eBay The eBay Official eBay Thread eBay 33 33

[ygogolak]

11 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

I love to respond "I'm not that in need of immediate payment but I do ship immediately so please consider my much higher counter offer".

I like that!

[Buzzetta]

55 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

I love to respond "I'm not that in need of immediate payment but I do ship immediately so please consider my much higher counter offer".

That's great... I will use that. 

[skypinkblu]

Do people charge for bags and boards they put the comics into on eBay? EVERY week, Newkadia comics has a zillion modern  comics listed in GA, all with the same note "free bag and board".

I don't know which I find more annoying, the fact that he lists moderns in GA or that he actually has to mention a "bag and board" as if it's an odd thing to add, lol.

[Buzzetta]

45 minutes ago, skypinkblu said:

Do people charge for bags and boards they put the comics into on eBay? EVERY week, Newkadia comics has a zillion modern  comics listed in GA, all with the same note "free bag and board".

I don't know which I find more annoying, the fact that he lists moderns in GA or that he actually has to mention a "bag and board" as if it's an odd thing to add, lol.

I was just sent a message from someone as to whether or not the item is boxed. 

1 - All pics depict a loose item with no box.

2 - The eBay description says - no packaging 

3 - The item says that it is previously used

4 - The description says that it is loose and was built to make sure all pieces are there. 

 

So... I kind of get why he has to say that. People do not read. 

[SOTIcollector]

Here's aAn eBay adventure...

I've been buying and selling on eBay for two decades, so I'm no newbie.  I was there in the wild wild west when "anything goes" seemed to be the rule, and I've been around ever since.  Through a combination of skepticism and good fortune, I recall getting ripped off only once.  And I thought I was cautious enough with this transaction.

Somebody had posted a check made out to Dr. Fredric Wertham in 1949 for a contribution to Argosy.  I wasn't aware that Wertham had ever made any contributions to Argosy, so I was intrigued.  I have Wertham's signature on several items, but nothing on a check for his work.  This was interesting to me for several reasons.  I saw the seller had feedback of 100+ and decided to make an offer

The seller countered, saying "I've already had another offer, and it was higher than yours."  That sounded fishy, since the auction had just gone up and the offer was really generous.  The story was plausible, although I didn't buy it.  It wasn't totally relevant, but it did make me wonder if I could trust the seller.  If he's telling a story about another offer that seems likely to be untrue, then what else is untrue about the seller or the listing?

I accepted the counter-offer anyway, and paid.  After a few days, I got a notice from the Post Office that the package couldn't be delivered because it required a signature.  Signature?  Who sends stuff with a signature required these days?  The signature meant that I couldn't pick it up from the Post Office for 10 days, because it took 10 days till I could get to the Post Office (my work hours 25 miles away are the same hours the P.O. is open).

Here's the item I had won.

 

More to come...

[Buzzetta]

A lot of people still require signatures.  I had to sign for one of the books I received last month for $250.

 

EDIT: Come to think of it, I just required a buyer to sign for a book he paid $440.  

Edited April 5, 2018 by Buzzetta

[CKinTO]

Agree, I think above a certain value, having signature required is pretty common. Protects the seller in case buyer tries anything funny like claiming they never received it (even if tracking shows Delivered) and Ebay siding with Buyer... I'm fortunate that I live in a doorman building that accept/sign packages for me, but empathize with buyers who don't have that in place. Unfortunately, some bad apples (on both seller and buyer side) that have tried to game the system have made things harder for everyone...

[Cozmo-One]

Hi, I recently returned to collecting after a couple decade hiatus, and I have a question about this pre sale that arrived today.

Not sure if you can see from the pictures,  but this ASM 798 variant seems to have some minor warping. I do not know if it was caused during shipping, but it was very well packed in a mailer and double boxed.

I planned to submit this issue (and of course want a 9.8), so do you think I should return it (I have 14 days), or save my shipping fees and get it pressed, or is it not a big deal?

I haven't contacted seller yet and don't think they purpsosefully did anything (since I purchased before they had it).

Thanks!

[WoWitHurts]

13 minutes ago, Cozmo-One said:

Hi, I recently returned to collecting after a couple decade hiatus, and I have a question about this pre sale that arrived today.

Not sure if you can see from the pictures,  but this ASM 798 variant seems to have some minor warping. I do not know if it was caused during shipping, but it was very well packed in a mailer and double boxed.

I planned to submit this issue (and of course want a 9.8), so do you think I should return it (I have 14 days), or save my shipping fees and get it pressed, or is it not a big deal?

I haven't contacted seller yet and don't think they purpsosefully did anything (since I purchased before they had it).

Thanks!

I don't consider that a defect. I see that a lot from that printer where it has some wavy qualities. Now whether CGC considers it a defect is another matter. I wouldn't return it if it was me.

[manetteska]

20 minutes ago, Cozmo-One said:

Hi, I recently returned to collecting after a couple decade hiatus, and I have a question about this pre sale that arrived today.

Not sure if you can see from the pictures,  but this ASM 798 variant seems to have some minor warping. I do not know if it was caused during shipping, but it was very well packed in a mailer and double boxed.

I planned to submit this issue (and of course want a 9.8), so do you think I should return it (I have 14 days), or save my shipping fees and get it pressed, or is it not a big deal?

I haven't contacted seller yet and don't think they purpsosefully did anything (since I purchased before they had it).

Thanks!

 

If you wanted a 9.8 and the seller/listing said "Near Mint" then there's a problem from the get-go.

[SOTIcollector]

11 hours ago, SOTIcollector said:

Here's aAn eBay adventure...

I've been buying and selling on eBay for two decades, so I'm no newbie.  I was there in the wild wild west when "anything goes" seemed to be the rule, and I've been around ever since.  Through a combination of skepticism and good fortune, I recall getting ripped off only once.  And I thought I was cautious enough with this transaction.

Somebody had posted a check made out to Dr. Fredric Wertham in 1949 for a contribution to Argosy.  I wasn't aware that Wertham had ever made any contributions to Argosy, so I was intrigued.  I have Wertham's signature on several items, but nothing on a check for his work.  This was interesting to me for several reasons.  I saw the seller had feedback of 100+ and decided to make an offer

The seller countered, saying "I've already had another offer, and it was higher than yours."  That sounded fishy, since the auction had just gone up and the offer was really generous.  The story was plausible, although I didn't buy it.  It wasn't totally relevant, but it did make me wonder if I could trust the seller.  If he's telling a story about another offer that seems likely to be untrue, then what else is untrue about the seller or the listing?

I accepted the counter-offer anyway, and paid.  After a few days, I got a notice from the Post Office that the package couldn't be delivered because it required a signature.  Signature?  Who sends stuff with a signature required these days?  The signature meant that I couldn't pick it up from the Post Office for 10 days, because it took 10 days till I could get to the Post Office (my work hours 25 miles away are the same hours the P.O. is open).

Here's the item I had won.

 

More to come...

 

So maybe signatures aren't as generally uncommon as they have been in my experience.  I've bought lots of books in the $100-$2k range, and it's been really rare that a signature has been required.  At first, I didn't see the "signature required" as a red flag.  I saw it as just something out of the ordinary, particularly for a sub-$200 item.  

In any event, the package sat and sat at the Post Office.  I was eager to pick it up, but had to wait until that was feasible.  So after 10 days, I there was finally a Saturday where I had a four-hour window during which I could pick up my package. 

I went to the counter, gave my signature, and was handed an envelope.

Nothing out of the ordinary.  A little more protection would have been nice, but it's not something that could ever be graded 9.8 anyway.

I opened the envelope to find some flimsy cardboard, a little more flimsy than poster board, folded over to provide a little protection.

Here it was.  My check would be inside...

  And I opened it to find nothing but that piece of cardboard.  I double checked.  Triple checked.  Nothing.  I had just paid a good chunk of cash for a sliced-up piece of Priority Mail cardboard.  

The saga continues...

 

 

[ADAMANTIUM]

10 minutes ago, SOTIcollector said:

So maybe signatures aren't as generally uncommon as they have been in my experience.  I've bought lots of books in the $100-$2k range, and it's been really rare that a signature has been required.  At first, I didn't see the "signature required" as a red flag.  I saw it as just something out of the ordinary, particularly for a sub-$200 item.  

In any event, the package sat and sat at the Post Office.  I was eager to pick it up, but had to wait until that was feasible.  So after 10 days, I there was finally a Saturday where I had a four-hour window during which I could pick up my package. 

I went to the counter, gave my signature, and was handed an envelope.

Nothing out of the ordinary.  A little more protection would have been nice, but it's not something that could ever be graded 9.8 anyway.

I opened the envelope to find some flimsy cardboard, a little more flimsy than poster board, folded over to provide a little protection.

Here it was.  My check would be inside...

  And I opened it to find nothing but that piece of cardboard.  I double checked.  Triple checked.  Nothing.  I had just paid a good chunk of cash for a sliced-up piece of Priority Mail cardboard.  

The saga continues...

 

 

Did you open it at the post office? Would have been the perfect opportunity....sorry to hear about your troubles...worse comes to worse open a case as not as described and send the same thing back?

[SOTIcollector]

23 minutes ago, SOTIcollector said:

So maybe signatures aren't as generally uncommon as they have been in my experience.  I've bought lots of books in the $100-$2k range, and it's been really rare that a signature has been required.  At first, I didn't see the "signature required" as a red flag.  I saw it as just something out of the ordinary, particularly for a sub-$200 item.  

In any event, the package sat and sat at the Post Office.  I was eager to pick it up, but had to wait until that was feasible.  So after 10 days, I there was finally a Saturday where I had a four-hour window during which I could pick up my package. 

I went to the counter, gave my signature, and was handed an envelope.

 

Nothing out of the ordinary.  A little more protection would have been nice, but it's not something that could ever be graded 9.8 anyway.

I opened the envelope to find some flimsy cardboard, a little more flimsy than poster board, folded over to provide a little protection.

 

Here it was.  My check would be inside...

 

  And I opened it to find nothing but that piece of cardboard.  I double checked.  Triple checked.  Nothing.  I had just paid a good chunk of cash for a sliced-up piece of Priority Mail cardboard.  

The saga continues...

 

 

 

10 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

Did you open it at the post office? Would have been the perfect opportunity....sorry to hear about your troubles...worse comes to worse open a case as not as described and send the same thing back?

I had opened it at the postal counter, but the postal clerk had turned away just as I was opening it.  I had no significant reason to suspect anything was amiss until I had this empty piece of cardboard in my hand.

Jaw drops.  Heart sinks.  The postal clerk tells me about how to go about filing a complaint.  A lot runs through my mind.  Is there any way this could be an innocent mistake?  Did I miss some clues that this was a ripoff?

I thought back to that other time I got ripped off.  In that case, I feel like both the seller and eBay ripped me off.  This was about ten or fifteen years ago.  When the ASM #122 I bought didn't arrive, the seller gave excuses.  He had mailed it.  Then it came back to the seller due to his error addressing it.  But he'll get me the book, yadda yadda yadda.  Excuse excuse excuse.  I held off on filing a claim with eBay, because I was willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.  I knew I could file a case with eBay, and the limit at the time was 40 days (if I recall correctly).  When the book still hadn't arrived on day 40, with the seller still giving excuses, I tried to file a claim with eBay.  They told me I was past the filing limit.  You see, the 40 day filing limit wasn't just calendar days.  It was Day+Time.  So I had originally paid for the item at something like 10am, and tried to file the claim 40 days later at 6pm.  Too late.  Lots of griping to eBay did no good, the seller stopped responding to me, and I was out the price of one VF+ ASM 122.  The only thing I got out of it was a hard lesson learned.  If there's a reason to open a case, I'll never again let it get anywhere NEAR the time limit.

Back to my missing check.  I rushed home and looked more closely at the seller's feedback.  Lots of feedback as a buyer; none as a seller.  Uh oh. Red flag.  It was at this point, that the "signature required" thing hit me.  Of course, if somebody's trying to pull the "empty envelope" scam, they want as much proof as possible that the "item" was delivered.  So the signature requirement seemed to support my belief that I had just been scammed.  I couldn't fathom a legitimate seller could actually mail an empty envelope.

I immediately sent an email to the seller, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.  Something to the effect of "I think there's been a mistake, there was nothing in the envelope.  I hope you're not trying to pull the 'empty envelope' scam." 

I also immediately filed a claim with eBay.

....

 

 

[WolverineX]

You will win.  You are a buyer on ebay.

 

 

[SOTIcollector]

35 minutes ago, SOTIcollector said:

I immediately sent an email to the seller, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.  Something to the effect of "I think there's been a mistake, there was nothing in the envelope.  I hope you're not trying to pull the 'empty envelope' scam." 

I also immediately filed a claim with eBay.

I thought at this point that I'd probably be safe.  Of course, the seller could prove that I had received SOMETHING.  But I hope that if I (with 20 years of good buying and selling feedback) said that the envelope was empty, and the seller (with no selling feedback... Was this a hacked account, maybe?) claimed that the item was in the envelope, then most likely eBay would side with me.  It's not a guarantee... I don't know how they handle those situations.  But I figured I was probably safe. 

To my surprise, I got a response from the seller.  It was a story about being busy while shipping, and the missing check had been found in his office after I emailed.  He'd be sending a replacement check right away.

Thankfully, some stories that start out as horror stories end up happily ever after.  This arrived this week. 

.  

Oh, and I took another look at the seller's feedback.  I had been mistaken in the way I read it, when I looked at it with my "I think I've just been ripped off" panic-eyes.  The seller does have good feedback as a seller.  It turns out he had made a mistake, I got my check and all is good. 

Since I collect things related to Wertham and Seduction of the Innocent, I love this check for a several reasons.  First off, it has not only Dr. Wertham's signature, but that of his wife, Florence Hesketh as well.  As I understand it, she typically went by her last name "Hesketh", to the point where that's what Wertham even called her.  In his notes, she's "Hesketh," not "Florence."  I've never seen her called "Florence Hesketh Wertham" until now.  Second, this is sort of prime-period Wertham, shortly after his "The Comics... Very Funny" article was published in Saturday Review of Literature in 1948.  This would have been issued to him while he was continuing to do the anti-comics research that would culminate in SOTI in 1954.  Finally, this is payment for "Boy used on the Strange Case of Joan and John  Argosy".  I'm not aware that Wertham contributed anything to Argosy magazine, but it would appear that this is proof he did.  The phrasing in the memo "Boy used..." makes me wonder if perhaps the magazine published a photo of one of the boys at Wertham's clinic.  My hope was that I'd find an Argosy magazine from around this time period that has a story called "The Strange Case of Joan and John."  An online search turned up a table of contents for each issue of Argosy, but nothing matches this description.  Maybe it was a picture used to illustrate a story by a different name?  Another possibility is that he was paid for a contribution but the submission was not published.  I think the more common practice at the time would have been to only pay for things that had seen print, but I'm certainly no expert on the 1940's US magazine business.

Anyway, that's my tale of horror and happiness from the eBay world. 

 

 

 

[CKinTO]

Wow, what a story! Happy it worked out. Would've sucked if it really was seller trying to scam you, but agree that in this case, would be a good thing that Ebay would've sided with the buyer. 

Also, quite the mistake for the seller to "misplace" the check and send an envelope with just cardboard? How does that happen? I mean maybe if you're a power seller and shippings tons of things out every day, but still, that's bad...

[FlyingDonut]

Things that vex me, part the infinity. Customer "service" representatives who are reading off a -script and who can't deviate from the -script even when the deviation will solve the problem. Yes. I refunded the buyer. Yes, the buyer has the refund. Yes, we have both agreed. Your system is screwed up, not mine.

[Cozmo-One]

22 hours ago, WoWitHurts said:

I don't consider that a defect. I see that a lot from that printer where it has some wavy qualities. Now whether CGC considers it a defect is another matter. I wouldn't return it if it was me.

Thanks, I also bought the regular copy today and they all had some waviness as well, although not quite as pronounced.  Do you think pressing helps these types of issues?

[01TheDude]

Ebay has recently been doing some new stuff to some of my listings. These are items I listed as 30 day fixed price BIN only--- not open to offers. First they sent me an e-mail saying "hey, someone is watching that item you listed, maybe you should lower your price or open it for offers". This listing had been up less than 1 week. A week goes by and they send me another e-mail. "Hey, we changed your listings (plural) to allow buyers to make offers". Wow, SO HELPFUL (sarcasm).

So noticing that they said OFFERS and not just the one item, sure enough upon investigating it I notice they have changed 4 recently listed items (including the original one they told me I should try to get that sale on) and opened them up to accept offers. None of these items were listed longer than 2 weeks and were 30 day fixed price BINs. I had to go into each listing and remove the offers portion to restore them to the original settings. And a week later, one of them sold for the fixed asking price.

My point here is who does ebay think they are helping with this BS? They make me have to revise my own listings that they have altered WITHOUT CONSENT from me?

Had anyone else run into this type of behavior from eBay?

[skypinkblu]

5 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

Ebay has recently been doing some new stuff to some of my listings. These are items I listed as 30 day fixed price BIN only--- not open to offers. First they sent me an e-mail saying "hey, someone is watching that item you listed, maybe you should lower your price or open it for offers". This listing had been up less than 1 week. A week goes by and they send me another e-mail. "Hey, we changed your listings (plural) to allow buyers to make offers". Wow, SO HELPFUL (sarcasm).

So noticing that they said OFFERS and not just the one item, sure enough upon investigating it I notice they have changed 4 recently listed items (including the original one they told me I should try to get that sale on) and opened them up to accept offers. None of these items were listed longer than 2 weeks and were 30 day fixed price BINs. I had to go into each listing and remove the offers portion to restore them to the original settings. And a week later, one of them sold for the fixed asking price.

My point here is who does ebay think they are helping with this BS? They make me have to revise my own listings that they have altered WITHOUT CONSENT from me?

Had anyone else run into this type of behavior from eBay?

I've gotten the "only one person is watching" when I HAVE gotten an offer, but no to the other stuff. That is weird. I wonder if they changed their policy again for the 199th time.