More eBay Concerns

[emma T]

And these days eBay allows sellers to attach pictures to messages so no need for email

[johnralphcarpenter]

This situation calls for Crimestoppers!

[emma T]

Also if he's reading this , post a picture of it here , end the doubt . No harm in proving you are telling the truth . After all you want it to make money , if it's the real thing we can bid on it .

[emma T]

Oh he's now claiming to be an OAP , why should that matter . If you can set up an eBay account and sell on it , you can post a photo message !

[pontus]

I was just about to ask all of you for some advice regarding Ebay as well, but just saw this thread, so thought I would comment/ask here.

I have also been sold a mislabelled bulb on ebay last year, and a very expensive one... here is the situation :

In april 2013, I purchased from a UK seller a supposed frilly leaf form of boophane disticha from Port Elizabeth, rarely available at specimen size. I potted the bulb, and in august/september 2013 it leafed out. The leaves where very very straight, without a sign of frilyness, and wide. I had my doubts, thinking it must be the usual form of disticha. I let it leaf out further to be sure, and cross checked with 2 plant friends/contacts in South Africa, who confirmed my doubts. : What I had was the stright leaf form of boophane disticha, not the frilly leaf form.

I contacted the seller, who for weeks argued that they had sent me the correct plant. They said that it gets more frilly in hot temperatures and full strong sun. I agreed with this, sending them a picture of my whole boophane collection in full leaf, my 3 true port elizabeth boophanes being frillier than ever after our record hot and warm sunny summer, while their boophane, next to them, was in comparaison very very unfrilly to say the least, even after baking in the heat wawe and getting as much sun as it possibly could get.!!

When I asked for a refund if I posted it back they reluctantly said maybe if i would agree to pay the return postage, or if they sent a replacement perhaps. I agreed to this and awhaited my refund before posting, or an alternative replacement plant or any sign of life from them by e mail. But since january, total silence from the seller who refuses to respond to my Ebay messages or emails. The opening of a case on ebay has now timed out for this item sadly. What can I possibly do now?

I was told by a friend in South Africa who looked at their ebay listing that it seems that they sell illegally wild dug  haemanthus canaliculatus from the betty's bay reserve in SA where they grow....

when i once asked them where they get their bulbs from they refused to reply...

I do want to try and get my money back, as it is a large sum...any advice on what I can do?

thanks in advance for any help

Pontus

[snowdropcollector]

Pontus, sad story  . Even more because I think you can do nothing about it anymore.....think you money is lost.

Emma, thank you for all the trouble you made for us. But do not let it make you crazy  . I have warned many contacts from me now.
And many people will read this and tell it on 

[pontus]

yes very sad, I suppose all I can do now is warn you all to be carefull if you consider purchasing from this seller, as you may run into problems. I suppose its ok for me to put a link to their listing here as a warning? if not, I can remove it, but for the moment, here it is :

http://www.ebay.com/sch/9665cue/m.html?hash=item4cffe2cc24&item=330710567972&pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&_trksid=p4340.l2562

[John Aipassa]

Pontus,

If you paid with your credit card (using paypal) you can ask your credit card company for advice, Maybe they can do something, although you are quite late. I have had refunds from my credit card companies even long after the Ebay or Paypal terms of claiming. The best is Amex in my experience, but the other companies have similar services/insurance for having received wrong items.

[pontus]

yes thanks John, I had not thought about that, but yes, I paid with PayPal which is linked to my credit card (Visa)...

Pontus

[Alan_b]

Pontus, if what you experienced was fraud, as it seems, then the fraudsters rely on eBay time limits to get away with their crime.  I think eBay would rather turn a blind eye to this type of fraud than to set appropriate time limits for plants bought 'out-of-season'.  I recommend you to seek legal advice as to what action you can take.

[johnralphcarpenter]

yes very sad, I suppose all I can do now is warn you all to be carefull if you consider purchasing from this seller, as you may run into problems. I suppose its ok for me to put a link to their listing here as a warning? if not, I can remove it, but for the moment, here it is :

http://www.ebay.com/sch/9665cue/m.html?hash=item4cffe2cc24&item=330710567972&pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&_trksid=p4340.l2562

I have followed the link; why does this seller have 100% favourable reviews?

[Alan_b]

The normal practice on eBay seems to be to fire-off a sycophantic review before inspecting what you've got.  If you cannot properly evaluate an item for months after it has arrived there is no way of giving an accurate review. 

[emma T]

I believe John Grimshaw is having to fax eBay his complaint about the seller using one of his photos for green tear . Who the hell has a fax machine these days .....makes you think eBay is quite happy to leave it like this to limit it's copyright complaints

[Brian Ellis]

Who the hell has a fax machine these days .....

Probably from work where they haven't had the resources to update their office equipment!

[pontus]

yes you are right, I was about to say the same, my theory is also that they sell mislabelled bulbs that in some cases can take up to a year to establish and leaf out, and then a further year to flower! by which time of course the normal ebay reporting time has run out light years ago...

it is strange that all their reviews are good, but it may be that people who have been frauded and discovered the mislabelling months after teh purchase are , like me, no longer able to leave negative feedback or reviews, as again, the automatic ebay timing on that will have timed out as well..

its a shame that there is no way to contact a live person at Ebay....or even e mail/call them somehow..

I heard that there is a small claims court in the UK, but as someone told me, it may be a bit tricky to use as I dont live in the UK, I dont know... YOu have to pay £ 25 to open a case, money which is again lost if no settelment is found and you do not get your money back..

I imagine I can again e mail the seller threatening with the small claims court, but they may not take any notice of that either...

i had never had any problems at all with Ebay untill last year, when this happened and i also recieved lilium bulbs that prooved to be mislabelled in august when they flowered!!..I am also trying to sort out a VCR player whch was sold to me without a power cord!!! After all these incidents I may soon stop buying on Ebay altogether!!

Pontus