Ebay perils and pitfalls

I have been an Ebayer since 13th April 2002 I have a nice little bright blue star next to my name and have never had a negative comment attributed to me in the seven years I have been a member.  However, I have met my fare share of dodgy sellers and buyers over the years and have only been ripped off once.  Needless to say I wont get caught in the same sort of scam that I was caught in then.

I am always cautious in my selling and apply fair postage and packing and if I can post free I will or if it's more convenient then I will permit local collection.  So with this in mind I advertised a nice pair of table lamps at a more than reasonable price that would include the shades but as they were so large they would have to be collected from me directly.

The sale plodded on with lots of interest and all accepting that the items were not for postage and then, just short of the end of the auction, I had an "offer" but it was £10 below what I really wanted so I asked the bidder to wait until closer to the end of the auction.  At this stage I encountered a really snappy buyer who wanted to know everything about the lamps plus a question about my preparedness to post to Hertfordshire.  I explained that I could not do this without charging postage and that I would go away and estimate the cost.  Barely have I finished estimating the potential cost the lady in question, "8522isablleh", purchased the items at the "Buy it Now" price! Bingo I thought, that was easy, she must be really keen.  I don't blame her as the table lamps are a really fine pair of lamps and worth every  penny if not more!

Estimating the postage cost was a nightmare as I had to weigh and measure the items packed then search the Post Office, Parcelforce, DHL, TNT and heavens knows which service to see what the cost would likely be.   By the time I had done this my potential buyer had actually bought the lamps and was asking that I (1) include the postage costs in the purchase price (2) charge no more than £10 or (3) ask her "hubby" if paying £20 would be acceptable.  

Despite my efforts to explain the complexities of the postage and that I could not, despite her beliefs, that I could take the parcels to the post office - she decided she could not afford £20 and wanted her money back!  

Clearly she had bought the items to stop me selling ahead of her offer of the full asking price at the same time convinced she could con me into sending the lamps to her Free ! 

Well, I had to refund her money and duly lodged a complain to Ebay because she effectively conned me out of selling and prevented me from selling to an alternative buyer who was prepared to pay the postage.  

I wait to see if Ebay will compensate me and penalise her but at least I am only a small amount out of pocket not a fortune.  But I will ensure I never ever fall for that trick again and will certainly pursue this Ebayer though the complaints process of Ebay until I am recompensed in some way....... I wont hold my breath though.