Slimy SOB seller

[Bronty-2]

Adol of course. I think we're overdue for another bitch session about him. Check out this month's offering:

resealed NES black boxes

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8142936431&rd=1

[Qixmaster]

you know something, i don't see anything wrong. He never states that the game is new or even factory sealed. He just says it is mint and sealed. Sure it may be shady, but people should really think (and read) about what they are buying before they buy it. You are getting just what he states... a sealed ice climber that is in mint condition.

Also,
If you look through his auctions he does actually have a factory sealed TMNT III for sale and states that it has the horizontal line and shows picture as well.

Honestly.... the guy isn't lying, so if you buy it, I say it's your own problem and don't take it out on the guy.

My advice? Read and understand EVERYTHING in an ebay auction BEFORE you bid. Trust me... i have learned through experience.

Just my thoughts.

-Josh

[NESaholic]

I agree with you Qixmaster, but still is it so hard to put RESEALED in title or discription!??

[number6]

Well I asked the seller about this item. Here is my question:



Dear adol,

Hi, In your auction you state "It is a wonderful item, and more of
that, it is SEALED!! It's Mint!" Does this mean that the game is brand
new and never been opened? Thanks!



The run around answer I received was:



i don't know
i just see it is SEALED


Yep, he is a slimy SOB seller alright.

Here's the response I sent for that crap answer:



Hi,

Thanks for the quick response. If you don't know then how can you state that it is "Mint" in your auction? I also notice that you have not filled in the item's condition in the item description box of your auction and that's why I asked if it is new. I am interested in a mint condition item, but I need to feel comfortable that I am bidding on such an item first. If you can provide any more proof that the item is mint please do so. Otherwise I will have to pass.

Thanks for your time.

[TRM]

I find it slimy, though I know that a lot of eBay users do stuff like that just to increase the money they make.

[Flack]

you know something, i don't see anything wrong. He never states that the game is new or even factory sealed. He just says it is mint and sealed. Sure it may be shady, but people should really think (and read) about what they are buying before they buy it. You are getting just what he states... a sealed ice climber that is in mint condition.

You don't think "sealed" and "mint" imply that it's never been opened? I think that auction is completely dishonest and misleading. If I purchased it and found out it had been resealed, I would be super pissed.

[punkoffgirl]

you know something, i don't see anything wrong. He never states that the game is new or even factory sealed. He just says it is mint and sealed. Sure it may be shady, but people should really think (and read) about what they are buying before they buy it. You are getting just what he states... a sealed ice climber that is in mint condition.

You don't think "sealed" and "mint" imply that it's never been opened? I think that auction is completely dishonest and misleading. If I purchased it and found out it had been resealed, I would be super pissed.

Also, not everyone is as eBay-savvy as the members of this forum. Not everyone would know to ask more pointed questions about a "sealed" item to determine if it's been resealed or not.

[Griking]

I agree with you Qixmaster, but still is it so hard to put RESEALED in title or discription!??

Since these games seem to change hands so many times how is one really supposed to know for sure if the sealed game that they're selling is really factory sealed. This guy most likely purchased this game from someone else who advertised it as sealed. Unless it's obvious that it isnt an original factory seal how is he supposed to know and why should he have to advertise it as resealed?

[Griking]

you know something, i don't see anything wrong. He never states that the game is new or even factory sealed. He just says it is mint and sealed. Sure it may be shady, but people should really think (and read) about what they are buying before they buy it. You are getting just what he states... a sealed ice climber that is in mint condition.

You don't think "sealed" and "mint" imply that it's never been opened? I think that auction is completely dishonest and misleading. If I purchased it and found out it had been resealed, I would be super pissed.

I don't agree that an item has to be unopened to be in mint condition any more than I assume that a sealed game is in mint condition just because it has never been opened. I can purchase a brand new PS2 game today, open it, put it on my shelf and never touch it again. In 10 years unless something changes it will still be in mint condition. On the other hand I can have a brand new Atari 2600 game that's never been opened before with a crushed box which would obviously not be in mint condition.

this guy appears to be a reseller. He purchases games from others and resells them for a profit. He's obviously not going to open the games that he buys that were advertised as sealed because they will loose their value. So unless there's something obviously wrong about a game that he purchases then he has to assume that they are factory sealed as advertised to him. Let the buyer beware people. Yeah there are a lot of shady people out there and this guy may be one of them. Then again, maybe he's legit and his source was the shady one. These are the chances you take when you deal in sealed games.


Also, not everyone is as eBay-savvy as the members of this forum. Not everyone would know to ask more pointed questions about a "sealed" item to determine if it's been resealed or not.

If someone is looking to purchase a sealed "classic" era game then they're most likely a collector. If someone is willing to pay collecter prices for a sealed game they should know what they're buying and what questions to ask. If they're not a collecter and just a gamer looking to play the game then they shouldn't be looking for a sealed copy.

[Qixmaster]

O_O wait... i'm not saying it isn't slimy and shady. adol is of course a cock and misleading people... but his description doesn't say NEW in it.

If i were buying a Factory Sealed NES game (which seems pointless unless you find it in the wild), I would know what to look for.

But you guys are right, the majority of collectors/gamers out there just getting back to the NES wouldn't know squat about this. I understand where everyone is coming from, but people who don't know about sealed games really need to educate themselves.

Shady "SOB"? very.

-Josh

[number6]

this guy appears to be a reseller. He purchases games from others and resells them for a profit. He's obviously not going to open the games that he buys that were advertised as sealed because they will loose their value. So unless there's something obviously wrong about a game that he purchases then he has to assume that they are factory sealed as advertised to him.



Maybe he should state in his auctions that he assumes the games are mint and not the games are in fact mint. If the game turns out not to be mint then I would say that the item was misrepresented. I find it funny that you think this is OK because the seller is a reseller and he would lose money if he opened the game to verify the true condition. That sounds more like a problem for his business model and not the consumers concern at all. If he wants to sell games as mint he should be able to answer simple questions like "How do you know it's mint?" here's the answer I got to my last question from this seller:



I can say it is SEALED,and extern condition it MINT....so i suppose the
game,sleeve,instructions,etc..is the same,because i got other games from
the same person i got Ice Climber from,and those ones were sealed,but
OPENED on top..so i was able to see condition of the games for THOSE
ONES,and it is mint!
They have styrofoam insert,instructions,sleeve & PLASTIC BAG for
everything,for EVERY TITLE!
Check those ones,that'll give you an idea of Ice Climber condition... For me those games are new..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8142940696
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8142940789
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8142942286

Thanks




His answer does not fill me with a lot of confidence. As an experienced buyer on ebay I would not deal with this guy ever because he danced around the specific questions I asked him and his feedback speaks for itself anyway. All Adol wants to do is make as much money on what he sells and to hell with ethics.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

The box in all of those pictures is damaged.

[Griking]

Maybe he should state in his auctions that he assumes the games are mint and not the games are in fact mint. If the game turns out not to be mint then I would say that the item was misrepresented. I find it funny that you think this is OK because the seller is a reseller and he would lose money if he opened the game to verify the true condition. That sounds more like a problem for his business model and not the consumers concern at all. If he wants to sell games as mint he should be able to answer simple questions like "How do you know it's mint?" here's the answer I got to my last question from this seller

I think that purchasing sealed games is all about reasonable doubt. As long as there isn't anything obviously wrong with the game you can really never tell for sure if a game is really factory sealed or not. The only 100% sure way of knowing would be if you'd purchased the game yourself in the retail store. And even then with Gamestop practices you still may not know for sure. Otherwise you're trusting someone to know 100% for sure. From your statement above almost everyone who sells sealed games on ebay are equally guilty unless they adverise that they assume their game is factory sealed.

Geez, I can forsee the day when sealed games will have to be sold complete with original register receipt and a stamp from a notary to verify it.

[SoulBlazer]

Why not just simply ask for pictures of the entire box and off the h seam on the back? That SHOULD remove almost all of the doubt about it being original.

[number6]

Basically the seller is saying it's not factory sealed so there would be no point looking at the seam. The real question is what condition the actual contents of the box are. Since it has obviously been resealed why not open the box to find out the condition of what's inside?

[number6]

Geez, I can forsee the day when sealed games will have to be sold complete with original register receipt and a stamp from a notary to verify it.



You can thank sellers like adol when that day arrives.

[Iron Draggon]

Well I agree that it's misleading. The guy is purposely being vague about the fact that it's resealed, when he KNOWS that it's resealed. I could buy myself a shrinkwrap machine and sell games as "mint and sealed" all day long, but how long do you think I'd get away with it without any retribution for it after dozens of people bought them from me for hundreds of dollars under the assumption that the games were new? Eventually somebody would open one of them, see my fingerprints all over it, and demand a refund for it. Then I could write back and say that I sold them exactly what I desribed, a mint and sealed game, and that would probably cover me as far as ebay and paypal are concerned, but the buyer would still leave me a negative for deceiving them, if they did what I would do in that situation. When I pay hundreds of dollars for a sealed game, I do so under the assumption that it has never been opened, not under the assumption that some guy with a shrinkwrap machine bought a mint game for cheap and then resealed it. And anybody who does that KNOWS that's what people are assuming when they bid hundreds of dollars on such games, otherwise why wouldn't they just buy a mint copy that had been opened for a much more reasonable price?

[Griking]

Well I agree that it's misleading. The guy is purposely being vague about the fact that it's resealed, when he KNOWS that it's resealed.

How does everyone here know that he knows that his games are resealed? Did he ever admit to knowing this? So there's absolutely no chance that he legitimately believes that his games are factory sealed even if there's a chance that they may not be? I'm just trying to point out that as POG said, not everyone is as knowlegable as others and this guy may have purchased all of his games under the impression that they were factory sealed himself.

This guy DOES have 1828 positive feedback responses, a 96.9% rating and only received 4 negatives in the past year. And from looking at his positive feedback many are from people who bought his sealed games. I think that it's real harsh to call this guy a crook.

[jonjandran]

This can be debated all day long but one fact remains.

No-one here can deny that Adol is wording this very carefully just to try to make more money.

And in my opinion that makes him the worst kind of seller, a deceptive one.

A honest seller goes out of his way to make sure the buyer is absolutely aware of what he is getting.
A deceptive seller gives just enough information to get top dollar on his items.

If I ever met this seller face to face I would have a hard time not beating his A$$ in the ground.

[jonjandran]

How does everyone here know that he knows that his games are resealed? Did he ever admit to knowing this? So there's absolutely no chance that he legitimately believes that his games are factory sealed even if there's a chance that they may not be? I'm just trying to point out that as POG said, not everyone is as knowlegable as others and this guy may have purchased all of his games under the impression that they were factory sealed himself. After all, this guy DOES have 1828 positive feedback responses and from looking at them a bunch are from people who bought his sealed games.

Because he sells Sealed games ALL the time, and he buys them.

He wouldn't do that unless he has a large amount of knowledge about sealed games.

And as all the sealed game collectors here know, once you've seen sealed games and re-seals it's very easy to tell the difference.

Lord with all your defending of this guy I'm beginning to wonder if you might be Adol. LOL

[kevincure]

Griking, he has factory sealed games as well. He knows about the horizontal seal and all that. He's sold hundreds of NES games. This isn't some confused grandma in Idaho, but a guy who knows exactly what he's doing. It's shady.

[link1110]

I was debating whether or not to repost my post about this guy for the second time in 2 days, but I'll just link to it. Look at my post here: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44843

[Qixmaster]

Griking, he has factory sealed games as well. He knows about the horizontal seal and all that. He's sold hundreds of NES games. This isn't some confused grandma in Idaho, but a guy who knows exactly what he's doing. It's shady.

good point... i too saw this and mentioned it, he does have a factory sealed tmnt III for sale... as well as these resealed games. he does know what he is doing. Even in those emails from him to you number6, he never mentioned once factory sealed. He isn't lying.. but he isn't being honest. My adivce? Don't buy from him if want factory sealed stuff.

but... i cannot stress enough, his auction doesn't say factory sealed or new game, so he does get away with this, hence why he is still on ebay. just be aware

-josh

[Ed Oscuro]

Adol buys lots of stuff secondhand, so it's not as if he resealed it himself (he may have or may have not, but I suppose you can assume all sorts of unkind things too). Saying that it's his perogative to be completely up to speed on the odd mechanics of sealed games is pretty silly - first off, NO seller is going to go out of their way to degrade the value of their auction, and secondly they probably have better things to do than email countless people and get contradictory replies about what constitutes a sealed US NES game.

I also think that his reply was very straightforward. Yup, it looks mint and it looks sealed. Anything else?

I think that anybody who's expecting eBay auctions for sealed games to be completely reliable needs to get their head checked.

[Griking]

Adol buys lots of stuff secondhand, so it's not as if he resealed it himself (he may have or may have not, but I suppose you can assume all sorts of unkind things too). Saying that it's his perogative to be completely up to speed on the odd mechanics of sealed games is pretty silly - first off, NO seller is going to go out of their way to degrade the value of their auction, and secondly they probably have better things to do than email countless people and get contradictory replies about what constitutes a sealed US NES game.

I also think that his reply was very straightforward. Yup, it looks mint and it looks sealed. Anything else?

I think that anybody who's expecting eBay auctions for sealed games to be completely reliable needs to get their head checked.


:hail: Thank You! :hail:

[SoulBlazer]

But really, someone as experienced as Adol is should be able to make a damn good educated GUESS if the game is resealed or not, no?

I agree that his auctions may be a bit misleading, but I suspose buying sealed games is a big risk and something I don't understand anyway. LOL

[Iron Draggon]

Because he sells Sealed games ALL the time, and he buys them.

He wouldn't do that unless he has a large amount of knowledge about sealed games.

And as all the sealed game collectors here know, once you've seen sealed games and re-seals it's very easy to tell the difference.

Lord with all your defending of this guy I'm beginning to wonder if you might be Adol. LOL

You took the words right out of my mouth. I've only been collecting sealed SNES games for a year now, and even I can tell the difference. The very first time that you have the misfortune of getting one, you instantly know it, if you have any genuine sealed SNES games to compare it to, which I do have.

I dunno about sealed NES games because I don't collect for that system, but if I did, I'm sure that I would learn the difference as quickly for that one as I did for the SNES. And this Adol guy must have 1000's of games per year passing through his hands, so he knows exactly what he's doing with them.

So I have to agree with him being the worst kind of seller. When even your responses to questions about your items are carefully worded to decieve, it's pretty obvious that you're just slime. So no wonder he can afford to deal in those kinds of quantities, he rips people off to finance his own collecting.

It's true that no savvy seller in the world is gonna play down his auctions when he knows that he can make alot more money by wording them in a different way, but there are still lots of sellers who are honest enough to point out that what they're selling may or may not be what it appears to be.

If there's any doubt, at least say that the buyer assumes all risk that the item may not be what he thinks it is. The seller will make alot more money that way than he will by any other method, because that establishes trust from your buyers. Most sellers understand this, but some are too busy trying to rip people off and mislead them to worry about what their buyers think.

[delafro]

As a non-Ebay expert, I'm gonna say this guy comes off as a jerk to me.

Still, buyer beware.

[Iron Draggon]

Yeah, from what I understand of it, Adol is to sealed NES as skiier_addict is to sealed SNES. Both of these guys apparently have unlimited resources, and both are the bane of every other sealed NES/SNES collector on ebay. If you bid on either one of these types of auctions, you WILL run into these guys.

I wish that ebay had some kind of rule that says you can't just bid on every auction that comes along of the same type. Especially if you repeatedly buy the same item over and over again, like some of these guys do. That's the same thing as shill bidding, as far as I'm concerned. If nobody else can get a sealed "insert game here" without having to outbid some assholes like these guys, who bid on every single one ever offered for sale, isn't that the same thing as intentionally inflating the price of an item? Ebay has a record of how many times these guys have bought the exact same game on ebay before, so they should limit their ability to keep bidding on items they already won.

Maybe all the high volume buyers & sellers like that should be limited on the number of auctions they can bid on per month, or the number of auctions they can win per month. But there really needs to be some way to prevent people from monopolizing a particular game or a particular genre like this. It just doesn't seem right to me that the rest of us should have to outbid all these guys with bottomless pockets who are just gonna turn right around and resell everything they win for an even higher price. That's why alot of games like the sealed Chrono Triggers and whatnot have gotten to be as expensive as they are. The same people buy them all, over and over again, always bidding the same ridiculously high amounts for them, so nobody else is ever gonna get one without paying their extortion fees to get one away from them. It's just stupid, and it isn't fair for ebay to allow it to happen.

[number6]

Saying that it's his perogative to be completely up to speed on the odd mechanics of sealed games is pretty silly - first off, NO seller is going to go out of their way to degrade the value of their auction, and secondly they probably have better things to do than email countless people and get contradictory replies about what constitutes a sealed US NES game.


I guess I have higher standards than you do. The point is he says it's mint, but when asked about it he really does not know if it is or not. I really hate it when people blatantly lie to get a higher value for their auction.

I don't see how my replies were contradictory. Could you explain that? Mint is pretty easy to understand if you ask me. Here's the definition for you from dictionary.com:

"as if new; "in mint condition""

To me that means the seller has inspected the item to verify it is mint or they know it is factory sealed. This seller does not know for certain that the game is mint, but to drive the price up for his auction he is willing to say it is.



I also think that his reply was very straightforward. Yup, it looks mint and it looks sealed. Anything else?



Looks mint and it's mint are 2 different descriptions altogether. His auction says "Mint" not "looks mint". The seller is basically lieing, but that is apparently cool by you. Sorry, but there is no real defense for this seller's behaviour unless you have similar standards.

[charitycasegreg]

"Adol is cool"

-Maddrox

LOL

[digitalpress]

"+1"

- pretty much anything 'charitycasegreg' posts

[charitycasegreg]

"+1"

I love you Joe :D

[digitalpress]

[quote="digitalpress"]"+1"

I love you Joe :D

Another 1200 posts and he may learn how to use that fancy "BBCode"! It's like some kind of crazy science! Or maybe magic.

[charitycasegreg]

[quote="digitalpress"]"+1"

I love you Joe :D

Another 1200 posts and he may learn how to use that fancy "BBCode"! It's like some kind of crazy science! Or maybe magic.

Well it didnt work the first 2 times for me but you got it to work the first time, so I guess it is just magic.. and I am horible at it :(

PS: you have gotten me to post like 15 pointless posts in the last half hour. This topic is jacked.

[Adol]

Well,this is my first port here,and i must admit i don't have much time to debate in forums,especially on English ones,where it isn't my first language ( and it s 4am here :)

The games FACTORY SEALED are described as FACTORY SEALED,with horizontal sema line on the back...no question about those,i can vouch for them

About my sealed NES games...They're sealed,and THEN i must suppose they're NOT factory sealed ( that's why i didn't put them in NEW category )...i got them SEALED,and i have to say they're in mint condition...few of those have been opened on top ( in that case i say mint,with factory seal...and i precise it is opened ),and they're in mint condition&complete,but surely used

Then, please bid with knowledge that they're maybe resealed games...MINT,SUPER MINT & complete games,but possibly USED GAMES...since they're sealed,i didn't want to open them to verify,but please bid considerin they're used games then

I DO NOT OWN a SEALING MACHINE
I got them that way,and resell them that way...

[jonjandran]

Thanks for coming here and posting.

A lot of times sellers won't come here and post because they are trying to cheat people.

But I do have to ask. Why not just give a little more info. Are you being vague to try to get more for your auctions ? And does it bother you getting negatives when they could have been avoided with a little more info ?

Well anyway , thanks again for posting and clearing up some of the more important issues. :)

[digitalpress]

It's only my word, but I can tell you that Adol is a good man. We've done business together many times over the years. Consider the language barrier... if you post your auctions on eBay Japan you might be considered "vague" to them as well.

I'll let the man speak for himself but I wanted to share my experience and invited him here becaue I know he's on the up and up.

[Adol]

AS told befpre,most of my negs don't come from buyers,but from SELLERS, who don't leave positive feedback ( even if i paid for stuff ) until i leave positive for them..and when i don't receive stuff at all,or factory sealed games SQUISHED in bubblewrap envelopes,of course i'm not happy,and i let negative feedback to the seller...and in return,i receive an unappropriate negative feedback :(


For the games,i'm quite busy those days outside of internet,so i just told the truth;they're sealed, ireceievd them that way,they have line seams on sides,but not on the back ( and you can see that on pictures ), so i guess they're not FACTORY sealed,but just sealed...
some of them are opened on top,and the contents inside are really mint,and everything is complete...sleeve,styrofoam,instructions,plastic bag EVERY time a game has been opened...
i didn't open the other sealed games for checking,but i'm sure they're in same condition
4am here,good night

[Ed Oscuro]

I don't see how my replies were contradictory. Could you explain that?
Why would I accuse the Man in the Lotus of being contradictory? O_O

I mean that the debate on what makes a sealed NES game is still ongoing (h-seam versus no h-seam, etc.)


To me that means the seller has inspected the item to verify it is mint or they know it is factory sealed. This seller does not know for certain that the game is mint, but to drive the price up for his auction he is willing to say it is.
Again...we are just guessing that this is a reseal? On what basis? That it has no h-seal? Again I say...you have to devote some serious time to understand what's what in terms of sealed games.

I suppose if I sold dozens of games a week I wouldn't have the time to care much either.

Caveat emptor, as always...if you're gonna get into the sealed games business, prepare to be burned. It's gonna happen, whether or not the seller is trying to make an extra buck or not.

[Griking]

About my sealed NES games...They're sealed,and THEN i must suppose they're NOT factory sealed ( that's why i didn't put them in NEW category )...i got them SEALED,and i have to say they're in mint condition...few of those have been opened on top ( in that case i say mint,with factory seal...and i precise it is opened ),and they're in mint condition&complete,but surely used



AS told befpre,most of my negs don't come from buyers,but from SELLERS, who don't leave positive feedback ( even if i paid for stuff ) until i leave positive for them..and when i don't receive stuff at all,or factory sealed games SQUISHED in bubblewrap envelopes,of course i'm not happy,and i let negative feedback to the seller...and in return,i receive an unappropriate negative feedback :(

I'm really glad this guy came here to defend himself. Funny, I suggested the same things as he just said above and nobody even wanted to consider that it was possible. Rather than give the guy the benefit of the doubt everyone just chose to character assassinate him behind his back.

I'm not saying that everyone on eBay is an angel, I'm sure that there are many crooks out there but to target a guy with over 1800 positive responses and over 96% was rediculous to me.

Hopefully now everyone can go back to buying, selling and talking games and leave policing eBay to the people who get paid to do it.

[Flack]

I stick to my guns. I think listing in your auction that an item is both "mint" and "sealed" implies to the average buyer that the item is new and has never been opened. In fact I think it even crosses the line of "implying".

Maybe the guy's a great dude, I don't know -- but if he knows or suspects that those games are resealed and is implying that they aren't, that's wrong in my book. The prices he's bringing in on those games implies that his sellers don't think that they're resealed.

I'm not saying that resealing games and selling them as resealed games is wrong. It's weird, but not necessarily wrong. But if he is selling games that he knows are resealed and is implying either that they aren't or that he doesn't know if they are or can't tell when he can ... well, that's just not the kind of business ethics I was raised with.

Which elso explains why I'm poor.

[Iron Draggon]

OK, now can we please ferret skiier_addict out of his sealed SNES bidding frenzy long enough to get him over here to explain himself? I've never had any run-ins or dealings with Adol before myself, although I have seen him around, but skiier_addict is definitely my ebay arch nemesis, as I'm sure he is for most other people who bid on sealed SNES auctions on ebay, so let's get his ass over here and hear what he has to say about his shenanigans there!

[Bronty-2]

Dude, what is your obsession with skiier? :P

Seriously, I've never seen or heard of skiier doing anything other than minding his own business and bidding on stuff he likes. What's wrong with that? Doesn't even compare to this guy, who is blatantly trying to rip people off. He may be your bidding "arch nemesis", but really, he's not doing anything remotely wrong that I can see?

Adol on the other hand..

[Daria]

Then, please bid with knowledge that they're maybe resealed games...[externally] MINT,SUPER MINT & [maybe] complete games,but possibly USED GAMES...since they're sealed,i didn't want to open them to verify,but please bid considerin they're used games then

Then in the future you should explain this in your auctions.

Honestly though I don't know how you can guarentee a possibly resealed game to be complete. There's always a chance it's missing a manual or insert or that the contents are damaged.

So, not to say you're shady, it does sound like a language barrier, but you really can't throw around terms like "Mint" and "complete" on a game that is sealed and not factory sealed, unless you've personally sealed it yourself.

Also... I don't see how a resealed game when properly described should sell for any more then a complete one. So I'd assume the only reason anyone would sell reseals is that they hope their bidders will be tricked into bidding on the possibility it's factory sealed. If it is a reseal and you are an honsest seller, then open the damn game up and faithfully describe the contents in your auction.

If you think it's resealed but honestly aren't certain and fear ripping open a factory sealed game then state that in your auction.

Otherwise you really do come off as a sleaze ball and I don't think you want that.

[Bronty-2]

Language barrier my butt. It's not just the description that's misleading, the pictures are too. I'm surprised no one has commented yet that the pics show the backs of the games, with no visible horizontal seam, yet are shot far enough away that one can't verify?

This guy is not a rookie and these auctions are not an accident.

[Daria]

This guy is not a rookie and these auctions are not an accident.

I was giving him the benefit of the doubt since Joe seems to vouche for him. And besides these things are fixable if Adol wishes to fix them.

If not well... then you're probably right.

[charitycasegreg]

Make better auction descriptions so people dont think your deceiving.

....shut up.

[Cmosfm]

I'm going with Bronty on this one, ever since I dabbled in sealed games (amazing how much you learn when you have 2 sealed high-dollar games you are planning to sell) I've seen a lot of crap and learned a lot about what goes on. There are people out there who are seriously into the sealed game buisness, and even though I don't really understand it, I respect it. And it's not like normal game collecting, sealed game collecting is a really cut-throat buisness and for every good person there's a bad one.

Adol is blatantly wording these wrong, and saying he isn't and it's "buyer beware" and "he's not lying" is bullshit! Buyer beware indeed, because it's people like him that we have to be aware of. We have to beware because of idiots that think it's ok to trick non-ebay-savvy users out of there money. Adol KNOWS that every once in a while a couple bidders will bid the price up, and he sells them the "sealed" game at "factory sealed" price.

It's wrong, and I know DP has had good dealing with him, but hell....I could have good dealings with Hitler, but that doesn't make him a good person.


"+1"

- pretty much anything 'charitycasegreg' posts

Oh that's great! ROFL

[Ed Oscuro]

It's wrong, and I know DP has had good dealing with him, but hell....I could have good dealings with Hitler, but that doesn't make him a good person.
Full circle...I already predicted somebody would say "Adol Hitler" before this was up ROFL

What can I say...the sealed games business brings out the bad side of collecting. I stay away from it.

Mint games are good enough for me.

[number6]

AS told befpre,most of my negs don't come from buyers,but from SELLERS, who don't leave positive feedback ( even if i paid for stuff ) until i leave positive for them..and when i don't receive stuff at all,or factory sealed games SQUISHED in bubblewrap envelopes,of course i'm not happy,and i let negative feedback to the seller...and in return,i receive an unappropriate negative feedback :(


For the games,i'm quite busy those days outside of internet,so i just told the truth;they're sealed, ireceievd them that way,they have line seams on sides,but not on the back ( and you can see that on pictures ), so i guess they're not FACTORY sealed,but just sealed...
some of them are opened on top,and the contents inside are really mint,and everything is complete...sleeve,styrofoam,instructions,plastic bag EVERY time a game has been opened...
i didn't open the other sealed games for checking,but i'm sure they're in same condition
4am here,good night

Care to defend this feedback left for you Adol:



Strange definition of mint. Had *food* stains on it. Refused to refund. Beware
Buyer learnedh. ( 1016)
no longer a registered user Apr-09-03 09:16 3012421557
Reply by adol: The cart was shrinkwrapped,so are instructions,how can be FOOD STAINS?nonsense! Apr-09-03 11:57
Follow-up by learnedh.: Stop lying. Not shrinkwrapped. Case beat up, dirt, and FOOD STAIN. Scum. Apr-20-03 09:30

[Vroomfunkel]

What a to-do!

Here's my tuppence worth ... everyone I know who has actually dealt with adol (i.e. bought or sold to him) has been more than happy with the results. And that includes some very serious & knowedgeable collectors.

To those of you who are complaining .. if it is so obvious that his games are resealed, what's the problem? Just don't bid on them! If he was really out to fool you, then well done, you sussed him and you didn't get burned!

Until you have actually bought something from him and are unhappy with it, what's the problem? As far as I can tell, there is not a single person in this discussion who has failed to distinguish between the games he has that are factory sealed, and the ones that are just sealed. And you are complaining because he is not telling you clearly enough what you already know??

Sheesh!

Vroomfunkel

[Bronty-2]

No I'm complaining because he's trying to rip people off. So he hasn't been successful yet in this case - that makes it OK? Think about it.

...besides, it's been well documented on these boards that he sold someone a resealed FF3, so it pisses me off because it's a repeat problem with this guy.

[Li Wang]

For what it may be worth, I remember having similar objections to Adol's auctions in the heyday of import game prices. Conversation with fellow enthusiasts concerning "sealed" games was a hot topic. Import game sellers including Adol listed shrinkwrapped Famicom games with the same implication that it meant they were brand new. This went on with Adol well after it was common knowledge among the hardcore that 99% of the games to come out for the system were never shrinkwrapped to begin with. I don't remember whether the word "new" was actually ever used, but the same ambiguity in the listings and implication that it was the case were there. I have to side with those who think these current practices may also be a bit on the shady side. I believe there have been similar incidents in the PC Engine community concerning Adol in the past. I just can't help but find the idea of one of the biggest collectors in his respective country not understanding the rules of engagement after all these years a little hard to swallow. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the way things look from where I stand.

[Iron Draggon]

Dude, what is your obsession with skiier? :P

Seriously, I've never seen or heard of skiier doing anything other than minding his own business and bidding on stuff he likes. What's wrong with that? Doesn't even compare to this guy, who is blatantly trying to rip people off. He may be your bidding "arch nemesis", but really, he's not doing anything remotely wrong that I can see?

Adol on the other hand..

He doesn't just bid on stuff he likes, he bids on practically everything, even when he already has it. One of my biggest beefs with him is the way that he's almost always the very first bidder on sealed SNES auctions. It seems that he places the opening bid on just about every sealed game that has a BIN option, just so nobody else will be able to use the BIN, and then he can start his bullshit of overbidding for it like a mofo, so whoever really wants it will end up having to pay 2 or 3 times what the BIN was for it. I've caught him doing that more times than I even care to count, so I know that he's just a slimeball. Why would you place the opening bid on a BIN item that had a $50 BIN on it, and then try to snipe it for $100 at the end of the auction? If he really wanted it that bad, then he should've just used the BIN, but he clearly gets off on making other people outbid him to get what they want. That's why I'm pretty much convinced that he's actually an ebay employee. His sole purpose there seems to be to inflate prices for sealed SNES games.

[Bronty-2]

I also think that his reply was very straightforward. Yup, it looks mint and it looks sealed. Anything else?
.

Totally disagree. I emailed him and said "gumshoe is sealed but not factory sealed, correct?" and he replied "correct." So he knows damn well they are reseals.

Actually it made me laugh out loud because I asked him the same question about ice climber under a different account and he had a totally different response. Something along the lines of "well, I'm sure it's sealed but I can't VOUCH for it" (his emphasis on vouch, not mine)

[jonjandran]

@IronDraggon

Yea that would piss me off.

But you got to admit , it is funny in a peverse sort of way. LOL

[Bronty-2]

Why would you place the opening bid on a BIN item that had a $50 BIN on it, and then try to snipe it for $100 at the end of the auction?

That would piss me off too, but it could be legit. I can see that happening. I've been in situations where a rare but low demand game was up, with a reasonable BIN. I might be able to win it for a lot less than the BIN or might have to pay a lot more since it's a game with a volatile price. --So I just might pop the BIN but set a high snipe to make sure someone didn't outbid me.

Then again, are you saying this happens all the time? If so, I see what you mean, since the above scenario is a pretty specific one. Still, to me it's not in the same league (although again, I can see how it would piss you off).

[Griking]

Care to defend this feedback left for you Adol:

[quote]
Strange definition of mint. Had *food* stains on it. Refused to refund. Beware
Buyer learnedh. ( 1016)
no longer a registered user Apr-09-03 09:16 3012421557
Reply by adol: The cart was shrinkwrapped,so are instructions,how can be FOOD STAINS?nonsense! Apr-09-03 11:57
Follow-up by learnedh.: Stop lying. Not shrinkwrapped. Case beat up, dirt, and FOOD STAIN. Scum. Apr-20-03 09:30


Some of you people need a shrink.

In only the past year alone this guy had 471 positive feedback responses and only 4 negative ones. You'd rather take the word of one of the 4 as gospel and completely dismiss the praise of the 471? That negative that you dug up is over a year and a half old and oh, by the way, did you happen to notice that it was from a person who is No Longer A Registered User?. Gee, what a coincidence huh?

Just for the hell of it why don't some of the finger pointers here show us just how perfect your own feedback is. I'm not saying that it's necessarily bad, its probably very good actually. But I just want to point out that it's not only damn hard to keep a perfect feedback record but it also involves a great amount of luck once you get over 1000 transactions.

Again, if this guy was a fraud and if a lot of his buyers felt ripped off as many of you are accusing him of trying to do don't you think that he would have accumulated a lot more negative feedback by now than he has?

[jonjandran]

Some of you people need a shrink.



I'm quite offended.

And so are 3 out of the 4 of my other personalities.

Now I'm going to take a Pepto-Bismol bath and rub Preparation H all over my body.

[Griking]

I appreciate the humerous response :kiss:

LOL

[jonjandran]

:dance:
:cheers:

[charitycasegreg]

:dance:
:cheers:

This adol person caused my best friend to hate me. (Maddrox) So can we please just forget this whole subject? :sob: <--greatest emoticon


-pointless post

[esquire]

Honestly though I don't know how you can guarentee a possibly resealed game to be complete. There's always a chance it's missing a manual or insert or that the contents are damaged.

So, not to say you're shady, it does sound like a language barrier, but you really can't throw around terms like "Mint" and "complete" on a game that is sealed and not factory sealed, unless you've personally sealed it yourself.

Good point. He can't have it both ways here. He can't advertise the item as mint and complete if its not factory sealed, unless he's re-sealed it himself and can vouch as to its condition. Conversely he can't hide behind the fact that someone else may have re-sealed it. If that's the case, he can't advertise it as mint and complete. He has no knowledge of its condition, other than hearsay from what the previous owner allegedy told him. But the fact remains that he sells some stuff as factory sealed and other stuff as sealed. The very fact that he knows the difference between the two means he is not some innocent party here. If he can't vouch for its condition, its misrepresentation to claim the item as complete.


What a to-do!

Here's my tuppence worth ... everyone I know who has actually dealt with adol (i.e. bought or sold to him) has been more than happy with the results. And that includes some very serious & knowedgeable collectors.

To those of you who are complaining .. if it is so obvious that his games are resealed, what's the problem? Just don't bid on them! If he was really out to fool you, then well done, you sussed him and you didn't get burned!

Until you have actually bought something from him and are unhappy with it, what's the problem? As far as I can tell, there is not a single person in this discussion who has failed to distinguish between the games he has that are factory sealed, and the ones that are just sealed. And you are complaining because he is not telling you clearly enough what you already know??

Sheesh!

Vroomfunkel

Yes, we can take your approach. If I witness a thief breaking into my neighbor's house, I can look the other way because it's not happening to me. The world did the same thing with Adolf Hitler. They kept looking the other way until it happened to them. (Sorry, I had to jump on the Hitler reference with Cmosfm)

[number6]

That negative that you dug up is over a year and a half old and oh, by the way, did you happen to notice that it was from a person who is No Longer A Registered User?.




It does not matter how old the feedback is. Actually I picked this feedback because it fits the topic of discussion well. You totally seemed to miss that. I am totally aware that the user is no longer registered, but that could mean a lot of things. If you had bothered to check the feedback for this user (Click here (http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=learnedh.&Dirn=Received+by), I obviously have to spoon feed you) you will see that the account status of this user had little to do with negative feedback. What could be the cause I really don't know, but it is not really relevant to the discussion.

The point is Adol has sold games as mint that actually were not mint at all. He says that most of the negs he has received is from dishonest sellers. The feedback I picked is one example of how his statement is not true. Maybe you should actually do some research before making your judgment like I have done. I have given good examples of why I think adol is not an honest seller and you have simply rushed to defend him like you do all other dishonest sellers on ebay. Obviously this is a case of "Honor among thieves" with you.

[Cmosfm]

(Sorry, I had to jump on the Hitler reference with Cmosfm)

Actually, I didn't even see the connection between Adol(f) and the Hitler that I used until it was pointed out. Strange but true.

[esquire]

(Sorry, I had to jump on the Hitler reference with Cmosfm)

Actually, I didn't even see the connection between Adol(f) and the Hitler that I used until it was pointed out. Strange but true.

It would be even stranger if they were actually the same person. I can just see it now: Adol(f) financing the return of the Greater German Reich and Nazi Party by selling sealed NES games on ebay. LOL

[Vroomfunkel]

Yes, we can take your approach. If I witness a thief breaking into my neighbor's house, I can look the other way because it's not happening to me. The world did the same thing with Adolf Hitler. They kept looking the other way until it happened to them. (Sorry, I had to jump on the Hitler reference with Cmosfm)

Whether wilfully, or unwittingly, you have completely missed my point. This is in no way similar to someone robbing a house, because as far as I can tell no-one on this board, and no-one on ebay has been 'taken in' by this supposed scam. However, enormous amounts of people have bought from him and been entirely pleased with the results. I am not advocating "looking the other way because it is not happening to me" ... I am suggesting that 'it' is not happening to anyone.

The one ebay neg mentioned was nothing to do with someone thinking that they were getting a factory sealed game, and not getting it .. and the one complaint from this board was to do with a dispute over a money order refund.

Let me re-iterate ... since this there seems to be no evidence that anyone has actually thought that they are buying a factory sealed game from him when they were not, I regard it as something of a non-issue.

As to other complaints against adol, they may or may not be well-founded - but the fact remains that everyone that I know who has dealt with him, has found him to be honest and reliable .. and I find it a little disturbing that there are so many people so ready to disparage him without ever having actually dealt with him.

If you think you've saved yourself from being conned, then well done - go away and congratulate yourself, but keep your accusations for when you actually have something to complain about.

Finally ... the whole adol / adolf thing. Childish. Irrelevant. Offensive. In fact, grossly offensive. But hey, if it amuses you to joke about such things I think that speaks for itself.

Vroomfunkel

[Daria]

Vroomfunkel:

How do you know noone's been ripped off by him? Most of his negative feedback auctions have "timed out" so all you see are the comments. Although you don't have much room to leave a detailed explanation of the problem I do see various comments which could have applied to the possible situation in whiich somene mistook a reseal as factory sealed.

Examples:


Items not well described. Plays with words. Not truthful. - Buyer basiland ( 294) Oct-03-01 16:33 1271103405

Reply by adol: You just not know to read a description,properly that's all,why a negative?!


He sells games for ridiculous high prices. Likes to misinform people as well.

And this one's just funny given Brinn1's reputation. So take the following comment with a grain of salt: :P


Seller is a fraud, sold resealed game as sealed with used incomplete contents

Buyer brinn1 ( 1953) Sep-20-04 16:08 8128365732
Reply by adol: YOU OPENED A FACTORY SEALED GAME,say its used&want 100% refund,now it is OPEN? Sep-21-04 04:53

Follow-up by brinn1: It was NOT factory sealed it was resealed with used contents, you knew it too! Sep-21-04 08:40

Rating Withdrawn: Buyer and seller mutually agreed to withdraw feedback for this item. Learn more.


But seriously, wouldn't it be a good thing to address the issue before a problem occurs? It's obviously not improbable that someone could mistake those for factory sealed. And whose to say someone didn't and hadn't wisened up at least by the time they left feedback?

[Iron Draggon]

Why would you place the opening bid on a BIN item that had a $50 BIN on it, and then try to snipe it for $100 at the end of the auction?

That would piss me off too, but it could be legit. I can see that happening. I've been in situations where a rare but low demand game was up, with a reasonable BIN. I might be able to win it for a lot less than the BIN or might have to pay a lot more since it's a game with a volatile price. --So I just might pop the BIN but set a high snipe to make sure someone didn't outbid me.

Then again, are you saying this happens all the time? If so, I see what you mean, since the above scenario is a pretty specific one. Still, to me it's not in the same league (although again, I can see how it would piss you off).

Yeah, it's happened more than once, so I know he's just busting the BIN on purpose to keep everyone else from being able to use it. Then he waits until the final minutes of the auction, and if the extortion fees haven't risen high enough to suit him, then he places a bid just high enough that the winner will end up having to pay their max bid on it. So he's not even trying to win any of the stuff that he bids on, he's just trying to make sure that everyone else has to pay the highest price possible. Sometimes he screws up and he accidentally wins something, I'm not sure what he does with all that stuff, but he almost never wins anything that he bids on, so he has to be doing this shit on purpose. How can you consistently get outbid on the same types of items and not learn how to make sure that you win them the next time? He knows exactly what he's doing, and he only exists just to piss people like me off. Or so that's how it seems to me anyway. That bastard has cost me more money than I even wanna count. I bet he's still laughing about it too.

:angry:

[8bitnes]

How can you consistently get outbid on the same types of items and not learn how to make sure that you win them the next time?

I have consistently lost 4 or 5 factory sealed TMNT 2: Arcade Game for NES by being sniped or not having a high enough sniping bid myself. I think it can happen certainly on a small-scale basis but not necessarily on the scale you've described.



That's why I'm pretty much convinced that he's actually an ebay employee. His sole purpose there seems to be to inflate prices for sealed SNES games.

Ebay employees are required by ebay to e-mail the seller before bidding on an auction. It's a very detailed process that informs the seller that an ebay employee is bidding, that they have priveleged info (such as others max proxy), and that they will not reference that info. Certainly if adol was an employee, he would have been fired if the speculation here is 100% true.

[Adol]

I'm sorry for language mistakes then...English is not my native language,i do NOT live in USA,i'm french, born in Paris and i live in France, so i do my best...i doubt many ppl here speak&write french as i do for English though..
i'll try to describe better my games in the future then...

for number6: you're speaking about an asshole buyer,whois just not on Ebay anymore,because he was pulled out from there...he left tons of negative feedbacks like this to many sellers,and i was 1 of them.

Bronty-2:if you're speaking about the problem with Brinn1, just GO ASK HIM and you'll see everything is solved.

To liwang; EVERYBODY interested in Nintendo japanese stuff ( well,except Gamecube ) knows that ANY nintendo game there is NOT SEALED....just carton box...so is there is shrinkwrap you MUST know somebody added it in Japan ( generally shops )...no confusion here

to Iron Dragoon: i'm sorry but you're wrong...i bid on games with BIN sometimes,but i never EVER bid more than what was the BIN price, or because somebody already did it before me,and then i wasn't able to SEE the BIN. What will be the point for me to bid more than the BIN, if i can stop the auction now? For inflating price,i can let ppl like brinn1 or ixviiivii do it...$411 for Super Mario Kart, $350 for Ys 3 or $260 for a MILLION seller Mario Kart,jeez...
i'm not laughing at you,i try to win games for a fair price,but sometimes a friend of mine,here in France, want damnly a game and pay top$$ for it ( like Secret of Mana or Super Mario All Stars, or Chrono Trigger 1 time )

bronty-2: my answer was meaning: when i say Factory Sealed i'm 100% sure it is,because of the horizontal seal....for the sealed game i cannot confirm it 100% because there is no horizontal seam on the back of the box,and i CLEARLY SHOW IT ( i could lie and don't show back of the game,but no, i SHOW IT )...that doesn't mean it is not factory sealed, i'm not used with factory seal "techniques" back at that time...but i guess that it doesn't have horizontal seal for Nintendo ( i mean MADE by Nintendo ) games they're only resealed...
Those games are $40 each,when sometimes mint games come for $70,so what's the problem?is the price too expensive? I sell games for $9.99 too...

daria: just asl Steve Brinn now,everything is SOLVED, period.

8bitnes: sorry,i'm not an ebay employee here in France, i'm just a seller&buyer for 7 years now, mainly in japanese video game collection ( and a huge, ULTRA HUGE one )..i do manage a video game store, and i'm a high level athlete...by "high level" i mean "little international" ( don't know cocret words in english for that ), i do some international competitions, like European Championships,but i'm not Carl Lewis :)
that's what i'm doing of my days :)

Finally,my reference to Adol is for Ys saga hero,nothing else.
The history person you're referring to is maybe one of your heroes, he's not 1 for me.

Other ppl,thank you for supporting me a little,without even knowing me, and not kill me in the back like other ppl do.

[Ed Oscuro]

To liwang; EVERYBODY interested in Nintendo japanese stuff ( well,except Gamecube ) knows that ANY nintendo game there is NOT SEALED....just carton box...so is there is shrinkwrap you MUST know somebody added it in Japan ( generally shops )...no confusion here
I actually didn't know that. Well, that doesn't count for FDS, since those are sealed...but no shrinkwrap, as you say.

As for Hitler...I started that as a joke about how bad people were making you out to be, sorry that it appears to have escalated but I don't think anybody is using it seriously.

One last thing...apparently folks think your pictures of the back of game boxes are too small, care to comment on that?

Again, thanks for stopping by.

[Daria]

daria: just asl Steve Brinn now,everything is SOLVED, period.

Oh I posted his comment as a joke, not seriously. Sorry for the confusion.

[Adol]

For ppl considering pictures of back are too small,just email me,and i'll provide bigger pics...i do have them big,but for some obscure reasons ebay doesn't show them big enough,unless i pay premium pack with supersize pictures