Thanks Jerome for this. Very timely.
Perhaps the members here can help to suggest how to deal with an eBay person I am having a problem with.
An eBayer (leaving out ID for now) from Canada listed 2 books I was interested in...S/L Skeleton Crew and S/L Buick 8. SC was listed at $499.99 and Buick 8 at $199.99. I offered $600 for both + S/H and we settled on $700 shipped from Canada. The books came today. The Buick 8 traycase has 2 corners scrunched (not horrible, but damaged nevertheless). The Skeleton Crew book itself has a small spot where the cover was rubbed raw creating a flaw. The auction links are below.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Skeleton-Crew-St...item2eac6c7591
http://cgi.ebay.com/Stephen-King-Bui...item2eac6c74f4
I e-mailed the seller this:
Hi-
I got the Skeleton Crew and From a Buick 8 books today. There were some noticeable flaws on both books that were not listed in your eBay descriptions.
On the Buick 8, two of the traycase corners were scrunched (the front top right and the read upper left near the spine).
On the Skeleton Crew, when I removed the dust jacket from the book, there is a small part of the book cover surface that is rubbed away and is definitely noticeable.
I am sorry to complain, but I am quite particular about the condition of the books I purchase. Both auctions stated very fine or "as new" condition and did not note any flaws. I am willing to keep the books but would like some compensation for the damage. (I can send you pictures if you wish, but I will need a regular e-mail to send them to). I would like $100 refund and would like to resolve this in a way that we both can be satisfied. Let me know your thoughts please.
Thank you very much for working with me on this issue.
Best wishes,
David
He/She responded with this:
Dear wizardsrainbow,
Thanks a lot for your confirmation of receipt.
As regards your complaints, I don't know what to say. Let me summarize what I want to say with the help of a few pointers:
1. The books were listed as "As New" and not "Brand New" - thus the books are used and may have minor imperfections and in no way can be termed as brand new.
2. The faults that you did mention have never been noticed by me - although I do believe you completely, however what I fail to understand is that you are actually seeking a compensation for "faults" that were never noticed by me. I am a collector myself and am not a professional seller. I am parting with a major portion of my collection to provide space for my new books.
3. Regarding the total price that you did pay, it was already heavily discounted. In fact, I received an offer of $1100 for the two books within hours after removing the listings (even prior to dispatching the books). However, I wanted to honour the deal and hence did not ask for any additional amount for the books. in fact, just FYI, I purchased just the SC about two years back for $850.
4. The faults that you have mentioned (with the traycase of FAB or some rubbing on the book cover in case of SC)are very negligible. I do not think, a compensation needs to be paid for books that were listed as "As New". After going through your email, I even called up Paypal to confirm what they mean by "As New" - they said the same thing what I do believe. As per Paypal, minor imperfections are common in case of books listed as "As New" as they are assumed to be used.
I sincerely hope you would understand and relate to it.
Thanks a lot.
I think the response is total crap saying that "As New" means the books can have flaws. And, frankly, I don't care that they got a higher offer or that they paid a higher $$ to acquire the books.
My perfect feedback rating is VERY important to me and I do not want to get into a pissing match with the seller. It looks as though the brick wall has already been built there. So....suggestions on how to handle this. These books are for Betts and I know I can get my $700 back even with me noting the flaws (really are not bad), but I've sure lost my profit that I envisioned for these 2.
Suggestions people??? Thanks for your input.