E bay BOMB!

marc not logged in · Post by **marc not logged in** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:59 pm

I just receive a camera in the mail, a Rollei Super 8 Movie camera , that was much lower in quality than I had expected or the seller led me to believe. It came with a big white sticker on the side with a bar code and a description of the item on it. This was not in the photo for the auction. I tried to peel it off and it left a lot of residue. In addition to that, the body has damage in a few places and when I ran the camera it sounded a little rough. I just got it from Fed X less than an hour ago. I sent an E mail to the seller as soon as realized that the camera was not as advertised. I don't expect a response this quickly but what really shocked me was that next to his user ID is said: " NO LONGER A REGISTERED USER". What is this all about?

Post by **marc** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:10 pm

In the worst case scenario, I'll send it to Andreas and if he can use it great or if he can sell that is even better and that will be a site donation on my part.

Post by **monobath** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:48 pm

If you're unable to contact the seller, you could try filing a case with the ebay Dispute Resolution Service. I wish you luck.

Post by **marc** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:55 pm

I might be mistaken but it looks like e bay charges now for mediation.

Post by **monobath** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:05 pm

They probably do charge. I think I heard that too.

There may be another way to address an issue when a seller is no longer registered. Anyway, how do you mediate when one party is no longer in the game.

Under the "community" link there are forums. It might be useful to ask the ebay forum members what the best way to handle a situation like this is.

Post by **MovieStuff** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:36 pm

monobath wrote:If you're unable to contact the seller, you could try filing a case with the ebay Dispute Resolution Service. I wish you luck.

Good luck is right. I love ebay but one thing that they do not make clear is that the Disupute Resolution Service is not a function of ebay and the people that work there do not work for ebay and have no authority to enforce any resolution. Basically, they charge you a fee to moderate your disagreement with the other party but, in the end, even if the moderator agrees with you that the other party is a thief, there is nothing that the moderator can do to enfore anything. I went through this a couple of times and, believe me, it makes no difference. If you really feel you have a beef, don't waste time with the Dispute Resolution function. Just file a fraud complaint and then you get to communicate with a person that really works for ebay. Not that it will actually do much good, in my experience, but at least it's free.

Roger

Post by **Meltwater Hawk** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:52 pm

I'm not sure whether this applies to Ebay or not but by US Gov't Law you must have at least 30 days to return an item. Also if you paid by CC, then you can call yr credit company and have a "halt payment" put on it. The company will research the discrepancy and most of the time side with you. Maybe those tips will help you. Good luck...you're living one of my ebay fears.

Post by **MovieStuff** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:13 pm

Meltwater Hawk wrote:I'm not sure whether this applies to Ebay or not but by US Gov't Law you must have at least 30 days to return an item.

Only if there is a return policy already in place. If the conditions of the sale stipulate "All sales final. No returns or exchanges", then that is the terms of the sale and there is no 30 day return.

However, credit card companies generally don't get involved at that level and if someone does a chargeback, then the seller ends up eating it, regardless of the conditions of the sale. Then it is up to the seller to legally enforce "all sales final" via the courts. Most sellers will just write it off but, legally, there is no government enforced "30 day return" policy that overrides any conditions of the sale. A sale is a contract and payment becomes acceptance of the terms of the contract.

Roger

Post by **AngelDragon** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:58 pm

Well, any kind of dispute resolution via eBay at this point it's going to yield no results since the seller is not registered anymore. You haven't told us what was the feedback score on this seller, was he a new seller? Various reasons could've caused his status to change as not registered: the sellers canceling their own account, problems paying their seller fees, temporal suspension for investigation, etc, etc. The fact that you received the camera after all is proof that you are not dealing with a scammer. So, I'd go try and contact the seller via email and tell him or her about your problem. Chances are that you might be able to negotiate a reimbursement. Remember to be polite and patience, since any resolution outside eBay will solely fall upon the seller good intentions.

Post by **marc** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:54 am

Double post.

Post by **marc** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:57 am

If anything good comes out of situations like this, they teach you to be more cautious about your purchasing on e bay. I guess by using a system that has a lot of positives overall, you have to accept a certain amount of loss as a part of the greater benefits of the system. It's like a lot of things in life: It's not perfect. I might donate the camera with a few others I have gotten in the past to some co-workers that have an interest in filmmaking. The camera does work but the quality overall is much less than the seller led me to believe.

Post by **FourFourForty** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:04 pm

As was said so many times in "Donnie Brasco" ...

Forget about it.

Post by **DriveIn** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:49 am

You can always do an ebay ID exchange and get the sellers telephone number. The link is somewhere in the fraud and complaint help pages. I've used it a few times to verify the seller is legit first before sending any money.

Post by **greenplastic79** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 6:12 am

I think part of the problem is that people for some reason get mystified when they find a super 8 camera. It's really not any more difficult to operate than a compact disc player, but for some reason they don't do the most obvious things like try and put batteries in it or look through the viewfinder.

People also bid very high on Canon and Nizo cameras that aren't actually listed as working items with clean lenses. I imagine you could retire after selling a truckload of broken Canons.

I have about 11 super 8 cameras right now. Some were better than I expected and some were worse. A few of them I had to operate on and a few still have pubic hairs stuck in the viewfinders. In the long run I think it evens out, but getting an ass camera or getting stuck with a high shipping bill is certainly frustrating.

Unfortunately the words "good condition" are apparently as completely relative as the words "sexual relations."