eBay: Both Sweet And Sour

I've recently been buying too many baseball cards on eBay. I'm compulsive and don't like to lose an auction. That's a sure-fire recipe for disaster. More's the pity. eBay has the ability to be both the joy of my online shopping life and the bane of my existence, to wit:

I bought a CRAIG BIGGIO 1998 Studio PSA 10 GEM MT Astros card from someone named "strictly-psagems". I paid WAY too much for it -- $19.51 plus $2.75 S&H. (I will admit that the S&H charge was extremely reasonable....some of the dealers try and make their dough on the shipping when they can't make it on the card!). I waited. I waited some more. I got other cards in that I'd bought in the same time period. I still waited. I got ALL the cards in I'd bought in July!

Finally I said "HEY?" and e-mailed the seller via the eBay mail service to ask when the card was mailed thinking maybe it'd gotten lost in the shuffle across a desk. She replied tersely "Don't know, but it WAS mailed". I said to myself "OK, then I'll just wait a while longer"..... ticktockticktockticktockticktockticktock ...... I wrote her twice more and this time received no reply. I went to eBay and read the How To and discovered I hadn't waited long enough to file a formal complaint, so I waited some more. See ticktock above. I wasn't all that worried because she is after all an eBay "Power Seller" with decent feedback scores.

Finally I dropped the hammer. After several form letter exchanges with eBay about how to handle my complaint, I decided it was pretty much hopeless and went ahead and left her negative feedback. That's the first time I've EVER left negative remarks and this is what I said:

Never received $22.26 baseball card they claim was mailed. Buyer beware!!

This was her reply:

Reply by strictly-psagems: Card was sent out !!! From now on, EVERY AUCTION will be sent W/ DELIVERY CONF.

She left THIS negative feedback for me:

ANOTHER PAYPAL SCAM ARTIST - BUYER BEWARE !!! COMPLETE THIEF, AND LIAR - CROOK

Then I got THIS email from her:

HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR NEGATIVE ALSO, BITCH !!! LIAR, CARD WAS MAILED !!!

I did not responded. I decided it was pointless to get into online hair pulling and that I'd been scammed or, more likely, one of the post offices involved had messed up.

Evidentially she took this opportunity to get off her meds because she left the following messages to OTHER people in response to their favorable feedbacks to her:

Reply by strictly-psagems: TEXASGINGERSNAP is from Texas same as SHERINHOUSTON - RETALITORY NEGATIVE LEFT (I dunno who "Sherinhouston is but her crime must be that she's from Houston too! And I think she meant "retaliatory").

Reply by strictly-psagems: I Was SCAMMED W/ PAYPAL by both SHERINHOUSTON & TEXASGINGERSNAP - RETALITORY NEG

Reply by strictly-psagems: Guess I Should've Cleared My VEGAS Trip W/ THIS IDIOT & The National GONE 2 WKS. (This was in response to someone that said it took 3 weeks for them to get their card they'd purchased).

Reply by strictly-psagems: WHY IS IT ALWAYS PEOPLE W/ NO FEEDBACK ??? NOT TO MENTION A $5.00 CARD !!! WOW (This was in response to someone who said: awesome cards, as described, nicely packaged and fast shipping, a great seller).

Somewhere in all this mess I'd filed a complaint with PayPal and lo and behold after their investigation they up and refunded the money I'd lost, minus, of course, the shipping charges. Sweet! I was both thrilled and stunned. I never thought I'd recover a dime. I'll admit I was STILL hoping the card was delayed and would show up and I could say "sorry, never mind". And I also thought: nanny nanny, boo boo, strictly-psagemswhiner!

She's taken to leaving the following comments on her feedback retorts now:

Reply by strictly-psagems: I SHIP THE DAY THAT YOU PAY !!! NEW PAYPAL SHIPPING PROCESS IS WORKING GREAT

I've written to eBay asking that her negative comments in response to others be removed and they have declined unless I can produce a court order. I also got the following missive from eBay:

Strictly-psagems has filed a request to mutually withdraw feedback for the transaction shown below. eBay allows members to withdraw feedback for a transaction if they both agree it is no longer appropriate.

If you agree to this request, the feedback you received AND any feedback you left for this transaction will be withdrawn at the same time. Withdrawn feedback remains in both members' profiles but is no longer counted in the feedback score. If you have not left feedback for this transaction, you may still agree to this request, but you will not be able to leave feedback at a later date.

I sent them the following reply back:

Subject: Re: eBay Feedback Withdrawal Request for Item #330006350906

She called me a "bitch" in email sent through Ebay. I paid for the item in a timely manner and was libeled by her when I asked what happened to delivery. I am neither a "crook, thief, liar" nor a "scam artist". She wants the feedback withdrawn for her benefit not mine. I wish there was some way to block her name from search results...if there is a way I don't know of it.

Thanks again for the return of the money via PayPal. Luckily 99.9% of the sellers here are professional, courteous and capable of giving someone the benefit of the doubt when they have a good feedback rating and a long successful history of buying and selling.

I've been a member-in-good-standing on eBay since Mar 25 99, have 935 total positive feedbacks from 741 people with ONE negative for a 99.9% score.

Strictly-psagems has been a member since Jul 11 04, has a 99.7% feedback rating with 6 negatives from 13 people. THAT means she convinced 7 people to recant their initial comments. Not this time, not this cookie....I'm firing up my voodoo doll with her name on it. I'd actually spring for the attorney to get the court order if I didn't think this was beyond silly considering real people have real problems and suffering in the world, not to mention North Korea has a friggin' bomb....

Thanks for the vent. Silly though it may be, it irked the livin' pook outta me and I had to regurgitate the experience in order to set me free. Ah, free again, free again, thank eBay almighty I'm free again!