The 'Special' eBay users buying Retro Games!

[Cauterize]

Im starting this topic for a quick rant and for a slight bit of amusement for us all.

I know alot of us resell retro games, our spares/unwanted titles so we can fund our addiction. Without it we couldnt afford all the titles we want!
However along the way, you inevitably deal with some really 'Special' people, that, well... just leave you a bit shocked at their behaviour...

Unfortunately, we have to reply to them or deal with them in a professional manner. However, this topic can be a let off point for all the steam youve been bottling up during the situation.

Ill start it off


Back Story:
I listed a game the other week, which sold pretty quick.
However when packaging I noticed I had made a mistake. For the first time ever, I had been decieved by a photocopy cover. I was quite shocked, it was done pretty well and was only noticeable upon closer inspection.

I stopped packaging the item and emailed the seller. I gave him two options:
1) A full refund (I understand wanting games in complete condition)
or 2) A Partial Refund and the game still sent out.

He replied later on Friday and chose option 2. I instantly refunded him the set amount and all seemed good.
Unfortunately, with the item selling near the back end of the week and this happening, he would hvae to wait till Monday for it to be dispatched. Which it was, all mailed out yesterday!
To be fair, with everything thats happened in this transaction, ive been very quick and helpful towards him.

Anyways, we fast forward to today and I get the following email:

Hi im just wantin to know why it has taken so long to send my item and i think u should either refund me the whole amount or atleast the postage. Thx

O_o Excuse me? LOL! Apparently, in his eyes, he is owed a full refund!
The game was sent via First Class yesterday and probably will arrive hours after he sent that message. It was sent out the next possible day after the initial partial refund too!

Im a little worried he will leave a Negative to be honest. He is a 0 feedback buyer and these are the ones I have most problems with. A select few of them dont understand eBay and leave a trail of destruction behind them at times.

Either way id love to hear similar stories from you guys or your thoughts!

[Duddyroar]

eBay is the wild west of the internet, pure and simple.

[paperghost]

i've only ever had one real problem with a looney-tune on ebay.

a while ago, i got rid of silent hill 4. within half an hour of the bidding ending, i got a message through from someone saying

"sorry for the inconvenience, but i dont want the game anymore. thanks".

......well, perhaps you shouldn't have bid EIGHT TIMES in the last forty minutes then?



cue me having to wait a fortnight or whatever it is before being able to raise a dispute and eventually get my fees waived.

even after the dispute closed and it was all done and dusted, they were still sending me messages like

"really sorry, but as i said i dont want this game anymore"

.....whaaa??

[honeymustard]

He's probably just a kid. Just spell it out very simply that you sent it as fast as humanly possible.

[dvdx2]

I've encountered many a cock on ebay - not much different to real life then.........


remember it takes time to build up knowledge/use of systems/etc for using paypal/ebay so i usually give anyone with very low feedback the benefit of the doubt.

[Cauterize]

I too dealt with a kid a while back, one in Portugal, which made it even harder to resolve.
Here is a selection of emails from him.

can these games be saved in a memory card of ps2 and ofc be played in ps2?

(I offer to give a free PS1 memory card in the deal)

yes please... How much is it? please give me!

(Free, I just said)

maybe i just want your memory card

(You can piss off right now... The Memory card was a freebie i just offered to you WITH the purchase of the games... Told him the above without the use of swearing.)

ok! lets go for it! im gonna buy your games and i will receive your memory card for PS1, if you promise me that you can save the games with that memory. Are you sure?

(Im sure...)

ok. Im gonna buy it! So, but how much time does it take until i get the games AND THE MEMORY CARD (dont forget it) here in portugal?

(Okay now im starting to realise this is a kid and not someone with really bad english)

[Item Sells]
Message In Invoice

look i cant pay now. My bank doesnt accept my card..

(As stated in my shop, I only accept PayPal for international buyers... Its somewhat an unwritten standard anyways! I reminded him this...)

i cant pay now! my bank doesnt accept my card... Im trying to get another one

i cant! pleaae give your mail!

hello! Icant afford it! my older brother will give his credit card! just answer me this- the games are in english and will i get the memory card?

forget it... it´s too expensive. I have found a cheaper one. thanks

kidding!

I left it at this and just waited to file the unpaid item strike... Ugh!

[On The Edge of Insanity]

I hope you sent it recorded delivery, otherwise you could yet have some more pain to come.

[Cauterize]

I hope you sent it recorded delivery, otherwise you could yet have some more pain to come.

You have a point and I did consider this. However the item was around the ?3 mark and I thought it would be worth the risk, instead of spending another 72p on it.
We shall see, Ill let you know what happens! As for now, ive left his eBay ID private, but if anything bad happens ill write up his username so others can avoid him.


Another example from this week...

CAN U REMOVE RESTRICTIONS AS I WANNA BUY THE GAME THANKS

Buyer restrictions are there for a reason, mate...

[Blast Hardbody]

Well I have two really, one as a buyer and one as a seller.

The one that really brings my piss to a boil is some Ebay seller named "theseller1000"

He is one of those that only bids purely to resell, which is fine, we all have done that.
But what he does is really only what the greedy do, he buys a game for say, $30, and the moment he receives it, it is into his Ebay store at about $150.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=370076228674&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=024

He just won that tonight. I was bidding on it, but I fell asleep, I really don't care that I did not win it, however I really dislike that HE won it, because I know where it is going, and how much it will be listed for.

Really, check out how much he has sold/selling stuff :P

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The other one was when I sold a "Complete" Guitar Hero for the PS2 (including box)
I listed the items it came packaged with, as well as saying "All that is pictured"

So this crazy (cat) Lady bought the item, paid, then I sent if off. As soon as it arrives she emails me complaning that it is missing the strap and why did I mislead her into believe it had it. Now I did not even know it came with a strap, what with me not been a Guitar Hero Player at all.

So anyway I just explain that the auction had many pictures and I had also explained all the parts that came with the package.

She then emailed me like, twice a day for two weeks whining and bitching about it, and how I was trying to rip her off, I was a con artist etc.

After I told her to buggered off, she started whining about the SHIPPING time! Oh, did I forgot to mention she only paid after I opened an UID.... two weeks after auction ending?

She left me a netural, and I left her a big fat neg, crazy bitch. She is not registered anymore

[anephric]

I got into an absolutely HUGE disagreement when I sold a new DVD box set (it was, literally, over-the-counter new). It was from Blockbuster (from when I worked there), so obviously they have an "empty box on shelf" policy which they fill with stock from behind the counter -they don't have promo boxes on the shop floor etc.

Because there was a FINGERPRINT on one of the discs, the buyer sent me a tirade of fuming emails calling me a LIAR and that I was WORSE THAN SCUM. This is without even an initial query or anything. She then demanded that I give her a full refund and she should get to keep the item anyway because of the inconvenience.

eBay is where the wild things roam.

[MattyD]

I can't say I've ever had a problem as a buyer but I stopped selling on eBay probably about four or five years ago because of the douches you get buying stuff. I was selling off a sizeable CD collection at the time and had several unpaid bids, people moaning that the front cover had cracked in the post, stuff like that. In the end I just couldn't be bothered with the hassle. And this was over a couple of quid a throw CDs, so I dread to think what selling games would be like

[t-bone-retro]

1) I had someone open a paypal dispute against me within 24 hours of winning the item. They told me that they had opened it in error, yet it still took them 5 days after this reply to cancel the dispute.

2) A overseas buyer bought a ps1 game from me and immediately after emailed me saying 'I am very sorry but I do not want this game'

3) A UK buyer bought a game off me and after taking 5 days to pay emailed me the day after and said 'I still haven't received my item when will it arrive'

4) When I bought a job lot of games consoles and accessories from one seller he didn't include quite a few items that were clearly listed on the auction listing. When I complained he said that extra items were sent instead but he would send the other items as well. What was funny about it was that the extra 'items' he mentioned was infact a PS2 headset and nothing else.

Its all fun and games really

[cutmymilk]

I've had a new buyer ask me how to pay from credit card (?!!), and a few that say that their paypal isnt working any more, despite my account saying that paypal must be used at all times. Apart from payment issues and the odd "lost in the post" I've done fairly okay with ebay.

[BigDeadFreak]

He is a 0 feedback buyer and these are the ones I have most problems with. A select few of them dont understand eBay and leave a trail of destruction behind them at time.

I know exactly what you mean.
I recently sold a game to a guy who hadn't ever used ebay before. He seemed to think that I would post him the game before he paid me. I told him that was not the way things were done on ebay and he seemed to accept this. However he marked his item as 'paid' without actually paying. Whether this was an honest mistake or not I have no idea but when I pointed this out to him he refused to acknowledge it. I told him to check his PayPal account to see if the money had been sent but he still ignored me. I then warned him that I would report him to ebay and he still ignored me. When I eventuall did report him he had the cheek to reort me for not sending the item. This was two weeks ago and he still wont answer my emails. Aaaaarrrgghh!!!

[Mayhem]

Buyer restrictions are there for a reason, mate...

What restrictions do you normally employ btw? I won an item last week where the US seller had blocked anyone outside the country from bidding but made me an exception when I asked. That's why I ask sellers!

Usually I block negative feedback users but I generally ship anywhere in the world unless it's big and/or heavy...