Sorry to hear that Mike.

I had a similar experience, but with a seller who knows vintage drums and has quite a few nice Rogers drums, which is my passion. He goes by the Ebay handle kixwithstixpdx. He turned out to be quite an underhanded guy and cause me a lot of time and effort to straiten out a transaction and get my money, my hard earned money returned.

I can't blame Ebay for how people will act in order to make a sale, or unscrupulous buyers who make claims and steal parts. For these people on both sides, unfortunately it comes down to them knowing how to work and get over on the Ebay system.

Its no wonder and no surprise due to the "it aint a crime if you don't get caught" mentality that permeates our society.

I still shop and sell on Ebay, but not as much as I once did.

Ebay was a fantastic idea, but they are slowly making efforts and evolving into something very different from what it was when it started.

SanityClause

I've been trying out Reverb as well but don't seem to be getting enough eyes on some nice Gretsch stuff. Could be prices, but I had to move a nice DW Cast bronze to the bay and it sold for more than my final attempt at Reverb. I like the listing tools much better on Reverb though, it just seems too Guitar focused...

I just had a very interesting conversation with a higher up supervisor at Ebay. In trying to understand what happened in a recent transaction and case I was involved in as a buyer, I called Ebay for clarity. I specifically asked about the "Ebay Buyer Protection, Money Back Guarantee". I was told by a supervisor representative in a department I have never reached before at Ebay, that there are "hidden stipulations" within the "Buyer Protection Guarantee" that Ebay can not make public because it will give unscrupulous buyers more insight on how to work the system. I was floored by this statement. So I said to the rep, I want to understand this because to me that sounds like you telling me that the Buyer Protection Money back is NOT a Guarantee because of these hidden stipulations that the public is not privy to. It certainly was not a guarantee in my case until I relentlessly fought it .

Sounds an awful lot like false advertising doesn't it?

I know the balance usually is in the favor of the buyer, but all buyers should know that the Buyer Protection money back "guarantee", much like the Seller protection is complete BS and decided case by case basis by uniformed Ebay representatives. I guess its right up there with taking out insurance on items and then trying to make a claim and get your money back should the unthinkable happen. Good luck with that. One would expect it would be as easy as it is to pay for the insurance or pay Ebay fees. No problem there.

I went into this thread and commented earlier on about how its not Ebays fault that things have gotten so convoluted on their site. However, after this conversation I had today, I walk away with one more example of companies washing their hands of any responsibility to the people that make it possible for them to do business. Having said that, I can't imagine what it takes to cover your ass in a corporation of this immensity.

In the end after a lot of time and effort, I will get my money back from this seller, but this makes me rethink doing business on Ebay in the future .

SanityClause.