The Chronic Consumer

A friend of mine just had a bad experience with a transaction on eBay. She won the auction, paid for her item right away, and then never received it even though the seller swears up and down that it was sent. Now my friend has to go through the hassle of initiating a claim on PayPal, so who knows how long it’ll be before she gets her money back (I’m sure she will, eventually).

When she was showing me what happened, I noticed that the seller she bought from had a TERRIBLE rating!! So many other people had left negative or neutral feedback that I couldn’t believe my friend actually took a chance and bought something from the person. But she said it was such a good deal that she couldn’t pass it up — which brings me to the point of this post.

I love eBay and have scored some fantastic bargains over the years. But you always, ALWAYS have to check the seller’s feedback score before buying anything. If the person has screwed over everyone else, what makes you think he or she won’t do the same to you? No “bargain” is worth the headache and hassle of trying to prove your side of the story if the transaction ever gets disputed.

I thought this was common sense on the part of eBay shoppers, but apparently not. Remember that when you buy from eBay, you’re dealing with regular people for the most part (not necessarily retail outlets), so you’ve definitely got to stay on your toes!