Silverfunk it is a long story, but basically i purchased approx $1600 worth of gold coins (at basically spot), and paid via paypal, which is my standard method for ebay sellers I have not dealt with before - paypal protection and all that. This seller had feedback of 90 or so, 100% feedback, with many past sold items for banknotes of much lower value.
A few days after I paid, when I asked the seller to send me the tracking number the package, his reply was:
HI YOU HAVE NOT GIVEN FEEDBACK MEANS YOU HAVE NOT GOT THEM YET PLEASE LET ME KNOW THE MIN YOU GET THEM THANKS
My initial thought was: ?????
My second thought was one of slight concern.
I re-iterated that I wanted the tracking number of the package. He then replied with:
HI I WILL BE HOME AROUND 4.30 AND I WILL SEND YOU THE TRACKING YOU HAVE MY WORD I REALLY FORGOT ITS BEEN MAD HERE IM SORRY AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS
OK, fair enough. Then later that day, I receive:
HI ASK MY WIFE 4 NUMBER LOOKED EVERY WHERE NOTHING UNTILL I WENT TO WIFES glove box and SAW it was not posted on monday im very very sorry about this ive just got back from the post office 2mins ago the number is XXXXXXXXXX im very sorry we both work very hard its been mad at home with 3 small kids so all your items are sent i also pick $50 for you for xmas thank you and sorry
At this point, alarm bells have gone off.
* Blaming the wife
* Blaming the small kids
* Sending an additional $50? WTF?
Sure enough, when the 'package' arrived a couple of days ago, it was a registered envelope, containing nothing but a small, yellow piece of paper with the word THANKS on it.
I log onto ebay, check the seller's account out, and he has now conveniently made his feedback private. And his feedback is no longer 100%, it is now 97%. So something has gone on in the last few days.
I escalate to paypal. Once I entered the transaction reference, it immediately upgraded from a 'dispute' to a 'claim'. I think one of the screens said something like "This has been upgraded to a claim, due to paypal finding it unlikely to recover money from the seller", or words to this effect.
After over 100 or so items bought from ebay, this has been my first bad experience.