exariongm is a scumbag seller.
I've had nothing but good experiences on ebay so far and go figure, the first time I get burned is the first time I buy a comic that's not even for my own collection. My girlfriends sister came to me wanting gift ideas for her boyfriend who is a big Wolverine fan and has shown some interest in collecting comics. I recommended Frank Miller's limited run of 4 issues as a gift along with some other ideas. She wanted to go with Miller's run, so we began looking for the full set. I explained to her how important condition is and how easily a book can lose grade. We ended up finding a great NM range set at a reasonable price, a bit more than she had initially wanted to spend but she really wanted to get something nice.
Anyway, I place the order last month on the 19th (10/19) and I tell her it usually takes 5-7 days for books to arrive. About a week and a half passes and I contact exariongm to ask for an update.
He responds on 10/31 with:
"Hello, very sorry about the delay in the shipping of the comics, I m going to find the receipt of the transaction and provide you with the tracking number. Expect a message from me by 3pm tomorrow! Again very sorry, I had problems with ebays printable shipping lables and did it through the post office."
Sure enough I don't hear anything back by 3pm the following day. I contact him again on the 2nd and hear back on the 4th:
"Very sorry, it ended up returning to sender because of insufficient postage even though I did it at the post office, I m sending it again today 2 day ship. I ll update the tracking number now. Again I am so sorry about this situation. "
To make this already long story short, I received the books yesterday on the 7th. I opened them up and they are very clearly not the same books pictured, all of them are in 7.0-8.5 (at best) condition, a far cry from the 9.4+ books shown in his picture. My first theory is that the shipping delay was a result of him waiting to make the sale and then ordering a cheaper set after the fact, which he shipped me...he probably didn't even have the set to begin with. Just a thought though.
Normally I'd send them back and get my money back but because these books are a birthday gift I can't...at least not without a replacement gift that I'd need by the 13th.
What do you guys think I should do? Also, I've never had to leave bad feedback on Ebay before, I should obviously do that now, right? Do I run the risk of him giving ME bad feedback after I do so? I'm not really sure how that all works.
Appreciate any help, thanks