| An eBay seller to be aware of: |
| Playing on eBay can be a lot of fun. Someone's trash is another person's treasure. That was until I met eBay seller Valerie Greaves. Below are interactions between myself and Valerie. All emails are available by emailing me. Please put the words Valerie Greaves in the subject line. 2nd March 03 I was the successful bidder for item # 3210271779. Cost $5.50 plus postage = $6.15 Email to seller to advise payment would be made 6th March. Email acknowledged. 6th March 03 Emailed Valerie to advise that the money had been deposited at 11 AM Western Australia time and that I had put the eBay reference number on the deposit so that she could identify the payment. Email not acknowledged. 17th March 03 Email to Seller at 7.08 PM stating Please advise when this item was posted as it has not arrived yet. 18th March 03 Attempted to email seller. Received bounceback email stating I was not on her "whitelist." I had to click a link and enter a serial number. I did that 3 times over the next week. She failed to respond. 29th March 03 I lodged a complaint with Square Trade. Unfortuantely it wasn't until this date that I checked Valeries feedback record. At this point I began to get worried.I was acutely aware of the fact that everytime she has been left negative feedback she has always responded by blaming the buyer. She has also left disgusting and derogatory negative feedback on the buyers page if they have crossed her. Was it all worth it for $6.15. 3rd April 03 Recieved an email from Square Trade staing that seller had not responded to my complaint. 4th April 03 Left a neutral feedback on Valerie's eBay stating "Valerie. Having trouble emailing you. Item has not arrived 5 weeks since payment." I was acutely aware of eBays policy that you just state the facts. Not surprisingly, at 9.30 PM I receive an email response from Valerie titled "Payment Received" and stating that item would "in the next mail." In further emails between us that evening, the seller claimed that she had not been notified by Square Trade, however she then left a response to myself on their site and stated in it that she would leave me negative feedback on eBay. I argued that because she clearly had technical problems (claiming to have not received emails from both myself and Square Trade) I should not be penalised with negative feedback. 5th April 03 I sought advise (off the record) from a solicitor friend. He made a number of suggestions including defamation (is it really worth it for $6.15 even if I did claim back all legal costs from the seller) and reporting seller to the Department of Consumer Protection. I emailed other buyers who had left negative feedback for Valerie Greaves advising that I was having a problem with her. 6th April 03 Received emails back from two other buyers who had never received items purchased from Valerie Greaves despite evidedence of payment. 7th April 03 Item should have been posted today. Clearly doubting that it would, I waited until close of business and through Square Trade I informed seller that if item or full refund did not arrive by Friday I would create a webpage of all correspondence. Seller then advised that she would send refund - further evidence that she had not posted the item today. 8th April 03 Contact through Square Trade that seller had sent me a Post Office money order. 9th April 03 Email from Square Trade stating that the seller had closed the case as "refund made." I was surprised that I was not asked to verify receipt of refund before the case was closed. 10th April 03 Seller leaves negative feedback on my eBay profile. A very innoculous comment "I don't recommend AGAINST many buyers. This is one of them." Of course I understand why she could give no reason for the negative feedback, as I was the innocent party in all of this. No skin off my nose. I buy such few items off eBay, I can always create a new profile. 11th April 03 Money order arrived. What you can do. Try Square Trade, tho as you can see (unless you pay the $20 fee) the seller can claim to have resolved the dispute at any time. If transaction takes place in Australia, report seller to the Office of Fair Trading or Department of Consumer Protection in your state. The link above (5th April) is the one for Western Australia. If you can not find your own state, then email WA and ask them to forward it. Valerie Greaves is clearly not just selling a few items she has stored in a corner of the spare room. She is obviously running a business off eBay. There are laws within Australia to protect purchasers. Do not be intimidated by unscrupulous sellers. |