Warning! Don't Buy From Symonize88!!!!

[ThoughtBomb]

So I guess I made the green mistake of judging an Ebay member by his feedback percentage. I sent out a payment for a Final Fantasy soundtrack that was being sold from member symonize88. The price couldn't be beat for a 3-disc collection, which is what caught my attention in the first place. Since winning the item and sending out payment, I have recieved no communication from the seller what so ever, despite multiple attempts online & even over the phone with the number that is given on his contact info. On top of all this, I found out by calling Money Gram that the seller recieved my money order and had it cashed several days after I sent it. So on top of not sending me my item after recieving my payment, he's also walking around with my hard earned money and didn't even let me know that he recieved payment or what the deal is with the delay. Starting tomorrow it will be almost 3 weeks since I sent out payment and recieved no update what so ever. I attempted calling him and I must have called 20-30 times on end only to continually be fowarded to his voicemail, to which I also left a message saying to inform me of an update of some sort, even leaving him a callback number.
I then decided to do a little research. Despite his many positive feedbacks, the handful of both negative and neutral feedbacks yielded the exact same complaints (and worse) that I have. Here are some quotes straight from the source:

-Item was perfect but no communication! Item did not ship from USA as stated...
-Bad shipping time/costs, no communication, and product is a Hong Kong bootleg.
-Took a very long time to get to me. From Hong Kong, but listing US. Good cond.
-Item did not come from lexington!! Item came from CHINA! Could be bootleg cd??
-It took a long time to get it. The song titles are in chinese!!!!
-I have never recieved my Item! You got my money and screwed me over! Worst ever!
-Very slow shipping. Came from Hong Kong, not S. Carolina. Poor communication.
-shippping was fast but the item is not new.
-box was damaged not sealed.
-Item in great condition, very slow ship time.
-Item never received.
-SLOW 2 SHIP. PD ON 10/5, YOU DID NOT SHIP TIL 10/9. NOT PLEASANT 2 DEAL WITH.
-FILES NEG WHEN REC. NEUTRAL. OVERCHARGES ON REG. MAIL DELIVERY. BWARE. RIPOFF!!!
-Seller never shipped the item or communicated with me in any way-i've lost my $$
-ITEM PAID FOR ON 31st JULY. STILL NOT RECEIVED ON 11th SEPT. NO REPLY TO EMAILS
-Lied about location. And never heard back from seller. Very displeased.
-The listed location was SC but item was sent from HongKong.
-No reply to my emailItem said to be factory sealed... but it had been opened and taped back
-Never responded to my emails about damaged product - never ebay with this guy!!!
-Sent me a used game, instead of brand new.
-Very slow shipping with no communication...finally received...3 week wait.

So the pattern I've noticed is that he normally does not communicate with his bidders/purchasers, says that the items he's selling are from SC but are actually bootlegs being shipped from Honk Kong, and once you finally do receive the item (if & when he feels like sending it, that is), chances are it's already been opened or damaged despite saying otherwise in the description.
In other words: purchase from member symonize88 at your own risk. If you like gambling, then this is the guy to buy from. For everyone else who actually likes to pay for things that are truly what they wanted and as described, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. At this point I just want my money back, because I know that even if I get the item it's not going to be authentic.

[Daria]

Sounds like he isn't shipping the items at all. But is probably relaying orders to someone else in China who has dropped the ball on your bootlegged shit. Pretty crappy. And because you paid with a money order you'll never see your money again.

Edit: Hey you're from Florida. What part?

[EX-Soldier]

at least you learnt your lesson cheap i lost 400 dollars 2 years back by sending my money via western union, soon as he got payment never picked up or went online =(

also im in florida as well, orlando, either of u 2 know any vintage game stores around?

[ryborg]

For as much grief as Paypal gets (rightfully so, too), at least I know when I pay with them, if the transaction goes awry at any time, I can get my money back fairly easily. I haven't paid with a money order since 1999. Even a check is better because at least you can stop payment if something goes wrong early.

[Griking]

Ouch, what's with the highlighted bold text?

[Zing]

Too bad you didn't do your "little research" ahead of time. It is especially critical when buying Japanese soundtracks on Ebay, since the vast majority (all?) are bootlegs.

[Ed Oscuro]

Too bad you didn't do your "little research" ahead of time. It is especially critical when buying Japanese soundtracks on Ebay, since the vast majority (all?) are bootlegs.

I like to buy old soundtracks that LOOK old - and also ones that are located in Japan.

Of course, having a library of soundtracks will help you spot fakes more easily. One of my favorites in the area is the classic Pony Canyon G.S.M. 1500 series (the Sweet Home and Dragon Breed soundtracks are examples), and there's a possible trick to spotting fakes of those...won't write it down here, but would he happy to take a look at anybody's discs.

Of course, nothing's bulletproof and I guess either we'll have to start tracking individual soundtracks or hope that people don't start aging bootlegs to look like the real thing. With the crazy prices some CDs are getting, the draw of making counterfeits is sure to remain a threat to collectors (which leads to another, probably more important point: don't buy stuff because it's expensive; I mainly buy discs only that I want to listen to, and there's lots of good obscure stuff out there that doesn't cost much).

[ThoughtBomb]

A lesson to be learned, I suppose.

[ThoughtBomb]

Edit: Hey you're from Florida. What part?[/QUOTE]

I lives in the em aye ay

[ThoughtBomb]

at least you learnt your lesson cheap i lost 400 dollars 2 years back by sending my money via western union, soon as he got payment never picked up or went online =(

also im in florida as well, orlando, either of u 2 know any vintage game stores around?

Man, that sucks big time. To answer your question, unfortunately, it seems that mom & pop game stores are hard to come by in Fl.