Although I have commented recently on a couple of orders that went sour on ABE that is not the norm for me on ABE. I have bought a ton of stuff on ABE over the past 18 years or so. I check some of my searches several times each day. You have to be quick though. Hot items and real bargains don't last long.
I recently made a purchase from GoHeat, as he is liquidating his collection. In his listings he had a signed copy of From a Buick 8, that he listed as NF condition. He pointed me to his Gallery, where he had a couple pictures of the signature, but not of the book condition itself. I met him in Florida last year, and have had a few PM conversations over the year, so I trusted him when he said that the book was in the condition he described,. So I made the purchase. When I got the book, I was shocked that it was nowhere near NF condition. Maybe VG, at best. When I told him about that, he was very surprised, and stood by his grading. He also said that he's made several deals via the forum and eBay, and has never gotten a complaint. Additionally, he told me that he would not accept the book back, even though I was unhappy with the condition, and told him that I would never have bought it if I would have seen it's true condition.
After going back and forth a few times, he offered me $50 as a goodwill gesture. Knowing that he was unwilling to take the book back, I took the $50 because it's better than nothing, but still told him I was unhappy. He again disagreed with the condition assessment, and boasted his eBay reputation. To that, I say so what! It doesn't matter how many good transactions you have. If you have a bad one, I would hope that the buyer and seller would try to rectify it. The $50 goodwill gesture is ridiculous, especially when he said that the book was sold below market value. $275 for a VG FAB8?! (I paid $250) That's not below market value.
Regrettably, I used Paypal F&F. Lesson learned... ALWAYS use Paypal Goods & Services.
Brian can that not be gently removed with a touch of water and cloth? IT does not matter either way though... a member wants to return something for any reason.. you do it. I for one will never consider buying from Goheat now cause of this..
HELP ME FIND
Insomnia #459
ANY S/L #459
I agree with you guys - I'll be staying away.
Thanks for the suggestion Kris. I'll give that a shot. You'd think GoHeat would have tried it first before grading the condition, but I digress.
You might try a sponge eraser first. Also I would probably use Isopropyl alcohol instead of water if I was going to go that route.Originally Posted by bdwyer19
"One day you're going to figure out that everything they taught you was a lie."
Thanks Brian. I'll have to check later to see if it is a smudge or if it's actually chipped. Unfortunately, I'm thinking it was chipped.
And to think... I brought all this to the forefront as a way of being vindictive... or so I was told.
The one thing that really annoys me is the fact that even though I'm not a big fan of the story, I bought it with the intention of getting in touch with Mark Stutzman to remarque the book. But I expected to be doing that with a much nicer looking book. Certainly not this copy.
Based on those photos, I would be bummed if I were expecting a NF book. Disappointing to hear about a deal between members going poorly.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
Absolutely right. It's hard to believe that a seller could look at this book, and think, 'yeah, that's darn near perfect'. But, he is selling off his collection, so I'm guessing he doesn't really care.
I'm waiting to hear GoHeat's side of the story.
John
I'd like to hear it as well.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
So am I.
I will say that when selling a book I think that all defects should be disclosed.
"One day you're going to figure out that everything they taught you was a lie."
I'd like to hear it as well.
Honestly, I'd like him to share his side as well.
The lesson here is that if it's a liquidation sale, then we as buyers should keep that in mind.
Like Tippy (to use an example of a good seller) is fully intending to sell, buy, sell, etc - so he's going to work to maintain a reputation and would no doubt have refunded the buyer and taken the book back. That's just the classy thing to do.
But once a seller's divesting, then it's all about the money and at that point it becomes real easy for a less professional seller to rationalize that a bump or stain is "no big deal." And then you have what we have here.
Honestly, if a seller is legitimately saying "this is it! I'm selling everything!" They should make it clear that it's no refunds/no exchanges/buyer beware - at least then you know to be extra careful and keep expectations low.
In fairness, I think $250 is a little below market value, and as long as the DJ isn't damaged (from the picture it looks like a stained board?) I wouldn't worry about it - I think it looks okay overall, and not much worse than a lightly used reading copy.
But - that doesn't make the transaction fair. He could have griped a little, maybe, but still allowed you to return the book. I would be very annoyed too!
I just had an eBay member buy one of my listed books.
Normally I would be happy to see something sold. In this case though I was less than thrilled.
I purchased a book from the same eBay member, with a forged King signature, in December. I gave the seller negative feedback stating that the signature was a forgery and that the seller was committing fraud. I opened a case and returned the book. My refund was delayed because PayPal waited for an echeck to clear. It didn't clear. They waited a second time. It again didn't clear. I filed another complaint and eBay issued the refund.
Now today this same person purchased an old cookbook from me. It was the cheapest item I had listed. I believe that they intended to give me negative feedback. I canceled the order. I blocked the member from purchasing from me again. When I looked at his profile page I noticed that he is "following" me as a seller.
I think this person has more than one username. I'm carefully monitoring my sales.
I think perhaps I will notify eBay about this.
"One day you're going to figure out that everything they taught you was a lie."
That's bad. Pretty creepy and vindictive.
Unfourantantly, you will be on hold for roughly 3 hours before you get someone to read from a script. They won't do anything.
You did the right thing by cancelling the auction and blocking the seller. Here is why I know EBay isn't the same company they used to be:
Just the other day I received a poorly packed book from an EBay auction. Before the auction closed and I won, the seller agreed to ship in a box with bubble wrap. The book arrived damaged because he threw the book in a box with some brown paper (almost like an Amazon.com packing job). I sent him a message letting him know the slipcase was damaged due to his poor packing. I wasn't rude or anything, just shared my disappointment.
The seller immediately responded with a strange response full of threats, calling me names, etc. This all happened before any feedback was left. He proceeded to send eight more messages in a row letting me know he was in marketing, he knew where I lived, where my wife and I worked, etc. He actually posted information about us.
I contacted EBay on Tuesday, set there for 3 hours, finally got a live body......and......wait for it........they wouldn't do anything about it. They escalated the issue to a manager who said........wait for it........."I don't think he did anything wrong and didn't post anything to the public". She said I could go through normal processes with asking for refund, return of book, etc.
I hung up
I took his threats and his ease for posting information seriously enough I contacted the Orange County CA Sherrif. Much to my surprise, an FBI agent called me to get a copy of the message threads, his address, etc. I thanked him and told him how eBay wouldn't help and didn't take it serious, and I would have been OK with his rant until he included my wife in his post. When he did that he crossed the line. Paybacks are a bitch. I will get the last laugh.
This is a developing story. Hopefully I can I can share.... "The rest of the story" at another time.
Mulleins
Adding additional information:
You are probably thinking, how are you sure that was FBI calling you and not the crazy seller? While I had the agent on the line, I used my office phone to call the number on ID. They answered it FBI, I asked for the agent, She put me through and it went to his voice mail (because I was already on his line).
I'm the caretaker of Room 217..............I've always been the caretaker of Room 217
Amazing stories, Br!an and Ralph! Thanks for sharing them and bringing them to our attention. I hope you both get the satisfactory resolution that you deserve.
Good lord, what the heck is going on with eBay?!? I hope you both get your issues worked out. That being said, I am a big supporter of the "Block a Buyer" function. If you fail to pay, if you get nasty with me, if you annoy the total crap out of me, I will block you. There are plenty of buyers out there, and I don't need the aggravation.
Good luck working out your problems!
People are crazy. I hope for both of your sakes that you just never hear from your respective buyer/seller again.
This. In spades.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
Please do let us know how it works out, Ralph. Nothing satisfies me more than seeing people like that get their just desserts. He needs to learn a lesson that you don't threaten people because they ask for (and expect) well-packaged eBay items.
Hey Ralph, care to share any info about the guy? I'd love to do some Batman detectiving and get him fired from his job.
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