Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Warning about Paypal.........LT61 eats Crow.

eBay feedback is a joke. I made the mistake in one situation of leaving negative feedback for someone and he IMMEDIATELY left retaliatory negative feedback. When I asked him WTF he offered mutual withdraw but told me the offer lasted one day. He knew exactly what he was doing and I found out this wasn't the first time he pulled this stunt.

I was the buyer and without going into more detail paid twice via PayPal (1st attempt said it failed but it in fact DID go thru). PayPal told me way to resolve was to have the seller refund one of the two transactions. I sent NUMEROUS messages to the guy, told him to look at the total price paid which was double what it should have been for one item, cut and pasted the transaction from PayPal, etc, all without response. Since it was a nominal amount PayPal actually refunded me the extra transaction one month later. So I can't fault PayPal. They actually did me right. My mistake was that I don't like people getting away with things and thought I should warn other eBay customers about a guy who would accept double payment, ignore attempts at communication, give retaliatory negative feedback & then attempt to have his record cleaned by a threatend mutual withdraw. eBay would do NOTHING about the negative feedback on my end even though it was obvious what had happened.

I ended up accepting the mutual withdraw to keep a 100% rating but now wish that I hadn't. I'd rather have a mark on my name and be able to explain to others if they ask why I'm not 100% then give in to bully tactics. I understand eBay wants to stay out of most feedback situation but there has to be times that they intervene and do the right thing.

I know I'm better off than the OP since I ended up not being out any money but I HATE that I was bullied and that I ended up accepting the mutual withdraw.

Yup, Stern Pinball is all that is left. They used to be the ones that made the "crappy" machines back when Williams and Bally were king, now they are the only ones left, and they've come a long way.

Stern Pinball

Here is the machine that I own:
Theatre of Magic Listing at IPBD

Very cool but the first though that came into my mind was
"A killer Rabbit? What's he do? Nibble your bum?"

UPDATE: 5-12-08

I finally got an answer from Paypal about my situation.

I called them yet again, and THIS time...I got to a supervisor!
Long story short...I did everything right, and they are going to "split the difference" with me (a 50/50 deal).
The reason is still a little foggy, but basically it's this: A seller needs to go online after getting a "You have been paid" E-mail from Paypal, and check the transaction details, to see if the buyer is ELIGIBLE for seller protection. If not, the seller should refund the payment, and contact the buyer to make other arrangements. The "eligibility" is on a case by case basis "risk factor" determined by Paypal's computer system. (It's WAY easier to be protected as a buyer).
I will now be even MORE careful now that I have a better idea, as to how the game is played. I hope this helps everyone here from learning the hard way, like I just did.

Case closed