E-Bay Horror Week
Published June 05, 2004
The E-mail comes back to me. He blocked my E-mail address. Well, I wasn't done complaining and this is no way to deal with a paying customer. I head over to E-Bay and use the "Ask seller a question" function. I add a note to my returned E-mail telling him how his customer service is and send it off. I also report him to E-Bay and request a refund from Paypal. He gives me a negative feedback the next day claiming I file false complaints against him. I of course return the favor. Also note I was not the only one to complain about his shipping practices or insurance. In fact, he has over 70 negatives on the same subject. Sadly, the complaints I filed through Paypal were denied, but I really didn't expect them to go through. I never received a response from E-Bay.
Idiot #2: This guy only becomes an idiot towards the end. I purchase a Neo Geo AES cart called "Dunk Dream." It's a fairly valuable cart and I end up winning it for $50. He obviously did not know what he had since his description stated many erroneous facts about the game. It's probably why I got it so cheap. So the game comes well packed and costs very near to his asking price for shipping. I'm happy.
Happy, that is, until the game entered my console. It's not actually Dunk Dream. The box says Dunk Dream, the cart has a sticker for Dunk Dream, but the actual insides of the cart have been switched. It plays Nam '75 (a much less desirable game) instead of the basketball game I so wanted. I've run into this problem before with some Genesis carts, but never on the Neo Geo.
Now, I know it's not this guy's fault. He really had no idea what he had. I send him a very polite E-mail stating the situation and try my best to explain what exactly the problem is. He replies in a timely manner and says to send it back for a full refund. Great! I wrap it back up and slap a delivery confirmation sticker on it so I can track it. The game arrived at his location almost 2 weeks ago and I have not heard a word. I've sent him 2 E-mails and the only response I got was "I'll get the game tomorrow" and that was about a week and a half ago. For a $50+ refund, this is ridiculous.
Idiot #3: Me. Yeah, me. I screwed up. I'm an E-Bay idiot. I win an Amiga CD game "Fightin' Spirit" from E-Bay for about $20. It's in the UK as most games for the console are. I pay, of course, immediately through Paypal. The game gets here within reasonable time. I tear open the packaging, pop it into the console, and start playing. Everything works great.
Matt Paprocki is the former reviews editor for Digital Press. The deep game collection, which spans nearly 30 systems and 2,000 games, lines his walls for research purposes. Matt strives to bring credibility to video game journalism, and to aid the industry in becoming respected with all forms of entertainment media. He currently freelances for GameArgus.com and MultiPlayerGames.com.
- E-Bay Horror Week
- Published: June 05, 2004
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- Section: Sci/Tech
- Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Internet
- Writer: Matt Paprocki
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Comments on this articleComments
eBay is fertile ground for classic videogamers. 3500 games? And to think we thought we had a big collection with our measly hundreds of games!
The Neo-Geo is still one of my favorite systems to play, even though graphically "better" machines have come along. They owned the 2D fighting market for fun factor.
About the first guy, you bought something from someone who has 70 + negatives? You should have checked that first. Any bad experience you have is your own fault if you don't check feedback.
i have to agree that it's not just the %age of positive feedback that's important.
Think about it this way: if a person has 70 negative feedback, that's about 70 (allow for some where the rater was just being an asshole like the one who gave you negative feedback) different people who've had bad experiences dealing with that person.
Myself, i've had one bad experience and been a bad bidder once. The bad experience, i won a book but then the guy didnt reply at all after my prompt payment, i complained to ebay and then a week later he'd been NARU'd (made Not A Registered User i.e. he got banned on that account). Luckily i only lost about £10 to that.
The time i was a bad buyer was ultimately my fault, but a mate let me down cos he was gonna provide transport for a Jamma cabinet that was being sold in london. I checked with him first, he said yeah he'd go with me to pick it up. So i bid, i won, i was ready to pay...and he turncoated on me and said no, he wouldn't go with me to get it. I was pissed off to say the least, and worse than that, I ended up being without 'net access for a month and a half or so cos i'd just moved in to a uni house and we had to wait that long for ntl to install it. Understandably, i got -ve feedback for that (only time i have though). I gave the seller +ve just for not actually reporting me to ebay.
What makes me laugh now is that they recently changed their terms saying that sellers are not allowed to charge bidders extra for paying via paypal/cheque/any other payment method. Well just try telling them that (or, more appropriately, realise just how few of them have read that email) cos i still see many auctions where the seller says there is an extra charge for using paypal. Far too many to report (i'm not going to do ebay's job for them, altho i may draw their attention to the overall problem)
I was a big ebay user in the early days. I got screwed twice last year, and the frustration is monumental.
I've quit using the place altogether, and there are more than a few concerns that it's turning into Fraud Central.
I'll apoligize Ken! Eventually....
Idiot #4 is no longer an idiot. I got paid for the system last night. Granted it was an E-Check which means it could still bounce, but he has apologized and been great ever since.
As for the first guy, I looked at his rating of around 10,000 and let it go. I'm not sure of the percentage, but it was super high. He was a Powerseller as well.
Without a doubt there are some categories of merchandise that may attract more problems than others, but I really think if you are dealing with a reputable seller with high feedback who allows a secure method of payment via credit card, you have protections.
I have been on eBay for seven years and I have not had more than one bad experience with a seller and it was resolved by charging back the payment.
Sincerely,
Christopher Matthew Spencer, Author
"The eBay Entrepreneur"
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Apologize to the guy Matt!