So I got ripped off on eBay.  It actually happened in November, but I am only just now mentioning it here for the same reason most rape incidents go unreported:  it’s embarrassing to admit you got screwed.  Yes, I just equated losing two hundred dollars to being raped.

When I found out that there was a Pearl Pink Nintendo DS bundled with Nintendogs Best Friends Edition, I had to make that Stephanie’s Christmas present.  But it turned out that the pink system was extremely limited, and they only sold it at Toys ‘R Us and K-B Toys (maybe a few other places, but definitely not Best Buy or EB Games).  So while I could have purchased it in a store for $149.99 in August, by November I could only find them on eBay, where they ran for around $200.  After watching the auctions for a couple of weeks and losing a few of them, I found this one for $190.00 with Buy It Now, and I figured that was as cheap as I was going to find it (and by mid-December they were going for $250+).  The guy (whom I will refer to as “Dick” from here on out) had a feedback rating of 33, which didn’t seem bad, with only one negative comment from long ago when he was a buyer.  On November 14 I made this purchase.  $190.00 + $10.00 shipping + $2.00 for shipping insurance = $202.00.  It turns out that the $2.00 may well be the best two dollars I’ve ever spent.

Well Dick didn’t take PayPal, so I sent a money order.  A week later he said he got it and the day after Thanksgiving (November 25) he claims he mailed it priority mail from Akron, OH.  It should have gotten here by the following Tuesday at the latest.  It never arrived.  I called Dick (who happened to be at home in the middle of the day on a weekday..) and told him I hadn’t gotten it and he’s like “well.. I mailed it.. it should be there soon..”  It never got here.  After three weeks the postal service will let you file an insurance claim for something lost in shipping, but the person who ships it must file the claim.  Turns out Dick didn’t keep the receipt, something they require, so he couldn’t file the claim.  At this point it was a week before Christmas so I got Stephanie a regular Nintendo DS, and I looked around on eBay to find out what I could do.

I found out that if you purchase shipping insurance and the seller fails to provide it, you qualify for eBay Standard Purchase Protection Program.  They will refund me what I paid for the item ($190.00) minus a $25 processing fee ($165.00).  I have until 90 days after the transaction to file for that, so I told Dick that I would give him until February 1st to refund me the money, and that if he did so I wouldn’t escalate the claim.  I explained that if I escalate the claim eBay will reimburse me, but that they would also probably investigate him and his account would suffer or something.  He said he could definitely get me the money by February 1st.

Well today is February 1st and there is no money.  I have sent Dick five e-mails in the last week, none of which he has responded to.  So I submitted my claim this morning.  Hopefully in another month or so I’ll get $165.00 from eBay, meaning I’ll have only lost a net total of $37 dollars, which isn’t too terribly bad.

Oh I forgot to mention that not long after Dick said he shipped my system his name showed up in eBay as “Not a registered user”, which means I can’t leave negative feedback.  What a Dick.