Quality Sporrans for less money

[OC Richard]

Let's hope the powers-that-be at eBay can refrain from arbitrary that's-banned-so-destroy-it action this time...

That story gets stranger and stranger. The timeline:

9 May 2024.

I complete a Buy-it-Now purchase of item #2667 8448 0189 from t.bakerjewellery (Shifnal, England).

14 May 2024.

I receive a full refund from Ebay and a message stating in part "Your recent purchase cannot be completed. The item in question has been deemed restricted."

I contact the seller t.bakerjewellery saying that if horsehair is restricted can he remove the cantle and just post me the cantle and the chain strap.

The seller replies saying "Unfortunately the items don't get returned to us, I believe Ebay destroys them."

25 June 2024.

The sporran is relisted by a different seller, chaov-uk2014 (Bordon, England) item #2765 2446 1781. Oddly, the same photos from the original auction in May are re-used.

I message the seller saying that I had previously purchased that item from another seller, but that it was seized by Ebay. Would it be possible for him to remove the cantle and just post me the cantle and chain strap?

27 June 2024.

The seller chaov-uk2014 messaged me "Small world! This was purchased from an auction of undelivered mail."

Someone else purchased the sporran with Buy-it-Now.

What was never explained was why the second seller re-used the photos from the first auction. How could he do, if he wasn't aware that there had been a previous auction? And why would he do, if he had the sporran he had purchased at auction to hand?

I do wonder who the new buyer is. It's probably someone we know.

[Troglodyte]

That story gets stranger and stranger. The timeline:

9 May 2024.

I complete a Buy-it-Now purchase of item #2667 8448 0189 from t.bakerjewellery (Shifnal, England).

14 May 2024.

I receive a full refund from Ebay and a message stating in part "Your recent purchase cannot be completed. The item in question has been deemed restricted."

I contact the seller t.bakerjewellery saying that if horsehair is restricted can he remove the cantle and just post me the cantle and the chain strap.

The seller replies saying "Unfortunately the items don't get returned to us, I believe Ebay destroys them."

25 June 2024.

The sporran is relisted by a different seller, chaov-uk2014 (Bordon, England) item #2765 2446 1781. Oddly, the same photos from the original auction in May are re-used.

I message the seller saying that I had previously purchased that item from another seller, but that it was seized by Ebay. Would it be possible for him to remove the cantle and just post me the cantle and chain strap?

27 June 2024.

The seller chaov-uk2014 messaged me "Small world! This was purchased from an auction of undelivered mail."

Someone else purchased the sporran with Buy-it-Now.

What was never explained was why the second seller re-used the photos from the first auction. How could he do, if he wasn't aware that there had been a previous auction? And why would he do, if he had the sporran he had purchased at auction to hand?

I do wonder who the new buyer is. It's probably someone we know.

This sounds familiar...

There was something of an expose and scandal here in the UK a few years ago, regarding eBay's own and their courier's practices.

It became clear that eBay and the couriers had no intention of getting items to their due recipient, and were selling containers of undelivered parcels of items in what was seen as a scam. The defence was that the items had been 'lost' in transit, and the purchaser reimbursed.

But the seller lost out in every way - lost the item, lost the payment and lost the cost of mailing, too.

The parcels used as examples showed full and clear delivery and return addresses, and were clearly not lost - but it's a good way of getting rid of a back-log of consignments if you're unscrupulous.

Interestingly, the courier firm changed its name just after this, but is still the preferred service - so your sporran/cantle escapade might be an indication that all concerned are still up to their old tricks...