Are eBayers really this dumb???

[Gemini-Phoenix]

I can't believe how dumb some eBayers can be. I have obviously heard all the stories before, yet never really believed that there were people out there who are THAT dumb to not read auctions properly...

This is one reason why I go to the trouble to clearly explain in the listing exactly what it is I am selling. Just to make sure that it is perfectly clear what is on offer.


Well, a few weeks back I auctioned off a shrinkwrapped copy of Tomba II (US version). I went to all the effort to describe it's condition, in this case, shrinkwrapped and not actually original cellophane, but brand new and never used all the same. Now if I expected to have received any problems, I thought it would have been about that, so I made it very clear to what I was selling, as well as including the following three pictures:

http://img276.imageshack.us/img276/6704/tombaiifront8zg.th.jpg (http://img276.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tombaiifront8zg.jpg) http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/1278/tombaiiback9wi.th.jpg (http://img74.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tombaiiback9wi.jpg) http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4843/tombaiitop0as.th.jpg (http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tombaiitop0as.jpg)

Along with this description:


Here for auction today is:

“Tomba II”

Game is brand new (Sealed), complete, and never been opened!

Shrink-wrapped // Has been re-sealed at some point ~ Otherwise, perfect condition

You will be the first person to use it!

All my games are 100% genuine, and NONE are fakes!

So, I was pretty sure that there would be no problems with the transaction seeing as I went to great lengths to accurately describe the item...


I also made sure to mention that the game is the American version. I pay particular atention to mention it a few times in the auction too, just in case it goes unnoticed. It is also in the item title as well just to be sure!


Anyways, the game is listed, and two days later the auction ends with a Buy It Now (Which was £25.00) - I send the game off after payment clears and I think that is the last I will ever see of that game. WRONG!

Stupid bint eMails me a few days later to tell me the game doesn't work. She's from the UK see (As am I), and has a PAL machine (As is standard here in the UK). Course it doesn't work! Dumbass. I eMail her back informing her that it is an NTSC game and will only work in American machines and point out to her that it was mentioned a few times in the auction, so it's really her own fault.

I hear nothing back from her for a few days, but then, at the end of the week, the game arrives through my letter box and with it a letter demanding a refund.


Hmmm, now let me think... NO! I am well within my rights to keep the money as my listing was very clear. I eMailed her back and told her that I would not be giving her a refund as it was obviously a fault on her part. I also offered to return the game to her, but at her expense. After all, what good is the game to me now that it has been unsealed? If I gave a refund, I wouldn't be able to resell it for anywhere near that amount again.


Just so you guys don't think I am being petty ~ Below are taken from the auction listing, where it clearly stated that it was an NTSC game:


"Tomba II Tombi 2 - NTSC U - NEW & SEALED - RARE" ~ Auction title

"Format: NTSC (US, Canada)" ~ Taken from the eBay generated description

Game is the NTSC U release, and will only work if you are able to play NTSC U games on your console ~ It will not work on standard UK or Japanese consoles! ~ The first time I mention it in the auction, making sure to explain that it WON'T work in UK consoles

[i]"Please Note:
Please make sure you are able to play NTSC U games before bidding." ~ The second time I mention it in the auction, right below the pictures

Now surely any idiot can tell the difference between a UK and American PlayStation game. There are many clues in the pictures alone. Even if you were not aware of the differences, it is clearly obvious to everyone that American games look very different from UK ones.


I will also mention that under eBay rules, I am quite within my rights to not issue her with a refund, as it is indeed her fault for not reading the auction properly. Kinda like the guy who sold that Xbox box a while ago. ~ If she leaves me a negative feedback, I will easially be able to get it forcibly removed by eBay. I am not trying to scam anyone, and have even offered her the game back, but she sure as hell ain't getting a refund and leaving me with what is now technically a used game


Are people really still this dumb and naive? People like this should not be allowed to bid on items on eBay. Why can people not read auctions properly?

Anybody else ever had this sort of problem before?

[VG_Maniac]

Luckily...I haven't had anyone buy something from me and then complain about something that I fully described in the item discription. However, I have most defenitley ecountered some dumb ebayers. That guy who I mentioned in another topic that bought my fully working dreamcast and then complained it didn't work. Then when I asked him to send it back for a refund...he said he sold it! x_x

And then of course there was that dumb idiot who listed that Mario World sign, and then wouldn't sell it to me after I won it for $10 because he listed it by "accident". :hmm:

Then there's all the dumb 0 feedbackers out there who drive the auction price (which they have no intentions on paying) so high, that even the people who were serious about buying the item can no longer afford it.

Yes...ebay is so full of idiots, it's not even funny.

[jajaja]

Even if she broke the wrapper the value didnt go down because it was resealed as you mentioned. Resealing have no value.
But ye, If you wrote clearly in the auction that this game didnt work on a UK machine its the buyers fault for not reading it. I also wonder why she sent the game back without getting the money first. I would never do that.
I would call her and tell her on the phone and her what she have to say.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Even if she broke the wrapper the value didnt go down because it was resealed as you mentioned. Resealing have no value.
But ye, If you wrote clearly in the auction that this game didnt work on a UK machine its the buyers fault for not reading it. I also wonder why she sent the game back without getting the money first. I would never do that.
I would call her and tell her on the phone and her what she have to say.

Only semi-resealed. The white seal on top was unbroken. Now it is broken as she has attempted to play it.

Either she was really dumb, or it is all a scam of some sort.

I know it's not very ethical, but I am a firm believer in the rules of eBay, and the fact that if people don't read things properly, or ask the right questions (Which she asked none) then they get what they deserve.

Ie, the guy that bought an Xbox box got exactly what he bidded on. It was his own fault for not reading the auction properly, and noticing that the auction was only for a box of a crystal Xbox.

[jajaja]

About the xbox box is alittle diffrent tho. Eventho it said that it was only the box, it didnt came out that clear and the auction looked like there was a xbox for sale. I think it was done on purpose.
You wrote clearly that it didnt work on a UK PSX, so the buyer should have read it.

[number6]

Why not provide a link to the auction listing so we can see it for ourselves?

I tried to search for any listings by gemini-phoenix and I see that account is no longer registered. Is that your account?

[zerohero]

Then there's all the dumb 0 feedbackers out there who drive the auction price (which they have no intentions on paying) so high, that even the people who were serious about buying the item can no longer afford it.

I despise these people with a passion. I was bidding on a piece for my car that I needed badly, but I noticed some idiot at the last minut starting bidding on it as well. I go through and look at the previous items they got , and it's nothing close to a "side peace for a pontiac bonniville". After the auction ended(because I couldn't afford it after the $200 mark), I emailed them and said "Do you really need this item, because I do". After that, I get an email from the seller saying the person backed down from the bid, and since I'm the closest high bidder I can claim the item now. Even sold it to me less than what I bidded on it!X_x

So if people can just bid on stuff like that off impulse, no telling what they can do with a game :/

[esquire]

Then there's all the dumb 0 feedbackers out there who drive the auction price (which they have no intentions on paying) so high, that even the people who were serious about buying the item can no longer afford it.

This makes no sense whatsoever. If the bidder who ends up buying the item can "no longer afford it", he/she shouldn't have bid that high to begin with.

[VG_Maniac]

This makes no sense whatsoever. If the bidder who ends up buying the item can "no longer afford it", he/she shouldn't have bid that high to begin with.

You didn't understand what I was saying...so let me rephrase that. They drive the auction price up so high, that people who were going to bid on the item and actually pay for it...don't bid on it because the price has gone way over what they are willing to pay, or can even afford. Then the 0 feedbacker who wins the auction doesn't pay...because he was never serious about paying to begin with. So the person who wanted the item doesn't end up with it...and the person selling the item has to relist it. Like the recent NWC cart that sold for over 6,000. Nobody was willing to pay that much for it. It only got that high because some ebay newbs decided to have some fun.

[PapaStu]

Even if she broke the wrapper the value didnt go down because it was resealed as you mentioned. Resealing have no value.
But ye, If you wrote clearly in the auction that this game didnt work on a UK machine its the buyers fault for not reading it. I also wonder why she sent the game back without getting the money first. I would never do that.
I would call her and tell her on the phone and her what she have to say.

Only semi-resealed. The white seal on top was unbroken. Now it is broken as she has attempted to play it.



Do you know how easy it is to open a jewelcase with that sticker still on it? Play the game and then reclose it making it look like nothing has happened? Hell I open up the cd cases with those stickers on them and then remove the stickers because its much easier and I dont have to pick at them with my nail and have them break all over. That top seal on a game thats known to have a different kind of shrink doesnt mean that its sealed still, even if it has one of those stickers on it.

[fishsandwich]

I had an auction recently where I sold off 6 EMPTY N64 boxes for some decent games. No instructions, NO GAMES. I made a point of saying there were NO GAMES at least three times. I also suggested alternate used for the EMPTY boxes such as fire kindling or paper airplanes, but said NOT to expect GAMES. Shipping was $2. They sold for $21. I flatened the boxes (as I said I would in the auction, quite clearly) and mailed them off with confirmation.

Of course, I get an e-mail 4 days later saying that "I didn't know they were just boxes or I wouldn't have bid. I am a college student and $20 is a lot of money to me. Can I have a refund."

I'm a big softy and I actually thought about it. Then I checked the guy's buying history and found he buys 20+ DVD's a month AND sells stuff on Half.com... no doubt those DVD he buys for cheap.

I e-mailed him back and told him that I was afraid that this was going to happen and that I had been EXTREMELY clear in my auction. I also noted that he bought a lot of stuff and that he was a seller so I wasn't going for the whole broke college kid thing. I declined to refund any money.

He wrote back saying that I hadn't mentioned the word boxes in the auction TITLE and that he had bid based on the title, picture, and cheap shipping. He chastised me for not putting boxes in the TITLE even though I had pointedly said they were just BOXES over and over in the auction. He said he didn't read the auction text.

I wrote back, told him I didn't agree with his excuse, told him to read all the text next time (it's not like it was small or hidden or anything) and offered him $9 if he sent the boxes back.

He refused, then left me POSITIVE feedback. I did the same.

Bizarre I say. @_@

[secretvampire]

If people can't read your clear descriptions, it is their own damn fault. I would have very little sympathy at this point, especially since the game has been opened.

[mills]

I can't believe people buy things based on what the title says and nothing else. When I actually buy something on eBay I read every minute detail, and I ask questions if those details aren't provided.

[zerohero]

I can't believe people buy things based on what the title says and nothing else. When I actually buy something on eBay I read every minute detail, and I ask questions if those details aren't provided.

Exactly , because sometimes people DONT accept paypal as crazy as that may sound, and you don't want to bid on something to find out later that the person only accepts money orders
!

[jajaja]

I can't believe people buy things based on what the title says and nothing else. When I actually buy something on eBay I read every minute detail, and I ask questions if those details aren't provided.

Exactly , because sometimes people DONT accept paypal as crazy as that may sound, and you don't want to bid on something to find out later that the person only accepts money orders
!

Hehe I burned myself on this one before. Won an auction and later I see he doesnt accept Paypal. I was going to send him money, but he left me negative just a few days after the auction ended. This is the only negative I've recived.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Why not provide a link to the auction listing so we can see it for ourselves?

I tried to search for any listings by gemini-phoenix and I see that account is no longer registered. Is that your account?

That is indeed my user ID, but it got NARU'ed because of some stupid American scammer who tried to rip me off over a FF Hard Drive which didn't exist, so he reported me for something fictional. Long story. I used a friend's account for this auction.


It was quite a few weeks ago, and the auction is no longer in eBay database for some reason, otherwise I would've posted up a link. All I have is my initial HTML source code for the listing.

Here is a screenshot of the auction though ~ It is exactly the same as what was in the auction

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/9265/auction8in.th.jpg (http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=auction8in.jpg)


Zero bidders I hate too. And for some reason, they always hone in on all the auctions for rare / expensive games. Like moths to flames. The more a game is worth, or the rarer it is, the more zero bidders it attracts. The worst are zero bidders who coincidently only joined within a few days of that auction being started.

Shill bidders do my head in. If I see too many bids from zero bidders on a game I know is rare and is artificially being driven up in price, I just leave it. It's not worth my time bidding if it's being shilled.


@Fishsandwich ~ Quite right. I swear there are people out there who deliberately target these sorts of auctions. Either that, or people really are dumber than I gave them credit for.

And I don't think you should have to mention everything in teh auction title. You only get 45 characters to work with, so you are limited to what you can actually put. After all, what would the point of the auction page be if everything you needed to know was in the title???

This is teh exact reason why people need to actually READ the auctions. I can't believe that everyone who uses eBay is illiterate, so I put it down to shear lazyness.

I usually search for an item via the title, then click on it to see if it has a picture. If there's no picture, or just a scan from th archive, I click back off without even bothering about reading. If I see what I like however, I then proceed to read the auction to find out more about theitem, and check closely for condition descriptions and to see whether the seller accepts PayPal or not Etc...



Video's. How many Americans are dumb that thy don't know the difference between PAL and NTSC video's. You'd be surprised at how many Americans buy video's from teh UK, then realise they can't play them. This problems is mroe common than the game scene as most gamers know the difference, but a lot of people who buy video's don't.

[chaoticjelly]

I had a similar problem with a UK PAL PS1 game I sold the other week... "Doom"

I made it totally clear that it was UK PAL version, item specifics had it marked as UK PAL

Description had it described as UK PAL, and wont work on American (NTSC) consoles.

Near the end, a US bidder won it.. 0 feedback, newly registered.. name.. "Debra"

Emailed her straight away, asking that did she know it was a UK PAL game, and wont work on a US NTSC playstation, and that I wasnt being funny or anything but Id had problems with people not knowing.

She replied and said her son bid on the auction without reading the description

:/

Glad I didnt send it out! No doubt id of got a negative saying "the game they sent didnt work !!!!! only played as an audio CD!!"

Also, ive been trying to sell a NES system.

The first time it didnt sell.

The second time it sold to someone in Wisconsin, USA, allthough it was listed as a UK PAL system, my location in auction : United Kingdom, the currency in GBP, and I stated that it was PAL in the item description.

Hmm.. shipping as much as the system?

I telephoned him and he was like uhhh.. my brother must of bid on it (told me that he didnt have an ebay account or some b/s)

He said he'd check his emails blah blah, but never heard nothing.

I waited like 1 month in total to get my fees back and to relist..

I gleefully relisted it one afternoon.. 2 hours later it was sold...

To a bidder in Texas, USA.

:angry:

Needless to say, I rang him and he didnt know it was a UK machine (despite being mentioned about 4 times throughout the auction), he didnt pay and now I have to wait to relist it AGAIN.

Third time lucky?

[rpepper9]

I have had my fair share of stupid ebayers lately too. I work at a store that sells cell phones, and as such we have demo phones so that people don't steal the actual working phones. I have found that people are willing to buy these demo phones when we don't need them anymore. I don't really know why, but maybe for parts and such since they are the actual phone bodies, just with no working parts inside. So I list them on ebay. I would say that out of 10 phones I sell I get about 6 people claiming that they didn't know it was just a demo. Like I am selling new PDA or Blackberry phones with a 29.99 Buy it Now. What an idiot. Here is the text from my auctions:

What we have here a is a demo phone like you would find in a retail store. This is a T-Mobile Motorola V300 Camera Cell Phone that looks exactly like the real thing. This phone does not work and never will work, it is for demo or play purposes only. It is the exact weight, color and keypad of the real phone, used to display how the real phone would function.

This phone is also good for parts. If you have one of these phones and have broke part of it this would be a good source of replacement parts. On this phone the original blue faceplate tends to get scratched, so this would be a great replacement for the outer blue shell.

As you can see there is no way that if you read the description you could possibly think that this phone was going to work. If you look at the photos in the listing you can also see that most of these phones say "demo unit" right on them. I guess people are just too quick to snap up what appears to be a good deal. I have yet to issue a refund for any of the demo phones I have sold. If I were you I would not issue a refund for the game either. Offer to send it back as you have, but a refund is out of the question!

[Jorpho]

If she leaves me a negative feedback, I will easially be able to get it forcibly removed by eBay.

Can you really do that?

[anagrama]

You have no right to keep both the money and the game. Give one or the other back to her.

Yes, there are stupid people on eBay. Everyone who has ever sold stuff there has to deal with them. You can take steps to avoid it, but you're never entirely free from them.

And you won't "easily" be able to get a negative removed - the only way that can happen is through mutual feedback removal.

Just refund her (minus the eBay fees if you're that bothered) and re-list the game. It's the best way to save yourself a lot more hassle in the future when you're trying to explain it all to eBay after she files a report accusing you of stealing her money.

[Mayhem]

If you go through the dispute process AFTER the feedback has been left, it can be removed by eBay.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

If she leaves me a negative feedback, I will easially be able to get it forcibly removed by eBay.

Can you really do that?

Yes, yes you can. Did you not know that?

If the reason is just, then eBay will remove the negative feedback. In this instance, the reason is more than just, seeing as how the fact that it was an American game was mentioned no less than four times in the auction. A simple polite eMail to eBay will ensure any negative left such as "Did not work in my PlayStation" will be forcibly removed.


I have had two negatives removed from my very own buying ID, as twice I have fallen for the scam where a seller lists the item at a pound, and charges something stupid like £15 for P&P. In those cases, the seller was *Circumventing eBay fees* and *Adding extra costs to P&P* (Both against eBay rules) so eBay removed the negative feedbacks which were left as a Non Paying Bidder negative ~ Ok, so I should have read the auction closely to spot the sky high P&P, but at the end of the day, sellers shouldn't be doing that.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

You have no right to keep both the money and the game. Give one or the other back to her.

Yes, there are stupid people on eBay. Everyone who has ever sold stuff there has to deal with them. You can take steps to avoid it, but you're never entirely free from them.

And you won't "easily" be able to get a negative removed - the only way that can happen is through mutual feedback removal.

Just refund her (minus the eBay fees if you're that bothered) and re-list the game. It's the best way to save yourself a lot more hassle in the future when you're trying to explain it all to eBay after she files a report accusing you of stealing her money.

I have no intention of keeping both. I have offered her the game back (As it is no good to me in the condition it is now in), and am awaiting her response. She has not yet responded.

I cannot re-list the game, because it was semi-sealed before, and is now not in the same state. It is HER game, and she got EXACTLY what she bidded on. If she failed to read the listing properly, then that's her fault, but I wish to return the game to her - However, I need her to contact me first to send me her address so that I can do so.


I did not steal anyone's money. I sold teh game, I sent the game. She sent it back to me, that was her choice. She didn't contact me to tell me she was sending it back, she simply sent it.


And you are completely wrong, mutual removal is NOT the only way to get a negative removed, as I explained above.

Another way you are allowed to get a feedback removed by eBay is if it is offensive, Ie, contains a lot of abuse / swearing. There are also other exceptions as well which fall in eBay rules and regulations, and are related to illegal listings Etc...

[Griking]

If the reason is just, then eBay will remove the negative feedback.

So what's the process to get them to do this? Links?