The Ebay/Gamestop/Craiglist/Amazon/Goodwill/etc rant thread

[Tabonga | 2,364]

Makes you wonder exactly how poor is Amazon's inventory control is to not  notice that whole (and specific) shipments of their stuff was vanishing?

https://news.yahoo.com/amazon-driver-kept-thousands-stolen-203910034.html

[Kguillemette | 1,561]

This is the first quality video game related find I've had at a goodwill in close to 7 years! Appears to be New/Open Box as well!(unless you are @fcgamer, who strongly disagrees that this is a real term.) Gonna hack the shit out this bad boy and play me some NES soon!

[inasuma | 1,214]

i hate that i need to go in and fill out all the seller/buyer ebay feedback manually. so i made a tool to automate it. 

[FireHazard51 | 2,062]

So I'm going to attempt to fix a original PS4 that looks to have a bad HDMI chip for a co-worker.  Found out it's like ~$40 bucks on ebay but I found a PC supplier (in Hong Kong) that looks reasonable enough and will take the risk give the price.  Chip is $8 bucks but with shipping its basically $20.  Got an e-mail today saying the pricing was mistake and they will be refunding my money, they did.  New price on the website is $50 without shipping included.  I don't think I've ever seen a company do that before.

So now I'm rolling the dice with Alibaba and getting it for ~$30 shipped.  I didn't trust the ones that are really dirt cheap.  The description really focused on how to condition the chip for use including temps based on what type of soldering you'll be doing.  This much effort seems like they really want you to have a working chip and not deal with dumb ass people breaking good chips.

Edited January 22, 2022 by FireHazard51

[WhyNotZoidberg | 586]

God damned stupid piss shit butt idiot ebay buyer.

Tl;dr buyer asked me to ship to an address that isn’t theirs. I informed them that I would not, suggested that they update their ebay address prior to buying.

They didn’t, and still bought the item and so I cancelled the order.

 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

19 hours ago, WhyNotZoidberg said:

God damned stupid piss shit butt idiot ebay buyer.

Tl;dr buyer asked me to ship to an address that isn’t theirs. I informed them that I would not, suggested that they update their ebay address prior to buying.

They didn’t, and still bought the item and so I cancelled the order.

 

I know YMMV from rep to rep, but doesn't this fall right into that wheelhouse of BS bad feedback that eBay can/will delete?

[Tanooki | 4,958]

Yeah ebay would remove this if you got a person on the line, even if it was some prompt reading troll ask for a supervisor/escalation.  Point out it's feedback fraud, point out they need to read the mails in your bin with the send+receive folders, and it'll be very clear you did everything correctly and even offered to help them get it, IF they updated the address.  They instead pushed back, ignored, ordered, then got frosty when you did what you promised, shut it down.  For all we know, it was an attempt at mail fraud saying they didn't get it, keeping it, and your money too.

[TDIRunner | 2,794]

I don't know what to think about this.  This might be the luckiest I've ever gotten with an eBay seller who didn't know how to properly pack video games.

I bought a PS1 long box of Total Eclipse Turbo because I had a copy of the manual for the game, and the eBay sale listed the game in the case without the manual for a good price.  I figured I would be able to complete the game for under market value so I bought it.  This particular PS1 long box is the super fragile jewel case kind.  

The game arrived today.  The seller put the jewel case in a bubble mailer that was paper thin.  He didn't put anything inside of the jewel case to hold the disc and it was knocked lose inside the case.  Also the inside of the bubble mailer smelled like a combination of smoke and BO (really strong).  DESPITE all of this, the jewel case had absolutely no cracks or broken hinges, the disc had no scratches, and no part of the game had any smell like the inside of the bubble mailer.  I can't believe it actually worked out.  I'm not even sure how to rate the seller since the game technically arrived "as described" and on time.  Maybe I will just send him a personal message letting him know that if he continues to ship this way, he is going to start getting some angry customers.  

[Tanooki | 4,958]

53 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

I don't know what to think about this.  This might be the luckiest I've ever gotten with an eBay seller who didn't know how to properly pack video games.

Maybe I will just send him a personal message letting him know that if he continues to ship this way, he is going to start getting some angry customers.  

I would...and that's because I have before.  I just made someone miserable for over a period of two weeks trying to play shenanigans over the newegg marketplace trying to get an in 8inx1out HDMI switch.  The dumb bastard took the new item out of the box.  Threw it, the remote, the ac adapter and the little manual in its baggie INSIDE OF A USPS PRIORITY MAIL**ENVELOPE** (the large size meant like for legal documents) and mailed it like that, not one scrap of pad.  The ac adapter was smashed in on the prongs, the hard metal switch had a slight dent into it too.   I'm sure it probably worked if I had enough power supply, but didn't, and when i tried to return it, the d-bag tried to get me to ship it a few doors down to naother address at my cost, more than once, even tried to sucker newegg.  Eventually they forced him to print a usps sticker with the right info over a week later.  I've not had dumb packing jobs in a long time, but that took the taco.

 

Yet in your case years ago (4-5 now) I had a similar case of a WTF moment with a Neo Geo MVS game.  ebay, auction, only mentioned the cart, images I think I saw half of a marquee.  I snapped it up fast.  It shows up quickly and in a box and I"m thinking wow...nice, it's secure.  It was... but like you and why it's similar, is because of the box.  He had the original matching MVS box, bubble bag for shipping, all the inserts, and the game and wrapped it in one round  of butcher paper.  Thankfully it wasn't wrecked.  Those specific full kits rarely if ever turn up too, it's one of those things just lost to time.

[TDIRunner | 2,794]

31 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

 

I forgot to mention that I received a second eBay package today from a completely unrelated seller, but the packaging was basically the exact opposite of the other person.

It was another PS1 game in a normal black label jewel case.  The case was wrapped in bubble wrap before being placed in a unique cardboard sleeve that looked like it was designed for CD cases (I hadn't seen that before) and the cardboard was wrapped in plastic.  It included a business card with a hand written "thank you."  The two packages I received today could not have been more different.  

[Tanooki | 4,958]

5 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

I forgot to mention that I received a second eBay package today from a completely unrelated seller, but the packaging was basically the exact opposite of the other person.

It was another PS1 game in a normal black label jewel case.  The case was wrapped in bubble wrap before being placed in a unique cardboard sleeve that looked like it was designed for CD cases (I hadn't seen that before) and the cardboard was wrapped in plastic.  It included a business card with a hand written "thank you."  The two packages I received today could not have been more different.  

Nice.  I've had those a few times before, they exist.  It gave me an idea some years back for jewel cases how to make my own cardboard wraps and I probably dumped a 100 games that way in cases, not one ever broken.  I'd wrap that, tape down stiff, wrap a little bubble around it and stuff it in a bubble mailer.  It was like a hard splint around a double pillow, worked wonders.

[twiztor | 856]

On 2/2/2022 at 2:21 PM, TDIRunner said:

Maybe I will just send him a personal message letting him know that if he continues to ship this way, he is going to start getting some angry customers.  

i think that's a good idea. Help other collectors/future buyers out. 

OTOH, i sent a similar message once and the seller got all pissed at me for "telling him how to do his job" and that "if i had specific requirements i should have said it before he shipped". whatever buddy, i had no issues and mentioned that and was just trying to help you out.

[FireHazard51 | 2,062]

44 minutes ago, twiztor said:

i think that's a good idea. Help other collectors/future buyers out. 

OTOH, i sent a similar message once and the seller got all pissed at me for "telling him how to do his job" and that "if i had specific requirements i should have said it before he shipped". whatever buddy, i had no issues and mentioned that and was just trying to help you out.

Some people can't take constructive criticism.  What's worse is they just don't ignore you but instead complain to you and THEN ignore your critique. 

[TDIRunner | 2,794]

1 hour ago, twiztor said:

i think that's a good idea. Help other collectors/future buyers out. 

OTOH, i sent a similar message once and the seller got all pissed at me for "telling him how to do his job" and that "if i had specific requirements i should have said it before he shipped". whatever buddy, i had no issues and mentioned that and was just trying to help you out.

 

15 minutes ago, FireHazard51 said:

Some people can't take constructive criticism.  What's worse is they just don't ignore you but instead complain to you and THEN ignore your critique. 

 

Right.  I shouldn't have to tell you before hand to put an extremely fragile jewel case in a box instead of a non-padded envelope.  That should be standard shipping practice.  It's not like it's unique to the video game collecting market.  It works the same for any fragile item that's going through the mail service.  

[CMR | 522]

So my mother and I have stumble onto a new ebay scam, or it could be an old one, but we've just fallen prey to it.  Basically your looking for something, a new item, on the bay and find it at a really good price.  You buy it then the seller pockets your money and orders the item from somewhere else (walmart, digikey, etc.) using someone else's stolen credit card and shipping it to your address.   So then it looks like you ordered it with the stolen info.  Really insidious.

tldr: Don't order new stuff off ebay, especially if it's a lot cheaper than normal.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

8 minutes ago, CMR said:

So my mother and I have stumble onto a new ebay scam, or it could be an old one, but we've just fallen prey to it.  Basically your looking for something, a new item, on the bay and find it at a really good price.  You buy it then the seller pockets your money and orders the item from somewhere else (walmart, digikey, etc.) using someone else's stolen credit card and shipping it to your address.   So then it looks like you ordered it with the stolen info.  Really insidious.

tldr: Don't order new stuff off ebay, especially if it's a lot cheaper than normal.

Drop shipping, But with someone else’s money? I don’t understand what it gets the seller, unless the whole goal is to mildly inconvenience someone for a tiny amount of money. It seems like you would have obvious proof that you used your credit card. 

[CMR | 522]

2 hours ago, MrWunderful said:

Drop shipping, But with someone else’s money? I don’t understand what it gets the seller, unless the whole goal is to mildly inconvenience someone for a tiny amount of money. It seems like you would have obvious proof that you used your credit card. 

Well the seller pockets the money they're paid, and uses someone else's money to buy the item.  When this happened to my mother, the guy who owned the card actually got in touch with her to find out how she was using his credit card.  She wasn't of course.  She had paid through ebay using her own card.  It was the seller who was ripping the guy off, and using her name and address for the shipping and billing info.

[FireHazard51 | 2,062]

16 hours ago, MrWunderful said:

Drop shipping, But with someone else’s money? I don’t understand what it gets the seller, unless the whole goal is to mildly inconvenience someone for a tiny amount of money. It seems like you would have obvious proof that you used your credit card. 

This removes the identity thief one more layer to protect themselves from being caught.  Also the delay is being caught might be enough for them to get the cash and disappear.  It's a big ol' shell game to get the real person.  Make the effort hard enough for the low value of money being stolen and you may end up never being caught.

I'll give you an example.  Someone looked into my Fitbit profile and saw that I had one of the new watches and was very spotty in connecting and uploading data (there was a known issue with Google Pixel phones and the latest watch).  So the person somehow claimed the watch was broken and wanted it replaced (Fitbit doesn't ask for the broken watches back, I've had one replaced like this under warranty).    Anyway I got an email from Fitbit about my replacement watch being shipped with a tracking number.  I got a hold of Fitbit and we determined it was a false claim but they couldn't do anything after it shipped, Fitbit didn't care.

I had the tracking information so I said fuck that, I'm going to get this fucker.  I found the house and determined who was the local police authority was and determined who was in charge of identity thief department.  Called the LT and explain the whole thing.  Figured they would want to bust the person doing identity thief in their jurisdiction.  I gave them the tracking information that showed them the delivery address.  Based on who owns the house I figured it wasn't the real person and just a house that the thief would porch pirate the delivery since they know the tracking information and what the item is.  Anyways the LT tried to halt the package though the shipping company and failed (why didn't they want to see who got the package!?).  Package was delivered and police did nothing further, no arrest or anything.  If this police department was actually in my jurisdiction I would of blew a gasket and complained to their chief and also brought it up with the local news paper/station so they could investigate how incompetent they were with other crimes being reported.

So based on that experience, I can see why having an extra step to find the real thief is enough to keep them safe and making money.  One doesn't fucking do a fake claim once, this person has done it multiple times for sure.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Guess thats more elaborate than i figured lol

[Tabonga | 2,364]

Heh - this is not what is being advertised -  it is not bakelite:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234388802225?hash=item3692a94ab1:g:~J8AAOSwE2Bh7Htx

The set pictured is one that was made by a company called Missouri Plastics shortly after WWII - it copied (very likely an unauthorized use) a pattern from  a Lowe's chess set that was actually bakelite.  Unless someone filled the pieces  with something they  should be hollow.  Actual value - maybe $35-$40 on a good day - maybe a bit more if the case was in good shape.

[drxandy | 3,247]

Not smuch a rant but more a 

[Andy_Bogomil | 816]

Holy fuck.. it just cost me $28 after tax to ship a single GameCube game in a small box to Ontario. Cheapest option with a small business plan. Insane!

[Tabonga | 2,364]

On 3/5/2022 at 2:40 PM, drxandy said:

Not smuch a rant but more a 

I once had to message a seller on something I didn't get - the message I got back said the seller had been giving her his packages to mail with money for postage and that  she was simply pocketing the money and doing who knows what with the pacakages.  I assumed that it was now a former girlfriend.

Another time a seller said the package was stolen out of his car at the post office (he had several packages so he had to make two trips) and he forgot to lock the door on his first trip.

I got refunds on both but odd stories.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,641]

52 minutes ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

Holy fuck.. it just cost me $28 after tax to ship a single GameCube game in a small box to Ontario. Cheapest option with a small business plan. Insane!

"Thanks Russia"

New catch all for everything

[Tabonga | 2,364]

33 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

"Thanks Russia"

New catch all for everything

I never could afford real caviar.....Thanks Russia.