Ebay Bait And Switch Situation

Have you ever bid on some stamp plate blocks by how they looked in the picture shown only to not have those exact same plate blocks as pictured sent to you but some other ones with the same catalog number? Then, after contacting the seller about it, you are made to feel as if you as the buyer is the one playing the switch game. It's like you can't win especially if both buyer and seller have a 100% positive feedback. All I know is that I didn't get the exact pictured stamps that I wanted and paid for that I was expecting to get. I don't know why the seller didn't send them.

I've never had it happen, but if the seller is playing innocent, I'd just ask for a refund, return the items and be done with it. The seller could be trying to pull a fast one, or he might just have multiple items like the one you bought and just picked the wrong one and not realized it.

Hi Jogil,
this is my input, if I was put in a situation similar to the one stated above, I would contact the seller and try to find out what his excuse is, I would then Report it to trading standards, if they are doing it often then people like trading standards would need to know, some people will say im fast to act negatively, to be honnest im just tired of buying things that state you will receive the actual one you will receive in the picture but turn out to be different, why do sellers state this and then send similar but not the actual product?
(edited here onwards=)
Example=
say I was selling a complete stamp block worth £30.00, and I clearly stated in the listing that you would receive the item in the picture, then you think to yourself, I like it, I want it, so you pay for it, expecting the stamp block in the picture, then I send you a pencil, I dont think anybody would be happy, in my eyes this is the same situation, you paid for the product in the picture, yet you received a different one, people will say a pencil is different from a stamp block, yes I know that but its an example ( a little extreme I must admit but still its the principle of the sale), you paid for the exact one in the picture but received a different one,
Turbo.

Many ebay dealers selling 1930's - 1960's US plate blocks will be listing a plate block with a quantity next to the buy it now price and they only scan one of the 15 and somewhere in the fine print they will state that fact.

ebay always protects the buyer. Simply start the return process and your money will be refunded and avoid this seller.

I agree with kcaramat. Especially if paypal is involved.

Kcaramat this question is directed at you, what feedback would you leave them? also question number two, would you report them to the equivalent of the UK Trading Standards for the USA?
Turbo

I don't think ebay protects the buyer all the time. Sent some stuff back to the seller once because the item wasn't what was offered. Sent it back the same way it was sent to me by regular mail. Seller did not reply back to any of my request's or ebay's requests for a resolution. ebay & Paypal both balked at sending me a refund because They did not hear back from the seller and I did not send item back registered mail. It happened a long while ago and I can sort of understand that they would not trust me or anyone unless they had proof of shipping. After a long go round I ended chalking it up to a $60 learning experience.

I'd leave neutral or negative feedback stating item received was not item listed. I don't believe I would report them unless it appeared to be a pattern.

I left neutral feedback once because the seller did not send the exact right stuff, etc. I was very neutral in my comment, but I certainly did not think he deserved GOOD feedback because the material was NOT what was advertised, etc. He turned around and gave me negative feedback!! grrrrrrr

Sellers should be required to post feedback upon payment. They shouldn't be allowed to wait until feedback is posted by the buyer. Sometimes they use it as a form of extortion.

vacuum man, why did you return the item before you received the refund? I don't believe ebay requires that. I thought that as soon as a buyer files a complaint, the funds are frozen in paypal.

some nice reply's, I would 100% leave neutral or negative feedback to help other people know what that seller in question does, just incase there is a pattern,
Kcaramat, you a quite right, seller's hold back until they see a positive (gleaming) feedback before they will give you yours, quite sad to be honest.
Turbo

Should we just change the name to eBait?

I buy and sell Stamps on ebay and 99% of the people that I have dealt with are honest and would bend over backwards to have a positive transaction. It's probably as good or better of a percentage than you would get anywhere. Keep your head up and trust that people are basically good until they prove otherwise.

Sellers haven't been able to leave negative feedback for years

and that was the reason they stopped allowing it - so it couldn't be used as extortion