Ebay rant

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:13 am

Warning, this post will serve no constructive purpose, it merely exists for me to express my frustration to some people who I imagine might feel my pain.

Last week my rubber tank pad fell apart while I was working on my CB1100F restoration. So I went to the usual places here in the UK and discovered that it was ex stock everywhere and that it was going to take a couple of weeks for anybody to find one. I'm getting to the later stages of the rebuild and trying to get the bike ready so that I might be able to ride it on my birthday (24th March), so I don't want to be unnecessarily held up by irritating little detail parts.

So I got onto eBay and I immediately found a new genuine Honda one for sale from a shop in Germany, which I bought on the spot even though it was a few pounds more than businesses in the UK were asking.

A week has passed and...nothing. eBay is showing the part has not been sent. I've sent the seller two messages and he hasn't even bothered to acknowledge them. I've sent eBay a message and they have said it is too early to take any action yet. Over the last few months I have spent over £3000 on parts from not just the UK but Holland, America, South Africa and Australia. Many from people on this forum. Some have taken a little while to get here but all have been good transactions with honest people who are anxious to help. Right up to now. Maybe I have just been extremely lucky. Damn it though, I'm so frustrated now I'm bouncing off the wall. You have my money, just answer my damned message, tell me what the problem is and let's sort it out!!!

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:24 am

Bummer. I'd be pissed off too, then maybe get pissed...

You can always stop their payment I suppose. PITA though.

It should be there any week now by express bullock train Twisted Evil

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:34 am

genesound wrote:

Bummer. I'd be pissed off too, then maybe get pissed...

You can always stop their payment I suppose. PITA though.

It should be there any week now by express bullock train Twisted Evil

One of two things will now happen. I will either wait too long and then give up and order one from somewhere else, which will take another two weeks to appear, holding up the rebuild for three weeks all because of a small bit of rubber...

OR

I'll just give up, order another one and then end up with two rubber tank pads.

I know which of these is the most likely...

CB1100F Joined: Feb 17, 2009 Posts: 2110 Location: Oz

Just knock up a temporary rubber block to get you through in the meantime. Easy enough to do.

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:19 pm

I'd cancel it and order another one.

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 2:17 pm

BathBloke wrote:

...
I'll just give up, order another one and then end up with two rubber tank pads.
...

No worries. If that happens, I'll but the extra one from you--assuming you're referring to the rubber pad anchoring the rear of the tank to the frame.

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 11:30 am

Following my little tantrum yesterday I received a message from the seller overnight saying the pad will be sent out tonight. I just wish they had bothered to respond before!

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 12:20 pm

Around here they normally have up to 10 days to respond. Most people respond almost within the hour though. That doesn't mean they are ready to ship, just that they make a human response. A listing may say they'll respond in less time...

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 12:35 pm

I, personally, ship items in 1 day but that's me.

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:04 pm

Grumpy32 wrote:

I, personally, ship items in 1 day but that's me.

I think you are a good man. If somebody is selling something and a buyer gives them money then the seller should at least immediately acknowledge that. Failure to do that is bound to make a buyer nervous, especially if it is being done with persons unknown on the Internet.

Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:11 pm

I've gone through this before myself. It was so bad at one point I was about to pull my hair out. If you can, try to check their feedback before you order. I like to see how many neg or neutral reviews the seller gets and for what, and make my decision on wether I want to purchase from them or not.

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:57 am

Yeah, always try to remember to check feedback first. Also the shipping charges, many are free, but some are ridiculous.

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:43 pm

genesound wrote:

.... many are free, but some are ridiculous.

There used to be some outright eBay shipping scams going on (like $30 to ship a 99 cent CD - sellers were clearly making money of the shipping rather than the items) but eBay seems to have cleaned that up. But Something changed with eBay shipping a few years ago - everything started to cost a lot more to ship - the costs were not outrageous but just seemed to be higher than they should be. I think eBay started offering embedded shipping options as part of their service and since most auctions are paid for by PayPal - owned by eBay - they make a cut on the shipping charges - surprise, surprise, the cost to ship went up.

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:53 pm

Ebay and PayPal are becoming distant cousins. PayPal will not be ebay's recommended/default form of payment starting about 2020. Stock values for PayPal fell almost 20% upon that announcement. Seems like a bad choice to make your sister company's stock price tank before you sell it off.