3710 If I should suddenly disappear...

Sunday, March 31, 2013

"'Wrong' is one of those concepts that depends on witnesses."

-- Scott Adams --

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I may have started a war.

I bought a pin (brooch) on eBay, item number 380599269925.  There was a photo.  The pin looked nice.  The enlargement looked like the pin probably needed a good cleaning. 

Other than the title, "Grandmas estate beautiful flower brooch", there was no further description of the particular pin.  The seller claims that the items he/she sells come from Grandma's estate,

All items are in 100% great

shape - crack & chip free! All of her lovely things are

100% guaranteed to be loved.

I list 500 - 1000 new pieces of her jewelry from her

stores and estate every week. She loved to collect

jewelry.

and so on.  500-1000 items per week?  From Grandma's estate?  Well, it does say "stores".  Maybe she sold jewelry.

There were only two bids.  I got it for $1.25, plus shipping.  I also bought another pin from the same seller.

He/she combines shipping.  From the description,

1 ITEM @ REGULAR COST

2 - 5 ITEMS $4.50

6 or MORE, PRIORITY MAIL

However, later in the description,

1 item shipped @ regular cost.

2 - 5 items for $3.95

6 or more will be shipped Priority Mail.

Hmmmm.  So how much postage will I be paying for the two items?

Most sellers have eBay automatically calculate combined shipping.  When I looked at this seller's invoice, shipping had not been combined.  So I sent an email asking for a new invoice with combined shipping, pointing out the discrepancy in the two versions in the description, and saying that I expected to pay $3.95.   (The description, by the way, is a contract, and under contract law errors are to the detriment of the party who drew up the contract.)

He/she changed the invoice, with $4.50 for shipping.

I was pissed, but decided it wasn't worth fighting over $.55, since eBay complaint forms don't address this problem, so it would be a pain to report it.  However, I didn't pay immediately (I usually pay within minutes).  The seller obviously uses the exact same template for every item, changing only the photo and the title.  So I waited to see if new listings had been corrected, or if they still had two different shipping offers.

Hmmmm.  The seller did not bother to fix the problem.

After several days checking to see if the seller had decided what to charge, and seeing no correction on new items, I paid, and waited for the pins to arrive.

One pin was beautiful.  The other, also described as "beautiful", was pure crap.  There was no silver plating remaining on the base metal (yeah, silver, even though the photo looks like gold-tone), except for a tiny spot on the very tip of the leaf closest to the flower.  From the photo, it looked like the enamel on the blossom was ok, with silver edges on the petals, and spots of dirt here and there.  In actuality, the enamel is mostly gone, large areas of pitting on the petals.  The thing is pure crap.  Junk.  I'd be embarrassed to put it up for sale.

So now it's time to leave feedback.  I am certainly not leaving a positive.  That leaves neutral or negative. 

I did a little research on this seller.  He/she purchases those large volume lots of scrap jewelry on eBay, lots usually listed as "for parts and repair".    I suspect he/she is reselling what other sellers consider crap.  And it appears that "Grandma" is eBay.

The seller already has a slew of Negs, many complaints of buyers having to pay two-way shipping for crap.

He/she does accept returns.  Most eBay sellers will refund the item price if you aren't satisfied, but do not refund the shipping, and require that the buyer pay the return shipping - UNLESS they sent the wrong item, or it was grossly misrepresented, then they will accept those costs.  This seller says the buyer has to pay to return the item, and only the bid will be refunded.  No apparent shipping refund just because you don't like it.  So if I return it, I will end up paying the two shipping costs for a piece of crap.

After a lot of thought, I left what is only my second negative feedback in 16 years and over 3800 purchases on eBay:  "Photo is deceptive, no description, pin is crap, I refuse to pay return postage."

The seller freaked.

He/she has formally requested through eBay that I change my feedback, and sent this note:

hi there
if you not happy with an item just email me and i will be more the happy to refund you there is never a reason for bad feedback .. i will be more then happy to refund you and you no need to send back .. if your worry about shipping price back.. that is fine. all i care about is everyone loveing her things
not in it for the money. the kids get that
so pleaseee fix my ratings and email me i will be more then happy to refund you
god bless
scott and the twins  

"Her" things?  Oh, well.

So I went to eBay's feedback change page, and checked the box that said no change, feedback is accurate.  It's interesting that the seller claimed to eBay that I had contacted him/her and said I'd left the Neg in error and I wanted to change it.  All the more reason not to.

So why am I worried about disappearing?  The seller has my address.  He/she lives about 20 minutes up the road.

I have already moved the van out of the driveway, so it won't be associated with this address.  Unfortunately, I can't disassociate MYSELF from this address.
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