Buyer claims there was no disc in his sealed DC game ..

[Vroomfunkel]

OK - need some advice on this one. I recently sold a factory sealed DC game on ebay, buyer paid up and I sent the game. I just had an email from him saying that when he opened it, there was a cover and manual inside, but no disc.

Now, I had about 10 copies of this game all brand new, and have sold 8 of them and had no complaints. One copy I kept for myself, opened it and all was fine. This was my last copy.

Question is ... what do I do? Obviously I can't say 100% definitely that he is lying, because it was factory sealed, and I don't know what was or wasn't inside for sure.

But it seems pretty unlikely to me that there should be no disc in this thing, and I am wondering if he is just angling for a refund ...

My options seem to be:

a) Give him a refund, avoid all hassle & accept the possibilty that I might be getting scammed
b) Refuse to give him a refund even though it is vaguely possible that he might be telling the truth ... and probably earn a neg for my troubles
c) Offer to send him just the disc from my copy as a replacement, and possibly lose my only copy of the game - but know that if he is a scammer he's not getting any money out of it, and will only be gaining a disc only copy of a common game at best.

What would you recommend? Or can you think of any other options?

Vroomfunkel

[TEXASGAMEPLAYER]

It would help if we knew what game and how much it sold for.

[Vroomfunkel]

It would help if we knew what game and how much it sold for.

I don't see how it really makes much difference .. I already mentioned it was a common game.

Still, for whatever difference it makes, it was Worms World Party and I sold it for £7.50 (c. $15) including postage to Germany.

Vroomfunkel

[esquire]

Take the negative. You can't be blamed for the factories' shortcomings, if that is even the case. sounds like the buyer is probably bullshitting you. I don't think it's really worth it to do anything else. I don't see why people get worked up over a negative. It's going to happen sooner or later, and there are always a-holes out there in ebay land.

The only other question I would have is if there are any paypal implications? Did he pay by paypal and if so does he have a valid complaint against you pursuant to paypal's terms? That may change things.

[Lost Monkey]

Offer to send the buyer the disc you have - if he refuses or demands a refund anyway, he is probably just phishing for a refund and received the game complete.

It also matters what kind of feedback he has...

[Drexel923]

It also matters what kind of feedback he has...

I think thats the key here...if he has 100% positive feedback (or close to it) odds are he isn't lying to you...but if he has shitty feedback then I wouldn't trust him.

If he seems trustworthy then I would just refund him the price minus shipping and see if he'll take it...if he's the opposite, then tell him to screw off, but you'll probably get a neg for it.

[TEXASGAMEPLAYER]

If he has legit feedback I would offer him the disc! What ever happened to customer service. People go into defense mode the minute there's a problem with a customer and are afraid to loose a penny over a transaction. Those are the risks you take owning a business or doing business with people.

[jajaja]

Legit feedback doesnt have to make you a non-liar. I recently won an auction from a guy who had over 2000 positive feedbacks and only like 10 negatives (not very much imo when you have that high positive feedback). He sold the game to another guy because he got a higher offer I thought he was serious.

But in your case he might be telling the truth. Its impossible to say. The chance that the game isnt in the box when leaving the factory is minimal, but since machines arent 100% perfect it might happend. Never heard of it or experienced it tho.

I think I would offer some money back or send a loose disc if you have that.
Hope it works out

[Vroomfunkel]

If he has legit feedback I would offer him the disc! What ever happened to customer service. People go into defense mode the minute there's a problem with a customer and are afraid to loose a penny over a transaction. Those are the risks you take owning a business or doing business with people.

Can I ask, do you sell on ebay at all, or are you just coming from the buyer's perspective?

The fact is, I sell a lot on ebay, and I have all manner of people try to pull all sorts of scams on me. Most recently, some guy who spent several days trying to persuade me to post his game before he sent payment, and then complaining because he hadn't got his game - even though he sent cash in an envelope and no address to post to!!

Of course there are risks doing business, but that doesn't mean that the best way to deal with that is to just accept everything that every buyer tells you ... that is in fact a sure fire way to get yourself taken for a ride. Plus, I despise scammers and if I can help it I don't ever want to give them any encouragement to carry on their game.

However, I really don't want to penalise someone who is honest, thus why I placed this post, to get some advice.

Perhaps it is nothing for you to lose money, but since I changed job to a very low paid position in a charity, eBay is what makes the ends meet these days, so of course I am concerned if I may lose some money from it.

Anyway, having considered it, I have offered him the option of either (a) I will send him the disc I have, or (b) he can return me the box & manual that he received and I will refund him.

Vroomfunkel

[ozyr]

Just my two bits - I have bought a few games in the past that were sealed and did not contain a game cart/cd. Happened twice, in many, many years.

That's the one risk of selling sealed games, you don't really know what is inside...

[Elusive]

...so he bought the game sealed, then opened it?

It's very unlikely.

[Vroomfunkel]

...so he bought the game sealed, then opened it?

It's very unlikely.

Not especially unlikely .. some people buy games to play them, we collectors are actually the minority out there

Btw .. where in Lincs are you? I grew up in Lincolnshire ... over in the flatlands.

Vroomfunkel

[evil_genius]

My friend bought a DVD from Wal-Mart about a month ago and it was missing one of the discs. It is very possible. But I would not refund him simply because it is not your fault. Tell him to contact the company or somehting.

[junglehunter]

In this case, since it's a common game, I'd send him either a loose disc or another copy, but would ask for shipping money to at least compensate for that loss. I've bought many DVDs from Futureshop/Wal-Mart etc. and have had no discs inside. It is a very common occurrence.

[video_game_addict]

Just my two bits - I have bought a few games in the past that were sealed and did not contain a game cart/cd. Happened twice, in many, many years.

That's the one risk of selling sealed games, you don't really know what is inside...

Just out of curiosity which games?


I've bought 100s maybe hitting in the 1000s now of games, dvds, & cds, never once have I opened to find an empty case.

And junglehunter has had it happen several times as well! Crazy! I've just had problems with a few discs that skipped or locked up out of several hundred new dvd purchases. The last one I can think of was Cowboy Beebop the movie. Brand new movie, played fine until the closing chapters and then it hit a bad spot, stopped playing. I've not had many problems on deffective discs either, but a no disc case would really piss me off!

What the heck do you tell the people at the store, and do they buy your story??



Oh and Vroomfunkel, I agree with your decission. Offer to ship the disc only, or a refund after you receive back what he received. You take a small loose either way, but it does help avoid any negative feedback. Maybe you need to add a disclaimer to future sealed listings. :/ At least it wasn't like some $50 game..

[Lost Monkey]

I've bought 100s maybe hitting in the 1000s now of games, dvds, & cds, never once have I opened to find an empty case.

And junglehunter has had it happen several times as well! Crazy! I've just had problems with a few discs that skipped or locked up out of several hundred new dvd purchases. The last one I can think of was Cowboy Beebop the movie. Brand new movie, played fine until the closing chapters and then it hit a bad spot, stopped playing. I've not had many problems on deffective discs either, but a no disc case would really piss me off!

I've sold over 20,000 DVDs in the last 3 years and I've only had one instance of a disc "problem". One of my customers informed me that their MASH Season 3 set had 2 copies of Disc 2 and 0 of Disc 1.

I returned some DVDs to Walmart a couple of years ago, none of which had been opened and for which I had the receipt - they went over those bastards with a fine toothed comb to make certain I hadn't reshrinked them and 2 different "associates" asked me why I was returning them... (they were duplicates I had purchased to cover my ass on preorders that my distributor informed me I wouldn't be getting).

I can't imagine the Gestapo techniques they would have used if I was claiming the cases were empty!

[ozyr]

Just my two bits - I have bought a few games in the past that were sealed and did not contain a game cart/cd. Happened twice, in many, many years.

That's the one risk of selling sealed games, you don't really know what is inside...

Just out of curiosity which games?

I've bought 100s maybe hitting in the 1000s now of games, dvds, & cds, never once have I opened to find an empty case.

What the heck do you tell the people at the store, and do they buy your story??

Lynx - Bill and Ted's Excellent Advnture
Bally Asrocade - Wizards of Wor (bought sealed on ebay)

both were sealed. And both were missing the cart!

As for the Lynx game, I had to argue like hell at the local game shop to get them to replace the missing cart. They only did so after an employee mentioned they had a machine in the back to re-seal games!

As for the ebay game, the seller was cool enough to replace the missing cart with another one he had!

Now if you ask me about damaged sealed things (DVDs), I'd have lots more to tell about. I've even had DVDs that had deep knife like groves cut all the way across them. Shit happens I guess...

[sharp]

Never had any missing dics. Only once got trouble about a Tomb Raider IV DC-disc which I opened and just did not start up on any DC. For the rest I never got missing discs. But I think I will put a disclaimer when I start putting some double copies on eBay, as I still have some extra copies of Rez and I don't want this kind of crap happening.

Personally I would just send him a losse disk if he pays the postcosts.

[Griking]

Please post a link to the auction in question.

BTW, you never did let us know what the buyer's feedback looked like.

[PapaStu]

I've bought 100s maybe hitting in the 1000s now of games, dvds, & cds, never once have I opened to find an empty case.

And junglehunter has had it happen several times as well! Crazy! I've just had problems with a few discs that skipped or locked up out of several hundred new dvd purchases. The last one I can think of was Cowboy Beebop the movie. Brand new movie, played fine until the closing chapters and then it hit a bad spot, stopped playing. I've not had many problems on deffective discs either, but a no disc case would really piss me off!

I've sold over 20,000 DVDs in the last 3 years and I've only had one instance of a disc "problem". One of my customers informed me that their MASH Season 3 set had 2 copies of Disc 2 and 0 of Disc 1.

I returned some DVDs to Walmart a couple of years ago, none of which had been opened and for which I had the receipt - they went over those bastards with a fine toothed comb to make certain I hadn't reshrinked them and 2 different "associates" asked me why I was returning them... (they were duplicates I had purchased to cover my ass on preorders that my distributor informed me I wouldn't be getting).

I can't imagine the Gestapo techniques they would have used if I was claiming the cases were empty!

Then feel lucky. I've got shitty Customer Service counters in both of my stores that I service. I've seen items that came back from claims w/o the cd/dvd as well as stuff that was opened and returned. All no no's in WalMartville.

Before Working WalMart Merching music and movies, I worked in music shop for 5+ years and tended to see more issues where cd's would be factory cracked rather than missing or DVD's that had burn issues (alot of the early 97-98-99 DVD's seemed to error alot). I remember one cd was suppose to be a Bob Marley CD and it had been factory burned with Jazz stuff on it. So factory issues and errors do happen. Hell I've even got a boxed set or two that had either been missing a disc (Buffy season 3or4) and I had something else that had 2 of one disc in it. So again, it does happen but its really uncommon.

As to what you should do, I suggest offer refund with him sending back everything (case and manual). Otherwise Its completely up to you. I dont know if theres a right answer here because i sure cant think of a single cureall for this.

Good luck!