[SEL] O.T. E-bay Dead Beats

[Arthur Buchanan]

How did you discover you had sent the wrong book if packages were alike?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Maples" <paulmaples at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Stationary Engine List" <SEL at lists.stationary-engine.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 5:51 PM
Subject: [SEL] O.T. E-bay Dead Beats


Well gang after using E-bay off and on for the last five years I finally got 
burned and even though it was basically my fault I still resent it.



I listed a couple of Gas Engine Books (not hit-miss) books on E-bay and they 
both sold. One was sold to a man here in Arkansas where I live and one was 
sold to a man in Michigan State. I failed to look at the man's e-bay rating 
in Michigan who had bid on and bought my book. Had I checked him out while 
he was bidding I would have saw that he had only made five purchases from 
E-bay and already had two negative feedbacks for not paying up. I don't know 
what my recourse would have been if I had checked this bidder out and 
discovered this before the sale ended. How do you refuse to accept someone's 
bid once the bidding has started?



Anyway after the auction was over I sent the man in Michigan a message 
asking for his full name and address so I could get his book packaged up and 
ready to mail and I never got an answer, I sent (3) more e-mails and finally 
got an answer and he said he was in the process of transferring funds from 
his checking account into his PayPal account so he could pay me and that he 
would be posting my payment on PayPal within two days so all was 
well....wrong. He also sent me his mailing address and knowing that in all 
of the years I have been on E-bay, I had never had an engine man rip me off, 
I went ahead and mailed his book to him even though he had not paid me.



Now here is my second mistake, I inadvertently sent the book that was 
suppose to go to the man in Arkansas to him by mistake. Both books were in 
their shipping packages waiting to be addressed and mailed and when the man 
in Michigan sent me his address I just picked up the wrong package and 
address it to him and mailed it to him.



I quickly fired off a succession of e-mails to this guy in Michigan and in 
each e-mail I advised him I had sent him the wrong book, that the book he 
was getting belonged to a man in Arkansas. I ask him to return it to me as 
soon as possible and I would pay all postage. After (3) e-mails to him over 
two weeks time he finally responded and said that he would return it to me 
but he was sure wanting his book. I then went ahead and mailed his book to 
him, not having been paid for it, hoping to entice him to send the other 
man's book back. Keep in mind that I still had not looked at his e-bay 
rating at this time. Meanwhile I notified the man in Arkansas of my stupid 
mistake and ask him if he wanted me to immediately mail his money back or 
did he want to wait on the book, he said he wanted to wait on the book to be 
returned.



I waited a week and never heard a word from the guy in Michigan and to this 
day, a month later I still have not heard a word from him. Meanwhile I had 
went to E-bay and checked out his rating and saw that he was a dead beat and 
I knew I probably would never hear from him again. He has both books and has 
not paid for nothing.



I go to E-bay tonight to plaster this guy with a "Negative Feedback" only to 
find out he is no longer a registered user so he has bailed on me with both 
books. I returned the man's money in Arkansas and this has left me with a 
bad taste in my mouth.



Everyone watch out for:



John Faccin

431 Lind Road

Crystal Falls, Mi 49920

E-bay Name: obcessed1

email address: obcessed4 at aol.com



The only way I know to protect myself from future situations like this is to 
state in my listing's on e-bay that if you have any negative feedback 
ratings do not bid on my items. I know this would be unfair to some folks 
who have negative feedback ratings due to things out of their control such 
as the Post Office screwing up etc.



Yep, it was all my fault and I guess I deserve what I got but folks please 
check out the e-bay ratings on your bidders so you do not have to go through 
what I have nee through. I will no longer mail out anything until I have 
payment which only hurts the good guys.







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