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EDIT: YUP, I WAS RIGHT. Won ebay auction for wayyyy less than its worth.

S

scootermaster

Platinum Member
Story goes like this:

1. Saw item on CL in a different city.
2. Emailed the guy, mentioned I'd love to buy it, but he's too far away. Eventually mentioned ebay.
3. Found item on ebay, didn't know if it was same guy. Emailed him (an hour before auction ends). Turns out he was the same guy (he wrote back promptly) and he implored me to bid because he tried to have a reserve but "screwed up" and the item was only going for $2.
4. Saw some red flags on the auction listing ("Sold as is", "No returns"), but he also listed the item as "mint", so I emailed again asking if it was working and he replied yes.
5. Ended up bidding, won item for $2.50 or something. (Plus a steep $10 shipping).
6. Emailed right after the win (Thursday at around 5) saying "Hey, just wanted to make sure this thing is working, and I'll pay as soon as I hear from you."
7. Still no response. He's in the same time zone as me.
8. This item went new, like 8 years ago, for around $200. It was available last year some time, new, for $35. It's discontinued, but is a great value at $35. Used prices are around the same $20-$40 range. So $12 is cheap, but it's not like he's losing a ton of money (although I have no way of knowing if he paid $200 for this or $40).

So my question is this: I have a sinking feeling he's pissed about the final price and doesn't want to send it. I could just be paranoid, but that's what my gut says. His auction apparently scared people away (he had a retracted bid), so it went low. He's been trying to sell this for awhile (see CL). But I can't officially "complain" that he won't ship until I pay...but do I pay if I feel like he has no intention of shipping?

Obviously, I'm not going to lose a ton of sleep over $12, but I'd prefer not to lose it completely. So what protections do I have if i pay (paypal) and he never ships?

Anyone have any experience with this?

Edit: Just got this from the seller:
"Sorry dude,
I'm going to contact eBay and try to cancel this sale. The
item was stolen from me yesterday. Left it in my recording
space and someone stole a bunch of stuff.

I will refund your money through paypal. Thanks for
understanding.

- willonroad80"

What a tool. So, I guess he refunded my money on paypal, so there's nothing I can do, right? He's gonna eat the, like, 20 cents or so ebay charged him and try and sell it again or put it back on CL.

Ugh.
 
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If he doesn't ship, you get your money back (assuming various paypal loopholes are avoided). If you don't pay, you're a non-paying bidder.
 
PayPal is pretty good about refunding money to buyers for fraudulent auctions. It's your call. If you really want the item, $12 is a small gamble.
 
SunnyD said:
If he doesn't ship, you get your money back (assuming various paypal loopholes are avoided). If you don't pay, you're a non-paying bidder.
Click to expand...

Okay. I was just wondering how anyone (ebay, paypal, sellers, buyers, etc) tell the difference between the following scenarios (given a fixed type of shipping):

1. I pay. He never ships.
2. I pay. He ships, the mail loses it.
3. I pay. He ships, it gets delivered. I say the mail lost it.

Seems like in the absence of signing for things or delivery insurance or whatever, no one would be able to tell which of those three things happens. I've just afraid I'm going to pay, claim #1, and he'll claim #2 or #3.

But I'll just pay and we'll see what happens.
 
If I am reading the post correctly it has been less than 24 hours since you e-mailed him. Not everyone checks their e-mail every 5 minutes.

Either way if the item is that important to you $12 sounds like a pretty small gamble.
 
scootermaster said:
Okay. I was just wondering how anyone (ebay, paypal, sellers, buyers, etc) tell the difference between the following scenarios (given a fixed type of shipping):

1. I pay. He never ships.
2. I pay. He ships, the mail loses it.
3. I pay. He ships, it gets delivered. I say the mail lost it.

Seems like in the absence of signing for things or delivery insurance or whatever, no one would be able to tell which of those three things happens. I've just afraid I'm going to pay, claim #1, and he'll claim #2 or #3.

But I'll just pay and we'll see what happens.
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter. FTC law is that the seller is always responsible for getting the item to you, making sure you receive it, and proving it arrived in your hands in the condition claimed.

This means as a seller, if you ship without delivery confirmation, you may as well be giving the item away for free.
 
Do you mind sharing what the item is? I'm curious about what could cost $200 8 years ago and still be worth having for $20-40 today.
 
Spoooon said:
Do you mind sharing what the item is? I'm curious about what could cost $200 8 years ago and still be worth having for $20-40 today.
Click to expand...

This:
http://www.macmall.com/p/product~dpn...rce=mwbfroogle

So maybe it wasn't 10 years ago. Maybe 6? 7? I think it predates OS X, but I dunno. It's a FW audio interface that is a). discontinued, and b). Doesn't have relevant Windows drivers. (Of course, on a Mac is uses Core Audio so it's the definition of plug and play).

I bought one for $35 from amazon, new, about a year and a half ago (Thanks Kaido!) but I wanted to pick up another since they can be daisy chained and one of the channels on the headphone plug doesn't work on mine (no biggie since the first audio output works the same way, but the headphone port is in the front, has a specific volume knob, and for ~ $20, why the hell not?).

Anyway, I assume the $35 price was when the item was EOLed or something. I would never pay $200 for it. But it's a pretty awesome little box, and looks sexy on your desk. And, of course, for $35 (or $12) the price can't be beat.
 
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HardcoreRobot said:
if you won the auction you need to pay
Click to expand...

I have no issue paying. I just did. I was more wondering what the process is if the guy never wants to ship, but -- ahem, some other -- helpful people have responded and given me some good information. Not that I would have done any differently -- at least not for $12 -- but my gut was telling me this guy wasn't happy about it, so I wanted to see what would happen if I paid and he never shipped. Never paying wasn't ever an option.
 
sucks, but it's not worth ruining his feedback over an $12 item. You haven't lost anything but a few minutes of time it took to write your emails. Accept the refund and move on. Yes it was his fault for not putting a reserve on there, but don't be a jerk about it.
 
totalnoob said:
sucks, but it's not worth ruining his feedback over an $12 item. You haven't lost anything but a few minutes of time it took to write your emails. Accept the refund and move on. Yes it was his fault for not putting a reserve on there, but don't be a jerk about it.
Click to expand...

WTF? You don't think a lying tard deserves negative feedback?
 
He's not a "power" seller or anything by any means. In fact, I'm not sure he's ever sold anything on ebay ever. He wanted to use CL, but it just didn't move in his local area (SF). I emailed him (from LA) and told him I was interested in it, but didn't want to just paypal him money on the hope he'd send the item (it's not like he's a Heatware member or something).

So I told him he can have the same deal; ship my item, on the "faith" that i'll pay him a little extra than what it closed for. I will...I think I'd give him an extra $7-$10, which is fair, given his retarded shipping price.

It's just sad that the horrible looming spectre of negative feedback isn't really going to do much damage here.
 
So since he refunded my money, is that going to hamper my ability to open a case on ebay? I just want to make sure the "paid" flag is set, and that after 7 days (or whatever it is) I can open a case here.

The amount of money we're talking here is retarded. This this was $35 new. I would have paid $20 for it. I'd be happy to pay $20 for it. I just didn't want to pay $20 to some random person on CL (and I'm sure you can understand why). With the protection (HAHA HAHAAHAHAH LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!111oneone) of ebay, I figured I was okay. If the auction had gone to $20, that's fine with me. I'd STILL give him $20 for it, but if he's going to be retarded, I'm going to fight him on it.
 
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