After 3 years of eBay... ARGH!

After 3 years of doing buy-and-sell on eBay, I think I have finally encountered the worst transaction possible... sad to say, it's from an eBay member who has a 100% feedback score and a blue star rating (for those who are unfamiliar with eBay rankings, a blue star rating means the person has had 50 to 99 unique and successful transactions. More info at eBay's Star Icons info page).

First of all, let me point out that all of my item listings have my preferred meetup points (Makati: General area of Starbucks Insular and for QC: General area of Orthopedic Hospital along Banawe) indicated. Complete with specific location, dates and times (since I have to work too, after all), and I have a note on every listing to please feel free to contact me for any concerns.

Going on to the story:

A potential buyer contacted me May 13 via email to ask if I could meet him on Election Day for the transaction. I said I was out of town at the moment, and would be back in Manila on Thursday, May 17 and if we could meet then. Buyer said OK to this and bid on the item.

On May 16, I clarified with the buyer that I can only meet at my QC meetup point on Thursday due to schedule restraints, and OK for the QC or Makati meetup points on Friday. Buyer said to meet at Makati since will be coming from a province, so will have to be Friday. OK'ed by both me and buyer.

On Friday morning (let's say 830am), buyer texted me to let me know we can meet at 1pm, and to change the order from a black-colored model to a blue-colored model. I replied with a text message: "Sorry, no other colors available at this time. Ok for 1pm at Starbux Insular."

Buyer replied to me: "I come all the way from ___ am not familiar with that place. Can we meet at Glorietta 4. Your ad said other colors available."

So I replied: "No stock yung other colors na. It was specified in the item description about the meetup point. You should have asked me first if we can meet up at a different location. Can I give you a call?"

Buyer calls me up, asking "Was it specified in the description about the meetup point?" I said yes. Then buyer says "I'm coming all the way from ___ and I have to meet you on your doorstep to buy the item? eBay is a place for buyer and seller to respect each other and come to compromise in order to do a successful transaction."

At this point, I explained first that the reason why sellers put meetup locations in the item description is so that buyers are already guided as to whether the meetups are reasonable to them or not. Ok lang to meet elsewhere, pero sana naman the buyer asked me first if this was possible, and not spring up a location change to me at the last minute.

And that's where all hell broke lose. Buyer started saying things like "mutual respect about buyer and seller", "how long have you been on ebay", "if you check my feedback i'm not a scammer", "glorietta is a public area so safe for me and buyer to transact", "i've been doing transactions on ebay for a long time ikaw lang yung di maayos kausap."

And buyer was saying it in a patronizing tone of voice, without even giving me a chance to explain. Basta satsat siya ng satsat. Obviously, I was irritated at this point. I didn't shout although I did have to raise my voice a little to get my point across, which buyer was rebutting with things like "we're both educated" and "i don't want this transaction to go sour" and other stuff.

Ah... and buyer even had the audacity to tell me "iha, bata ka pa" and "wag mo ako tarayan."

What does this information have to do with the meetup location? Tsaka pag sinabihan ka ng ganyan ng total stranger, how the hell does one expect you to react???

In the end, buyer told me "Iha, di tayo magkakasundo, wag na lang." As to which I replied "Next time, please read everything in the listing."

There were some other points about the item that we argued about, like the item color and availability, but this was the part of the conversation that really irked me.

I've had meetups with other buyers before who come from far away, and I've also had a lot of transactions where I had to go far from my meetup points to meet the buyer, but within reasonable distance and agreeable to us both WAY BEFORE the meetup date. And if this buyer has the audacity to tell me that buyer has had so many ebay transactions before with no problem, then why couldn't the buyer pick up on a simple thing as "Meetup Point" in the item description. All the buyer had to do was ask if we can meet at Glorietta the first time I was contacted. Then I could schedule my day to try to meet the buyer at Glorietta. Diba?

Geez.