Styleforum › Forums › General › General Chat › Ebay death in the family excuse
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Ebay death in the family excuse

post #1 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:04pm
Thread Starter 
I recently purchased an item from ebay. I asked the seller for a tracking number, which is pretty standard for an international shipment. The seller ignored the request, so I reminded her about a week later. The seller replied immediately with the number and an apology for the delay. She explained that there was a death in the family. No harm, no foul. The tracking number is fine, and there was no dispute between the seller and me.

The weird thing, though, is that this is the third time in the past year that a seller has used the death in the family excuse to explain why something was delayed on their end. I've probably made 25 purchases in that time, so about 12% of my purchases have resulted in the same excuse.

Does anybody else run into this excuse? It's rather bizarre.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:11pm
I've run into it once, in quite a few more transactions than you. It's possible one or two of your encounters was just the "they'll never give me bad feedback if I give this reason..." But then it's entirely possible that you just had strange luck. That said, I've also noticed that a lot of the big sellers on eBay, when they aren't essentially corporate, are people scouring goodwill, etc, trying to support ailing family members - as such, the possibility of death in the family is higher than in the general population.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:24pm
I've only had one problem on ebay, years ago, before paypal. I sent payment via money order (which includes name and address of course for payee) and waited for my item. After multiple attempts to contact, he finally emailed and told me he was sorry, but he had sent the item to the wrong person. End of story, no refund. The address was from a small town in Utah, Toole I think. So I just called the local police, informed them of the situation, and they were kind enough to go talk with him. He got very pissed, called me some nasty names over the phone...and sent back my money with a little plus for the cost of my initial postage and money order.

So no Z, I have not run into your problem and find it fishy. I think people use death and diarrhea as excuses quite often, figuring people will not question either one.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:41pm
Obviously you people aren't aware of the horrific "Ebay Seller's Curse". It is second only to "King Tut's Curse" in the number of lives of innocent victims it has claimed.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post
I've only had one problem on ebay, years ago, before paypal. I sent payment via money order (which includes name and address of course for payee) and waited for my item. After multiple attempts to contact, he finally emailed and told me he was sorry, but he had sent the item to the wrong person. End of story, no refund. The address was from a small town in Utah, Toole I think. So I just called the local police, informed them of the situation, and they were kind enough to go talk with him. He got very pissed, called me some nasty names over the phone...and sent back my money with a little plus for the cost of my initial postage and money order.

So no Z, I have not run into your problem and find it fishy. I think people use death and diarrhea as excuses quite often, figuring people will not question either one.

Even further proof, never ever cross Pio.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:47pm
Sellers make up all sorts of excuses.

Ask for a copy of the death certificate.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slopho View Post
Even further proof, never ever cross Pio.

Or at least, don't be stupid enough to give me your name and address when you cross me.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:50pm
Remind me not to sell you anything on eBay, O Reaper of Souls. You are the eBay angel of death.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 21
12/8/09 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by teddieriley View Post
Sellers make up all sorts of excuses.

Ask for a copy of the death certificate.

This has the makings of a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, down to the repeating, but slightly tweaking, of a plot line from an old Seinfeld episode.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 21
12/8/09 at 5:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas View Post
Remind me not to sell you anything on eBay, O Reaper of Souls. You are the eBay angel of death.

Yeah, zbromer is like that death cat which lived in a hospice and would curl up next to people who were about to die.

OR maybe this is related to how all strippers are working towards their AA so they can transfer and eventually go to pharmacy school.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 21
12/8/09 at 5:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RJman View Post
Yeah, zbromer is like that death cat which lived in a hospice and would curl up next to people who were about to die.

OR maybe this is related to how all strippers are working towards their AA so they can transfer and eventually go to pharmacy school.

I actually blame you for this latest purchase. I've never even bid on any of ebay items you've listed. I did for this item. I win, and I get the ol' death excuse again.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 21
12/8/09 at 5:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zbromer View Post
I actually blame you for this latest purchase. I've never even bid on any of ebay items you've listed. I did for this item. I win, and I get the ol' death excuse again.

Is the seller trying to put herself through pharmacy school too?
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 21
12/8/09 at 5:44pm
i dont know why anyone would make an excuse for any delays. most sensible buyers would understand the true excuse.

i always mention the truth as to i had no time to stop by the post office this week (international requires usps, i cant do it through my workplace, and i get off work past the closing time of the local office that is way out of my way)

so i just tell everybody that.

one time i even stated (a particular weekend where the sat was the 7th day deadline) that i was at a family party and had was busy that whole day and was absolutely tired to go make a trip to the usps to wait in line so i told him i will try my best to ship it out next week. he was a bit perturbed but said it was cool to be updated at least and told the truth. no issues.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 21
12/8/09 at 6:38pm
One time the seller told me the 2 week delay was because his wife left him, he seemed honest so I didn't make a big deal out of it.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 21
12/8/09 at 7:52pm
This chick told me that she couldn't ship it because she had too much drama going on in her life. I looked her up through the website found via Ebay and saw that she was this fat, Conne-fuckable chick, so I figured that her excuse was heartfelt.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: General Chat
Styleforum › Forums › General › General Chat › Ebay death in the family excuse