I love eBay, I really do. I live in Thailand and there are many things that I just cannot source locally, eBay is nearly always the answer if the item I want is not too heavy or bulky.

A few months ago I bought a Kawasaki Vulcan motorbike from a local dealer which had just been imported from Japan. I’m really very fussy about my bikes and I like everything to be perfect and original, and though my Kawasaki looks like new it is in fact a few years old. I made a list of all the things I needed to make it perfect, including changing a few after market items for Kawasaki original items, including the front turn indicators.

I found everything I needed on eBay, and with a combination of bidding and using “Buy Now” I had bought everything that I needed..so I sat back and waited for it all to arrive.

All items except the Indicators had arrived within 2 weeks, so after about 3 weeks I sent a polite email to the seller who is based in Canada. I asked him if he could just confirm posting and let me know which carrier he had used. I explained that I’m not in a panic for the parts but that I would like to be reassured that they are on their way. He replied to state that he has sent them by surface mail! Whoa, Canada is on the other side of the world, and I know from experience that the postage price I paid was more than enough to cover air mail (I did check this with Canada Post to be sure). I asked the seller if he had proof of posting, a tracking number and if he could let me know the actual postage cost.. guess what, no reply!

Now before I go any further I know that the postage cost can be used by the seller to cover all his or her costs and will often be more than the “actual” postage cost. But this guy charged me a lot more than the “actual” cost of airmail and then sent it by surface mail, which to me is wrong.

Anyway, fast forward nearly 2 months and I’m still waiting. I have now emailed him and told him that IF he does not have a tracking number or proof of postage then I’m holding him responsible and I’m inviting him to suggest a course of action before I leave feedback for him. I really really do not want to leave negative feedback for this guy, but I feel cheated on the postage and I’m out of pocket USD $79 for a pair of indicators..not to mention I cannot finish my bike.

Any comments from readers would be welcome. Am I being hard on this guy or should I go ahead and neg him?

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 9th, 2007 at 12:36 pm and is filed under eCommerce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.