Ebay vets- did I handle this the right way?

[walrusmonger]

I haven't sold much on ebay, but yesterday I had my first "complaint."

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8217089641

The winner of this auction sends me this:

We already received the game, thank you so much for the speed, but it does not work. It will not start Ocarina of Time...it will restart and then say it cannot read the disc. The other games will not let you exit to the title screen and the 4th game will not let you exit at all. So, how do you handle returns? By the way...wasn't shipping and handling free with Buy It Now? Please get back to me as soon as you can. Thanks!
I send back this:

Yes, shipping was free with but it now, but you sent me the money for shipping and it just passed my mind.

I'm very, very sorry about the game not working. I did test it with all the games before I listed it (as you could see I had the OoT looping while I took the photo), and had it resurfaced at the game store (I actually walked 3 miles to get it resurfaced) so it'd look nice. I never tried it out after that, but I figured it'd work just because it's the same disc except it looked better.

I have another copy which has been opened but never played, if you want to send me back the disc I'll try it out on my machine and send you the other disc as long as the one you send back doesnt work on my machine.


I will put a $5 bill in with the disc I send back to you, again I'm sorry about that.

I just hope it's not your machine that's causing the errors, have you tried it on another gamecube?

Again, I'm very sorry.

Send the game back to:

I'll get the new one back to you as soon as I get it.

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The thing is... I tested the game very well prior to getting it resurfaced, and there has never been an instance where a disc doesn't work after getting buffed. The person also won another zelda collector's disc shortly before bidding on mine, and while the seller of the disc left them feedback, they didn't leave feedback themselves.

My guess at first is that they've got a gamecube that's breaking down. Then I thought that they have some defected discs and want to get rid of them, so they bought ones with BIN on ebay and then will claim they're defective to the sellers to get their money back. Or the disc could honestly not work on their machine. They said "please get back to me quickly" and I responded very fast after getting the message... but I have yet to get a reply.

It just makes me a little unsettled that this user had bought the same game so recently, and that when I tried mine out it worked. It'll be great if they send me back the game and it's a different disc inside (I remember very well what the one I sent them looked like)

----------------
edit:
turns out the other seller also had an issue and she the ocarina of time didnt work. seems like a defective gamecube to me :-D

[number6]

I think you should have tested the games after having them resurfaced. Why did you resurface them if they all worked in the first place? At any rate you don't know 100% that they were working after you resurfaced them and unless you stated in your auction that they had not been tested after resurfacing, I think you need to have the buyer send them back to you.

[jajaja]

Get the game returned and test it. If it works fine it might be their Gamecube laser.

[evil_genius]

I would not refund them shit. He could easily just say it doesn't work and swap his shitty disc with your fully functional disc. If you have no doubts that the game worked fine then do not refund him. I never do returns on video game stuff only because people try to do that type of stuff.

[walrusmonger]

Well i'm going to get the game back, and I know what mine looked like. If it's their crappy disc, I'm not going to refund them shit. They did the same stuff to someone else, wanting a refund, so we'll see what happens.

Now they dont even want the other disc they want the money back, but I dont want a negative feedback from some crazy woman.

[walrusmonger]

I think you should have tested the games after having them resurfaced. Why did you resurface them if they all worked in the first place? At any rate you don't know 100% that they were working after you resurfaced them and unless you stated in your auction that they had not been tested after resurfacing, I think you need to have the buyer send them back to you.

If it worked perfectly before getting resurfaced (which in reality just polished out the scratches.. I'm the one that buffed it myself at the game store I work at) there is no way it would not work after.

I think it's this person's gamecube.

[walrusmonger]

If the game had worked, we would not want a refund.
Therefore, I paid $51 for something that DOES NOT
WORK, will be paying $5 for shipping back to you, and
you expect me to cover your costs too?! On top of
which, you are already holding $6 in shipping costs
that I overpaid. No, that is not acceptable. That is
$56 for something that doesn't work that should have
cost $45 to start with.

I am sorry if the game worked BEFORE you had it
resurfaced, but now it doesn't. When it continues NOT
WORKING when you get it back, we should receive a FULL
REFUND...I personally didn't cost you anything since
the game was broken, which is not my fault. Look at
MY feedback.

I am not a liar or thief. I resent being treated in a
hostile manner because a place resurfaced your game
incorrectly. I am a woman who was trying to purchase
a WORKING game for my husband's birthday. Please
reconsider your attitude towards me when you see that
the game is indeed broken. I hope to receive a full
refund, at which time you will receive positive
feedback.

-Crystal Stemberger


AHAHAHAH look at that crap she sent me. I dont even know what i'll do if the game works on my machine.

[Griking]

I don't understand why it's so hard to believe that it's at least possible that resurfacing a CD could have damaged it.

[walrusmonger]

I don't understand why it's so hard to believe that it's at least possible that resurfacing a CD could have damaged it.

I resurface on average 25 to 30 discs per day. I've been doing this for the past 6 months. I have never damaged a disc by resurfacing it. the job I did on the disc I sent this woman was top notch.

She bought the same game from another seller, and wants to return it to them too since she claims it doesnt work either. She doesnt want anything but full refunds. Her abuse of the shift key is also anger inducing.

Thats why I find it hard to believe.

Well anyway I'm going to just refund all the money and relist it when it gets back, since I'm 95% sure it'll end up working just fine. It'll probably end up going for more than $45 anyway.

[Daria]

Every game I every resurfaced I fucked up. Which was kinda bad because I worked at Gamestop and was doing this for customers. So yeah I find it very plausible that you may have screwed up the disc.

And she didn't send you crap. She's frustrated and rightly so. Sounds like you're not telling us the whole story either, the email from her definately isn't a direct response to the email you posted from you. It reads like there's an email inbetween missing. For example, where do you say you won't issue a refund?

I'd be ticked too if a seller continued to insist a broken game was working when he hadn't even tested it. You just assume it works. Obviously it doesn't. Take your game back, give her her money and stop fucking around with the game doctors. They suck.

[walrusmonger]

We dont use crappy disc doctors at my store, we use these:


http://www.jfjdiscrepair.com/product.htm

And I told her at first that I wouldnt be giving her back the $6 on shipping that she thinks I owe her, since it cost me time and money to lose out on this sale. I offered her my personal disc which is in mint condition. She was stupid and didnt change the $6 to a $0 where it says "shipping price."

I honestly don't see why I would be wrong to replace it with another copy and pay for her shipping back to me.

Before your post I decided to give her a full refund because she's acting like a stuck up bitch, she even got my contact info from ebay. She thinks I'm trying to scam her. If I bought a defective game (that looked mint), and someone said "dont worry, send it back and I'll give you my personal copy and pay for shipping both ways" I would say "ok thanks" not "GIVE ME REFUND NOW."

[evil_genius]

I don't think you should refund them simply because I sure as hell wouldn't. If you know it works then it fucking works. But at least you learned something from it. In the future state the item works and no refunds will be given. Also don't leave buyers feedback until they leave it for you. This way dumbasses can't leave you dumbass feedback with you giving it back. Just a few ideas that you can choose to use in the future.

But it is a common thing for people on eBay to pull this bullshit. I have read in many descriptions statements like, "The item was tested and works and no refunds will be given because some people try to swap their non-working cartridges or discs with mine."

[tarheelsnipe]

"The item was tested and works and no refunds will be given because some people try to swap their non-working cartridges or discs with mine."

there ya go. i was going to recommend that also. The 'as is, no refunds' clause is the best way to go. Just MAKE SURE that you test the game for a few minutes on your Gamecube. Then put it up on Ebay and let your feedback speak for itself.

[number6]

I think you should have tested the games after having them resurfaced. Why did you resurface them if they all worked in the first place? At any rate you don't know 100% that they were working after you resurfaced them and unless you stated in your auction that they had not been tested after resurfacing, I think you need to have the buyer send them back to you.

If it worked perfectly before getting resurfaced (which in reality just polished out the scratches.. I'm the one that buffed it myself at the game store I work at) there is no way it would not work after.

I think it's this person's gamecube.

I guess it does not make sense to me that you would go through all that effort to resurface the disk and not have the time to boot up the game just to make sure you did not mess up the CD. Like I said before I don't understand why you would even bother resurfacing the disk if it worked already. To me it sounds like you had some problems with the games performance and felt a resurfacing would fix any problems the consumer might have.

[rick weis]

But it is a common thing for people on eBay to pull this bullshit. I have read in many descriptions statements like, "The item was tested and works and no refunds will be given because some people try to swap their non-working cartridges or discs with mine."

if you truely believe that, you should not be selling on ebay. i don't think it's "common" but it does happen.


as i have said before, any seller can handle a smooth transaction! it's how you handle the shitty ones that count.

i agree with number6 and Griking!

Rick

[walrusmonger]

I think you should have tested the games after having them resurfaced. Why did you resurface them if they all worked in the first place? At any rate you don't know 100% that they were working after you resurfaced them and unless you stated in your auction that they had not been tested after resurfacing, I think you need to have the buyer send them back to you.

If it worked perfectly before getting resurfaced (which in reality just polished out the scratches.. I'm the one that buffed it myself at the game store I work at) there is no way it would not work after.

I think it's this person's gamecube.

I guess it does not make sense to me that you would go through all that effort to resurface the disk and not have the time to boot up the game just to make sure you did not mess up the CD. Like I said before I don't understand why you would even bother resurfacing the disk if it worked already. To me it sounds like you had some problems with the games performance and felt a resurfacing would fix any problems the consumer might have.

The only reason I did that was because I like selling games that look as close to mint/new as possible, and there was light scratches that were easily buffable on the surface of the disc. I'll just have to see what happens when I get the disc back.

[SlayerOfFurbies]

anyone want to bet that she tried to stick it in an N64 LOL

she probably bought the items thinking it ws the N64 cart(i.e not reading the Auction) also it is easier to get a refund if you say it is defective then to say you made the mistake! :roll:

^--- ive seen this happen

[walrusmonger]

Yeah so I got it back today, and tried it out.
Works exactly the same as it did when I tested it out before.
Zelda 1, 2, OoT and MM all work fine.
WW demo works fine.
Retrospect works fine.
WW movie works fine.

Something's clearly wrong with her machine, I should have kept the money and told her to leave me alone for wasting time. Anyway, I did give her a refund just because she's the type that would actually call me on the phone and bother me about this.

[rpepper9]

And now you should do the polite thing and tell her nicely that the game works fine on your system and that she may want to get her Gamecube checked out. Add her to your blocked bidder list, and relist the item, with the no returns line added and call it experiance!