Whiney eBay seller

[Dave1982]

I recently bought a die-cast car on eBay that was in horrifically bad shape. Someone had tried to repaint it and failed, then tried to strip the paint and failed. Got it for under $20 shipped when these have been going for $60-80 shipped.

The item description claimed "very good condition" despite the obvious paint problems from the ONE photo they listed. However, the paint was not a problem for me because I was going to strip and repaint it anyway.

I took a chance and bid on it anyway. When it arrived, I found that there were also quite a few missing parts, including the drivers window, and all the rest of the windows are scratched. None of this is apparent from the photo or the description.

Now, I did take a chance on this item since it was clearly beat up, and truth be told most of the problems I can deal with, except for the missing window. I'm going to have to make a new one and that is a pain in the ass. It's for this reason that I left him neutral feedback. The guy had only a feedback rating of 4 anyway, including a negative, so I didn't feel bad about it. The guy was an idiot anyway.

Now I got two messages from him today demanding that I revise my feedback to positive. He said he never claimed the item was in good condition and that there were no missing parts "that he knew of." Well, obviously he didn't know what he was selling. The idiot tried even said "collector's item for sure." Even if this model was new, it's not a collector's item because it's Sunstar, which is very low-end when it comes to diecast.

Honestly, this guy should consider himself lucky that I didn't leave him negative feedback and report him to eBay for "item doesn't match description," and i told him so in my reply.

Then I added him to my block list.

[Zellie Crescent]

Honestly, this guy should consider himself lucky that I didn't leave him negative feedback and report him to eBay for "item doesn't match description," and i told him so in my reply.

You should have, he's just gonna pull that shit with someone else and have the same reaction as he did with you when they call him on it.

[Dave1982]

The only reason I didn't leave a negative is because I *should* have asked for more details before bidding. Had I done that, and he said it was all good, then it would have definitely been a negative. However, I took the risk, so I didn't feel I'd be justified leaving a negative.

By the way, I read his second message, which was him whining that he only "broke even" on the sale because the shipping was more than what he charged. And that's my problem....how? If you say the shipping is $x, and it turns out to be $y, then either suck it up or contact me and say "hey, the shipping is more than I thought can I have more money?"

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

"hey, the shipping is more than I thought can I have more money?"

He's not even allowed to do that. Sellers can only charge what is stated in the listing for shipping, and not a penny more.

[Dave1982]

Didn't know that....still, I'd have been less offended by that than by him using that as an excuse to get positive feedback.

[EvilEmpryss]

I always use calculated shipping to prevent that kind of problem. It even lets you add a "handling fee" to the cost to account for packaging costs (though some scummy sellers tack on huge handling fees to make up for low sale prices).

I'm more than a little anal about protecting my rating on eBay, so I can understand him contacting you to try to fix things. His poor attempt to skirt the real issue, though (that he didn't sell what he described in his auction) is totally sucky. That bit about "no missing parts that I know of" is bullshit. Maybe if he was a reseller I might believe it, but for someone who had the thing in his hands and could see what was wrong to call it "very good condition" with the damage you listed is just a plain fraud.

Seriously, people will buy anything on eBay, even if you tell them it's broken and there's no way short of divine intervention the thing will ever work again! If he'd just been honest and detailed in his listing there wouldn't be a problem now. I hope his feedback for you doesn't ruin your score.

[Dave1982]

He already left me a positive. They changed things a while back so that sellers have to leave feedback first.

And even though I've put him on my block list I still managed to get a message back from him. I guess it's not a true blocking. A very thinly veiled "fuck you."

Thats a lot of learnin i just got! didnt even get paid for it! i guess thats the best kind?
I understand more fully now. thanks for bein a teach and workin on this with me- instead of bein a jerk and not tellin me how IT IS DONE, best regards. later

Dude, there was nothing to work with you on. The item was not described properly. My only other recourse would be to request a return, which I'll bet this guy would have refused, and even then I'd still have to ding him on the feedback. There was no way this guy was going to get a positive. Not going to happen.


ETA: I just checked his reply to my feedback. It says "sold as-is, model is 29 yrs old, never said mint condition"

1. Sold as-is BS because the condition was not fully disclosed.

2. 29 years old? This only proves that he's an idiot. The model is of a 1981 model year car. That does not mean it the model came out in 1981. It actually came out in 2001, IIRC.

3. No, and I didn't claim he did. He said (quoted directly from the listing): This classic 1/18 scaled die-cast De Lorean is in very good condition.

I'd also say he spelled DeLorean wrong (no space) but it is misspelled like that on the bottom of the model, so I will let that slide.

2nd edit: This guy's one negative feedback (from a whopping total of 6, with a total score of 4) says "lied about item being broken"

[draco664]

Seriously, people will buy anything on eBay,

Famously, the very first auction on ebay was a broken laser pointer. When contacted to make sure he knew it didn't work, the buyer said he collected broken laser pointers.

I suppose from that auspious beginning, there was only one direction to go.

[It's me]

Famously, the very first auction on ebay was a broken laser pointer. When contacted to make sure he knew it didn't work, the buyer said he collected broken laser pointers.

I suppose from that auspious beginning, there was only one direction to go.

If it had, if fact, turned out to actually work, then I suppose the buyer would then have to leave negative feedback! (Did eBay have feedback then?)

[Sapphire Silk]

Famously, the very first auction on ebay was a broken laser pointer. When contacted to make sure he knew it didn't work, the buyer said he collected broken laser pointers.

I suppose from that auspious beginning, there was only one direction to go.

Heh. Very early on with eBay, I sold a broken DVD player for $25. Made it clear in the description it was broken. I listed it for a buck . . . and was surprised when it bid up to the $25 I actually sold it for. The buyer told me he could fix it . . . turned out to be a simple fix, pennies for the part. We both walked away happy: I got $25 for a DVD player that was junk to me, and he got a $100 dollar machine for $25 plus s/h plus a few cents for the part.

[lordlundar]

Then there's the people who sell the box of <insert game console> for hundreds of dollars who are being accused of fraud.

Slight problem with that though, no fraud took place.

One such incident labeled on the page that it was only the box and not the contents seven times, with at least 3 times in size 7 coloured font. Another 3 times mentions that the contents are not for sale in any way, shape, or form. EBay even ruled that no fraud had taken place.

[MoonCat]

I've bought some stuff on eBay and been pleased with it. I left positive feedback and so did the sellers.

Now I think I'll check around the attic for some of that junk I brought with me when I moved...if people are buying broken stuff, I could be looking at a gold mine!

[BlaqueKatt]

if people are buying broken stuff

Personally I'm looking for a broken laptop or ipod hard drive-shiny platters make for very interesting jewelry....

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Seriously, people will buy anything on eBay, even if you tell them it's broken and there's no way short of divine intervention the thing will ever work again!

Well sure. A broken laptop could be scavenged for parts to fix another one, for instance.

[EvilEmpryss]

I once bought a whole iMac laptop just to get the Aiport card out of it. The laptop cost me about $50 with shipping, but the card by itself was selling for almost $100 plus shipping. Pulled it out and turned around and sold the laptop again and broke even. EBay is a wonder place it you're careful about what you buy.