# On buying a 14x20" baking stone on eBay - a sad tale



## subfuscpersona (May 18, 2007)

*SUMMARY*

> It was difficult even to purchase the 14x20 baking stone from the seller
> seller communications were poor and only in response to emails from me
> the stone arrived broken
> refund was slow coming and was obtained only after numerous emails from me
> I spent many hours tracking and doumenting the process. Without this digital documentation, I fear I would not gotten my refund

*GORY DETAILS WITH TIMELINE*

This seller only sells through eBay, so an order for a larger stone requires her to post the ad on eBay, inform you and for you to bid ASAP.

After numerous emails between us, the seller posted a listing for the 14x20 baking stone, notified me, and I bid and won item 160105001815 on Apr 9, 2007. I had to email the seller to determine required postage. I paid via Paypal on Apr 10th.

I had been concerned about slow shipping on the seller's part and my fears were confirmed. About 10 days after payment, I emailed seller stating package had not arrived and inquiring for a tracking number. Seller responded the same day, giving me the FedEx tracking number. I feel the seller should have given me this info without requiring inquiry on my part.

The FedEx tracking number showed the baking stone was shipped Apr 23, 13 days after my payment. It arrived Apr 27.

Despite good packaging, the stone was broken in two pieces. I took documentary photos, uploaded them to my flicker.com account and emailed the seller on Apr 29, giving the URLs for the photos and asking for a refund.







While seller promised a refund in her response on Apr 29; it took an additional email from me, sent May 3, to get the seller even to initiate a refund through Paypal, which she did on May 9, 10 days after my first request. The Paypal email notification said _This refund will remain pending until the funds have cleared from the sender's account. You will receive an email notification once the funds have become available in your PayPal account._

On May 14, with no refund yet in my Paypal account, I finally posted negative feedback for this seller to eBay. Miraculously, the Paypal refund was completed the following day, May 15.

On May 16, after initiating a transfer from my Paypal account to my bank account, I emailed seller and offered to delete my negative feedback from eBay. This was done. Here is the transaction showing both seller's and my (buyer's) feedback...


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## bowlingshirt (May 18, 2007)

You can use UNGLAZED ceramic or quarry tile instead of a baking stone.


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## Katie H (May 18, 2007)

What a sad story!  Sounds like you had to "push a rope" throughout the whole process.  We've been very fortunate and have never had any difficulties trading with buyers/sellers on eBay.  Sorry you had such a rotten experience.

Like bowlingshirt, I use tiles from Lowes or The Home Depot instead of a special baking stone.


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