Hating on Ebay.

I'm done with Ebay. Well, with selling on Ebay, anyway.

If you recall my sewing machine saga from a few months ago, I ended up emailing Singer to tell them that I was not impressed with their machine and that I thought it was silly to make a machine that breaks easily and can't be repaired. They offered to replace the machine, so I let them. I got the new machine (the Singer; I'd already purchased and used and loved the Brother machine) and promptly listed it on Ebay. I figured I could recoup some of the costs associated with crappy sewing machines.

I sold the machine to a dude in Nebraska. My first warning sign that this might not be a good deal was that he had zero feedback. As in, this was his first attempt to purchase anything on Ebay. That made me pause, but just for a moment because I figured that everyone needs someone to take a chance on them to help raise their feedback scores. We all start at zero, you know?

I shipped it out on June 19. He wanted it by July 4, but didn't tell me this prior to me shipping it. He did not buy insurance, he said that shipping parcel post would be fine, and now he's bitching and moaning and filing disputes with Ebay. He's also gone so far as to say that he doesn't believe that I even shipped the damn thing.

He keeps checking the Delivery Confirmation page on the USPS website, and telling me that because it doesn't show an update, that must mean I didn't ship it. I've tried to explain that the DC website is only updated UPON DELIVERY. He continues to say that he's sure I didn't even ship it. I talked to PayPal yesterday, and they also believe that it's a tracking website and not DC. I then went to the post office to see if I was the one misunderstanding the purpose of the delivery confirmation webpage, and the supervisor said that it would only be updated upon delivery; that I was interpreting the message correctly and PayPal and the buyer were both wrong. The only way that the USPS offers package tracking is through Express Mail or Registered Mail.

Now Mr. Nebraska has escalated his dispute with PayPal to a claim. I have offered to refund his money. I have offered my left arm to make him happy and try to protect my feedback score. After being mouthy, annoying and accusing me of not shipping the sewing machine, he's now ignoring my emails and offers. I'm not sure what his point is; the freaking machine is somewhere between here and Nebraska. It has not been delivered yet; I don't know why but I did ship it on the day that I said I would.

Anyway, I'm done. I buy other stuff on Ebay - usually using Buy It Now - which should be okay even if he wanks my feedback score with negative feedback. As for selling, I'm just done.