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Ebay seller to avoid: jazzbass825

Started by drewincanada,

25 posts in this topic

drewincanada

drewincanada

Posted
Posted

Won three auctions at the beginning of July from this seller. The pics weren't the greatest, but he had very positive feedback, so I took a flyer on them.

 

Big mistake (which I won't repeat).

 

As you'll see, he graded the comics in his auctions, and even said his grades are "according to the official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide".

 

Here are the three auctions:

 

Avengers #2 auction listing

 

TOS #48 auction listing

 

Daredevil #11 auction listing

 

I always figure that Ebay auctions are overgraded by a full point, and bid accordingly. But in this case, they were all overgraded by a minimum of TWO points -- and in the case of the Avengers, by about 3.5 points.

 

I posted my scans of the books in the "Spare a Grade" forum, and everyone was pretty much in agreement on the condition of the books:

 

PGM Avengers #2 thread

 

PGM TOS #48 thread

 

PGM DD #11 thread

 

I ended up paying around OSG for the DD and TOS, but I definitely overpaid for the Avengers in the condition it was in. SEVERELY overpaid. (Yeah, I know. It was stupid of me.)

 

I contacted the seller and very politely expressed my disappointment and inquired about a refund, and he flat out refused. I even volunteered to pay for the return shipping, and explained that he could recoup his Ebay seller fees and relist the books. Here's his response:

 

I understand that you are not satisfied with the books but unfortunately i will not be providing you with a refund unless it is deemed required through ebay or paypal. my reasoning behind this is that the books were not misrepresented in any way as i never stated in the ad that i am a strict overstreet grader, nor did i include any number value grading on the books and i also included high resolution pictures that could be super sized for easier viewing. in addition i just looked at the overstreet and according to your grading opinion you still payed less then or on point with the guide. i disagree with your grading and your classification of the books as it is my opinion to do so. the issue here is that the books were not misrepresented in any way and you were given ample tools to see for yourself the condition of the books which again i feel you are mistaken on. do not ship the books back yet as i will not accept the shipping until this is resolved through paypal or ebay. the options that you have are as follows. i will either work through ebay and paypal on this matter and i assure you that as a seller i will win in regards to my ad and representation. the other option is to avoid this lengthy process as i will be willing to issue a partial refund that we can mutually agree to. again i strongly disagree with your grading and we are basically playing a game of opinion as neither of us are professional graders. i do not mean to sound rude or unsympathetic but their is a significant inconvenience that you are putting on me and there is no negligence on my part. if you are looking for guaranteed grading you should be bidding on graded books from companies like CGC or PGX. i had many other sellers who wanted these books and now i am going to be inconvenienced because you think the books are graded differently. you can contact me with your response and hopefully we can resolve this.

 

So basically, he wouldn't allow a return because it was an inconvenience to him.

 

I wrote back to ask what kind of partial refund he was willing to offer. He said he'd give me $75, and if I didn't agree to it, I could file a Paypal dispute. Which I did.

 

I explained in my claim with Paypal that the seller clearly used Overstreet grading terminology, and that the actual books were overgraded, and therefore misrepresented. I tried to explain that grading is NOT subjective, and that the grading guidelines make it very easy to determine the accurate grade of a book. I directed them to the three "Spare a Grade" threads where forumites had come to fairly unanimous agreement on the grades of these books.

 

The seller responded by saying that (1) grading is highly subjective, (2) that he didn't use Overstreet grading "numbers", (3) that his feedback is testament to his accurate grading, (4) that I was just looking for an Ebay 'steal', (5) that I still got a good deal even at the grades I claimed the books were in, and for good measure, (6) that providing a refund would really inconvenience him.

 

Well, it's thirty days later and Paypal just decided the case in the seller's favour.

 

And I just left him negative feedback on all three auctions, seeing as it's the only recourse left to me.

 

That, and informing my fellow forumites about this dip mess Ebayer. (thumbs u

 

Guess I'll end up reselling them on Ebay, but I'll grade them accurately.

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sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

Posted
Posted

Sorry to hear about this, but there isn't a return policy specified. That would've been your ace in the hole...and it's foolish to assume that the seller will accommodate one if one is not specified. The ambiguity kills me, and I wish eBay would FORCE listings to specify a policy. On the other hand, you also should've asked for the policy up front...in writing.

 

If I buy raw nowadays on the bay (very rare for me) and there is no return policy specified, I don't bid.

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Aces

Aces

Posted
Posted
Won three auctions at the beginning of July from this seller. The pics weren't the greatest, but he had very positive feedback, so I took a flyer on them.

 

Big mistake (which I won't repeat).

 

As you'll see, he graded the comics in his auctions, and even said his grades are "according to the official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide".

 

Here are the three auctions:

 

Avengers #2 auction listing

 

TOS #48 auction listing

 

Daredevil #11 auction listing

 

I always figure that Ebay auctions are overgraded by a full point, and bid accordingly. But in this case, they were all overgraded by a minimum of TWO points -- and in the case of the Avengers, by about 3.5 points.

 

I posted my scans of the books in the "Spare a Grade" forum, and everyone was pretty much in agreement on the condition of the books:

 

PGM Avengers #2 thread

 

PGM TOS #48 thread

 

PGM DD #11 thread

 

I ended up paying around OSG for the DD and TOS, but I definitely overpaid for the Avengers in the condition it was in. SEVERELY overpaid. (Yeah, I know. It was stupid of me.)

 

I contacted the seller and very politely expressed my disappointment and inquired about a refund, and he flat out refused. I even volunteered to pay for the return shipping, and explained that he could recoup his Ebay seller fees and relist the books. Here's his response:

 

I understand that you are not satisfied with the books but unfortunately i will not be providing you with a refund unless it is deemed required through ebay or paypal. my reasoning behind this is that the books were not misrepresented in any way as i never stated in the ad that i am a strict overstreet grader, nor did i include any number value grading on the books and i also included high resolution pictures that could be super sized for easier viewing. in addition i just looked at the overstreet and according to your grading opinion you still payed less then or on point with the guide. i disagree with your grading and your classification of the books as it is my opinion to do so. the issue here is that the books were not misrepresented in any way and you were given ample tools to see for yourself the condition of the books which again i feel you are mistaken on. do not ship the books back yet as i will not accept the shipping until this is resolved through paypal or ebay. the options that you have are as follows. i will either work through ebay and paypal on this matter and i assure you that as a seller i will win in regards to my ad and representation. the other option is to avoid this lengthy process as i will be willing to issue a partial refund that we can mutually agree to. again i strongly disagree with your grading and we are basically playing a game of opinion as neither of us are professional graders. i do not mean to sound rude or unsympathetic but their is a significant inconvenience that you are putting on me and there is no negligence on my part. if you are looking for guaranteed grading you should be bidding on graded books from companies like CGC or PGX. i had many other sellers who wanted these books and now i am going to be inconvenienced because you think the books are graded differently. you can contact me with your response and hopefully we can resolve this.

 

So basically, he wouldn't allow a return because it was an inconvenience to him.

 

I wrote back to ask what kind of partial refund he was willing to offer. He said he'd give me $75, and if I didn't agree to it, I could file a Paypal dispute. Which I did.

 

I explained in my claim with Paypal that the seller clearly used Overstreet grading terminology, and that the actual books were overgraded, and therefore misrepresented. I tried to explain that grading is NOT subjective, and that the grading guidelines make it very easy to determine the accurate grade of a book. I directed them to the three "Spare a Grade" threads where forumites had come to fairly unanimous agreement on the grades of these books.

 

The seller responded by saying that (1) grading is highly subjective, (2) that he didn't use Overstreet grading "numbers", (3) that his feedback is testament to his accurate grading, (4) that I was just looking for an Ebay 'steal', (5) that I still got a good deal even at the grades I claimed the books were in, and for good measure, (6) that providing a refund would really inconvenience him.

 

Well, it's thirty days later and Paypal just decided the case in the seller's favour.

 

And I just left him negative feedback on all three auctions, seeing as it's the only recourse left to me.

 

That, and informing my fellow forumites about this dip mess Ebayer. (thumbs u

 

Guess I'll end up reselling them on Ebay, but I'll grade them accurately.

I remember your grading threads.

Sad to see this turned against you.

:(

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drewincanada

drewincanada

Posted
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Posted

Yeah, this was the first and last time I get burned on Ebay.

 

I just looked back at all my Ebay deals, and was shocked to realized I've only been collecting comics for 2 1/2 months (at least, this time around ... I used to collect in the late 60s and through the 1970s, then sold everything at the end of the 70s) ...

 

I bought my first comic (Avengers 57) on Ebay at the end of May. But it seems like I've been at it a whole lot longer, just due to the amount of information I've absorbed in that time. This board has been invaluable.

 

In 2 1/2 months, I've done just over 70 deals on Ebay, and this was the only really bad one. Yes, lots of stuff was overgraded, but not too badly, and I always underbid. As well, none of it was particularly expensive... until this deal.

 

For the past month, I've been mostly sticking to slabbed books on Ebay. (I've also been buying from Heritage and CL, plus a few deals for raw books here on the board.)

 

I've already made it to #15 on the Avengers registry. Not bad for 10 weeks!

 

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JohnT

JohnT

Posted
Posted
Won three auctions at the beginning of July from this seller. The pics weren't the greatest, but he had very positive feedback, so I took a flyer on them.

 

Big mistake (which I won't repeat).

 

As you'll see, he graded the comics in his auctions, and even said his grades are "according to the official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide".

 

Here are the three auctions:

 

Avengers #2 auction listing

 

TOS #48 auction listing

 

Daredevil #11 auction listing

 

I always figure that Ebay auctions are overgraded by a full point, and bid accordingly. But in this case, they were all overgraded by a minimum of TWO points -- and in the case of the Avengers, by about 3.5 points.

 

I posted my scans of the books in the "Spare a Grade" forum, and everyone was pretty much in agreement on the condition of the books:

 

PGM Avengers #2 thread

 

PGM TOS #48 thread

 

PGM DD #11 thread

 

I ended up paying around OSG for the DD and TOS, but I definitely overpaid for the Avengers in the condition it was in. SEVERELY overpaid. (Yeah, I know. It was stupid of me.)

 

I contacted the seller and very politely expressed my disappointment and inquired about a refund, and he flat out refused. I even volunteered to pay for the return shipping, and explained that he could recoup his Ebay seller fees and relist the books. Here's his response:

 

I understand that you are not satisfied with the books but unfortunately i will not be providing you with a refund unless it is deemed required through ebay or paypal. my reasoning behind this is that the books were not misrepresented in any way as i never stated in the ad that i am a strict overstreet grader, nor did i include any number value grading on the books and i also included high resolution pictures that could be super sized for easier viewing. in addition i just looked at the overstreet and according to your grading opinion you still payed less then or on point with the guide. i disagree with your grading and your classification of the books as it is my opinion to do so. the issue here is that the books were not misrepresented in any way and you were given ample tools to see for yourself the condition of the books which again i feel you are mistaken on. do not ship the books back yet as i will not accept the shipping until this is resolved through paypal or ebay. the options that you have are as follows. i will either work through ebay and paypal on this matter and i assure you that as a seller i will win in regards to my ad and representation. the other option is to avoid this lengthy process as i will be willing to issue a partial refund that we can mutually agree to. again i strongly disagree with your grading and we are basically playing a game of opinion as neither of us are professional graders. i do not mean to sound rude or unsympathetic but their is a significant inconvenience that you are putting on me and there is no negligence on my part. if you are looking for guaranteed grading you should be bidding on graded books from companies like CGC or PGX. i had many other sellers who wanted these books and now i am going to be inconvenienced because you think the books are graded differently. you can contact me with your response and hopefully we can resolve this.

 

So basically, he wouldn't allow a return because it was an inconvenience to him.

 

I wrote back to ask what kind of partial refund he was willing to offer. He said he'd give me $75, and if I didn't agree to it, I could file a Paypal dispute. Which I did.

 

I explained in my claim with Paypal that the seller clearly used Overstreet grading terminology, and that the actual books were overgraded, and therefore misrepresented. I tried to explain that grading is NOT subjective, and that the grading guidelines make it very easy to determine the accurate grade of a book. I directed them to the three "Spare a Grade" threads where forumites had come to fairly unanimous agreement on the grades of these books.

 

The seller responded by saying that (1) grading is highly subjective, (2) that he didn't use Overstreet grading "numbers", (3) that his feedback is testament to his accurate grading, (4) that I was just looking for an Ebay 'steal', (5) that I still got a good deal even at the grades I claimed the books were in, and for good measure, (6) that providing a refund would really inconvenience him.

 

Well, it's thirty days later and Paypal just decided the case in the seller's favour.

 

And I just left him negative feedback on all three auctions, seeing as it's the only recourse left to me.

 

That, and informing my fellow forumites about this dip mess Ebayer. (thumbs u

 

Guess I'll end up reselling them on Ebay, but I'll grade them accurately.

 

Sorry the books weren't as advertised. I've learned some tough lessons that way too, and I feel for you.

 

With 23 bids on the Avengers 2, you weren't the only one to go for the book. That was a real bidding war, and your main mistake was paying too much. You paid a bit more than 6.5 price for an advertised 7.5 book, which is a bad idea if you assume ebay items are advertised at least 1 grade too high. Also, you don't usually have to pay guide for raw books on ebay. $200 would have been a decent gamble given the guys good feeback and the pictures, which looked decent.

 

Also, there were some signs that the guy wasn't a collector and probably wasn't a conservative grader--especially the use of the word "pristine"!!

 

I know it's easy to analyze the situation after the fact. I'll be honest, with that guy's feedback I would have bid fairly strongly on a book I really wanted. Lots of people seemed to be happy with his grading. (shrug)

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