Buy lots and find out specific games/items are missing

[Tyree_Cooper | 760]

Have you guys ever experienced this? You buy small/medium/large lots for specific games which are worth more than the lot price alone, and when you receive your package (or go to pick up in person), you find out ALL or SOME of those valuable/rare/special games are gone.

Or a variant of the story, you buy a lot, and just before confirming the deal, or just after paid, the seller tells you this and this game are unfortunately gone, and whether you still want the lot for the same price or for slightly less.

The variant story happened to me many times - luckily the original story not yet.

[Ankos | 452]

Yes. That happened to me very recently with a game I was trying to import. I paid and went a week with no updates from my agent only to hear that the seller was missing the one game I was looking for. The price was still ok, but I try to avoid buying games just because they are cheap unless I'm actually interested in them, so I wound up cancelling my order. It didn't feel great to have that happen, but I guess it's better to get started on looking for the next copy than to dwell on the past

[Tyree_Cooper | 760]

Now that I think of it, I also had that happen with an agent a long time ago around 2009-10. A loose NES lot had a copy of Mahjong in it, and after a while, the agent told me that cart was not in the lot anymore. I suspect it was the agent itself who bought it for reselling while using my sniffing skills to find good stuff, since the seller didn't seem to know anything about it. Crappiest agent I've used.

[Ankos | 452]

That's brutal. I don't think that's what happened to me since the game I was buying was pretty obscure

[Tyree_Cooper | 760]

In your case if was almost certainly sold to someone else

Have you managed to find it later on?

[Ankos | 452]

No. This happened like...a week ago. I've only ever seen the game listed once and I've been looking pretty hard for at least a few years now

[Tyree_Cooper | 760]

Oh fresh slap then. Luckily you didn't lose any money.

[Ankos | 452]

Yeah. It definitely would've hurt a lot more for the package to show up at my door without the game

[Link | 2,722]

11 hours ago, Tyree_Cooper said:

Or a variant of the story, you buy a lot, and just before confirming the deal, or just after paid, the seller tells you this and this game are unfortunately gone, and whether you still want the lot for the same price or for slightly less.

I've been on the other side of this. I had a Hogan's Alley sticker seal copy. The box was really beat up. I posted it on eBay with a BIN for $35 or something like that. Somebody bought it within 5 minutes. I realized my mistake but I honored it anyway.

The buyer immediately flipped it for 10x the price  

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

My girlfriend was scrolling through local sales and found some sealed NES games for sale. I don't really collect sealed but I needed a few of them and they were still relatively cheap so I agreed to buy them but I couldn't go pick them up until the following day. The next morning the seller messaged my girlfriend and told her The Bandit Kings Of Ancient China was no longer included in the lot as someone else bought it but she can replace it with a copy of Batman Returns. If you collect NES games, you know there is a major difference in rarity between these two titles and I was so mad about that I almost cancelled the deal.

Fast forward about 5-7 years and the Batman game is now worth double the other game because it's all ex comic book collectors getting into sealed games. That sealed Batman is one of the most valuable games I own.

Games included in the lot:

• L'Empereur (cellophane removed, never opened)
• Kings Of The Beach (sealed R seal, Wata has never graded one)
• Batman Returns (sealed, graded 9.4)
• Advanced Dungeons And Dragons: Pool Of Radiance (sealed, graded 9.2)
• Target: Renegade (sealed)
• Ghostbusters II (sealed, graded 9.2)
• Eliminator Boat Duel (sealed)
• Pipe Dream (sealed)

Total price on the lot was $600 CAD which wasn't that great of a deal at the time. I know the other local guy that bought Bandit Kings Of Ancient China and he immediately sold it for a profit. I also know he knew I had bought the lot because the seller told me he was quite convincing with prying that one game from the lot even though it was sold.

[fcgamer | 4,739]

I don't allow this crap to happen. If a seller or agent or whoever does this to me, I call them out, then escalate to the point that they back down and send the item, or fear that their reputation will be in shambles.

There's honestly no need for this kind of bullshit, full stop. @Linkfollowed through with a deal, despite realizing too late that he sold it too cheap, I'd do the same without thinking twice, and have sold stuff too cheap occasionally in similar situations.

 

 

[RH | 4,936]

Part of this is getting into the etiquette of soft-sales and the unspoken but established rules go all the way back to the days of classifieds.

When it comes to buying that stuff (e.g. Facebook local lots, Offer Up, Craigslist, newspaper classifieds), the rule has always been, in my observance that it’s first come, first serve.

Now, if someone shows a lot, agrees to a price, and then they sell an item or two to someone else, it’s their duty to inform you that parts were sold before your pick up, and it’s customary to either counter with a cheaper price, or ask the buyer if they are still interested in working something out.  It sucks, but there’s nothing wrong with that as it kind of falls in that first-come-first-serve jurisdiction.

But, if this was an eBay thing and someone showed a lot of 100 NES games with a Samson or Dino Peak in there, and you get the lot and they are NOT in there, then that is fraud.  It’s false advertising and lying.

Even if the lot was a good deal otherwise and I needed 75% of the carts in the lot, I’d want a full refund and for it to be shipped back at the owners expense.  It’s not about being bitter or getting back at them.  It’s just that if you’re going to try to pull something like that, you don’t deserve my business and, hopefully, loosing money on the sale will teach them a lesson.

Edited March 31 by RH

[Tabonga | 2,326]

A long time ago (in the glory days of half.com) I bought some game (it has been so long that I don't remember the title) that was complete but a bit overpriced - but it had a hard to find guide with it so it was a pretty good (but not great) deal.  The listing had a photo with everything included.

Shortly after buying it I got a message from the seller showing a different picture of what I was supposed to get - he said he was double checking (?),  Of course the new picture did not include the guide that I wanted.  Let's see - now I am buying a somewhat overpriced game that was not terribly rare.   

What a putz - he couldn't come out and say that the best part was now mysteriously not available.   Like I wouldn't frickin' notice that it was missing???  

I may have been born at night but I wasn't born yesterday,   Guy had the ethics of a snake - which I told him when I cancelled the order.

Edited March 31 by Tabonga

[Tyree_Cooper | 760]

yeah tabonga, that's exactly the kind of deal i was referring too

[GPX | 1,371]

Too many shady bulk deals I’ve encountered over the years. The latest one was a purchase of roughly 30 Master System games. Was listed in very good condition and no pics showing the back of the manuals and no mention of any obvious flaws. 

When I had received the bundle and after inspection, there were 2 notable flaws:

1. Some manuals had store prices written on their backs (not mentioned in the listing)

2. One game was in appalling condition with tatty manual and a dead bug among the pins, with rust. Yep, a damn bug!

When I wrote asking for a small partial refund. He didn’t ask for proof of what I was saying but abused me and called me petty, as he felt he already gave me a good deal. In collecting terms, that seller was a downright dick!

I returned the bundle, got my refund through eBay and I never bothered to reply to him again.

[Tyree_Cooper | 760]

that sucks but there was nothing missing from the lot

[GPX | 1,371]

1 hour ago, Tyree_Cooper said:

that sucks but there was nothing missing from the lot

Rare game missing vs common game with a dead bug. 
Still in keeping with the theme shonky sellers and big lots!

[fcgamer | 4,739]

1 hour ago, GPX said:

Rare game missing vs common game with a dead bug. 
Still in keeping with the theme shonky sellers and big lots!

I think it comes with the territory of large untested lots, actually. 

[GPX | 1,371]

6 hours ago, fcgamer said:

I think it comes with the territory of large untested lots, actually. 

That’s not the point. Firstly, the listing was arguably deceptive. If the game(s) come in poorer condition, and included a  dead bug with some cart rot, the seller needs to take some responsibility. Instead I got called “petty” without that ass even wanting clarification from what I meant by “dead bug found in cart”. The pic was later shown to him via the eBay refund process, and no apology given whatsoever by him. 

The seller is likely the type to pull other dodgy stunts as in the theme of this thread.

[fcgamer | 4,739]

6 hours ago, GPX said:

That’s not the point. Firstly, the listing was arguably deceptive. If the game(s) come in poorer condition, and included a  dead bug with some cart rot, the seller needs to take some responsibility. Instead I got called “petty” without that ass even wanting clarification from what I meant by “dead bug found in cart”. The pic was later shown to him via the eBay refund process, and no apology given whatsoever by him. 

The seller is likely the type to pull other dodgy stunts as in the theme of this thread.

Did the guy just pull the set of games out of his garage and throw them up on ebay whilst cleaning house, or was it a collector? If the situation was A, then I honestly don't think he did much of anything wrong. Yeah he could have perhaps wiped the games off better or taken more pictures, but I wouldn't call it shady not doing so either.

[xelement5x | 67]

Rarely have I had stuff get pulled from a lot, but I get sales on ebay cancelled frequently since I'm watching for items near constantly and will pounce on them if it's something I need.  At this point I just take it as part of doing business with a faceless entity, and there is literally nothing you can do about it except get salty and/or complain, which is a waste of both breath and salt. 

Forum and marketplace transactions are a different beast though. As long as money hasn't changed hands yet, I am fine if a seller needs to back out because they didn't research or something.  But once money has changed hands, I think it's a dick move to try and back out and refund.  I've only really had issues on Facebook though which is (despite the name) also another clearing house for faceless entities at this point it seems like.

 

 

[fcgamer | 4,739]

I love the asshole sellers who put a list of specific instructions in their listings, such as "Do not directly but, contact me first" and what not. 

On two occasions I've followed instructions and was first in line, with the seller agreeing to sell me said items and open up a custom listing for me. Then along comes some plonker that doesn't follow the seller's instructions, and directly buys and pays. Instead of refunding them, the seller on both occasions just rolled with it, then told me I was shit out of luck. I made sure to point out to the seller later when said buyers started reselling the underpriced goods for 100X the cost only days after receiving said items.

Man I'm still salty about that bullshit, and the most recent time the buyer that screwed me was a so called friend.

 

[Ankos | 452]

6 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I love the asshole sellers who put a list of specific instructions in their listings, such as "Do not directly but, contact me first" and what not. 

On two occasions I've followed instructions and was first in line, with the seller agreeing to sell me said items and open up a custom listing for me. Then along comes some plonker that doesn't follow the seller's instructions, and directly buys and pays. Instead of refunding them, the seller on both occasions just rolled with it, then told me I was shit out of luck. I made sure to point out to the seller later when said buyers started reselling the underpriced goods for 100X the cost only days after receiving said items.

Man I'm still salty about that bullshit, and the most recent time the buyer that screwed me was a so called friend.

 

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Was there some kinda of misunderstanding or the friend didn't know, or was it intentional?

[fcgamer | 4,739]

1 minute ago, Ankos said:

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Was there some kinda of misunderstanding or the friend didn't know, or was it intentional?

I think sometimes people just get greedy, sadly enough. The friend knew I had been the first in line for the lot of games, but he pressured the seller after not following instructions. It's a situation where I pretend that I don't know he's the one who did this, to maintain friendship and relationship for buying/trading things from said friend in the future, but at the same time I've definitely lost some respect for the person.

[GPX | 1,371]

5 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Did the guy just pull the set of games out of his garage and throw them up on ebay whilst cleaning house, or was it a collector? If the situation was A, then I honestly don't think he did much of anything wrong. Yeah he could have perhaps wiped the games off better or taken more pictures, but I wouldn't call it shady not doing so either.

Why would you assume A? He’s a definite collector, selling all top-tier CIB items. What made it even more sour was that I had bought a game from that ass prior to purchasing the bundle. First transaction went smooth. Second transaction I got insulted for calling out the games were in poorer condition than as described, dead bug or otherwise!

Btw, he didn’t give me a “good deal”. He just jacked up the price and lowered it to a reasonable market value deal. There were only a couple of the uncommons, but nothing outrageously rare. I bought the bundle for a handful of condition upgrades. 

Edited April 1 by GPX