There is really something quite lovely about the prospect of nailing someone's deserving ass to the wall. I'm sure nothing will actually end up getting done, but sometimes just the possibility alone is enough.

This evening I had the honour of reporting a seller to eBay. You know the dietary suppliment pills I was expecting from my last weblog? They weren't even on their way yet nor will they ever be. It's a strange little story... strange and short. Hopefully it will be clear cut enough for even eBay to take action, but somehow I doubt it.

On the 31st of December, I used a buy-it-now option on a dutch auction. It was one of those wholesale sellers. I was never really contacted, but I followed the instructions for the auction and paid for it via Paypal on the 1st of January. It is now the 9th of January and I emailed the guy earlier today just to see that he had in fact properly received my payment and if/when my item would be shipped. He wrote me back a very terse letter staying that my 'item will be shipped.' (As in it hadn't been shipped out yet when other buyers from the same auction had already gotten the item.) He then proceeded to tell me it was MY responsiblity to see that he had gotten my payment by checking my paypal account and seeing the transaction status. Duh. I sent him back an email saying that paypal can say he received my payment all it wants, but that doesn't mean it was properly noted. I also thanked him for bothering to reply. He then basically repeated himself and said he has over 400 emails a day and can't confirm everyone's payment...blah blah blah blah.

All I was doing was individually asking him for reassurance! Geez. I told him that I thought it was only polite to let your buyers know that you got their payment and everything was straight and in order. Just that it was polite. Not that its required, but just that it was the sort of treatment I was used to and thats why I was asking after my item. I really wasn't expecting to get my head bit off just because I was concerned and was double checking myself! The next thing I know he had refunded my money. Very confused by this point, I wrote him back saying that I had never asked for or wanted my money refunded, that I DID want the item, but all I was doing was making sure the details of my order was straight! I asked him what the refund meant. Was he sending me the item for free because of my "trouble"? Or was he not sending the item at all? As he so eloquently put: that i wont be shipping out your product.

Errrr... excuse me? Never once did I say I wanted a refund. Never once did I say I didn't want to complete the transaction. All I did was ask him if he did in fact get my payment and if it was on its way or not! As he basically just refused to sell me the item, I consider that a breach of contract and I have reported him to eBay. While it would be quite something to see 'not a registered user' next to his name, somehow I don't think it will happen. But in the meantime it is fun to get to tell on him.