A fishy situation on Ebay, your thoughts please? (Quite long)

Hi all, please pardon the pun. It's probably been done to the death by now, but hey

On 24th April. I ordered 6 harlequin rasbora and 4 panda corydoras from Ebay for my new 12 gallon tank. I've been keeping to the inch per gallon rule with my 6G planted nano tank for a while, but as I'm religious about 15% weekly water changes and monitoring I've decided to go slightly heavier. Anyway, the feedback for the seller was good and as my Endlers and shrimp all arrived without a hitch, I decided to take my chances. As I got into bed the night of my recent order, I noted that the listing price for the rasboras was for 4 fish not 1 ( was sure it was one fish before), so I contacted the seller and asked if I could amend my order as 24 would be far too many. The seller said that he had updated the listing while it was in my basket, and my order was actually only for 6 fish. A relief for me, but also a bit suspicious.

The seller sent me a duplicate message on the 27th and asked when I would like delivery. Today (30th April) was the first available day, and as it's a blog-free day for me and a lieu day for my husband, we agreed it would be a nice way to spend our day. I sent the seller a message for what I assumed would make sense for both orders and I got an email yesterday to say that my rasboras had been shipped. I waited excitedly, but nothing came on the corydoras.

Today, I received a package via UPS. Inside was the 4 corydoras I ordered. I checked the packaging for fear that I'd somehow misplaced my rasboras, but they were nowhere to be seen. No worries I thought, maybe UPS had forgotten them and would be back with the delivery? Nothing came.

I contacted the seller at 3:30pm to say that the tracking number was allocated to the rasbora, but the consignment contained the corydoras. I asked for the other tracking number as I was concerned for the welfare of the fish. When the seller got back to me at 9:15pm, he said there wasn't one. Somehow, in three days since confirming my order there had been a mistake and the seller had forgotten to ship them.

Whilst I understand that these are living creatures not clothes, this doesn't feel like a seller who cares. I find it incredibly strange that he so-say updated the listing while I was checking out, and I find it strange that he can 'forget' something that I confirmed only 72 hours ago. The way I feel now, I'd like a refund for the fish and I'll take my custom elsewhere. These are living fish, they don't deserve the stress of being hauled out of the water and bagged by someone who seems to not care much about my custom. If they can update the order for one fish, it should have occurred to them to realise that I ordered two 'items' from them. I paid for them at exactly the same time, so somebody should have checked the order before packaging it.

I was tempted to open a 'item not as described' case, but that feels wrong on many levels. For one, they're fish not mere 'items', and for two, I can hardly send them back for a refund. The way I feel, all I want now is for the seller to update the fact that it was the corydora that they shipped, update the tracking for the right order and cancel and refund me for the missing rasbora. No cases, call it a change of mind.

What do you think? The seller has asked me to confirm that I will be here on Tuesday to receive them, but to me it feels like too little too late. If it was anything else I would expect them shipped tomorrow, it is only that it is live fish that they can get away with it.

I'd welcome your thoughts

 

People make mistakes and selling on eBay is for the purpose of making money nearly all the time. Unfortunately a lot of fish are culled or die in the process of us getting them for tanks we have.

If he has previously shipped you healthy fish that seem safely packaged I would accept the ones you wanted.

 

I will say, ever since the pandemic and quarantining, the mail has been really funny. There was a birthday in my family and cards and the present came late. He didn’t get a present on his birthday I don’t use Ebay that often but I have ordered aquarium plants once. A floating plant I ordered died very quickly, but some dwarf sag I bought I’ve had months so far and it’s thriving. It really varies. Some care, others don’t.

 

I am a big seller on eBay so what I would suggest is either ask the seller to compensate you, or you can contact eBay and cancel the order.
eBay will always go with the buyer ( crazy but they do ) Yes its true with everything going on in our World today the shipping is crazy.
Best of luck in what ever you decide to do,

 

I'm confused. Why did you consider returning the corydoras? If you don't want the rasboras shipped to you anymore, fine; but I don't think you should get 4 free fish either. I understand you wanted all your fish shipped together and was expecting that, but sometimes stuff happens. It doesn't sound at all like the seller was trying to rip you off, but an honest mistake. No one is perfect 100 percent of the time. If the seller's reviews are good, it's usually well deserved. For one, the seller sounds responsive, not ignoring you, and another, he/she offered to ship the rest of the fish at another date. I guess I'm not getting it, but what's the big deal?

 

Thanks all for the replies

magentatooth that's a horrendous thought and sadly something we don't realise when we buy fish. The corydoras do seem fine and active but I'm still alarmed by some of the other details mentioned, like updating the listing as I was checking out and marking one part of the order as shipped, but shipping the other. One mistake is or coincidence is fine, but three has my hackles up now.

watermelon46 I agree, although with couriers, rather than general post, things seem to be fairly okay. In the UK, UPS is more like a courier service than a postal service (ours is Royal Mail) so they seem to be getting things done. Everything I've ordered before on Ebay has gone well and I have no doubt in the seller's capabilities as the corys arrived fine. It's not that he can't ship his fish, it's that he forgot to fulfil the order full stop. I am sure that it would have cost him a pound or two more for a Saturday delivery which would have been absolutely fine and should be the least he could do to rectify the situation, but the five-day wait seems a bit flippant IMHO. I sell on Ebay too, and I go out of my way to make sure my customers are happy when things go wrong. It should be standard practice.

Dennis57 thankyou for your thoughts. As mentioned above I too sell on Ebay (though not in aquatics) and customer service is always a priority. I do fully understand when you mention that Ebay sides with the buyer as I've been swindled on more than one occasion. If it was an item with no heartbeat or gills then perhaps I'd feel differently and just open a case. Even compensation, as you've mentioned, would have been better. The feeling I got from the seller was "tough luck, you'll have to wait until next time", which didn't sit so well with me.

scarface I don't want free fish. This isn't about anything for free and that's not something that I would do (although did once happen because of a very kind Endlers seller). To make it easier to understand, I ordered two different fish species from the same seller and I believed that the box that I received today would have bags containing both the rasboras and the corydoras, separately. Instead, the seller listed the tracking number on only half of my order, the item that they hadn't actually shipped, instead of fulfilling my whole order in one consignment like we had agreed. I wasn't even given a choice between waiting until Tuesday or a refund for the missing part of my purchase, it was just "oh well, we'll send them next week now instead". That's not good customer service.

 

Imagine he was about to send you fish when his toddler came into the room and required attention. And when he came back he forgot what he was doing and mixed up the order.
unfortunately no one is perfect and situations arise that can be distracting. it sounds like an honest mix up,if the Cory are healthy the rasbora should be too, if you still want them.

 

trahana I understand your point, though as an Ebay seller myself, I go beyond to rectify problems when they occur because it keeps my customers returning. If I miss a parcel collection, I've been known to book items in on a priority service to get them there in the same time frame and at no additional cost to the buyer, or to take a parcel to the main depot myself. Were it me, I'd have taken it on the chin, booked in a Saturday delivery and got up half an hour early today to get them packed and ready to be shipped. Even in these current times, I've been using priority tracked shipping at no cost to my buyers to make sure they receive their items. Sadly, I just didn't feel as though the seller cares for my custom. I don't expect him to jump through hoops, but I do expect a little more than to feel fobbed off and told to wait the best part of a week. I know that a Saturday delivery would put him marginally out of pocket, but as I mentioned, my attitude would be short term losses and long term gains. The way I feel, I've bought healthy fish from plenty of other sellers, one even sent me two extra fish for free. I don't expect free stuff from everyone, but I do expect good customer service.
I checked this morning and he hasn't even marked corydora as dispatched, even though they are now in a tank in my home. If I wanted to be petty, I could open an item not received case for the corydora (it's been 8 days since my order) and ask for a refund, which would be more than the value of the missing rasbora fish, because he simply can't prove that he sent them. I won't be that petty, but my point is, he just doesn't appear to care. A partial refund for the shipping and a Tuesday delivery even would have been fine by me, but I feel as though I've just been disregarded.

 

Just an update: I contacted the seller at 1pm and asked to cancel but still not had a reply. It's a shame, but I'm so in love with my Endlers and Corydoras and I don't want to think about stress when I look at my fish. Instead, I've decided to treat myself to some more blue cherry shrimp from a seller that I've dealt with twice already.

 

Sometimes eBay just isn't that reliable. With social distancing and all more and more people are ordering online. If it's safe, it's always recommended to purchase from lfs if it's open
Maybe the seller has disregarded you but just try to hope the cories will come well and healthy

 

watermelon46 my cories arrived yesterday and I don't think they've stopped. Last night they were up and down along the front of the tank, doing what it is cories do. The Endler males and Cories seem to shoal up together and go foraging for food. They're piggies, the lot of them!
Unfortunately the only lfs near me is closed due to the pandemic and is probably worse in terms of conditions than some of these online sellers anyway. The one I'd normally go to for fish is about 45 minutes away on the bus, definitely not so local to home. All I want now from the seller is a refund. I won't resort to negative feedback, I think sometimes people get a little bit childish with feedback on Ebay.