Problem customer on eBay

[Eli]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Eli
I'm NOT with the buyer here.

He's a fscking blind idiot.

People put items in different categories all the time, it's to generate hits.

Either way when you are cross populating two very close items I think the seller is at fault.

It's not even clear in the one auction what these drives are exactly....says old apple, should work in a PC (commonly = non-apple whether lap or desktop) and will work in any machine with a reformat. Being it's in the laptop HDD category the buyer had every reason to believe that they would work for his needs. It's alot different that putting a compact flash card in the digicam category or X-box under DVD's, movies, and the like hoping to score a buy.

Still it's wrong....but again it's the type of seller YOU want to be. If you want to scam on ebay, it's pretty easy all within the rules. You can make small disclaimers, show a sample image from a nicer item, even put the wrong picture totally.

Not the kind of seller I would like.

Also speaking of being blind, the seller here did not intentionally do this to generate more hits...he then is just as guilty by your own logic.

Well, it is true that I haven't seen the auctions, so I don't know exactly how clear it was. I was assuming that it was fairly clear, and the guy just assumed they were laptop drives because they were in the laptop category.

I also do understand that this was a blatant mistake. I'm not one of those people that would do this on purpose. Like you say, it's different when you list, for example, compact flash in a digital camera category. I also wouldn't ever put up a picture of a better item. I hate that. It happened to me just the other day, actually. Bought a router.. the picture they had was one with 2 antennas. So of course I expected one with 2 antennas. Alas, the model I got really only had 1.. lol.

Another reason I don't agree with the buyer is because the seller IS trying to fix things.. I guess it would be noble if he refunded shipping too, but geesh..

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: nanaki333
his fault, not yours. i browse for cd burners, hdd's and monitors all the time on ebay. if i see an 18" LCD listed under HDD and buy it, i'm not going to be expecting an HDD.

Entirely different situation. These are two very similar items, not two entirely different items like an LCD and a hard drive. To use the old cliche, it's as if he listed a red delicious apple under the granny smith section, but referred to it only as an "apple" (and maybe the farm it came from)... the guy would expect that he's bidding on a granny smith apple.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: rahvin
Ebay is BUYER BEWARE, I will say it again, if you don't know what you are bidding on you SHOULD NOT BE BIDDING. The categories are simply to make browsing easier, they are NOT there to specify what the item is, that is what the description is for. This is not a store, it's a bloody auction and is very much like a garage sale. If you don't know what you are buying you shouldn't be bidding on anything at all. If the description doesn't match the category or you don't know the model numbers of what you are buying and are google incapable you should EMAIL the seller and ask before bidding because when you bid you are assuming you know what the item is and that is YOUR assumption not the sellers.

Gawd no one is this country has any personal responsiblity.

:beer::thumbsup:


Eli, the auction links are on the 1st page of the thread. IMO, they are VERY clear. Model #'s, clear pictures, and all. This buyer was just another idiot who hit "Buy it not" and now has regret. Sorry, all sales final.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: rahvin
Ebay is BUYER BEWARE, I will say it again, if you don't know what you are bidding on you SHOULD NOT BE BIDDING. The categories are simply to make browsing easier, they are NOT there to specify what the item is, that is what the description is for. This is not a store, it's a bloody auction and is very much like a garage sale. If you don't know what you are buying you shouldn't be bidding on anything at all. If the description doesn't match the category or you don't know the model numbers of what you are buying and are google incapable you should EMAIL the seller and ask before bidding because when you bid you are assuming you know what the item is and that is YOUR assumption not the sellers.

Gawd no one is this country has any personal responsiblity.

:beer::thumbsup:


Eli, the auction links are on the 1st page of the thread. IMO, they are VERY clear. Model #'s, clear pictures, and all. This buyer was just another idiot who hit "Buy it not" and now has regret. Sorry, all sales final.

Yeah, just saw that.

Um, there are pictures.

I stand by my statement. The buyer is a blind idiot.

 

[delturcious]

I now realize my mistake but it is nice to know that the whole world does not believe it is 100% entirely my fault... I've learned my lesson about clarity and its nice to have a group of people that will give you a straight up "you're an asshole, but no hard feelings" kind of response if need be (Or the buyer is a blind idiot, and I'm quoting Eli here!)

 

[aphex]

joint and several liability

Your both proportionally liable for the amount of fault.... In this case i would go 50/50, so you refund half the shipping...

 

[daveymark]

I can see how both parties are at fault, so cut the hard drives in half and send the part that has the ide connection back to the buyer. This will ensure future connectivity. To an IDE cable.

 

[whoiswes]

buyer is an idiot. from the picture, it's fairly obvious those are NOT laptop drives.

furthermore, you listed the model number, which is more than enough information for an able-bodied individual to find out the complete specs of any drive.

he saw a good deal, jumped on it, and is now pissed he was stupid. i've done the same thing myself at least twice (and both times cost me a helluva lot more than $51) and never blamed it on the seller.

i agree with what many others have said. refund his purchase price, let him keep them (and sell them - i'm sure he'll get his money back), and cancel any of his future bids on any of your auctions.

/hates ebay - it's the trailer park of the internet

 

[CarlKillerMiller]

WAAAAAAAAAIT, you shipped first? on eBay!?!?

tsk tsk.

 

[alkemyst]

1) the buyer may not know what a laptop drive is *supposed* to look like. Perhaps he has a couple bad laptops due to bad drives and is now going to try and fix them.

2) a picture is hard for many people to tell proportions. Just because we know hardware it's a little easier, however I used to buy lots of equipment and even items that should be fairly obvious from each other can be confused in a picture sometimes.

3) We are also assuming he knows that those were model numbers posted (IN ONLY ONE AUCTION). It'd be like putting a PAL VHS/DVD in a NTSC section and not specifying it's a PAL unit only except if the buyer were to look up the model number....that's bullshit. Many buyers don't have a clue to search down part numbers, this is why they are consumers and not vendors/etc.

4) The description leads the layman to believe with formatting they will work in anything.



It seems to me a lot of ATOT will make for good crappy used car salemen.

 

[edro]

His fault... Item category doesn't mean sh|t.

 

[DeeKnow]

Your fault - you pay to fix it.... saying so and so doesn't even make laptop drives is lame....

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
1) the buyer may not know what a laptop drive is *supposed* to look like. Perhaps he has a couple bad laptops due to bad drives and is now going to try and fix them.

2) a picture is hard for many people to tell proportions. Just because we know hardware it's a little easier, however I used to buy lots of equipment and even items that should be fairly obvious from each other can be confused in a picture sometimes.

3) We are also assuming he knows that those were model numbers posted (IN ONLY ONE AUCTION). It'd be like putting a PAL VHS/DVD in a NTSC section and not specifying it's a PAL unit only except if the buyer were to look up the model number....that's bullshit. Many buyers don't have a clue to search down part numbers, this is why they are consumers and not vendors/etc.

4) The description leads the layman to believe with formatting they will work in anything.



It seems to me a lot of ATOT will make for good crappy used car salemen.

No it is just that there are a lot a slezzy ebay sellers here and it makes them few better to say what others do to defruad people isn't wrong.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Spencer278

Originally posted by: alkemyst

It seems to me a lot of ATOT will make for good crappy used car salemen.

No it is just that there are a lot a slezzy ebay sellers here and it makes them few better to say what others do to defruad people isn't wrong.

Read this thread, then read many of the how to sell on ebay threads and see how the average poster here 'thinks'.

 

[PingSpike]

"This whole seller/OP is a huge asshole and is trying to rip him off! Lets burn him at the stake!" mentality is the main reason I've never sold anything on ebay.

People act like you become some defacto full blown store that can be reported to the BBB when you sell an old t-shirt on ebay. You're not a store if you sell on ebay, you're just a guy trying to unload some of his old sh|t. I think thats the mistake a lot of new people make on ebay, like that guy who posted on here one of his buyers was sending him her credit card information! She wanted him to charge it to that! Would you give your credit card to some guy behind a table at a flea market? Of course not, and ebay is a hell of a lot closer to a flea market than anything else.

I think the confusion in this case is understandable, and the buyer is being a real ass by being short in emails and quick to the trigger on complaints. He's already filed complaints and is going to leave the seller a negative no matter what happens I think. The fact that heavy hard drives cost more to ship than they are in fact worth is something to consider as well.

 

[delturcious]

****UPDATE*****
Read this (I'm floored) and then I'll explain:

Thank you for making it right, I will get the tax receipt in the mail within a week.
Thanks,
(the guy's name)

He emailed me back this morning with a "you send full refund, I donate to charity and send you receipt" offer and I took it just to be done with this. He seemed to calm down in the email before that and I was afraid of sending this back to square one if I didn't take it or tried to haggle with him some more. Now I can move in a few weeks and not have to continue dealing with this! Now I've learned my lesson... double check category!!! Thanks guys for all your input!

And @ the last couple posters: I may be an idiot, I may be be blind, and I may have been an asshole to this guy (who wasnt kind to me either), but I was in no way shape or form trying to rip anyone off with the way my auction was posted! Just so ya know

 

[Turkish]

Heh.. I wouldn't have refund the shipping. Too bad you did...

 

[delturcious]

Holy crap! He just left me positive feedback! :floored:

 

[IHYLN]

just give him $20 worth of coupons

 

[PingSpike]

Now ban him from your bidder list and leave negative feedback after you get your receipt.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
1) the buyer may not know what a laptop drive is *supposed* to look like. Perhaps he has a couple bad laptops due to bad drives and is now going to try and fix them.

2) a picture is hard for many people to tell proportions. Just because we know hardware it's a little easier, however I used to buy lots of equipment and even items that should be fairly obvious from each other can be confused in a picture sometimes.

3) We are also assuming he knows that those were model numbers posted (IN ONLY ONE AUCTION). It'd be like putting a PAL VHS/DVD in a NTSC section and not specifying it's a PAL unit only except if the buyer were to look up the model number....that's bullshit. Many buyers don't have a clue to search down part numbers, this is why they are consumers and not vendors/etc.

4) The description leads the layman to believe with formatting they will work in anything.



It seems to me a lot of ATOT will make for good crappy used car salemen.

Hey, a seller on Ebay is not a store. He is not Best Buy, Circuit City, MicroCenter, or any of that. There is no 30 day return policy if you just up and decide you didn't want it. The seller has to pay Ebay's auction fees.
If you don't know what the item is that you're bidding on, don't bid.
Is that too hard for you? To take some responsibility as a buyer? Does that make me a used car salesman because I think too many idiot buyers who can't take responsibility rip off too many sellers?

delturcious, nice to see it worked out for you but I still think the buyer ripped you off.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Even though this guy is seriously lacking in people skills, I think that he has a pretty good argument. I think that listing the drives in the laptop components section could possibly be a misrepresentation.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Now ban him from your bidder list and leave negative feedback after you get your receipt.

Ahaha. I would :evil:

 

[Mallow]

stiff him for being an arshat.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Vic
Hey, a seller on Ebay is not a store. He is not Best Buy, Circuit City, MicroCenter, or any of that. There is no 30 day return policy if you just up and decide you didn't want it. The seller has to pay Ebay's auction fees.

What is the difference really? A salesman is a salesman regardless whether it's on the side of the road, an auction or a multi-store chain. Not all stores have to offer any kind of return or satisfaction policy. That's what makes for a good seller.

If you don't know what the item is that you're bidding on, don't bid.
Is that too hard for you? To take some responsibility as a buyer? Does that make me a used car salesman because I think too many idiot buyers who can't take responsibility rip off too many sellers?

Exactly, however; I seriously think this 'buyer' had every belief he was bidding on a set of HD's that would work in a laptop.

I have no idea what kind of seller you are in real life, but you do seem to border on the quick buck is more important than a happy buyer. Again it's up to you what kind of person you'd like to be, you can pay a little power game over it if you'd like even on the prepaying buyer. However, my post was not a private message to you. Take a look through this thread, as well as other's of the same type. Misleading a buyer seems ok if you can sell the item more quickly. I am not sure if it was here or another forum, but someone was selling 'new' equipment on ebay, with links to the rebates and in fine print listing the UPC's have been removed. Now to me that's just unethical. There is no lie in the item description, but it's designed to be misleading majorly.

delturcious, nice to see it worked out for you but I still think the buyer ripped you off.

How did he get ripped off? He set his own terms. The buyer obviously was not looking for the item. If he refunded and got back only two drives or refunded and the buyer did a charge back on top of it then yes, that's getting ripped off. If anything he was overly generous perhaps.