EBAY ALERT: BUYER BEWARE OF THESE AUCTIONS

[garthgantu]

A couple of comments:

- what turns my stomach worse than his BS descriptions, of his comics and his grading ability, is the fact that only ONE buyer has negged the guy!?! There are so many weak-kneed comic book buyers on eBay it's pathetic. All it takes is a couple of red flags to help steer the rest of us clear of this train-wreck of a seller.

 

- His auction descriptors are no longer accurate; he does in fact have the one neg against him as a seller that I mentioned above. Kudos to that buyer for sticking it to this guy.

[Mushroom]

I also won several ebay auction from this guy jenwsamw. However, after reading the warning posted by ross I decided to contact several of his past winners via his recent feedback to see how their experience was with this seller. Well, they all said he overgraded and some even complained of missing cover pieces and water stains. I promptly forward these emails to the seller and told him the only way our deal was to happen is if he lowered the price. Finally, I just told him to [!@#%^&^] off.

 

We have not hit each other with neg. feedbacks (yet). But, now he just started to send non paying bidders alerts. What can I do? Is there any recourse I have to inform Ebay this guy is a scumbag?

 

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated...

 

Regards,

bhampel

 

Don't expect any joy from ebay. It is almost impossible to get them to do anything about AH's like this. Don't worry too much about the NPB alert as you need 3 of these from different transactions before they NARU you. If he negs you then wear it like a badge of honour and make sure that your neg clearly details why this seller should not be dealt with.

 

I have been down this path before and the retaliatory neg I received has had no impact on my dealings with ebay sellers.

[Tomega]

A couple of comments:

- what turns my stomach worse than his BS descriptions, of his comics and his grading ability, is the fact that only ONE buyer has negged the guy!?! There are so many weak-kneed comic book buyers on eBay it's pathetic. All it takes is a couple of red flags to help steer the rest of us clear of this train-wreck of a seller.

 

 

I totally agree with you on this one. There have been several threads on this over the past year or so I am amazed that even some forum members will not neg someone because they are afraid to receive a retaliatory feedback. The system is in place for a reason and even with its inadequacies, it still does it job most of the time. I have no qualms about leaving negative feedback and I really could not care less if someone retaliates - at this point it is a drop in the bucket compared to my 850+ positive comments. Even when I had 10 comments, it did not matter to me because I knew in the long run that I would build a very positive feedback.

 

Tom

[mrwoogieman]

I hope your eBay account is a newer one that you can start over without giving years of hard work up over this...

 

He has a AF 15 up now.

 

VG-?

Big piece out of back cover...

 

AF 15

 

 

 

OMFG!! What a tool! I guess he would call my AF 15 3.0 a very fine in comparison to this POS! It's CGC 1.5 maybe.

[njdevilsfan-migration]

Good point. Negative Feedback left. Link To Seller That Overgrades

 

 

[ross]

And to think, we would all be fleeced by these overgraded books, but at least he'd have a brand new house at our expense

 

"I am selling a lifetime of comics collecting - buying a house in 2 weeks - PLEASE check out my other auctions - I guarantee my grading and it is important to me that you are happy with this transaction! "

 

 

I just had someone look at this collection this past weekend and he thinks my grading is way conservative, (and once he put down his glass pipe) he said that i should grade these higher than what I am calling them, but I take pride in tight grading standards and know the winner will be pleased.

 

[Aces]

I'm thinking of starting a second eBay account just for buying from auctions that look a little shakey (small scans,etc...) so I'm not afraid to leave bad feedback.

[garthgantu]

I like this idea, Aces... I've actually gotten neg feedback, but had it removed by eBay 'cause the seller used profanity in his text -

Regardless, I have no qualms about ruining my perfect feedback with a neg - in fact, with all the ranting I do about sticking it to bad sellers, I'd wear any negs like badges of honor... I gotta find worse sellers to buy from, I guess...

 

 

[garthgantu]

Good point. Negative Feedback left. Link To Seller That Overgrades

 

My hat's off to you, pal - nicely done! 5 stars to you - just sorry I can't give ya 10 !

 

*Now my only suggestion would be...next time, string the negs out a little, so they don't all drop off the seller's top page of feedback at once ...

[whomerjay]

Perhaps this topic is trite but I totally agree with you both. Most buyers have no guts when it comes to leaving neg feedback. I do not even trust absolute # of +s or %s or comments anymore as I have seen too many dealers with big +numbers at 100% or near who routinely overgrade by 1 or more grades (it's obvious from scans). Most here prob can list at least 10 such sellers who thrive. Some other sellers are just blatant rip-off artists like power seller 29frank29 (also has other accounts like dfjf29) who lists several large (mostly "silver") lots everyweek of total junk and people bid it up, receive [!@#%^&^] then + him (thank you sir may I have another). His strategy is to post descriptions that make him appear naive about what he's offering, post fizzy picts of semi-decent silver books lying on stacks. Buyer ends up with a few moldy poor-fair mainstream silvers and 100 or more Marvel Ages (yes, it was a learning experience for me over a year ago). He purposefully parses words as he describes books as "nice mixed or "various" so he claims his decription is accurate thus he is not obligated to refund ("I will refund if my description is not accurate"). the point is this guy and many others have ratings that prove a decent feedback rating offers little protection. IMHO high + feedback ratings for wretched sellers is so pervasive it can only mean that the buying population is apathetic, stupid, or fearful of negging.

 

 

 

 

 

[Darthdiesel]

funny you should mention 29frank29...

 

In last two weeks March of 2003, I won 14 auctions from him, totalling 190 books for total pice with shipping $190.50...at a $1 per book, I thought I was getting a deal...I even won 3 of those 40 book lots and those totally blew even at $10 a piece..my other 11 auctions won however were steal considering some of them had Marvel Price variants in them As for the condition, let's say that at $1 a piece, they were worth that at least and not worth negging someone who had treated me with great service: fast and responsive, let me hold off for 2 weeks to combine.

 

I haven't bought from him since, but now that you;ve broguht him up, let me go see what he's selling

[whomerjay]

I'm glad things worked out for you overall with this jerk. I am not so quick to pick up on variants (except the well known ones). I'd go back and look at what I got from him but I ahd to throw the books away because touching them made my skin crawl.

 

Looks like frank is selling most of his mixed lots as dfjf29. I forgot to mention he crammed my books in two bubble wrap envelopes (shipping was 1/2 of what I paid) and he did not insure (which I paid). Over 2/3 of the books reeked of basement and had mildew. He also requested an additional 3% if paying by paypal to cover the charge. I wrote him that his description of a books as a "nice lot" was inaccurate, the books were as if in a basement flood, so I would like a refund. he replied

 

though our meaning of a nice lot must differ, it was stated in the ad,

that these are in various conditions. These comics all came from different

sources, impossible for them to all have the same flaws. i am sorry

you are unhappy, in the future please question the condition if you are unsure.

 

I replied that stating "various" to cover your butt doesn't work when you state "nice lot" and all books are poor fair and at best good. he replies

 

My description is inaccurate? These are in various conditions Fair to

good to poor to smeely i dont know? Does not matter the ad stated in various

conditions and yes it is to cover my but. because they are in various

conditions!!!!!!. Fungus ? What are you talking about? You are just

another treasure hunter get the item look for gold then scream REFUND! I give

refunds when there has been an error in the items description I should

put that in my ad O wait a minute it is stated that way in the ad!

 

It didn't get much better after this. He became increasingly rude and vulgar.

 

Excuse me if I'm violating some board rule here but if I am I assume the truth (which I can prove) is a good defense.

 

Anyway I've kept an eye on his stuff and marvel at how few have negged him.

 

I'm sure he ahd no idea he put variants in your lot otherwise they'd have been pulled and auctioned separately. But knowledge is power, so you were the victor in this case.

 

[Darthdiesel]

Not defending him and I bet ALL sellers if they new they were auctioning off variants would list separately. I was just pointing to how he possibly has less negatives is because he can actually treat a customer right...my books were not MINT but not mildewed either...you are right about the vague description...nice lot is something that sellers use to hype up their auctions...If :"nice ooking and excellet" is used without a qualifier of actuak flaws then be wary...we all have that "treasure hunter" mentality when buying. Sometimes I risk bidding on newbie sellers and have gotten burnt but I knew that was part of the gamble...now you know not to buy from frank again...I know to go back and check his auctions for variants

[njdevilsfan-migration]

Received this email today:

 

To member: bhampel

From member:

--------------------

I'm waiting on a book from this jenwsamw@aol.com

and I'm getting a bit concerned. How long did it take to receive your

books ? And any other feedback would be appreciated.

--------------------

 

I pointed buyer to this email thread. Hmmm, will we hear more horror stories?!?!