Tale of a Shooting Star…

It finally happened. After nearly 10 years of trading on eBay, I was let-down by a seller. I won, paid for immediately and never received (it’s more over 3 months) a beautiful Creative Memories album called Imagination, which was only made in Australia. It’s purple and it has purple and silver stars and swirls decorating the edge. Do you think I could have found an album more perfect for me?

I went on the hunt for this album after I first saw it. I started stalking eBay auctions with frightening regularity. I was determined to capture my prey. I finally chose the perfect specimen, from a buyer in Australia with a reasonable (95%+) feedback rating and I pounced. I immediately forked over more than 90 dollars Australian for the album – 50 for the album and 42.50 for insured airmail shipping and handling. The seller had responded to my questions prior to the auction ending, so I had a good feeling about the transaction. I had read in her feedback that she was a little slow, so I tried to be patient. A month later, I was no longer patient. I had sent emails that received no response, so I started reading through the reams of policy information on eBay and then PayPal. I discovered that if I was going to file a dispute, it had to go through PayPal and had to be filed before 45 days from the original sales date. I filed the dispute, which is supposed to open up another line of communication with the seller, and politely stated my case. I now had 20 days from the filing of the dispute to turn it into a claim, where PayPal officially intervenes, reviews the case and then makes a determination. I waited for 2 weeks and gave the seller the option of sending the item, verifying the shipping information or refunding my money. I heard nothing, so I turned it into a claim.

I just received notification today that PayPal found in my favor and gave me some money back. I honestly wasn’t expecting much of anything, since any funds they award to you are retrieved from the seller’s account, meaning that if the seller cleaned out their account and took off for Fiji, you get nothing. I didn’t get back everything; I lost money on the transaction, but at least I recovered something! I feel much better now, as this whole affair was like the pea under all of those mattresses that was keeping the princess from getting to sleep. I think it’s been slowly eating at me, so it good to have it resolved.

And yes, I did end up buying the album from another Australian seller with a perfect (100%) reputation, who shipped it quickly and in excellent packaging and I received it a little over a week after the purchase.

All is right in the world. 🙂

I may have won some battles against my headaches over the last couple of days, but this afternoon, I lost the war. Oh well, the pain is gone, even if the medicine knocked me for more of a loop than it normally does. I just have to make sure that I keep Ben Gay or something similar on my right shoulder this weekend to keep it from creeping up my neck into my head again. Yes, the shoulder is still sore and I’m sure that stitching isn’t doing me any good, but that’s just too bad. After losing most of the day, I just had to stitch a bit tonight.

Here’s my progress so far on the Peace and Comfort banner that I’m stitching for my grandmother’s Christmas gift. She’s strict Roman Catholic and I remember her always having at least one cross in the house, so I’m pretty sure she’ll love the design.