Ebay Demands YOUR Gear Is Smashed To Bits & Photograped Too!

[Ultimatum]

Ebay Demands That YOUR Gear Is Smashed To Bits! AND Photographed! Or They Refuse To Refund The Buyer!
Hey fellow Rockman heads, I was just checking around the internet for tales of woe regarding Ebay ( Yep, it didn't take long to find 1000's of pissed-off customers, for oh so many reasons! ) But one story REALLY stood out, that made me think twice about selling anything vintage on there ever again! See here: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paypal-make ... ty-handed/
As I was thinking of selling my 79 Les Paul Standard on Ebay, but this made me think, what if the buyer ( a scammer ) lies and tells Ebay that the guitar I sold him was a copy ( even though it's not! ) Ebay takes the side of the buyer, ( as Ebay ALWAYS does nowadays!!! ) Then they order the buyer to smash my guitar up, then buyer photographs it as proof in order to get his refund from Paypal. HOWEVER buyer could then smash up an old LP copy that looks similar to my Gibson, ( and lets be honest, the folks at Ebay wouldn't know a real Gibson from a copy right! Especially now it's all smashed up! ) So then buyer gets his money returned after sending Ebay the pics as proof that he's destroyed it! And then gets to keep my friggin' guitar too! Either way, this is Ebay/Paypal playing God!!! Surely Ebay & Paypal instructing buyers to smash up other folks property must be against the law?? NO?? Your thoughts gentlemen!!! Whatever, think twice about selling on Ebay nowadays!!!

[Guitarvamp]

You mean Ebay is a potential haven for scammers and overpriced items? That must be new.

Yes, Ebay has the potential to have bad deals take place, but you can find that almost anywhere, as well.

Ebay is also the best way to get fair market value for items and reach the largest audience.


I believe they already have a saying: "buyer beware", but in this day and age, "seller beware, too."

[Ultimatum]

Guitarvamp, thanks for the comment, and yes I agree scammers on Ebay ( both sellers & buyers ) unfortunately isn't anything new, However, Ebay/Paypal "Playing God" is! The point of my post was that the item should have been returned if there was any discrepancy. Simple as that. I can't see how it is legal for Ebay/Paypal to order items to be destroyed. For example let's imagine I buy an old Fender Strat from you on Ebay, it arrives at my house, but I then inform Ebay that I think it's a fake! Ebay tell me that I'm entitled to a refund, providing I smash your Strat to bits and photograph the evidence, sending them and you the pics of it all smashed to pieces. How would feel? Or would you be okay about this?? Because this is what happened to the case above if you read the link. This is about Ebay/Paypal ordering the destruction of items. I mean, you wouldn't expect to take your guitar to an auction house in your town, only to go back there the next day to discover that instead of selling your guitar, the auction house decided to smash it to pieces instead, cuz someone there thought it was a fake! At the very least you'd expect it back in one piece right???

[Guitarvamp]

That's weird. It seems Ebay's policy on being sold an item that is 'not as described' is to "ask the buyer to ship the item back to you—with tracking information—within 5 business days. Your refund to the buyer is the total purchase price plus the original shipping charge."


I don't see anything about smashing up stuff.


Maybe you could point out that specific rule on Ebay's site.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/item-no ... ribed.html

[GuitarBuilder]

I've been selling on eBay for over 10 years and I've never heard of anything like this. My experience with their resolution department has always been positive. I wonder if the story was made up.

[Ultimatum]

I've seen this story reported elsewhere, as it made big news at the time on consumer forums etc.
There are similar stories with people selling watches etc, whereby folks sell a GENUINE Rolex watch on Ebay for example, then they claim it's a fake to Ebay & Paypal, Ebay then refund and the "buyer" (scammer ) and is then allowed to keep the watch! With NO obligation to return it, as it has been declared to be a fake by the scammer! Upshot is, scammer gets to keep a genuine Rolex AND his money returned. He then has a free watch worth a couple K! Ebay have now added an even better
Set of rules for the scammers to use, see here for new policy change for 2015:
( This from EBay's website this morning )
"Ebay are now increasing the time allowed for buyers to raise a Dispute from 45 days to 180 days from the date on which payment was made" WHAT!?!?!
Now I personally think that even 45 days was too long, I mean if you buy something from Walmart etc etc, You get a month ( maximum ) to be able to claim your money back, but Ebay are now saying that I can now buy your Rockman, or your amp, or whatever is may be, but I then decide after 3 MONTHS!!!! That I don't like it, I complain to Ebay and they refund me! Ask yourself, would you want your gear back AFTER 3 MONTHS!?! Christ, it may have been gigged hard for 3 MONTHS!!!!! But hey, Ebay still think that you should refund the "buyer" even after 3 months! Or do you think THAT is okay???? I guess Ebay & Paypal must be laughing at all the Ebay ass-lickers (their sellers) that think Ebay can do no wrong, cuz all the while folks keep hailing Ebay as "the greatest" then the more ludicrous the changes and insane rules Ebay will just keep plying on to its terms and conditions.
IF we keep sucking it up..........