Another eBay disaster

Remember my tale of our daughter who was waiting for tickets from and eBay auction? I’m pleased to report that it all worked fine for our Jemma in the end She managed to get tickets for the V Festival at Weston Park just in time to enjoy a weekend of music.

I don’t know what stage she is up to with her claim against the girl who sold her tickets that she didn’t have or the one against the lady who sold her tickets that had already been bought by another eBayer but they are both clear cases and Jemma should get a full refund from PayPal.

However, one of Jemma’s friends may not be so lucky. She bought a trampoline on eBay. Since the item was being sold by someone nearby, the friend went to collect it and paid cash.

The first thing the friend discovered when she returned home, was the lack of instruction but that was nothing compared to what she found when she started to put the thing together. In the description the seller had said, '' The blue ring is a little worn but as far as i am aware there are no rips or tears anywhere on the whole item''. That wasn’t true. In fact 1/3 of the blue safety ring had a giant tear in it, 12 of the base springs were missing and there were several holes in the safety net. The trampoline was unusable.

When the friend of Jemma tried to communicate with the seller, she realised that she wasn’t going to make any progress so she decided to give her negative feedback and try and resolve the issue with eBay. Cleverly though the lady who sold the shoddy goods had cancelled the sale on eBay making it appear that the transaction never happened. As far as I now, Jemma’s friend is going to put it down as a bad experience.

In the defence of eBay, it is fair to say that the majority of auctions complete in a satisfactory manner for both parties. Although I haven’t experienced problems either buying or selling, the sums achieved from sales have varied. For example, I sold a hybrid bicycle before we left England for £35. The bike, which was about ten years old, cost me £350 new. It had a new leather saddle which cost me more than the selling price, the recently replaced tyres had very little wear on them and the condition was as I described it – very good. The buyer, in his feedback said he had just picked up an incredible bargain; I would agree with that.