A Cautionary Tale

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Thomas Linton

Thomas Linton

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See my post in GB@U on a UK EBayer auctioning a second time old khukuris I already "won," paid for, but didn't get. I have e-mailed seller asking him to make it right. Absent a quick and positive response, I'll "out" this guy good and decline payments.

Another lesson about how lucky we are to have Uncle and HI where integrity are the first rule.
 
Originally posted by Thomas Linton
See my post in GB@U on a UK EBayer auctioning a second time old khukuris I already "won," paid for, but didn't get. I have e-mailed seller asking him to make it right. Absent a quick and positive response, I'll "out" this guy good and decline payments.

Another lesson about how lucky we are to have Uncle and HI where integrity are the first rule.
Click to expand...


troll msg deleted
 
Why don't you post an email address and let a bunch of us email the bastid and see if we can put a bit of pressure on the guy. Worth a try isn't it?:mad:
 
It's late over there. I want to give him a chance to repond, but I will not let him stick the bidders on this "reauction." All I have to do is e-mail them and invite them to compare the pictures of the already "won" items to the items being auctioned -- again. I have already alerted one bidder since he is a member of the Cantina.

If it comes to that stage, I'll do what can be done to convince the seller that he has made an error in judgment.

And I will not pay for items I did not buy. I'll tell the credit card company that I contest the charges.

Perhaps this will all go away in the morning. One can hope.
 
I've always had luck buying from Ebay. But selling is a different story. I had 3 items end last week. Emailed, sent Ebay invoices, no response for several days. Monday, got 1 email asking where to send money. I had already sent that info 3 times. Yesterday got an email from another bidder "sorry i cant buy your knife". Last night finally got an email from the third saying it will be "a couple" days before payment can be made. Sheesh. Not like doing business on Bladeforums.

Steve
 
I'm lucky to have never been ripped while buying something online - must have good karma but in all things there are good guys and bad ... then there are the great ones like Uncle Bill and the members of this forum !!
 
Hi Tal,
Sorry to hear of your problems ,I sometimes buy kuks of Ebay, So would like to advoid this seller. Have you any news?

& Either way can you give us a couple of clues to who he is?

Even if they sort it out, they seems best avoided!

Hope it works out for you,

Cheers,
Spiral :(
 
Hi, SW. No fear. If the seller doesn't cler this up, I will post his name, the item numbers and contact the bidders directly. Auctions of the two khuks I already bought is set to end 12/12/03.
 
UPDATE AFTER TWO DAYS OF EXCHANGING E-MAILS

EBAy seller claims he just does not understand. What is my point about pictures? He never used "different" pictures. No; he used the same ones, as I have pointed out twice.:confused:

I told him I didn't want to address intent, just effect of using pictures and not sending what is pictured.

He proposes that I send the merchandise back and he will refund my purchase price -- which I can block in any case -- sleeves out of his vest. He won't even address the matter of postage to/from UK for items I did not purchase.

Remember, this guy has a 99%+ feedback record on EBay. Of course, every other EBay vendor I have dealt with in UK has a 100% rating - far and away the most common rating amongst UK EBay sellers of khukuris.
 
If I understand you right.. you got the khuk... but the buyer keeps using the picture in all of his khuk auctions?


I understand that he shouldn't keep using the same picture.. but not everyone has a good digital camera available to take pictures of every item they sell.

Sure, he should put 'similar item as pictured'... but if you see a pic, you can't automatically assume it's of the excact item.
When you see an item in a catalogue at a store.. you know it isn't going to be the one you get.

You could have emailed him before the auction...

What is wrong with the item you received anyhow? Is there a problem, or are you just trying to stick him on ethics of sellers?
No need to pop a vein over this imo. Either accept what you've got, or send it back.

You'll be more wary of it next time.
 
If I ordered a khuk that I was shown a picture of and didn't get what I ordered I would be pretty upset. If the seller can't provide the khuk pictured. Don't show the picture at all. Just give an accurate verbal description and go from there.

Fortunatly we don't have that problem with HI. Most of us know what to expect when we order from Uncle Bill and Yandu. Not having the chance to meet them they still have my most profound respect.:)
 
Hi SilverlighT,

Sorry I was not clear. I did try by saying the seller was "using pictures and not sending what is pictured."

First, let me say these are not commodiites - not interchangeable. This is not a catalogue store situation.

In two cases (purchased on the same date), I did not get what was in the pictures.
Example: picture was of a khukuri in pretty good polish with a fancy "aluminum" handle, simple but nice blade decoration, and sheath with a distinctive and fancy chape (metal guard on sheath end). I got one with an entirely different blade shape, dull finish, almost no blade decoration, very plain aluminum handle of different shape, a sheaqh with extensive damage -- good for parts only, with a plain brass chape. The cho (decorative notch) is also totally different from the khukuri pictured. Bottom line, what I got is worth maybe half of what was pictured -- what I bought and paid for promptly.

To be clear, the very same pictures -- pictures of what I bought on 11/28/03 but I didn't get -- appear in two 12/12/03 auctions. The khukuris shown have distinctive scratches, discolorations.

No, he doesn't use the same picture(s) in all his auctions.

If a seller shows a picture of an old kukri and does not say "similar to picture," I believe I have every right to expect that what he pictures is what I get. In fact, as I recall that's the law in all 50 states of U.S. under their respective versions of the Uniform Commercial Code. I don't know about UK, but I still think that is the implicit representation in using a picture if the item is distinctive, rather than a commodity.

I offered to send back the items if he would agree to pay postage. He refuses to address postage. He apparently expects me to eat what I already spent on "shipping and handling" from UK plus pay postage for return - that would total over $40.00.

"Wary" -- you bet. But I have already decided to limit bidding to vendors with 99.5% rating or better. This guy looked good on paper.

Frankly, asking vendors "are you a crook" questions seems insulting to all the good vendors out there, but maybe that's the only way to go. Here, that's not the issue. I bought what was pictured. He didn't send it. He is purporting to sell the same items again -- if he can.
 
Now that is the way that I understood what you posted. I wonder what kind of junk he'll send his next victim?:)
 
This may seem strange but I cant find any such kukris on Ebay for 12.12.03?

How much feedback has this seller got?

Spiral
 
Originally posted by Thomas Linton
Hi SilverlighT,
If a seller shows a picture of an old kukri and does not say "similar to picture," I believe I have every right to expect that what he pictures is what I get. In fact, as I recall that's the law in all 50 states of U.S. under their respective versions of the Uniform Commercial Code. I don't know about UK, but I still think that is the implicit representation in using a picture if the item is distinctive, rather than a commodity.
Click to expand...

I'll aggree to that -- for sure.

Sounds like he doesn't know anything about collecting... or doesn't care. They all probably look the same to him.

when I think about it, I guess I would have possibly assumed the same thing in that particular case.. If it's old.. chances are it's unique enough to NEED different pictures....

Sounds like you may have to report this one to the ebay police... and take them up on their buyer's insurance. They might be able to put some pressure on the UK seller too, so you'll get compensated for shipping.


Personally, I don't base my judgement on the rating alone... I see what other items they have for sale... and see how everything is written, etc... like if a seller only has a few items... and they appear honest in how they write... chances are you aren't going to get screwed... but if they have a thousand auctions of non-quality items...taht rings an alarm bell for me (they're just in it for the money) or if they have items that all use the same picture.. that's bad too. Or what gets me.. is the outrageous S+H charges.. but $0.01 item price. I avoid those, and have done allright so far.

I'd much rather bid on an item by a low rating seller (0-100) than someone with a 5000+ rating. If they sell that much, they're probably doing it to make money - not just rid themselves of something they don't use.
 
Please see my post on "Good, Bad, Ugly."

In short, Patrick Read (Dumnonia Forum) will not agree to pay shipping - even back to him. It's all my fault. Not on him if I can't remember what I bought. However, but he'll send a refund when he gets the khukuris back.

Spiral, you have to search all the spellings. Or you can search by item number 2208837534 and 2208838982.

Somehow, Mr. Read has removed the pictures of the four khuks I bought, including the two uop for sale 12/12 -- but I copied them before he did. :D I'd like to ask EBay how they let him remove the pictures, but they don't seem to want to be reached.:barf:

Suggestions appreciated.

Stick w/ Uncle Bill.
 
TAL,
It appears that you have not yet left feedback for this gentleman. May I suggest that the URL for either this post or the GB&U, or maybe both, would fit into the eBay character limit for feedback with a negative tag. eBay says that feedback can't be deleted once posted; of course, they say a lot of other stuff that is palpably untrue, so YMMV. Might be worth a try, though, and definitely easier than trying to condense this sorry affair into a one-line description of the seller's perfidy.
BBB
 
Can I make a few things clear. I was the seller on this occassion and I am not happy at the insults you people are showing. Do you not decide to listen to two sides before you judge? The buyer in question bought four kukris off me. When he recieved them he then accused me of sending him different ones to the ones he had bid on, apparently this was because I was reauctioning the same knives. However, this was down to computer glytch. I was selling two more kukris. These two new ones had the same web-host address as the ones before, therefore to anyone who had viewed my earlier auctions they would see the earlier kukris and not the newer ones. I was told this by several viewers and I remedied the situation then. I was not being dishonest and I tried explaining this to the buyer. To no avail. I have offered a refund if he is not happy, he wants the refund before he sends them back, NO WAY. But I will honour my refund if they return. So can I suggest that you all listen to both sides before you go slagging off sellers!
 
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