eBay Weber BBQ Sales

odyssi on 01/09/2014 - 08:24
Last edited 17/04/2020 - 12:23 by 1 other user

Following on from the discussion here yesterday about a particular ebay users weber BBQ sales.

A quick calculation on his sales.

Good luck to him ! (Hope it doesnt go pearshape on him)

Item Unit Price # Units Gross Sales FVF P/pal Fees AO Cost Profit C/Rewards (4%) Profit inc. Cash Rewards
Q1000 $375 149 $55,875 $5,531.63 $1,385.70 $40,081 ($269) $8,876.67 $1,603.24 $10,370.91
Q2000 $500 317 $158,500 $15,691.50 $3,899.10 $116,973 ($369) $21,936.40 $4,678.92 $26,615.32
Q2000 $540 16 $8,640 $855.36 $212.16 $6,368 ($398) $1,204.48 $254.72 $1,459.20
Total 482 $223,015 $22,078.49 $5,496.96 $163,422 $32,017.55 $6,536.88 $38,445.43
General Discussion Weber

Related Stores

eBay Australia
eBay Australia
Marketplace

Comments

  • upsydaisy on 02/09/2014 - 20:06
    -2

    Did anyone buy from Tom? I am left to wonder… did Tom advise and request written permission from customers to provide their details to a third party? Hmmm!

    • Wallyt99 on 02/09/2014 - 20:26

      The privacy act does not apply to SME or sole traders.

  • sparkles on 02/09/2014 - 20:28
    +1

    I'm convinced Tom is reading OzBargain because shortly after I did the calculations on his alternate "cashback" deal and outlined that his profits were negligible he ended the listing LOL.

    So, is he sourcing them from Appliances Online or Harvey Norman? Dude has probably rung every bigbox outlet in Australia to source that many BBQ's.

  • MrBillions on 03/09/2014 - 06:49

    +1 for Tom. Good on him.

  • ciab on 03/09/2014 - 10:29

    How does the seller get 4% cash rewards? and from who?

    • Malarkey on 03/09/2014 - 10:39

      AO were offering cash rewards from memory.

  • Daniel Plainview on 03/09/2014 - 11:08
    +4

    Absolutely full credit to the vendor for the initiative and bravery to pull off such an effort.

    That said I fully concur with other posters who have stated that it's 100% unacceptable for him to have sold his items as free express postage and now backflipping on this for some of his customers.

    He'd have known this when he set the promo up but obviously couldn't find a methodology to get around it and have his listing up - so the burden should be his to bear - offering a refund is unacceptable - you made an offer - so honour it.

    That said, it was a gutsy effort to pull something like this off so I HOPE he finds a way to do the right thing by folks and have earned a decent amount for himself as well. Thats only fair.

    • wiltonson on 03/09/2014 - 12:56

      Exactly what I believe as well. He is doing a business and he made offers that others have accepted to pay for. If he is passing on his mistakes by making buyers to pay extra money means he is just a typical unreliable businessman.

      • matt_will_fix_it on 04/09/2014 - 09:58

        As long as he is offering refunds to people that he can't supply the service to as promised, what is the issue?

        • wiltonson on 04/09/2014 - 14:23

          I thought the issue is he is now charging for delivery costs when the item was initially offered with free postage??

        • matt_will_fix_it on 04/09/2014 - 15:41

          @wiltonson:

          To quote from "Tom"

          Should shipping not be free or unavailable then I will process a refund for you ASAP alternatively you may fund the shipping cost if you still wish to proceed. Remember that the delivery network is large so not too many of you should be affected by this.

          So its free shipping for addresses that Appliances Online free shipping normally applies to. For locations that Appliances Online charge for shipping, he is offering a refund or giving the buyers the chance to pay for shipping.

        • wiltonson on 04/09/2014 - 16:06

          @matt_will_fix_it:

          Ah I didn't look into such level of detail. Then I guess Tom is doing the right thing.

        • SaraK83 on 04/09/2014 - 20:52

          Those buyers probably would have bought from another seller, instead of having to pay extra for something they were led to believe was included or cancel their transaction and miss out on this fantastic deal.

          I am so pleased that I changed my mind at the last minute and went with another seller. I just did a quote on appliances online and it would have been more than $100 shipping to my area, so that extra $25 I paid initially ended up saving me $75 and best of all I have already enjoyed delicious steaks cooked on my new weber q.

    • warmbeer05 on 03/09/2014 - 15:54
      +1

      Bugger, who has he backflipped on I couldn't find anything in the comments because I have also purchased from him as well a ttg

  • redslert on 03/09/2014 - 17:39

    Wonder if C/Rewards (4%) has any terms and conditions.
    Too lazy to do my own research… just a thought.

  • richmond12 on 04/09/2014 - 10:52

    Apologies for not following, I just came back from a holiday, but where is the quick summary on what did he do? i tryign to read through but im not getting it… :(

    • odyssi on 04/09/2014 - 10:53
      +2

      TLTR here

      • richmond12 on 04/09/2014 - 12:35

        thanks i get it now! kinda smart

        • BartholemewH on 04/09/2014 - 18:03
          -1

          'Kinda' smart is the correct phrase. Anyone else in business would have secured availability of a certain number of BBQ's at a discounted rate (say the first 100) on the understanding that the seller would drop ship, with an option for X more within X days. No supplier is going to charge you more for the subsequent 100(s).
          Maybe my views are skewed because I've worked in B2B wholesale for a long time but perhaps some planning was in order?

        • warmbeer05 on 04/09/2014 - 19:19
          +1

          @BartholemewH:

          lol how do ya know he didn't do that , yes I have purchased from him and also tgg

        • mmd on 04/09/2014 - 20:28
          +1

          @BartholemewH:
          Whats B2B?

          I think he is really smart.
          Why buy prior to the sale just in case no one buys it at all? Once he has the confirmed number of bbqs bought on Sunday, he would just order on Monday. Relatively less risk than buying X units prior to Sunday.

          DO I HAVE ENOUGH BBQ FOR EVERYONE?
          Moving on. So I have good news about BBQ supply. I have preliminary confirmation that everyone who wants a BBQ will get one.

          Judging by his second email, he has enough for everyone who ordered.
          This was well planned days prior to Sunday. I think he emailed applianceonline to get a estimate of how many units they have or could order in. Once he finds out the qty, he would list the qty on Ebay to prevent stock issue i.e. What happens if he lists 100 Qxxxx bbq randomly, but applianceonline only has 50 in stock?

          It sounds like something out of a bank heist movie (well planned, seemingly well executed). Everybody wins except ebay.

        • ChickenTalon on 06/09/2014 - 22:40
          +1

          @mmd: b2b = business to business

          Another common one is B2C = business to consumer.

  • PoundFoolish on 04/09/2014 - 21:10

    Any one heard from him about the delivery date? I know it says 8-10 September on ebay but so far no indication of a shipment or even an order being placed. I bought one from him and another from TGG. TGG sent theirs the very next day!

    • tomclancy on 04/09/2014 - 22:10
      +1

      Did you reply to Tom's email with the delivery date you want? That is what he asked from everyone.

      • PoundFoolish on 05/09/2014 - 05:57

        Yes, I replied straight away. Even sent a follow up email to check in status.

  • somwork on 05/09/2014 - 07:30

    Nope still waiting for any form of indication of delivery. I replied to his email as well.
    Will wait until the 10th before Ill email him as I know he'll be flooded with emails.
    So far Ill give him the benefit of the doubt that he'll come through sooner than laters.
    If he can make delivery happen then Tom is legendary!!!

  • Paulb5 on 05/09/2014 - 11:26

    Yep same boat, responded straight away as well but he hasn't replied to any emails. There is no indication he has fulfilled anyone's order yet or even placed an order. It would ease my concern if even one person had heard from Tom or he starts fulfilling at least some peoples orders. At the moment the longer he leaves it the more people are going to cancel.

  • [Deactivated] on 05/09/2014 - 21:56

    Just received this strange email directly from Ebay!

    Dear Customer,

    We are aware that you purchased a Weber BBQ on Sunday 31 August as part of our Big Sundays 50% off BBQs campaign. We are working with the seller and supplier to ensure you receive your item as quickly as possible, as we anticipate there may be a slight delay.

    Given the volume of sales of these items from this seller (tom_9_8_7), it would speed up the process if we could assist the seller in fulfilling the orders by providing contact and delivery details directly to the supplier (Appliances Online) who will fulfil delivery.

    Please reply YES if you wish for us to provide your details to Appliances Online to facilitate the delivery of your barbeque. We are hopeful that you will receive the BBQ by 19 September, if not sooner.

    Please reply NO if you wish to continue with your transaction and but do not want us to provide your contact details to Appliances Online.

    Please reply CANCEL if you no longer wish to receive the barbeque and would like a refund.

    A member of our Customer Support Team will be in contact with you early next week to assist you in this transaction. We look forward to resolving this for you.

    Regards,

    The eBay Team

    • treeman on 05/09/2014 - 22:36

      Wtf that's crazy!

    • scottb721 on 05/09/2014 - 22:49
      +13

      Not only is eBay giving Tom a lot of money, he's got them working for him now. Gold!

      • [Deactivated] on 06/09/2014 - 00:05
        +2

        Ebay are doing this for a reason, I doubt helping Tom out, is that reason.

      • t_c on 06/09/2014 - 09:59
        +1

        This is very weird, If ebay provide customer details directly to AO, they still need to get paid by Tom before they can ship, unless ebay reverse the paypal transaction for those that accept ebays offer and pay AO directly, meaning Tom would miss out on his percentage, and saving ebay a considerable amount of money.
        seems like underhanded business tactics by ebay to reclaim some of the loss.

        • tomclancy on 06/09/2014 - 11:25
          +3

          I think eBay are just providing the contact details to AO because heaps of purchasers aren't responding to Tom's numerous requests for information. In the deal thread there was a girl who said she ignored the emails because she thought it was dodgy, but then wondered when her BBQ was arriving! Lol some people

    • odyssi on 06/09/2014 - 08:03
      +2

      Be interesting to know if he has broken any of ebay's 'rules'.

      Or if Ebay are simply trying to control the choas

  • chloden on 06/09/2014 - 11:42
    -1

    I have read through this and can someone please tell me how tom has made money. I need the dumbed down version.

  • OneJay on 06/09/2014 - 14:12
    +5

    I just spoke to a family member who works for eBay and asked if she heard about the eBay seller who sold all the BBQs. She said who hasn't? I mentioned he's got eBay working for him and she realised that's probably the reason why their customer services team has been staying back late LOL.

    • odyssi on 06/09/2014 - 14:16
      +1

      I just spoke to a family member who works for eBay and asked if she heard about the eBay seller who sold all the BBQs. She said who hasn't?

      Gold !

    • Ash-Say on 06/09/2014 - 16:21
      -1

      Why i feel like Tom is an Ebay employee and they have setup this scenario to make extra money!

  • sparkles on 06/09/2014 - 20:11
    +1

    If you look at tom_9_8_7 sold listings there is nothing there. No record of these sales in his history. The plot thickens…..

    eBay's direct intervention into his sale is interesting. It's like he has been removed from the equation. I suspect eBay may be concerned over the potential for him to disappear with the money.

    • NosDan on 06/09/2014 - 20:14
      +1

      I suspect eBay may be concerned over the potential for him to disappear with the money.

      i always wondered that, his first listing on the day was "buy a bbq and get $400 cash back) or something equally as dodgy. he was only going to profit a few bucks on that one iirc. makes me wonder if his plan all along was to pull the money out of PP into another bank/banks and run off with the funds.

      dude sounded shift from the start really

      • sparkles on 06/09/2014 - 20:17
        -2

        His dealings will have cost ebay between $100-$150K. That's a lot of money even for big business. eBay management would be looking at this very carefully not only to avoid losses, but to minimise risk. I mean, he sold a quarter of a million dollars worth of product he never had in the first place. The cashback deal was the first sign something shady was going down because his profit margin on that deal was $13 (I worked it out) ie. not even worth the trouble.

        • NosDan on 06/09/2014 - 20:22

          oh yea, but my question is was he ever planning on being legit? who knows if they are even an aus citizen etc so could transfer the $250k into a bank where it cant be taken out again and take a rather hastily organised trip to a non extradition country and live happily ever after?

          either way PP would have to refund the people who lost money, hell of an expensive exercise for them

        • sparkles on 06/09/2014 - 20:27
          +1

          It's quite possible eBay will find a loophole and shut his dealings down. Supplying the BBQ's themselves will save them heaps. They could go direct to Weber and get them at wholesale cost. He wouldn't have been able to pull all those funds from PayPal instantaneously, unless he was also buying the BBQ's from AO using PayPal funding. I'm curious to what controls would go into action when someone has a quarter of a mill appear in their PayPal account. Regular banks report stuff like this to government bodies daily, I wonder what happens at PayPal in their fraud prevention and money laundering departments.

        • massivedmg on 07/09/2014 - 09:42

          This is hilarious.

          Ebay's CEO makes $13 million a year. That's just the CEO. How much do you think $150k is to them if they're paying the boss that much?

        • tomclancy on 07/09/2014 - 10:48
          -2

          @massivedmg: I don't think you understand how business works. $150k loss on operations be a huge deal to them

        • arcticmonkey on 07/09/2014 - 13:48

          @massivedmg:

          Exactly. $150k to them is probably like $1 to us especially if the CEO is on $13 million per year (disgraceful really).

          Besides, these guys probably pay far less tax proportionally than we do:

          http://www.smh.com.au/business/how-savvy-multinationals-curb…

          http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tax-avoidance-big-globa…

          http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandcon…

    • tikei on 08/09/2014 - 01:53

      I still see his completed listings.

      I calculated that if eBay steals businesses from Tom, then they lose 50k-90k, depending on how many customers they steal and assuming the AO price is the same (not likely). If they let Tom handle it by himself they lose around $90k to him (after subtracting eBay fees).

      It might not be a big amount to eBay, but they would probably do that to screw sellers who try to take advantage of eBay.

  • leeroys_dad on 06/09/2014 - 21:30

    There's nothing in eBay rules against this; only thing is that the item is shipped within 20 days afaik

  • JLum on 06/09/2014 - 23:24

    This is so interesting how ebay stepped in. I wonder if that means he'll lose some of the commission, although it shouldn't really. Bet ebay is never going to have another 50% off sale with something so high profile.

    • Turd on 07/09/2014 - 00:12

      Commission? He already got the money via paypal, and already as all the gross money minus paypal fees in his bank account already sitting in his offset home loan account.

      He just has to pay the eBay fees and use his credit cards to pay for the items, and/or use bank transfer to pay the suppliers and send them the order report.

      • odyssi on 07/09/2014 - 03:00
        +9

        Questionable…

        Having the money in your paypal account is one thing, but Paypal letting you transfer $1/4 million into your bank account is entirely different.

        My guess is they have stopped him transferring the money out of his paypal account to ensure the sales or refunds/cancellations are covered and that's why they have contacted all the buyers.

        That said, once all the sales/refunds are finalised, I think he is still going to get his profit from the margin on whatever sales go through

        In the meantime, ebay can go back to reading 'The dummies guide to writing Terms and conditions of sale'

        • [Deactivated] on 07/09/2014 - 04:47
          +5

          In the meantime, ebay can go back to reading 'The dummies guide to writing Terms and conditions of sale'

          Can someone please post the link to free kindle book here.

        • sparkles on 07/09/2014 - 16:32

          Yeah, I agree, I'd bet eBay/PayPal have put a lock on those funds.

        • Turd on 08/09/2014 - 10:18
          +1

          @sparkles: NO as long as he is verified with unlimited funds transfer for PayPal he already has the money in his bank account as of Monday last week.

          PayPal & eBay are DIFFERENT COMPANIES.

        • tinx on 11/09/2014 - 21:08
          +1

          @Turd: nope. my paypal account was put on restriction when i sold more than $20000 in one month lol.

          Basically they hold 10% of my money for 30 days everytime someone pay me, i can only withdraw that 10% after that time period ended.

          that was in 2012.

  • t_c on 07/09/2014 - 06:46

    I would bet that all those PayPal sales say next to them, 'Payment on hold pending review'(I had it happen to me after someone sent me $250).

    Assuming Tom doesn't have access to 163k in bridging finance, he may have negotiated with eBay to pay AO directly and then draw the funds from his PP account, explaining the eBay offer email?

    • Turd on 07/09/2014 - 10:28

      doubt this ebay arent there to help sellers but to screw them

    • rapoot6 on 07/09/2014 - 11:48

      Doubt this as eBay and paypal work independently.

      • Turd on 08/09/2014 - 10:17

        Yeah they are two different COMPANIES.

        • gooseberry on 12/09/2014 - 08:15

          Wikipedia entry of PayPal.

          "On October 3, 2002, PayPal became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay"

        • tomclancy on 12/09/2014 - 10:04
          +1

          @gooseberry:

          Your point is? Wholly owned subsidiary by definition means they are two different companies. Exactly what Turd wrote.

          Just because one company owns the other doesn't have effect on the operations.

        • gooseberry on 15/09/2014 - 23:50

          @PBG:

          Turd posted at least twice saying in capitals - they are two different companies - and that they wouldn't freeze his PayPal. Just pointing out that they are very closely related and will work together. And as Tom's email has shown, they did freeze his funds.

        • tomclancy on 16/09/2014 - 00:05
          +1

          @gooseberry:

          and will work together

          You have not demonstrated this with any evidence. PayPal froze Tom's account because they are a financial institution (not in the banking licence sense, but in the anti-money laundering sense). eBay have nothing to do with frozen funds, in fact eBay couldn't care less how the transaction was paid for.

        • NosDan on 16/09/2014 - 00:19

          PayPal froze Tom's account because they are a financial institution

          well yes and no…. PP froze toms accounts because they never anticipated a non merchant to make the best of there offer…. and they are looking for any way they can to discredit tom and save themselves from the legitimate sales they offered

        • tomclancy on 16/09/2014 - 08:12

          @nosdan:

          Yep. But in fairness PayPal do have set (and presumably documented if I could be bothered looking) levels for locking funds. Once you receive more than $1,000 your PayPal account is locked automatically (this is true for everyone not just Tom) until you verify your identity. And i also believe another lock happens at $20k per month.

  • Daniel Plainview on 07/09/2014 - 14:15

    Wow this just gets messier and messier. What a complete clusterf%@k of a promotion this turned out to be for Ebay.

    It seems like there's a LOT of stuff going on by Ebay below the very thin veneer the public are seeing. I get a funny feeling they're trying to kill two birds with one stone and cut 'Tom' out of the deal and also fulfill as many legit orders as possible.

    I'm sure they'd have something in their T&C to allow them to do this and it'd be left up to him to challenge them legally to get any recourse - and good luck with that given the lawyers they'd have on staff!

    • Turd on 08/09/2014 - 10:20
      +1

      Nope, not in the T&C's I checked.

  • PoundFoolish on 09/09/2014 - 05:37

    New email from him about an hour ago:

    Hi

    My name is Tom and I run the BBQ sale store on eBay. This should be my final bulk email to all buyers.

    Please note that at the request of eBay Australia, all orders will now be processed by them.

    You may have received an email from [email protected]

    Giving you the option to reply YES or NO or CANCEL

    This is an official eBay email and it is important that you respond ASAP. Preferably by replying YES.

    Please note that any personal information from my personal email address that we have been communicating on has not been shared with eBay or anyone else, so anyone requesting an exotic animal with their BBQ your secret is safe, and the providing of your details to eBay is exactly the same as to myself, purely to process your order through the same third party independent supplier/s that I originally organised.

    Please note anyone who wants to swap the Q2000 Natural Gas to the LPG (portable) edition this can be arranged when eBay contact you after replying YES.

    Also to the eight of you who were slightly overcharged ($540 >> $270) this will be fixed up by eBay and you will be refunded the difference as soon as practical.

    Anyone who has any urgent questions to the above, or didn't receive the email from eBay please contact me.

    I am still working through some loose ends with a couple of orders.

    For anyone wanting to know why the [email protected] was sent outside of eBay, I will allow them to explain to anyone interested.

    Finally to the majority of you who I won’t hear from again, I would like to thank you all for shopping at my store and I hope you get many years of enjoyment out to your discounted Weber BBQ.

    Speak soon

    Tom.

    • tomclancy on 09/09/2014 - 07:53

      Preferably by replying YES

      EBay has taken over but he's still getting some of the pie. Hope its the lions share for his gutsy effort

      • Turd on 09/09/2014 - 09:34

        He will still get the original profits, mark my words I know.

        • frysie on 09/09/2014 - 09:36

          if it comes to it….legal action will make sure of it

        • [Deactivated] on 09/09/2014 - 10:08
          +1

          @frysie: Lol good luck with that one!

        • [Deactivated] on 09/09/2014 - 10:12

          Not the amount as per this post, that is completely wrong to start with! In theory it was a good idea but in reality it was always doomed to fail for so many reasons….

        • Turd on 09/09/2014 - 10:12
          +1

          @frysie: Legal action with who? Why would eBay sue Tom, and why would Tom sue eBay? No rules were broken.

          You must be a lawyer and wanting YOUR cut of the pie.

        • frysie on 09/09/2014 - 10:16

          @Turd: the other way around; if ebay didn't comply with their T&C

        • [Deactivated] on 09/09/2014 - 10:17

          @Turd: I think they mean Tom sue Ebay. Again lol

        • tomclancy on 09/09/2014 - 10:32
          +1

          @Begbie:

          it was always doomed to fail for so many reasons

          Really? Name one.

        • [Deactivated] on 09/09/2014 - 10:43

          @apate: Selling 500 barbecues you do not have, actually getting hold of 500 barbecues, delivering them all by 10th September!!!, dealing with 500 ebayers (now check his feedback), having 250k go through your Paypal account, actually getting your money out of Paypal, one person doing the collation and fulfilment of 500 orders, one person dealing with all the emails….Just to mention a few

        • Turd on 09/09/2014 - 10:55
          +5

          @Begbie: 250k through paypal is nothing. I did that many years ago, just have your account verified with unlimited stuff and it's fine.

          collating etc is just excel work, simple as pie, emails is just copy and paste the same template, u can even do a simple 'mail merge' or find and replace thing.

          sending order to AO then letting them fill the orders.

          pretty simple imo.

          yes I'm bitter I didnt do this.

        • [Deactivated] on 09/09/2014 - 11:08

          @Turd: In principal it works, however it does not appear to have worked out so well for Tom. AO would never have 500 barbecues on hand and to deliver all of them by the 10th September would have been nigh on impossible. A few people did the same as Tom just not on the volumes he did. I think you will find all in all it would have been good but not as great as you all think or as it is detailed in this post…. Good luck to him…

        • Turd on 09/09/2014 - 11:21

          @Begbie: Dunno.. Similar to people saying house prices is high and dont buy now wait for the crash.

          or similar to those people that said in 2008-2010 that housing is high dont buy.

          *shrugs

        • odyssi on 09/09/2014 - 11:35

          Are you Tom's Turd?

          Tom … Come out come out wherever you are !

        • tomclancy on 09/09/2014 - 12:50
          +1

          @Begbie:

          AO would never have 500 barbecues on hand

          It's already been demonstrated that Weber have far more than this in stock and AO have already confirmed that all orders would be fulfilled.

          it does not appear to have worked out so well for Tom

          Have you even read the comments on this post and the deal thread? Where do you come up with statements like this? You've only been an OzB member for 4 days and you make comments about something you have no clue about… unless of course you are Tom in which case I tip my hat to you :)

  • Paulb5 on 10/09/2014 - 12:48
    +2

    Posted this in the other thread but figured it could go here too.

    So I'm not a patient man and I'm suspicious by nature so I called up eBay customer support regarding the webers from Tom and my own in particular.

    They said the email from eBay is legit and they are working with suppliers to get people the webers by the 19th of September and it is in your best interest to reply yes which I've already done.

    Hopefully this brings peace of mind to some people that it's from a source other than Tom's emails.

    PS. I see he's copping some negative feedback on his eBay account.

    • tomclancy on 10/09/2014 - 13:33
      +3

      Thanks for the update - much appreciated.

      PS. I see he's copping some negative feedback on his eBay account.

      I took a look at Tom's feedback for interest sake. Negative feedback doesn't have the same impact when you can't spell "liar". Twice. lol

      • NosDan on 10/09/2014 - 14:24

        the top 2 at least seem like its from the same person

      • Turd on 10/09/2014 - 15:20
        +5

        People want their things NOW NOW NOW NOW.

        Stuck in the Entitlement era I suppose.

        • scottb721 on 10/09/2014 - 17:11

          They've obviously never bought much online.

        • Paulb5 on 10/09/2014 - 17:30
          +1

          I'm happy to wait I just wanted to know that it wasn't a hoax. The generic emails just didn't fill me with confidence and the one from eBay was a bit bizarre but now I've been reassured.

          People leaving negative feedback are a bit rich saying he never delivered when he's sent multiple emails and if they just took the time to get in contact with eBay themselves they'd know they were coming.

          All in all I'm disappointed Tom's first foray into venture capitalism didn't work out but I thank him as I never would have got the opportunity to pick up a weber if he hadn't have done what he did.

        • odyssi on 11/09/2014 - 02:26
          +4

          @Paulb5:

          all in all I'm disappointed Tom's first foray into venture capitalism didn't work out

          I think it's worked out fine for him.

          He's scored truckload of cash AND now ebay are doing the work for him!

        • sulmar on 11/09/2014 - 22:18
          -5

          @Paulb5:

          People don't like waiting weeks, especially when there's risk of them not receiving the item at all since seller does not have the item.

          I don't see anything wrong with the negative feedback.

    • odyssi on 11/09/2014 - 02:21
      +6

      PS. I see he's copping some negative feedback on his eBay account.

      Seriously doubt he cares about that.

      With 480+ sales his ebay account was always going to be scorched.

      Would you rather an ebay feedback of 83 @ 100% or $32,000!

  • zone on 12/09/2014 - 07:25

    Anyone received any update from ebay yet regarding delivery?

  • gooseberry on 12/09/2014 - 08:04
    +6

    Latest email from Tom.

    Ebay BBQ Bulk mail out #5

    Hi

    My name is Tom and I run the BBQ Sale store on eBay. This is my fifth? bulk email to everyone who has ordered a BBQ from my eBay store.

    I did say the one before would be the last, but unfortunately not.

    A lot of you are contacting me asking why I am not responding to questions.

    Two reasons.

    1) Over the last week I have been in intense legal negotiation with eBay and PayPal and their legal team. Basically at the moment I have a frozen bank account, credit card and PayPal account. This all sounds very bad but all organisations have to run risk profiles and they do have a point, I haven’t sold any BBQ before the other Sunday.

    2) Because of 1 above I haven’t really been able to provide an answer to your questions, usually being ‘when are you sending the BBQ?’ and ‘when will I receive the BBQ?’

    3) When I go to the bank, they show so much interest in my BBQ story that they forget they are supposed to be helping me gain access to the account and not talking about BBQ, so if anyone can provide any armchair legal advice I am all ears.

    So do I have any good news?

    Yes.

    1) I have already processed approximately 50 orders with unfrozen funds. These begin getting delivered from next Tuesday.

    2) I have confirmation that my PayPal account will be unblocked first thing this morning so orders will recommence.

    3) Delivery will begin next Tuesday and ramp up over the following days

    To other news. eBay originally contacted many of you last Friday saying they would take over BBQ orders. Well that was the plan and I thought it was brilliant the whole less work for Tom and more work for eBay situation. However eBay has discovered that the BBQ business is hard work so they have handballed it back to me.

    Some other points. I have attached a copy of my recent credit card transactions. This is not something I would normally do but I know some of you still have your doubts about me so hopefully that will alleviate some concerns. Also you will see a Café Vinyl transaction down the bottom. So for anyone who works in the Perth CBD head over there and say hello to Aaron (the boss) or Sarah (not the boss) grab a coffee and muffin and they will tell you that they know Tom who sold lots of BBQ of eBay. I would probably be described as the type of guy who looks like he has never done a hard day’s work in his life and has recently developed a keen interest in all things BBQ. I’m not sure so you let me know.

    Another note. I have some people lodging PayPal disputes because they want to ask me when their BBQ is arriving and then when I refund they say they didn’t want a refund but wanted a BBQ and leave me negative feedback. Please only lodge a dispute if you want a refund. I only have one option with the dispute and that is to push refund. Negative feedback I don’t mind. eBay have already banned me for life from ever selling again; so if you want to call me a ‘Lier’ twice under two different usernames, all good.

    Also to the people who send me emails telling me what they are going to do to my mum because they haven’t received the BBQ yet. Look you are entitled to your thoughts and opinions but really my mum has informed me she would rather I didn’t sell BBQs anyway and I now have to visit her more often to borrow cash to buy food while all my accounts are frozen.

    I really super really hope this is the last mass mail out, but you never know. I will be forwarding invoices for all completed order ASAP and remember if you miss delivery it will be carded so you can arrange a preferred date.

    On an end note I do know you all like to call people when I say don’t call but if you really want to call any of eBay, PayPal or the NAB and ask them when they will be releasing your money in my bank account; please feel free.

    Also if you want to call me send a message with your number and I will get back to you. I would post my number here but I would prefer not to get a brain tumour.

    Speak soon

    • Paulb5 on 12/09/2014 - 09:11
      +13

      Was just about to post. I actually got a call from Tom the other night as my ozbargain and ebay usernames are almost exactly the same and it didn't take much for him to figure out both were the same person.

      He told me the above about frozen accts but had asked to keep it quiet so I did. He has also lined up with appliances online to have the stock available which it is but obviously has no unfrozen funds to pay with.

      So 1) tom is a real person, nice guy too. 2) I'm convinced he's genuine and just wants to get the webers out. 3) he is an ozbargainer.

  • gooseberry on 12/09/2014 - 08:10
    +4

    Also, looking at his credit card statement - he's going to be getting a lot of Citibank credit card rewards points.

    • Paulb5 on 12/09/2014 - 09:43
      +3

      Maybe he can get a weber with the reward points!

      • tomclancy on 12/09/2014 - 10:10
        +9

        Hope he gets well rewarded for his efforts. Yes it was gutsy, yes it was risky, but who are we in life if we don't take risks? Good on him. Tom, if you are reading this then well done. You have many supporters on OzB.

        • NosDan on 12/09/2014 - 14:16
          +1

          Hope he gets well rewarded for his efforts. Yes it was gutsy, yes it was risky

          i dont see how it was risky (apart from getting his actual bank account frozen… which surprises me a little). at the time he didnt spend any of his cash and is using an ebay account that was more or less throw away anyway. extremely little risk for a fairly huge payoff if it all went well

          Good on him. Tom, if you are reading this then well done. You have many supporters on OzB.

          yup, nice work. i would be curled up in the fetal position in a corner by now with the shit ebay/paypal is trying to pull. just extra reenforces my thought that ebay is the dodgiest shithole it seemed. ill certainly be trying to screw them out any way i can.

          i almost wish i wanted/ordered one through tom just to shove it to ebay/PP harder, for those that did please stick with it as it certainly seems tom is doing all he can while ebay/pp screw him over and worse case if tom ends up with an aneurysm from this you still have 45 days to put in your PP dispute to get your refund (from time of purchase)

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join