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

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

1 hour ago, Tabonga said:

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.

I had one where the seller had passed away.   One of the seller's children or nephews or something was checking to see what had shipped and what hadn't.

It was for a cheaper Atari 800 game, so I told them if they couldn't find it or figure out how to refund to just not worry about it.

 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

1 hour ago, Tabonga said:

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.

The wildest thing that ever happened to me on eBay was for a big lot of West End Games Star Wars RPG books and modules that I got on the cheap during the period when nobody remembered what that was, so it was a buyer's market.  I complete the transaction, pay for first class shipping (something like $20-30 added onto the like $15-20 I got a 5-10 lb stack of books for), and send off payment immediately (pre-PayPal, IIRC).  A week goes by and I check, guy says "Oh yeah, been busy at work," another week goes buy and I touch base again, guy says "Oh yeah, definitely, this week for certain," yet another week goes by and I touch base a little more firmly and get "Oh, it's in my car, I'll get it dropped off tomorrow morning."  So, another week goes by, no tracking, no update, no package, and I reach out again...radio silence.  As I recall, at the time, eBay had like a 6 week window for you to contest something, after which you were out of luck, so I was starting to get impatient and upset, even with trying to stay cool and calm for as good a deal as it was.  After radio silence week, I send a politely worded nastygram basically telling the guy that I expect a response and either my package or my money ASAP or I'd be reaching out to eBay immediately.  A couple of days go by with no response, so I'm waking up on my day off from work, preparing to reach out to eBay, when I finally get a message.  "Oh, darkchylde28, I'm so sorry for the delay in response, I mailed your stuff out and was called in to the Post Office today about the package only to find this.  I'm so sorry."

Attached is a picture of like one of the soft covered books that was supposed to be in the lot, cover half off, a couple of random pages of some other book, and what looks like a ripped up inside out paper grocery bag with his return address on it, with a tiny bit of tape visible around the corner.  So, I light into the guy, as he hasn't offered a refund, hasn't really explained anything, and seems to be hoping that I'll take pity on him for what USPS supposedly/apparently did to the visibly horrendously packaged media mail parcel he tried to ship.  I've had enough and ask point blank about the packaging, since it looks like he used a single brown paper grocery bag to ship 5-10 lbs of books in it, as well as the fact that it appears to have been sent media mail while I paid full USPS retail for first class, while at the same time pointing out how he should have either been insured or paid for insurance since I paid for 1st class (which included insurance), and that I expected my refund ASAP since he obviously couldn't provide books that were (actually or not) lost and/or destroyed by USPS.  The guy fumbled around about how he did ship it via media mail, hadn't paid for insurance on it, and hemmed and hawed before telling me he'd send me a check.  I responded that if he was mailing a refund it had better be a USPS money order, and that it had better arrive in the next 3 days (guaranteed Priority Mail time in those days, and normal for regular 1st class envelopes at the time), or else I was just going to let eBay deal with him.

I get no further response from him, but the next day, as I'm getting the mail on my way out to work around 11, I discover a USPS Overnight envelope in the box addressed to me, with a full refund (auction total + shipping + tax).  Never heard from the guy again, didn't have any issues with the money order, and can only assume that he had been selling (or scamming) tons and tons of other stuff the whole time I'd been on the hook given how I ended up with not only a refund, but one that he shelled out like $15-20 extra to give me.

Next craziest from that era is tame by comparison.  I'd ordered Battletoads & Double Dragon for the NES but received Bomberman 2 instead.  Huge price difference at the time, but I reached out to the guy to let him know and ask where my tame was.  Turned out he'd packaged my game and the one I'd received at the same time and mixed up the addresses.  PayPal'd me and the other guy enough to cover postage for shipping them Priority Mail to each other (versus sending back to him, then him re-shipping), and that the issue was resolved ~3 days later.

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

"Thanks Russia"  "Thanks greedy, opportunistic corporations, retailers, and resellers."

New catch all for everything

FTFY.    Seriously, everybody's going crazy around here about the price of gas spiking, meanwhile ignoring the fact that petroleum companies (among others) are reporting the highest profits, and profit percentages, in history, all while they're complaining to the government about how they can't find staff, are having to pay more for staff, and how global logistics issues are crippling and destroying their businesses.

[Tanooki | 4,930]

Hey now, Russia isn't the only one to blame, plenty to go around before the last two weeks domestically.

[Tabonga | 2,314]

28 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Hey now, Russia isn't the only one to blame, plenty to go around before the last two weeks domestically.

There are 8 million fantasy stories in Cloud Cuckoo Land - this happening would be one of them.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Tabonga

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

Hey now, Russia isn't the only one to blame, plenty to go around before the last two weeks domestically.

There's plenty of time for partisan bickering after we're all done uniting against a common douchebag!

[Tabonga | 2,314]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

There's plenty of time for partisan bickering after we're all done uniting against a common douchebag!

That is a statement worthy of Nostradamus - can you put it in a quatrain?  ^___^

[Tanooki | 4,930]

Well I can agree on that, but the gas issue is largely his executive orders fault.  Shuttering our oil independence put us in a spot where we're paying so much now, and giving a small cut to the enemy as well which really sucks even more.  So yeah, he did that.  Largely the rest of it I just don't care and let it slide...not worth getting hot over.

[MegaMan52 | 2,440]

This is about a game store that I used to visit often in the early 2000's, and visited this afternoon for the first time in ten years. Anyone on VGS who lives in Alberta might know about this place.

In 2002, I used to go to a retro game store called The Game Shop. At the time, it was my go to store for retro games (I also went to a game store nearby called Games Music). They had tons of games for just about every retro console you can think of, there were lots of video game posters on the walls, the customer service was great, and the prices weren't bad either (remember when NES games used to cost only a few dollars?). I remember buying Batman for NES, which cost $4 (Canadian) with or without the box (of course, I bought it with the box). I also bought Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures for SNES, which came inside a rental case and included the manual (the full-color variant). Both games (and any other games I bought from them at the time) worked. If I didn't have enough money, I asked if they would put it aside for me and they said they could put it aside for up to a week. If I was forty or fifty cents short, they would still sell me the game I wanted to buy. The owner was an old man who was probably in his fifties at the time, and his son worked there as well. Both seemed nice.

In 2007/2008, they moved to the location they're at now (right across from their competitor, Games Music). I visited shortly after they moved, and I wasn't impressed. It was so unorganized, but then again they had just moved so I didn't mind too much. I didn't visit there again until 2010. It was still cramped and unorganized, there were cats on the counters, and the place was dirty. A woman (who I assume was the old man's wife) had to move shelves around so I could even look at most of the games. It was also around this time that I noticed the prices on just about everything had gone up. Zelda: Twilight Princess for GameCube was $40, and Mega Man X8 for PS2 was around $58 I believe. However, F-Zero GX was only $20 and it came with the manual. I bought it and while it wasn't in the greatest shape, it did (and still does) work. The store was definitely going downhill, but it was...fine, I guess. These people could still be trusted.

I didn't go there again until 2012, and I didn't even buy anything. I started using HDTV's the year before, so I visited Game Shop just to ask if they had the GameCube's Component cable. Of course, they didn't. I knew it was a little uncommon, but didn't think it was so uncommon that it would be almost impossible to find it locally (I bought one on eBay shortly after, and still have it). This would be my last time visiting Game Shop for ten years.

In 2018 or so, I came across Game Shop during a Google search. The store had a lot of 1 star ratings. The old man retired, and his son owned the place. Looking at the reviews on Google, he was being very rude to his customers and called them "trolls." One customer bought a Game Boy there that apparently worked for only 20 minutes then died. When the customer took it back and complained, the owner looked at it and said that it wasn't one that he sold. He then said that the Game Boy's he sold were cleaned and in mint condition, so apparently he was also lying to his customers. The store then closed for 2 or 3 years, and the owner said it was closed permanently. Games Music (mentioned above) closed in 2020. A new game store I went to last year called Tornado Games closed a few months ago after only eight months. Three retro game stores had closed in Red Deer. Or so I thought.

https://www.facebook.com/TheGameShopInc/videos/965400610745297

A few months ago, I looked on Google for some retro game stores. I came across Game Shop's Facebook page, and noticed they re-opened last summer. A video was posted in December (link above). They are in the same building, but are upstairs now. Looking at the video, I wasn't sure if the owner was showing just a section of his store or if that was it. I noticed in the video that his game selection was weak, but had some okay collectibles such as a Ms. Pac-Man tabletop Mini-Arcade (shown briefly near the beginning of the video, at 0:16). I decided to visit the store for the first time in ten years this afternoon. As soon as I entered, I saw what was shown in the video and noticed just how small it was. It was kind of dark (well, somewhat dim), and cramped. The owner greeted me, and I recognized him. He's the old man's son, now in his 40's. And holy crap he's huge...gotta be almost 300 pounds. Anyway, he *seemed* nice. We actually talked for about half an hour. He told me that the old man had two heart attacks, and died of lung cancer (yes, he was a smoker) in 2019 and that was one reason besides Covid why the place was closed. Yet, he doesn't seem to be worried about his own health. I noticed his game selection was mostly the same as in the video he posted in December. He told me he had more games in the back, still in boxes or whatever. Not sure if he was lying, or if he is just lazy. Of course, he probably hasn't had much business and only a small part of his store can be browsed by his customers. I noticed he still had the Ms. Pac-Man tabletop and ask him how much is it, and he said $200. He was accepting cash only and I didn't have enough in my wallet, so I asked him if he would put it aside for me and let me pick it up on the weekend since I had to get going. He said he would if I gave him half. Yeah...the place is kind of shady now compared to the early 2000's. Anyway, I bought Gran Turismo 4 for PS2, took it home, and...

...it doesn't work. The disc is full of scratches (it's worse than it looks in that picture) and has a small crack/chip in the center. I remember in the early 2000's, the old man said "all games are guaranteed to work." I guess that is no longer a priority now that his son owns the place. He obviously didn't clean the disc, and he probably didn't test it either. Also, it wouldn't surprise me if he's had it for a while. It didn't cost much, but I still wasted $9.

I told the owner that I would come back and buy that Ms. Pac-Man tabletop, but I don't think I will. I'll just buy it on eBay someday.

Tornado Games was small too, but it was clean and organized. It was a great place to go for imports, the owner was friendly (we talked a lot), they cleaned and tested their games, and the prices were reasonable. The owner even gave me a free glow in the dark key chain and sticker to remember the place by. He also put aside some Pokémon figures for me, and didn't expect me to pay anything until I picked them up. He was even willing to put aside the Rockman 4 cartridge below for me before he even gave it a price, knowing that I visited often and bought several imports, and both cleaned and tested it before I picked it up.

It's unfortunate they had to close after only eight months, while the now-shady Game Shop is the only surviving retro game store in Red Deer.

Edited March 11, 2022 by MegaMan52

[Tanooki | 4,930]

Nice, but depressing story I can very very relate to.  Shame the old man died like that and his rotten kid has driven it into the ground with a lack of care, rudeness to customers who don't kiss the ring, and asking more than stuff is worth whether it works or not.  And if you were talking about the coleco tabletop that's not worth $200 USD or CAD, you're better off.

I know I told the story of my old haunt of the 90s before that I quit cold turkey when I was back out in Cali for 3 years when I popped up on NintendoAge over a decade ago.  He used to be the same as the old man, put stuff to the side, cheap prices, took pride in stuff working, would even clean it in front of you before you paid, wasn't some online price shark, and the price was for game or a complete all the same.  But once prices started to foul in 2011-12 that place went bad.  Everything was minimally at ebay higher price, sometimes 2-4x higher (yay for $20 Top Gun when it was $5.)  Rude nasty to people, got mean if you chose not to buy, banned people from the store if they didn't buy and disagreed(nicely, not rudely) on price, and would kick people out if he felt they were talking bad about his place online.  All that money that came in toward the end he laughed about because he was fleecing boot camp marines who get stuck on base and moms with screaming kids to quiet them (very nice right?)  I never went back, even when visiting town, and thankfully a few years before the virus locals caught on and drove him out of business going elsewhere and spreading the word.

Hopefully your simpsons comicbook guy owner of that game shop has the same fate if that's how he operates.

[DK | 258]

Got this error while making the first bid on an item. Bid went through.

Seems like an error for the developers, not the end user.

 

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

On 3/7/2022 at 2:35 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

"Thanks Russia"

New catch all for everything

I still love the classic.....

[Aguy | 771]

I don't really sell on eBay much anymore but had a bunch of X1 controllers to move. I don't like selling internationally, but the buyer has a courier address in NJ, so I guess that skirts my restrictions and I get to pay an additional international fee. What happens if the buyer opens a case?

[Tanooki | 4,930]

They can't, because they're using a drop shipper only THEY start and finish the end game on the item.  They will get the item and ebay as far as they're concerned, if the shipper doesn't complain about defects or shipping damage basically put it on the one skirting domestic sales to run the gamble.  It's the only reason when I was selling on ebay why I allowed that or I would have refunded and banned anyone trying it as it's sketchy as far as I'm concerned as I blocked all sales individually by continent/region/country outside of the US.

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

 

SO GOOD

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

On 4/30/2022 at 8:20 PM, MrWunderful said:

 

SO GOOD

Clearly the three screws are in good condition.  Sticker is in a condition of some sort.

[snes_collector | 56]

A couple weeks ago a seller posted an auction lot with an offer option, I made an offer, they countered, I accepted the counteroffer. A couple hours later they message me saying they were sorry but they couldn't ship the item and could I cancel. I figured I was backdoored so I replied stating if they can't ship they need to cancel. Right after the message I noticed they relisted the item as an auction with the starting price I accepted. The seller also put in a cancel on my order. A week goes buy and the auctions ends with one bid- at the same price I paid. Right after it ends the seller messages me: "Hey I’m actually back and able to ship. Did you want me to send the [item] still. Sorry about the inconvenience." Ebay had not refunded me for the order and I did want the items so I just replied that I did. I was skeptical as now the seller has two orders for the same item. A week goes by and I'm just waiting on the refund at this point- then the seller messages me "Hey everything will be out early this week just got back from vacation thanks for your patience." A couple days later I get the items. Such a strange situation. In the time between ebay never refunded me which was pretty disappointing considering it was a nearly $170 transaction and the seller was the one who canceled.

I haven't left any feedback and am conflicted on if I should neg them or not. The transaction was not smooth, but I did receive the items

[Tanooki | 4,930]

I'd bust them for it, but it won't stick.  Good luck having them not getting it removed since they did honor the sale, despite clearly dishonorably trying to sell out from under you which backfired.

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

Hit em with a neutral. Its the new negative. 

[Tabonga | 2,314]

On 5/6/2022 at 1:26 PM, FireHazard51 said:

Clearly the three screws are in good condition.  Sticker is in a condition of some sort.

"It is in good condition for it's age!"

Famous disingenuous phrase.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,055]

I just got an email from ebay about their new “vault” anyone else seen this? I guess its their version of fulfillment like amazon does? They hold and ship your products for you. The email made it sound like it’s specifically for collectible trading cards

[360collector | 289]

11 hours ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

I just got an email from ebay about their new “vault” anyone else seen this? I guess its their version of fulfillment like amazon does? They hold and ship your products for you. The email made it sound like it’s specifically for collectible trading cards

sounds terrible, the pitney bowes ebay shipping shitshow still goes on. Seller sends carefully packaged item that ebay "repackages" aka throws away all the padding and box then ships  item to buyer in the samllest and lightest packing possible lol

[Gloves | 11,761]

Quick note: Do not dox people. 

If you publicly share a person's phone number, email, and/or address -> You will in all likelihood be banned.

Also if you see it, please report it, we're not ever-present so some things can slip by without the support of the community. This is not a place for witch hunts; you can share bad experiences, fair enough, but providing the means to finding another person without their express publicly written permission is not acceptable.

Anything that could reasonably be considered as doxxing is not allowed.

[Tabonga | 2,314]

The post office is up to new (at least to me) tricks.  I had three packages that were supposed to be delivered today and the status on all of them switched to "your item is ready to be picked up".   So I drove over there (my post office is farther than two others to me) and they only had one of them.  No explanation as to where the other two  really are.

In addition I had one package that got routed through another zip code (which happens routinely with some packages) and then typically they get sent to  my post offce.  This one has been languishing there since 7/8 - they said it had been given the wrong address.  No idea when that one is supposed to be deliverd.

I still haven't got my mail today so maybe they will still appear.  On the other hand the mail delivery has been spotty as of late and there are days when I don't get mail at all.

I was looking over the notices - all three of the items showed as both being  out for deilivery as of about 6:10 am and then switched to being ready for pickup as of 11:15.  Go figure.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Tabonga

[Tanooki | 4,930]

Those buttholes did similar to that to me today too, except I wasn't given the ready to be picked up.  They just decided to fly it into town (yesterday) then move it to a near by post office before the sun was up listing it would be delivered today on tracking...it never moved.  Got to wait another day (or more..grr) for Bust-A-Move and Kendo Rage for SNES.

[Tabonga | 2,314]

Well I went down to the Post Office to retrieve the other two packages and surprise surprise they were not there. Supposedly that tracking message means they are ready to be picked up by the route mail person rather than me,   And they may or may not get delivered today since they "are running behind".

Yesterday went I went there I was told my route was "split delivery" - which I think means that 1/2 of the route gets serviced one day and the other the next.