I've had three odd but overall positive experiences on eBay recently.
The first, a new bidder with no feedback won an auction I had up. When she won she said that her card was stolen so she had to wait to make payment. About ten days later her new card hadn't arrived, so after a bit of a chat she decided to use a bank account funded payment and pay via e-cheque. This took ages to clear (nearly two weeks) and as I was getting ready to go to the PO she emailed to say that she noticed that the address she had down was made from half her address and half her mum's in another part of the country, she assumes Google autocompleted. I think she was a bit upset as having bought a few things from various sellers, having waited so long to get payment to us and then realise that all the others had already sent to the other address as the other e-cheques cleared quicker that she'd maybe not receive the items. She said she was pregnancy and just everything was going wrong as she couldn't concentrate and kept getting muddled. I put a few little baby things in with the order: a little toy and comforter, etc. She got the parcel yesterday and sent me the loveliest email and feedback, about how a kind act by a stranger can just put everything into perspective. It's true, and I have felt that a few times in my life, so it left me feeling very glad that I could make this girl smile a little after a run of bad luck.
Another auction was won by someone who's eBay account name was different from the paypal account and different again from the recipient address. Anyway, they claimed not to have received the parcel (whether they did or didn't, I have no idea) but instead of contacting me filed a dispute. I dropped them a message just to ask if it might have gone to a relative's address as this was different from the paypal or eBay names (all had the same surname) after no response I just refunded her, and chalked up the loss, but I contacted Royal Mail with the proof of posting receipt, and they only went and refunded me the cost of the item and the postage, so I made no loss!
The third was a transaction as a buyer. I bought a baby monitor that is £85 new, but there was one on ebay new and sealed for £60. Fine and great, except when it arrived it was not in any way new or sealed. It was clearly used with all the normal marks from every daywear and tear, and even a bit of yellow paint on it. I had no problem with buying second hand, but I'd not have paid so much for a second hand unit (there were plenty of others going for £40-£50 or so for the type I wanted. 'Sealed' in this case meant that they sellotaped the bits into some old bags.
I contacted the seller and said that I had received the unit but was disappointed that it had been sold as 'new' and included pictures of the paint and scuff marks, etc. She replied saying that she had sold it previously to someone who changed their mind, but who told her that they hadn't looked inside the (not sealed) box, she didn't check and took them for their word, etc. It was a tall tale, but I couldn't be bothered to argue, but she said I could either sent it back for a full refund or she's refund me 50%, so it ended up only costing me £30, which was actually a bit less than the others were going for if it had been sold as being in the condition it truly was in.
Anyway, It's just nice that things seem to have resolved themselves in these three cases.
Also! I phoned eBay after a seller was harassing me by contacting me 3-4 times a day to remove neutral feedback I left for a faulty item. They offered me a refund (it was for a tiny cheap thing) so I said I would, but they messed up the resolution, so I couldn't change it, and I said if they could open the dispute back up I could. I asked eBay if they would open it for me as this guy was contacting me and getting quite nasty, and I just wanted him off my back. eBay said they would not as his behaviour was inappropriate and in this case the neutral or negative feedback served to protect future customers, but blocked him from sending me any messages. I never thought I'd say yay for eBay, but yay!
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