I hate eBay.

So I came upon some $50 off $100 Home Depot coupons that I didn't need. I listed them on eBay for a seven day auction. They were in-store coupons that had to be scanned so I indicated that I would email them to the winner upon payment.

On day three eBay removes my listings because they violated some stupid rule that I was totally unaware of. Apparently, eBay does not allow items to be sold that are delivered via email. According to eBay, you have to physically deliver the item to the purchaser. I have no idea why this is a rule, nor do I care.

So I relisted the coupons, and like everyone else, I indicated "same day delivery" rather than email delivery. The problem was a seven day auction at that point meant that the auction would end on the day the coupon expired.

All the coupons sold. One guy bought five for roughly $20.00 each, and sent me a paypal of roughly $100.00. I also sold five other coupons to other buyers.

After the action, everyone pays and I sent the coupons by email. About an hour later, I get an email from the guy that bought five, saying that one didn't work. I apologized and sent him another coupon.

The next day, I check my email and find out that the guy that bought five coupons filed a dispute with paypal for all $100.00, even though he only claims one of the origional five coupons didn't work. He also sent me an email saying that the replacement coupon didn't work either. Now, I sold a total of 10 coupons, and personally used four myself. Everyone's coupons apparnetly worked except for the one origonally sent to this guy, and supposedly the replacement.

I sent him an email again appologizing and indicating that I would refund his money for one coupon, but that he would need to remove his dispute first since he had $100 tied up and if I refunded his money and lost the dipsute I would be not only out the $100 he sent, but $20 of my own money. He hasn't responded. I've sent him three emails asking him to remove his dispute and offering to refund his money. He is apparently refusing.

Also, another lady is apparently disputing her's as well except she's never emailed me, and neither of them have provided any information to paypal about what they are dipsuting. I only know the guy's issue because he emailed me outside of paypal to complain. Shouldn't someone at least have to indicate what the problem is before paypal withholds someone else's money? I mean I'm supposed to respond to her dispute, but I don't even know what the problem is. I've emailed the lady, but she's not responded.

To top it all off, I called paypal to complain and the woman I spoke to said the disputes weren't valid becuase the buyer protection only applies to items physically delivered, not items delivered via email. She said I didn't have to do anything and that the money would be back in my account in 24-48 hours. Three days later, still no money.

I don't even care about the money since it was essentially free and it's only $120, but it just pisses me off that people can be such a pain in the ass. I used to sell **** on eBay all the time and never had a problem. Now eBay has all these ridiculous rules and no one at paypal has any clue what they are doing.

Moral of the story: don't be poor and resort to selling coupons on ebay.





Mandatory video

I had same issue, guy disputed on PayPal that I sent wrong item, I said I'd refund if he supplied product back, he won dispute and got half the money back PLUS didn't send me the product. O.o

Ebay is kind of a PITA. I try to sell stuff privately when it is an option.

so you tried to work around a rule you broke and now its going against you?


sure ebay could be a pain but seems like your own fault

Originally Posted by jerseyzillest

I had same issue, guy disputed on PayPal that I sent wrong item, I said I'd refund if he supplied product back, he won dispute and got half the money back PLUS didn't send me the product. O.o

...seriously? who the hell came up with this and how many times were they dropped as a child?

Originally Posted by coco savage

so you tried to work around a rule you broke and now its going against you?


sure ebay could be a pain but seems like your own fault

Nah he didn't. He had to re-list to satisfy the delivery rules.

But those people clearly bought the coupons with the intent of scamming you. Since to complete the transaction you went into a gray are with eBay's rules, it looks like you are SOL.

eBay does kinda suck and they definitely are a PITA.

Originally Posted by zhp43867

Nah he didn't. He had to re-list to satisfy the delivery rules.

But those people clearly bought the coupons with the intent of scamming you. Since to complete the transaction you went into a gray are with eBay's rules, it looks like you are SOL.

eBay does kinda suck and they definitely are a PITA.

You mean circumvent the rules..

Not an Ebay fan here either

eBay used to be cool with a weird assortment of cool used things. Now it's just a vendor of china And their crap

Originally Posted by GhostFlame

Moral of the story: don't be poor and resort to selling coupons on ebay.





Mandatory video

Much appreciated! The only reason i came in was to hopefully catch this vid!

There is no rule against selling coupons on eBay... there is a rule against delivering items bought on eBay via email. I did not know about this rule when I listed my coupons. I notice that everyone else listed "same day delivery" instead of email, but all of those listings also indicated email delivery in the description, so I didn't think it would be a problem to just put it in the title. I guess I was wrong. In any event, it's a stupid rule.

Anyway, the guy that bought five coupons finally agreed to remove the dispute in exchange for a refund of one of the coupons, so that one is resolved. I still don't know what the lady's problem is/was... the dispute is "still pending."

For everyone saying you have to be poor to sell coupons on eBay, don't be stupid. I made over $150.00, even excluding the one that I refunded and the on the lady is disputing. That's not bad considering the fact that I've spent probably a total of 20 minutes listing the coupons, and emailing them to the winning bidders. Also, this would have been much better had I been able to list them so that the auction ended a few days before the coupons expired. That way, any dispute or problem could have been worked out before the coupons were deactivated.

You gotta be careful with eBay these days.

Too many smart buyer who prey on inexperienced sellers.

For example if you ship something without tracking, and the buyer receives it and notices that there was no tracking number they can easily file a dispute and get the item for free.

But most people are actually honest. Small percentage of buyers pull these damn acams

Originally Posted by Ler0y Jenkins

Anyway, the guy that bought five coupons finally agreed to remove the dispute in exchange for a refund of one of the coupons, so that one is resolved. I still don't know what the lady's problem is/was... the dispute is "still pending."

He thought he was going to scam you, but his conscience got the best of him.

Not so much for the lady.

You are lucky these weren't actually gift cards. Most people sell gift cards on eBay and the buyer asks for the number/pin on the gift card and they can use it online.

Then they file a dispute saying it doesn't work, etc

And best of all as a seller you can't leave negative feedback