Dear eBay Queen:

I’m not sure what to do in this situation I found myself in.  I was looking for some Disney items for my kids for Christmas.  One was a Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and the other was a Doc McStuffins item.  I found one seller that had EVERYTHING I wanted.  Some of her stuff was at auction and some on a buy it now.  I bought the items I wanted on a buy it now, and then bid on the items that were at auction.  I messaged the seller and let her know.  The auctions all started at .99 cents or 1.99.  I won 2 items at .99 cents, 2 at 1.99 and 1 at 10.50.  I paid for my fixed price and auction items, and thanked the seller for waiting for my payment.

I woke up this morning with my payment refunded.  I sent the seller a message, and she told me that she had already sold the items off eBay.  She then told me if I wanted the items, I would have to pay her a total of 165.00, instead of the 82.00 I paid her. Her messages to me were pretty rude, and she was not very professional with her grammar.

What should I do?  Should I leave this seller nine negatives?  I feel like I should not give her a second chance to do this to someone else.  The only thing that is holding me back is that she is a new seller with only 10 feedback.  She’s just been selling for a few months.

Negative Nellie

Dear Nellie:

This would make me mad too. I have mixed feeling about leaving negative feedback on this. You didn’t say, but it sounds like you might be an experienced buyer and seller, and since you did say that this is a new seller, I don’t think they know all the rules of selling.  Before leaving negative feedback I would do the following:

Report the seller, follow these instructions.

• Help & Contact (at the top of the eBay page)
• Click on “Report a Member”
• Click on “Seller doesn’t want to sell”
• You will then select the item that you purchased from the seller. (Do this individually with each item.)
• Report the seller on each item they refused to sell you.

After you reported each individual item they refused to sell you, I would then send your seller a message. Something like this:

I see you have not been selling very long. I am a fellow seller and I wanted to give you a heads up on a few things.  As you are aware, I purchased 9 items from you, and you just refunded my money on those items, stating that you “sold them off of eBay”.  This kind of thing goes against eBay’s selling policies.  Since you are new, I thought maybe you might not realize this.  I purchased these for my son and daughter for Christmas.  Did you really sell them to some else, or were you hoping for a better price?  I know eBay pushes for .99 auctions, but I have found that if I start the item as the lowest price I am willing to accept, it ends up much better for me.  I hope that you will reconsider selling these items to me at the price I paid for them.  To read up on more information on eBay’s “non-selling seller” policy you can go here.

I hope that you will accept this message in the spirit it was given.  I am not trying to be a problem; I am hoping that I can save you some headaches in the long run.

If your seller does not respond to the message, or responds in a negative way to you, I would probably leave negative feedback on the buy it now items, and neutral feedback on the auctions.  If your seller responds and offers to sell the product to you at the price you paid, I would leave positives for her.  Make sure you do not threaten this seller with negatives or neutrals.  Be positive and hope for her to receive it that way.

By turning this seller to eBay she should receive information from customer support that backs up the message you send her.  Hopefully she will honor the bids/buy it nows and send you the product. 

Strange eBay item of the week: 281507546995. I love to needlepoint, and each canvas is like a work of art to me. I found this Christmas canvas while perusing eBay. Once in a Blue Moon By Sandra Gilmore Heirloom Santa Needlepoint Canvas SOLD: $760.79.