Ebay Heartache

My husband is not an avid sports fan. He doesn't spend his weekends glued to the television watching whatever sports game happens to be on. But, he has been a Washington Redskins fan since childhood. If a Redskins game happens to be on and he's not busy with other things around the house, he'll sit and watch it.

He mentioned early in the season that he'd like to have a John Riggins (retired Redskins player) or a Chris Cooley (current Redskins player) jersey one day.

Aha! A Christmas gift idea. I went to Ebay to search out a Riggins jersey. There were several. More expensive then I was expecting to find on Ebay, so I sorted by lowest price and found one for around $15. Shipping was $19!!! More then the cost of the jersey!!! But, it was still far less expensive then the other jerseys I'd researched prices on. So, I bid on it. I won the item and paid immediately through the paypal account.

2 weeks goes by. Still no jersey. No word from the seller. I email the seller asking were my item was and why it was taking so long to receive. A few more days go by and the seller sent a message saying he'd been sick and in the hospital for 2 weeks. He automatically refunded my purchase w/o seeing if I still wanted the item. There's plenty of time before Christmas. I still wanted the jersey. But, it wasn't going to happen. At least not with that seller.

I search again and find another Riggins jersey, this time a couple bucks cheaper, about $13 for the jersey. But shipping was $19 again. I bid on it. I won.

2 weeks goes by AGAIN. Still no jersey and still no word from the seller. I go check the shipping details for the item and the seller states items ship within 2 days of confirmed payment. Well, paying through our paypal account puts the money into the sellers account immediately. The item should have shipped by now. I contact the seller to find out when he plans on shipping my item and tell him that since he didn't ship within 2 days like his shipping details specify I thought it only fair that he refund my shipping charges, but keep the $13 for the jersey because I still want it. A couple days go by. Still no contact from the seller. I send another email, same as before, but this time a little more firm. 'I want the item, you still haven't shipped it, please refund my shipping cost, but still send the jersey, I'm willing to pay what you've asked for it minus the shipping cost'.

The next day. A message from the seller. All the money has been refunded to me, sorry for the inconvenience. But NO JERSEY!!! ARG!!!!!!!!! What's a girl gotta do to get a simple jersey?!?!?!

At this point I've given up. I told Charlie he wasn't gonna get his Christmas gift and told him my ebay fiasco. He asked what I'd gotten him that's causing so much trouble. I tell him what I was trying to get him a John Riggins Jersey. Since I can't seem to get it I figure it's no big deal to tell him. He was really bummed out. I told him I was really sorry, but everywhere else I looked was more expensive then we can afford at the moment. So he tells me to call his buddy who's got a couple Redskins jersey's and find out where he gets them.

So, we hang up and I give his buddy a call. I tell him my story and ask where he got all his jersey's. His reply?

wait for it . . .

EBAY!!!

I wanted to scream!

So, needless to say, Charlie's not getting a Riggins OR Cooley jersey for Christmas. I'm sorry. Maybe I'll use a little bit of our 2009 tax return to get him one and save it for Father's Day next summer.