check out this response I got from an ebay seller

[gaga4toyz]

I won this auction 2 weeks ago and it hasn't shown up yet. I wasn't real worried about it yet, but wanted to send the seller a message and see if everything was OK. This guy has like 1200 feedback. Here's his reply:

I simply wanted to inform you, my valued buyer that due to financial problems this month caused by some issues with ebay/paypal, your shipment has been delayed. It?s a long story and one that there is not enough room here to go into, but suffice to say that this has not been a good year and ebays unbending policies in certain areas have not helped that-they are pretty rough on their sellers now because of lots of other dishonest sellers. Your item will be shipped soon, you will receive it though a little late. I appreciate your understanding and your purchase more than you can know. Have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/New Year and thanks again.
Eric


I set him a message back saying sorry for your troubles, but I sent you money to ship my item and now it sounds like you spent my shipping money and have no money left to ship it. I guess he'll ship it when he feels like it. I don't mind waiting 3 or 4 weeks for an item but this is crazy. What do you guys think?

[Bill]

Here's my excuse, but I still can't tell you a ship date?

[Mikey]

I kind of believe him (his hardships), but there's still no excuse for not shipping out an auction win as soon as possible.

Cry me a river, but send me my item I PAYED FOR.

If you don't, then you're a crook.

[Marvelmania]

I don't get it because he shouldn't be out of pocket anything since you sent him the money to ship the item with your payment. Maybe something came up for him but it still sounds a little crazy and he should have at least sent you a shipping date.

[jimbutsu]

He did say he had paypal issues, not just ebay- though ebay owns PayPal. If they froze him (and PayPal freezes perfectly above board, honest people ALL THE TIME, I assure you), he could be in a lot of hurt with no clear end in sight, particularly if auctioning is a key source of income for him.

[thunderbolt]

Man, that sounds real familiar.

[Gorn Captain]

He's just one of the guys that are ruining Ebay. He's part of the problem that he's using as an excuse not to ship you paid for item.

[Adam West]

I am in a somewhat precarious Ebay situation myself so I feel for you.

I won an item on Ebay, paid for it by paypal, received a UPS tracking number...thinking everything was normal.

One day later, Ebay sends me a note stating that they have ended the auction early and that there are problems with my seller, don't send them money because they won't cover it, etc. Of course this email comes a day after the auction has already ended and I have paid for it.

It has been two weeks and there is indeed a tracking number but it appears that the seller has only printed a shipping label because there is no record of it being scanned in anywhere.

I have asked the seller a few times what is going on and no response. I have now filled out a paypal complaint and still no response.

The worst part is that this *&^% is going to walk away with my money and Ebay is going to try to wipe their hands clean.

Worst case scenario is I'm out $60 which will mark the first time I have officially lost money which isn't the end of the world but does irk me that there are creeps out there that will steal that kind of money from you especially around the holidays.

[Zemo]

Ask him to be clearer on his issues. Ebay is now putting 21 day holds on payments received as they see fit. Your money could be in his account but he can't get access it for 21 days. Ebay is ruining ebay. And as jimbutsu said, his account could be frozen completly. I would just simply write him back ask for further explaination before you decide your next step.

[gaga4toyz]

All is well. He got back to me and said he was mad because he hadn't paid his ebay bill for a while and they took the money from his paypal account. He's shipping it on Fri. I wasn't mad about the wait, I've waited for weeks for things and not filed a claim or anything. It was the fact that he wasn't being very clear about when he was going to ship it.