Last year I was reading a private "divorce support" blog. This was a group of ladies discussing their STRESS problems and some ways they developed to raise money to pay for extras after their bum of a hubby left them etc. I sent one of them some Cardboard and Christmas palm seeds and a few other things from my garden and they let me in to read the blog. They had some good ideas that I used in my own ebay selling account. The story was of a gal selling her handmade craft items on ebay and from a small website. She also sold seeds, plants and bulbs she grew from her garden in Florida. She was doing great and everyone in the blog was cheering her on. One day she was very upset. A seller on ebay stole her pictures and some of the wording from her website... and her sales were falling. The seller took her wording from her ebay listings and turned it around. They were careful not to steal her ebay pictures but they took the pictures from her website and copied her designs etc. They made some changes that sound similar to these ebay sellers in your story. Ebay never replied to this gal. And the nasty seller was very nasty to her. Anyway evidently the blog members are located all over the USA... and around 15 members living outside the state of this victim... all bought one item from this seller... the cheapest items offered. After the purchase, they baited the seller with silly questions and comments... and the seller got upset in an email with each of them... threatening wording and snotty remarks from the seller to these buyers. So each buyer had a good reason to give this seller Negative feedback and ratings of 1 and 2 DSR stars. What do you think happens if a seller gets 15 negatives and 1-2 DRS stars? Ha! Ha! Ebay will protect their MEGA sellers by changing ratings but not any seller under that catagory. If a seller gets that many 1-2 star DSR ratings, then ebay suspends the seller... so simple. I was laughing my head off reading the blog story. It happened over a 45 day period. They all used credit cards in Paypal and all got refunds on a DOA or crushed auction. Several buyers claimed they never received the auction when they saw there was no DC on the package. The blog members spaced out the negative feedback so it would not look obvious and each had a different comment depending on what the seller said to them in the email. The nasty seller probably suspected something was up but there was no way he could complain to ebay. In eBay's eyes, he was now a bad seller. They spotted this same seller under a new ID and 10 more blog members stepped up to the plate with 10 different ebay ID's. This seller was still using their blogmate's pictures and wording. They put this guy down within 30 days this time. It was great mental therapy for all these women too... banding together to protect the economy of one of their own members. The women all thought it was a good deed because the seller was also using the pictures from other websites and other ebay sellers too. I would hate to be the ebay seller that stiffs any of these divorced ladies in the future.

A buyer usually pays within 4 days of winning an auction, but there's a lot going on in this country with floods, bad weather and a major oil spill. Perhaps your buyer is being impacted by this. First thing I'd do is get the buyer's contact information...his address and phone number....and give him a call. If you get no good explanation from him and he doesn't pay in a day or so then file an unpaid item dispute. There's a procedure the buyer needs to follow within a specific time frame. He'll either pay or he won't. If he doesn't respond and pay, your listing fees will be refunded and you can list again. If you relist before doing this your fees won't be refunded. And if he pays late and you can't send him the item he could file a dispute against you for not shipping him what he paid for. Unless this item is a time sensitive sale, go through the proper steps and protect yourself.

Geez, what a nightmare. Why can't people just be honest and treat others like they'd like to be treated? I just don't get it, it's not that hard. I really wanted to bid on some beautiful RL bedding, a rare style, but I really had to read between the lines and push to get info. Apparently with the shams the seller mentioned although never used, she did launder one "by mistake", but it went right back in the package. Saw no logic in that whatsoever... Since it was cotton and lace (delicate), I wondered if she dried it (which would ruin it). I emailed her asking if the washed sham had been distorted or shrank as a result. No reply. I wait a few days, auction is nearing and end, and basically email her a 'hey, I'd really like to bid, but have not received a reply to my question so I'm giving it one more try here.' That generated a response from her, she admitted that the laundered sham was 'snug' and corners 'curled', but suggested ironing would make it fit properly again. Good grief. (She failed to include that significant detail in her description, even after I asked, she didn't post my question and her answer.) Very cat and mouse. I'm glad I took time to push it, because although it was a beautiful set I might well be out the $, and it would be worthless with only one good sham (and it garnered pretty high $$). I'm watching to see what kind of feedback occurs once the buyer receives it. Anyway, back to valinsv's guy. Clearly there are major issues with some items he sells. Is he too ignorant to realize that having integrity would only bolster his business that much more? That's the part I just don't get. Treat people right, they'll keep coming back. Treat them badly as a habit and sooner or later he's going to lose. Seems to me with the type of volume he does he'd be a lot further ahead if he'd just be honest. Just curious mona if you might know: if he does get kicked off, is his IP address banned, or just his ebay ID? He seems to have such a huge system set up and selling high volume, can't see him just walking away. Could he just come back under a new ID? (Although given his business and volume and listing style, it would be easy to recognize it might be him.)

I've been buying on eBay and exclusively using PayPal for many, many years. Things may have changed with PayPal in the ensuing years, but when I signed up you put in a credit card number, and all of your payments were against the credit card. There was a PayPal limit of $2,000 that could be charged against the card. After that, if you still wanted to use PayPal you had to give them your checking account number. PayPal then made three random deposits in very tiny amounts (like anywhere from five cents to a dollar); and those deposits were made on different days. You then had to key into PayPal the dates and amounts of the deposits. This verified to them that the account was, indeed, your own account. (And you got to keep whatever amounts they deposited into your checking account.) After that you have the option of paying for an auction by putting it against your credit card or by a cash transfer from your checking account. I only pay for things with a cash transfer if it is $15 or less (including shipping). But if it's a larger amount, or if the seller is relatively new, I'll put it against my credit card because I like the protection that a credit card payment affords -- if an item doesn't show up, or if it is substantially different than what was advertised, I can notify my CC company and cancel payment. I like to pay for my winnings as soon as possible. But, I never, ever, make the payment until the notice shows up in my Inbox that I've won the auction.