Odd times with Ebay

[Parkman]

So I've been an Ebay member for 8 or 9 years.  I've ordered many fans from there and rarely had a problem when it came to buying.

3 out of my last 4 purchases had a problem. 

The first is non fan related and came damaged and I had problems with the seller wanting to give me a $50 refund on a $435 item because he didn't want to have to pay the return shipping Ebay said he was responsible for.  In the end after many phone calls Ebay sided with me and he had to pay to ship the item back to me and refunded all of my money, thanks to the Ebay Buyer Protection.

The second item I purchased was a thing of my cologne.  No problems there.

The third was a NIB Murray Feiss Tallman Hugger.  The fan box had an Antique Brass fan which I knew was just a stock photo.  The listing said it was Antique Brass.  I get it and its a white Tallman which I'm like no big deal.  Then I look and the blades are Stencil instead of cane, the light kit has 3 lights instead of 4 and the globes are broken.  At this point the seller agreed to refund me and paid to get the fan back.

Then I ordered a 42" Airflow GE Vent because it was $7 on ebay to give to a cousin who is renting a house.  I got it today in a Minka Aire box...  I open it up and already I can tell because the shopping bags that the motor is wrapped in does not show GE Vents but standard housing vents.  So I open it up more and its a Craftmade builder fan from probably the 90's maybe early 2000's.  So I'm mad at this point because again we're having a problem.  I pull the motor out and the motor is bent in the housing.  The housing is not bent at all but the motor is so that it cannot even turn.  I then flip it over to look at the top and the wires fall out of it.  Then the rest of the parts are literally thrown in the box.


I'm not one of these people whose going to boycott ebay now because of a few bad moments in the last two months, I'm just letting out my frustrations and just seeing if anyone else is having or has had luck like this.  Its just odd that not one problem in years and now all of these items are having problems of some sort. 

[Cole D]

I've bought several times on ebay over the past 5 or so years (mostly fans) and haven't really had any issues. I have had a few cases where I felt the condition of the items could have been described a bit better (mostly with clothes) but because they were cheap I didn't bother to neg them on it.

If I paid that much for an item I would have been upset also.

My most recent experience was disappointing now that I think of it. I asked the seller if they could relist an item that had ended with no bids and they told me they would list it as a buy it now. I didn't get the message until I got home in the afternoon and did not see the listing as under their items they had 0 listed. When I emailed them back that would be fine they stated that someone else had bought it and they were very sorry. I figured that they probably didn't put for my username only in the listing, so someone else saw it and bought it. In the past when I had a seller relist as a buy it now they put for me only in the listing so no one else would buy it.

It didn't really bother me this happened this time as I really didn't need the item anyway, so I felt as if it was for the best in the long run...

[fancollector12]

Both of my experiences below are NON fan-related (have always (Knock on Wood) had a good experience with eBay on fan-related purchases).

Never (Knock on Wood) had a single problem with eBay, except for back in the fall when I ordered a book about the history of the Ford Mustang, and was instead sent some comic book. I lodged a complaint with the BBB (Better Business Bureau), and got my money back.

On the other hand, another good experience is that recently, I ordered a gift for my friend that I'm giving her for her birthday, and ordered it really early on a Saturday morning (like 4am), and on noon that Sunday, I had it, so really quick shipping and good product.

[mndoss06]

I've been an eBay member for maybe ten plus years now and out of over six hundred purchase transactions I've done on eBay I've never really had any bad experience. The vast majority of what I've bought has been WWII militaria. I bought a WWII grouping consisting of ribbon bars and other items that never arrived, I filed a complaint with eBay and was refunded my money. Funny thing was a few months, maybe year, later I get a letter in the mail from a law firm where it looked like some people were suing this seller. I guess I'm not the only one they cheated! They wanted to know my experience with the seller. I was more than willing to write back and say how the items never arrived but was lazy and never did it.

The only other thing I can really think of is my first Hunter Whisperwind 2000 I got off of eBay and the canopy was bent in and I had to order a new one. It wasn't a big deal and I never bothered to notify the seller about it. The fan works great and is still in my bedroom.

In college I ordered a complete James Bond DVD set from a seller in China that my friend wanted me to get for him. I took maybe two to three months for the DVD set to arrive. I was in communication with the seller and they said they shipped it but it took forever to arrive. Just as I was going to leave negative feedback it arrived. I think that might have been the only neutral feedback I left.

[Obi-Wan Canopy]

You have to remember, people on eBay and Craigslist do not know fans. This is not an eBay problem, this is a non-fan-person problem. To most people, an AB Murray Feiss and a PB Craftmade builder, or whatever, look exactly the same.

[Jordan U]

I've bought 5 ceiling fans that I can recall at the moment off eBay--and every one had something wrong with it that wasn't expected.. Some more than others.. That and the high price of shipping,, I've given up on buying ceiling fans from eBay..

I've bought far more phones on eBay than fans,, and for phones I've had a very mixed experience.. There are a number of auctions I've won where the stuff shows up and it's well packed, in great condition, and was a good deal.. Other times the stuff is just loosely thrown into a box and gets all beat up in shipping and ends up looking like it was heavily used for 400 years.. I will then write to the seller and explain the dilemma and they'll say something like "O I thought it was packed very securely"..

I can't tell if people simply don't care or they really don't notice,, but a lot of times defects are just not described and the pictures aren't good enough to capture the details.. Just the other day I bought a set of phones that was described as "Like New in Original Packaging".. I paid a fair bit for it,, and it was such a disappointment when I opened it up.. The phones were all worn from years of heavy use and all the batteries had gone bad.. Seems to be pretty mixed as far as sellers being willing to make it right,, some will work with you easily,, others don't even answer the messages..

[Parkman]

May 19, 2017 13:43:35 GMT -5 Obi-Wan Canopy said:

You have to remember, people on eBay and Craigslist do not know fans. This is not an eBay problem, this is a non-fan-person problem. To most people, an AB Murray Feiss and a PB Craftmade builder, or whatever, look exactly the same.

I understand that.  The point I'm making is I've had no problems for years and then I've had problems both fan and non fan related.  The Murray Feiss I understand being a mistake but the fact is they sent me a completely different fan from what the pictures of their listing were.  I purchased a GE Vent that they took pictures of the item and then sent me a Concord used fan that was broken.