eBayers

eBay...I'm an occasional eBayer.  I've had mostly good experiences. Lots of sellers deal with wholesalers and I've gotten some very good deals on expensive brands.

Every few years, though, you get that one lunatic.  A few years ago, I ordered some Lightning McQueen items to give to my boys for Christmas.  The items never came and the seller said due to medical reasons, she was unable to send the items and unable to give a refund because she didn't have the money anymore.  Ummm..... Luckily, eBay has very competent customer service and once I filed a dispute with eBay and PayPal, a refund was issued with a few days.  Didn't stop the crazy lady from sending me hate messages for a month, I guess for not just letting her keep my money.

Earlier this month, I ordered a mixed lot of "new with tags" size 12 clothes.  They arrived and were all size 3 and 0 and obviously used.  I sent the seller a polite note stating the items received were not at all what I ordered.  I was not prepared for the tirade that ensued!  He called me stupid, ignorant, dared me to leave negative feedback because it wouldn't hurt his 99.9% approval rating and even included a veiled threat reminding me he had my address. I also viewed past negative ratings he had received - it appeared he pushed the buttons of the buyers and when they exploded in writing, he just responded, "this person is obviously disturbed, so disregard the negative rating."

I immediately filed a dispute with eBay and PayPal.  The eBay customer service rep laughed out loud at my responses to this bozo.  I didn't take his bait.  I responded, "Wow, having such a high rating on eBay must make you feel really validated and loved. xoxo!" Things like that.  He kept sending insults and I kept calling him Dreamboat, Prince Charming, as I kept asking him to stop contacting me.  (I couldn't block his email address until the dispute was resolved.)

I received a full refund through PayPal and left honest but negative feedback: "received full refund, negative for extremely hostile seller, abusive language."  This started another email tirade! I responded once, stating I was tired of the rants of an unemployed hillbilly but for good luck in his FABULOUS career pursuit of selling his wife's old crap online.  Then I blocked him.

This got me thinking about a phenomenon of the digital age.  You see this happen all the time on Facebook, particularly around the time of an election.  Not just politics and religion, people get into online arguments over the stupidest things.  People get really ugly in writing.  They say things they would never to say to someone's face.  Why does the fact that you can hide behind your typing bring out such nastiness in people? 

Anyway, in the future, if I need to buy someone's used things for some reason, I'm going to the thrift store!