrepresented products and mention I'll have to go back to fleabag with that being 3 times I have got the wrong product now. If he says he'll refund If I change the feedback, I'll simply say if you don't refund I'll be going through ebay and complaining about a lot more.

    Maybe I should order 5 Batteries? :0)

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    Maybe I should order 5 Batteries? :0)
    Could be a good idea... did you notice the 10~20% markup wave wash across ebay on a lot of electrical/electronics Tues? Same wave hit banggood last night. That'll be the AUD bouncing to zero dot sixty four seppo greenbacks on the 12th. Just when you think your buying power goes up, the bastards cover you off. Mind you, if the AUD can reach parity or better against the USD, we can put ebay.com on the shopping list, so there's that.

    So....what are we going to do about this joker selling the lights? Still hasn't replied of course...gotta get rid of that listing, yeah? Still 3 left...you and I are stuffed, housemate has a different postal address, I'll get him to snaffle 1 tomorrow...I can get sis to do another...oh, I know...chookie will be into this just for a laugh ... all good, I'll arrange for the remaining stock to be bought up to null the listing, get the refunds, and see where those $29 end up price wise...sure as hell don't want to leave any stock to end up in the expensive listing. Move quick before I enlist minions to buy out the item if you want one =) This should work well, we know there's been at least 2 bad experiences from buyers with these lights, a few more having the same issue and getting refunds -after- the sort of stuff I write.

    You know what? maybe that's it...it's not a matter of getting enough together for ebay to do something about these sellers and remove them, because they just bounce back anyway....what you want to do, is set up a team of organized buyers, who swoop on a seller like this, and start buying -all- their dodgy stuff and getting refunds. Make the aussie market unpalatable for them as a whole. Actually sounds feasible...

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    what you want to do, is set up a team of organized buyers, who swoop on a seller like this, and start buying
    Like the Chinese did with medical supplies, TP, Sanitiser and baby formula. :0)

    I kinda had this in mind. I'm wondering if/ where the cutoff is for them or fleabag giving non returned Refunds. If they have to refund 1-3 items out of 100 It would barely register. If they start having to refund orders of 5 at a time.... That might start shaking some things loose. I m getting the feeling the " Not as described" is something fleabag is still sensitive to and won't argue too much with. I suspect because of legal ramifications with the laws of the countries they are operating in.

    With the 3 sets of lights I ordered off the other clowns, I used a different account and changed the name and also put the address as 1/34 instead of just 34. Can always say the guy in the granny flat up the back must have ordered it. CC will have same name, can't get round that but then I'm not sure if they even see that or it stops at Pay pal. How far they dig and whether it matters in the end if they are selling Illegitimate goods is something else again.

    I also wondered about something you touched on before, If fleabag is keen for people to keep not as described items to get them out of Circ. Then again, they cant possibly be unaware of the rampant mis descriptions and as they do nothing to police it...

    I was thinking of ordering some 18650 Batteries. Plenty of them marked at ridiculous ratings. Looked up some tests online for evidence and seems the ones that put fantasy ratings on aren't decent batteries with BS ratings, But real garbage batteries That are half what anything Middle of the road is.

    Then again, If I Ordered 10K of them and got a refund, I could build myself a power wall with them....

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    Quote Originally Posted by wotnot View Post
    Could be a good idea... did you notice the 10~20% markup wave wash across ebay on a lot of electrical/electronics Tues?
    I did!

    Had a roll of cable in my shopping cart that went from $49 to 73! Couldn't figure out what was going on. Checked other listings and they all shot up too.
    Went looking for some more Tips for my plasma Cutter. They were cheap as and now have gone to stupid prices. Be cheaper to buy grinding wheels at that rate.

    Few other things I want but will hold off on. Going to move and set up some more solar panels but luckily I always keep at least a bag of 20 MC4's on the shelf. When one bag is running low, I order another and by the time they arrive I often have 2 full bags... for a while anyway.
    Spose they will go north too.

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    My 3 sets of Lights Just arrived. Would have to give them 4 stars for postage speed, I ordered them Sunday night.

    So now I can start the getting them for free process. Next I might really throw them a curve ball and order 5 sets and if anything is said I'll say well I thought after I made you aware that the last lot were fake you would have removed them and supplied lights that are what they seem not keep selling ones you know are not what they are said to be.

    I did confuse the Courier. I changed the name on the account and put these as a unit address. He wasn't sure if he had the right place as he comes here all the time and we have a decorative at the front door with our surname which was clearly different to that on the package. Postman wouldn't worry. The previous owners were VERY religious and must have had people stay here with them. We get donation request mail for about 20 different people so one more name wouldn't be anything unusual. I quickly explained to the courier that I was sus on the sender and didn't want my info on a mailing list of some sort and he seemed well satisfied with that explantation.

    Now, how to have fun with this claim on the lights?
    Maybe I might use your Vid wotnot and say I looked on the net and found a Vid from someone else who also had the under rated lights . That would be funny. Looking at the bag the lights came in, the address is the same as the return address they gave me for the last lot of lights. I was right, same clowns under a different name. Would be good to bite them on the arse twice with the same video! Getting a return request for 3 sets of the same light they have had to refund at least 3 times before is going to start getting annoying. I'll probably be banned on this other account now too. Testing my main account, they haven't stopped me on this other store though. Oh, triple whammy! I'll order 5 sets of lights on the main account after this!

    Now the game is really getting fun!



    I also got the email from a mob I got a refund for on a non delivered item requesting me change feedback to positive. I get sus when I contact them about a non delivered item and they say they checked with the courier and seems it is lost. The thing was sent by unregistered post so how could they check on it? The Item was $6.60 inc postage so damn sure it wasn't going by courier. When they have no hesitation at all to refund and don't ask one question or stall tactic, I'm pretty sure they are giving in too easy because they know the thing was never sent. I have said for years that money could be made just selling stuff you never had and refunding those that complained. I'm sure a lot would forget and you would pocket the difference.

    Looking at their Feedback, I half suspected it may not be sent from the start. I have had very little go astray legitimately and some I thought did, turned up some long time after anyway.

    The email was if we refund you, would you change the feedback to 4 Stars?
    Maybe the thing that irks me most about these arese clowns is they never even know WTF is going on in their own Business! I Left the feedback as soon as I got the refund so unless they are going to refund me twice....

    I wrote back and very politely asked if they could explain to me how wasting my time waiting for something that never arrived and getting a refund which was the minimum they had to do by law anyway and then having to find a reputable seller for the item I need and wait again was a positive experience? I also pointed out that this was not simply something going astray in the mail because the amount of other people that had left neg feedback for the same thing proved that.

    I said if they wanted a REVISED feedback to send me the Item I ordered and if I got it as I wanted then I would be satisfied and change the feedback. I play their game with the slight of words. I never say I'll change it to pos which I have no intention of doing, I'll just change it to reflect what happened.

    It's hard for me to tell if these people are just morons, Completely English Illiterate, Think they are smart and playing everyone for suckers or just don't have any morals what so ever and just care about their bottom line?

    Might be all of the above!

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    The last 2 returns I've started because things are not as advertised & the seller has been stalling, the seller has ignored me after I start the return request.
    Contacting fleabay after the seller's time has run out, fleabay has then been stepping in and offering a full refund...but only after tracking shows the items as returned in X number of working days, otherwise the return will be closed with no refund.
    Explained to fleabay that I cannot make it to post the items before the required return date and asked if there's any other options, so far they've ignored that.

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