vipoutlet on ebay - buy one thing, get another instead?

[VirtualLarry]

I ordered a PC from vipoutlet a couple of weeks ago (early Dec.), using a 10% off ebay coupon.

What that led to, was an uncovering of what I believe to be fraud (*Edit: incorrect Description and Listing) by vipoutlet.

This is the listing on which I made my purchase.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-90J...th-Radeon-Vega-Graphics/113376148296#rpdCntId

Well, fast-forward to yesterday, when it was finally delivered, and today, when I looked at the label.

It was supposed to come with a 2200G and 8GB of RAM. The unit that I received, was in fact, factory-new.

But mine came with an A8-9600 (previous generation of APU, code-named Bristol Ridge, and drastically inferior performance to the Ryzen 2200G APU), and only 4GB of RAM.

If you look at "Item specifics" - the only thing that ebay considers "legally-binding" in a listing, it shows "UPC:191200482601".

Which is also on the box I received.

Searching for "UPC 191200482601" led me to this other listing, from Lenovo themselves.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Ide...600-4-0GB-DDR4-RAM-1TB-7200-RPM-/163342783459

Yep, that UPC corresponds to the model with the A8-9600 and 4GB of RAM.

So, vipoutlet created that listing, with the correct UPC, but KNOWING (* Ok, I assumed that a human created the listing. I now believe that to be incorrect.) that that is the only thing, legally, that ebay cares about, they both titled, and in the listing, claim (FRAUDULENTLY) (* Ok, see later posts, may be database screwup, used for Description and Content?) that it is for a 2200G with 8GB of RAM model PC. Clear and classic bait and switch.

 

[VirtualLarry]

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops-and-all-in-ones/ideacentre/500-series/510A-AMD/p/90J0000YUS

You'll notice that the listing from vipoutlet also listed "MPN: 90J0000YUS".

Which is where they screwed up.

My PC has the MPN starting with "90GU", same as that of Newegg's listing ("90GU0001US").

 

[SKORPI0]

Click on the "Report Item", sign in with your eBay account. Type in your complaint that item posted by the seller is not the same as item received.
Don't forget to include the links/screenshots.

 

[VirtualLarry]

That tool is useless, doesn't have the option to just select "Item Specifics does not match Description and Listing".

Edit: Also, no place to type in anything, only to select from three different drop-down menus.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Btw, Search "site:slickdeals.net 90J0000YUS" to find the expired front-page deal on this PC, and see the final (thus far) comment, one of their members got screwed too. So it wasn't just me, or a one-off.

I guess, possibly, although I would personally consider a listing in which the Description and actual contents of the listing, did NOT match up with the UPC code or the actual product shipped out and received by the customer as fraudulent, I guess many of their listings are probably automated via a database, as they sell lots of PCs and other items, and so possibly it was a database mix-up somehow? Or, perhaps fueled by Lenovo themselves, as if you click

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops-and-all-in-ones/ideacentre/500-series/510A-AMD/p/90GU0001US

(The model code for the A6-9600 with 4GB of RAM), you get re-directed to the 90J0000YUS page, I believe, after being told that the item you were search for is no longer available.)

So maybe that happened in the database as well? I know, long shot, but I guess I shouldn't attribute to malice, what could be explained by incompetence.

That said, that listing says that they sold 330+ of these PCs. Surely, if there was a discrepancy, they would have caught it by now? Inexcusable!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Honestly, though, it feels like bait-and-switch to me, having a listing (description and content) on ebay, of one item, and purchasing it, and getting a DIFFERENT, INFERIOR item, and finding out that the "UPC" is ... correct?

This is my second time ordering from vipoutlet on ebay, and indeed, it is the second time that they've screwed me, by shipping me an inferior item, in place of the item that was described. No wonder they have only a 96%-odd rating, rather than places that actually care, and have a 98% or 99% rating. I've been told that for a volume seller, 96% is VERY low for an ebay rating. So I guess I'll let that speak for itself. and CAVEAT EMPTOR.

NOT A BAD IDEA, to GOOGLE UPC numbers, on EBAY LISTINGS, BEFORE PURCHASE. The item DESCRIPTION and CONTENT may be WRONG!

 

[VirtualLarry]

On the other hand, I do have a brand-new Lenovo (last-generation CPU, and insufficient RAM) PC, BNIB, that I got for under $300. Not a horrible deal, all things considered, but it really stings, because I was expecting a phenomenal deal, one with a Ryzen 2200G APU, and 8GB of RAM, which would have made a sweet "browser box". I even went out and spent an additional almost $90 on an HP EX920 M.2 PCI-E NVMe 512GB SSD, to complement the Ryzen APU, for this anticipated rig. It's hardly worth it to even put it in, with a Bristol Ridge APU installed.

So, I guess I could possibly, crack it open, and install an Athlon 200GE APU, and/or the HP EX920 512GB SSD. I'll admit, I planned on trying to resell it for $350 locally, as that would still be roughly $100 less than Newegg wanted for the 2200G/8GB RAM model of this Lenovo 510A PC series. Not sure if I can get that much for it without a Ryzen APU installed.

Edit: I guess, I could just return it. They claim to offer free returns (they pay shipping!), within 30 days. I guess that could come in handy. So I guess it's not like I'm completely screwed, but I'd still have to take a trip to the Post Office or UPS Store or whatever.

 

[snoopy7548]

No offense, but that's what you get for buying a pre-built PC from eBay.

I've read that lots of people hate on eBay for "always siding with the buyer". The item you received did not match the description, so you should be able to easily get a refund... and don't buy PCs from eBay again...

 

[VirtualLarry]

No offense, but that's what you get for buying a pre-built PC from eBay.

I've read that lots of people hate on eBay for "always siding with the buyer". The item you received did not match the description, so you should be able to easily get a refund... and don't buy PCs from eBay again...

Well, not just "buying from ebay", as most vendors on ebay (well, except for some China-sellers with unpronounceable names shipping direct from HK or China) are completely legit. My mistake was (again!) buying a PC from a vendor, with a low (96%-odd) "seller rating". I think most people will be safe, buying from ebay sellers with a 98% or better seller rating.

Even walmart.com screwed me recently, I ordered two packages of socks, and only received one package, already opened, with the contents loose in the shipping container. (To say nothing about GamersNexus getting REALLY screwed by walmart.com, they ordered a $2700 Gaming PC, and received the $1400 model instead. Look up the review, it's not pretty.)

I'd buy (almost anything Computer/tech-related) from BestBuy, Newegg, and several other vendors on ebay, like ANTOnline, without thinking twice. Never gotten screwed by them (*), and I buy a bunch of stuff from those vendors.

(*) I take that back, I did order a 4-pack of USB battery units from BestBuy, and they shipped me qty. one. Had to take it back to the local BestBuy store a few miles away, which was a pain. Thankfully, there was a different SKU / UPC on the single-pack, and they were able to give me a refund. Which is better than I've done for my missing package of socks from walmart. (Edit: I had ordered a 4-pack of similar-model USB battery units two months prior, and received the proper (four) qty of them. So I was somewhat surprised when my second order didn't go as planned.)

 

[Sgt. York]

I would contact the seller, explain the problem and ask them to send a return label and the right computer. Every company makes mistakes.

 

[Mike64]

My mistake was (again!) buying a PC from a vendor, with a low (96%-odd) "seller rating".

Yeah, that's a doozie, I'd say.

Back in the day I wouldn't have dreamed of buying from a seller with less than a 99%+ rating. I cut sellers a little more slack than that these days since so many morons and their village-idiot cousins started shopping on Ebay, buying stupid stuff for ridiculously low prices and then being "shocked, shocked! they say" when it turns out they did not in fact basically win a lottery... But if an unknown seller has a rating below 99% on a lot of sales, I wouldn't even consider buying from them without at least skimming through the negs and neutrals first...

 

[lxskllr]

That's the gods punishing you for wastefully buying a pc you didn't need :^P

If it were me, I'd just keep the machine, and consider it my penance. Computers are a pita to deal with regarding shipping. More chances for things to get fucked up.

 

[VirtualLarry]

That's the gods punishing you for wastefully buying a pc you didn't need :^P

If it were me, I'd just keep the machine, and consider it my penance. Computers are a pita to deal with regarding shipping. More chances for things to get fucked up.

Yeah, basically, I agree with you. When I told my Mom on the phone that I "got screwed on ebay", and then explained that I have a 30-day return window, she was like "Return it! Right away! Get your money back!".

But I told her that I wanted to find out what other SD'ers and forum members were going to do with their (incorrect) PC that got shipped to them.

Maybe someone I know, or even better, someone that I don't, needs a Christmas gift. I don't want to ship it, I agree totally, that's a PITA.

And the price that I ended up paying for it, under $300 shipped, wasn't a bad deal, really. Just that I wanted the 2200G in there. I could buy one, I suppose. Or put in one of my other ones, I've got a 2400G in a PC right now that lacks DDR4 RAM. The only 4GB of RAM is a kicker, though. I would find it hard on my conscience to re-sell a PC with only 4GB of RAM, and a spinner. 4GB of RAM is bearable, with an SSD to page to, if you have to, but I prefer at least 8GB of RAM in all of my boxes, if not more. (My main rigs have 32GB in them, though I rarely use over 16GB.)

Edit: A friend's mom has a PC that has been having issues, I think that the HDD is going, or maybe it just needs a re-install. But I would like to be able to sell her this Lenovo, that's what I kind of had in mind when I picked it up. Newegg wanted $450 or so (approx.), for the NIB 2200G/8GB/1TB model, with factory Lenovo warranty. If her PC has something that's not as easily fixable, as throwing in an SSD and re-installing Win7 or Win10 for her.

(I don't think that this one carries a Lenovo warranty, even though it's new, so that's a negative for reselling it, I would have to offer my own limited hardware warranty for it.)

Anyways, if she's at all interested in it, I think that having it "factory NIB" would be a draw, so I really don't want to open it to put in the 4GB of RAM, although I might tell her that I'll give her a free upgrade to 8GB of RAM if she buys it. (Pull another stick out of one of my machines.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Since we're on the topic of "database screwups", read this article pointed to me by Firefox and Pocket, on GizModo.

It involves IP mapping, and how inadvertent database screwups can be a nightmare for some people.

I guess I'm thankful, that I only got a slightly-less-powerful PC. Some of these people are suffering from REAL issues, because of this stuff.

READ!

https://gizmodo.com/how-cartographers-for-the-u-s-military-inadvertently-c-1830758394

 

[Sonikku]

That seller has 368 negative feedbacks posted in the last month alone... What were you thinking?

 

[VirtualLarry]

That seller has 368 negative feedbacks posted in the last month alone... What were you thinking?

That there's a sucker born every minute... waitasec, that describes me, in this situation, I think.

 

[Mike64]

Since we're on the topic of "database screwups", read this article pointed to me by Firefox and Pocket, on GizModo.
It involves IP mapping, and how inadvertent database screwups can be a nightmare for some people.
https://gizmodo.com/how-cartographers-for-the-u-s-military-inadvertently-c-1830758394

“It’s almost with religious zeal that these people come, thinking their goodies are in my yard,” John told me. “The Apple customers seem to be the worst.”

Now I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!

 

[IronWing]

Since we're on the topic of "database screwups", read this article pointed to me by Firefox and Pocket, on GizModo.

It involves IP mapping, and how inadvertent database screwups can be a nightmare for some people.

I guess I'm thankful, that I only got a slightly-less-powerful PC. Some of these people are suffering from REAL issues, because of this stuff.

READ!

https://gizmodo.com/how-cartographers-for-the-u-s-military-inadvertently-c-1830758394

Most of the U.S. is surveyed using the Public Lands Survey System (PLSS)and consequently, most property parcels in the U.S. (outside the original 13 colonies and Texas). The PLSS describes parcels based on meridian, township, range, section, and aliquot part or lot. A section is about square mile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System

It is difficult to efficiently describe parcels in a numerical database in a manner that allows one to efficiently map the parcel description to lat and long. A common shortcut is to map the centroid of the parcel to lat and long. This works pretty well as long as one starts with a precise description. What happens when a place is described in PLSS terms but imprecisely is that it gets mapped to the center of the next larger division. If one has a location of a place given to the nearest quadrant (quarter of a section) then it gets mapped to the center of the quadrant and the error in position is up to a quarter mile. If a place is described only to the nearest section then it gets mapped to the center of the section and the error can be up to a half mile.

For pre-GPS data, it is good practice to check if a feature location happens to be the dead center of a township, section, or aliquot part before heading out to the field so you know how big of search radius you might need to find the feature.