- Jul 26, 2009
- 1,866
- 44
- 171
As an ebay egg buyer, I have to side with you on this one. I am under the assumption that the eggs shipped will be fertile, and it's pretty unlikely given basic biology that they wouldn't be under normal circumstances. I highly doubt anyone selling eggs on ebay is intentionally trying to deceive the purchasers and ship unfertilized eggs -- what would be the point in the first place, and secondly, to my knowledge, roosters/drakes/ganders etc., are certainly always willing to do the job.
I see it as the job of the seller to provide fresh eggs that are no more than 4 or 5 days old and were held in proper conditions and ideally turned a few times a day, to package them to the best of their ability, and to ship them promptly. Beyond that, it's up to fate, the post office, and the buyer. There are just too many variables in incubation -- look at how many threads there are on here every day about problems with incubators, problems with broody hens, and so forth.
If it's any consolation, I used to work at a garden center, and we had people trying to pull all kinds of ,stuff on us all the time. One of my favorites was when they attempted to return a plant or other product we never sold in the first place. And, of course, despite having a clear and well-posted return policy, people would still try to bring things back way after the time limit. And, they would also do stupid things and then try to get their money back. If it was something wrong with the product, I had no problem with them bringing it back. But, when it was something clearly beyond our control and no fault of our own, it burnt me to no end. We had people leave poinsettias in their vehicles overnight in unheated garages in Michigan in subzero weather and then bring them back the next day. We had a customer bring back 3 flats of marigolds one time because she bought them, left them overnight on her patio, and a woodchuck or rabbit stripped them to stubs by the time she wanted to plant them -- how was that possibly our fault?
You have my sympathies -- people can be real jerks, and often don't want to admit any fault or blame, rather, many want to always shift the blame to someone else.
Finally, let me say this -- I've bought a lot of live goods, mostly plants but a few sets of eggs, over ebay, and only once did I have a real problem with something -- I ordered a couple of trees at the very beginning of the spring season, mid-march, from a vendor in Indiana. The trees were advertised as freshly dug. Well, what I received was 2 very black, totally dead, crispy things that had been obviously dug months ago and not stored properly. After a couple of e-mail exchanges during which I let the vendor know I had a degree in ornamental horticulture from Michigan State and 20 years of experience working at a garden center, I finally convinced the person that I was capable of telling a dead tree from a live one, and was issued a refund. IF it's truly a bad-faith situation on the part of the seller, a refund should be issued. But, inthe case of eggs, all of the vendors always say that, aside from getting them to you relatively intact, it's at the customer's own risk, and that should be good enough, since the terms are clear and explicit. Unfortunately for you sellers, it seems that ebay's policy conflicts with this. The only thing I have to say is that perhaps you should consider charging more for the eggs in the first place to cover the cost of having to refund.
I see it as the job of the seller to provide fresh eggs that are no more than 4 or 5 days old and were held in proper conditions and ideally turned a few times a day, to package them to the best of their ability, and to ship them promptly. Beyond that, it's up to fate, the post office, and the buyer. There are just too many variables in incubation -- look at how many threads there are on here every day about problems with incubators, problems with broody hens, and so forth.
If it's any consolation, I used to work at a garden center, and we had people trying to pull all kinds of ,stuff on us all the time. One of my favorites was when they attempted to return a plant or other product we never sold in the first place. And, of course, despite having a clear and well-posted return policy, people would still try to bring things back way after the time limit. And, they would also do stupid things and then try to get their money back. If it was something wrong with the product, I had no problem with them bringing it back. But, when it was something clearly beyond our control and no fault of our own, it burnt me to no end. We had people leave poinsettias in their vehicles overnight in unheated garages in Michigan in subzero weather and then bring them back the next day. We had a customer bring back 3 flats of marigolds one time because she bought them, left them overnight on her patio, and a woodchuck or rabbit stripped them to stubs by the time she wanted to plant them -- how was that possibly our fault?
You have my sympathies -- people can be real jerks, and often don't want to admit any fault or blame, rather, many want to always shift the blame to someone else.
Finally, let me say this -- I've bought a lot of live goods, mostly plants but a few sets of eggs, over ebay, and only once did I have a real problem with something -- I ordered a couple of trees at the very beginning of the spring season, mid-march, from a vendor in Indiana. The trees were advertised as freshly dug. Well, what I received was 2 very black, totally dead, crispy things that had been obviously dug months ago and not stored properly. After a couple of e-mail exchanges during which I let the vendor know I had a degree in ornamental horticulture from Michigan State and 20 years of experience working at a garden center, I finally convinced the person that I was capable of telling a dead tree from a live one, and was issued a refund. IF it's truly a bad-faith situation on the part of the seller, a refund should be issued. But, inthe case of eggs, all of the vendors always say that, aside from getting them to you relatively intact, it's at the customer's own risk, and that should be good enough, since the terms are clear and explicit. Unfortunately for you sellers, it seems that ebay's policy conflicts with this. The only thing I have to say is that perhaps you should consider charging more for the eggs in the first place to cover the cost of having to refund.
