Need some advice on how to proceed - resolved positively!

SaintlyBrees

SaintlyBrees

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Hi, folks. Excuse the length...

I hope the mods don't mind me posting this here as it has to do with a situation that occurred elsewhere, but I recon that this knife community has seen and done it all and what I'm hoping for is the benefit of your accumulated experiences.

I recently found my grail knife on an auction site. I've been watching for this knife for over a year, it is a Ken Onion Creations Ripple Mid Tech that uses titanium with CPM154V steel and was put together here in the USA by Ken Onion and his small group of employees. Looks very much like the CRKT Ripple, but each is hand inspected by Ken himself and was sold exclusively in a small lot by Plaza Cutlery. They sold out and there are no more.

So I finally found one and by the pictures, it was the real thing and labeled as "New", with the seller stating that they had purchased it and placed it directly in the safe. Additionally, the seller had a 100% positive out of 433 ratings going back to 2003, so not a manufactured rating. I won the auction at an astounding price and immediately paid for it with Paypal. This was yesterday.

I've not bought much from that place, but over the years I have only had one bad experience and it started off a lot like this one. Back then, a lot of the currently existing safeguards did not exist and I was taken, luckily for a fairly small amount.

I won't mention the seller (yet) unless I find that there really is a problem. The seller sent me a message shortly after the auction ended:
Dear [me],

Thank you for your purchase. My husband sold you the knife and I regret that he was admitted to the hospital and will send the knife out in a couple days.Sorry for any inconvenience to you. He will ship out ASAP. He will update you when mailed out. Again Thank You.
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Several things concerned me here.

  1. This is typical of how many scams start off, family sick, hospital, etc. Red flag #1
  2. The account is in the wife's name, an obvious feminine handle, so why doesn't the husband have his own account? Red flag #2.
  3. Paid for "Expedited shipping, but already being put off. Red flag #3.

I wanted to make sure that they knew that I was sympathetic to their plight [Edit: if true, and life does happen], but also gently put them on notice. I replied (and have not heard back):

Hi [seller].

Thank you for the communication and I sincerely hope your husband gets well soon.

While I understand your situation and am willing to work with you, you should know that I had an issue with buying another item some time back that started out much like this one but the item was never delivered. That gives me pause to be concerned and I hope you can understand my situation as well.

Again, I am more than willing to work with you and your husband within a limited time frame. It is my hope that you guys can find a way to fulfill your end of this deal in a timely fashion. That said, please also realize that I am sympathetic to your situation. I know how disruptive that can be. But a couple of days delay is no issue at all.

I apologize for being blunt, but it is my opinion that clarity and transparency in a business deal is important. Please continue to communicate. It is my hope that all will be resolved shortly and we can do business again in the future. Also please be sure that the original gift box and papers originally provided with the knife are included when you send it.

BTW, this is a knife that I am very familiar with and looking forward to receiving.

Sincerely,
[me]
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So, I am concerned but hopeful that her plight is real and that this is not a scam. I was originally supposed to receive the knife by 2/27. Now - I dunno.

What do you guys think? How should I proceed and what sort of time should I give them to make good? I really want the knife but this deal just doesn't smell right to me.

Your thoughts? TIA.

The knife:

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26XQAXT.jpg
 
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Well since you used paypal you have 45 days to open a dispute and have paypal refund you. I would atleast wait a week or 2 before going that route just in case he is legit. I would also keep on them with emails to keep them communicating if they dont keep up with emails then definity open a case with paypal.
 
Yes, you are 45 days to open a case so no need to worry too much at the onset. I would keep emailing them every couple of days letting them know you would like to know when your product is due. If you dont get a response, well you know what is up and I would open a case with Ebay first. Then paypal should Ebay not provide you with assistance.
 
I'd probably give them the "couple of days" to send a notice of shipment and a tracking number. After that I'd ask for a refund. There is no excuse for them sitting on both the product and the money. If you still want it you can offer to buy it later when the husband gets out of the hospital.
 
You should be concerned. You're right; that's exactly how that stuff starts out, and about 400ish feedback is when sellers run into the problems of taking on too much that will lead to them buying time with hardcore lies and such. They get their limits raised and start taking bigger gambles, or start auctioning off stuff with the money that is being deposited for the actual purchase of it.

Since it's the woman's name and the man's supposed account, odds are the man ruined his original account and is now doing business under the woman's name; or he's avoiding taxes, or using his wife's identity so he can still draw a government check. All they need is someone to front an identity to open a new account.

I hate to say it, but deaths in the family, hospital stays, etc. are almost always part of a scam or buying time. I mean really, the only thing that should keep a seller from meeting their obligations is their own death - if the account is in his wife's name, why not just give her instructions to package and ship the knife? I have stopped off at the post office on the way to funerals before; and I've witnessed probably a hundred scams were the first thing the seller does is throw out one of those excuses that make you cringe because you know it's bull, and it takes a lowlife to lie about their Grandma dying or their wife being sick. I have a friend that works in Ebay fraud department and he says that "Somebody died, or is sick, or I had urgent business out of town" is part of nearly every case where they make contact with the sellers.

Too many red flags - I would give them an ultimatum, and let her know that shipping a single knife is not something that would be out of her hands if she can respond to an e-mail. Give them a date, and if the tracking info isn't updated through ebay by then, file negative feedback and open a case.
 
Saintly Breeze , I think you should be patient. Auctions are a 7 day process and her husband could be hospitalized. he may feel its best he take care of shipping. Him using her account is nothing. Why should they have 2 ebay accounts. I see no red flags. I think sometimes we create worry. Your covered. Be happy. Oh expedited shipping was probably his intent. I wouldn't trust anyone to handle my shipping considering that causes problems. I learned you shouldn't do this.From this forum.
I am happy you got your grail. I always loved the ripple. IKBS sweet knife , flips like a dream. Plus inspected and handled by the man himself.


James
 
I would request a phone number from her, and you tell her that you want to talk things out, make sure that everything is going smooth you know. I don't know why KO doesn't make more of these, I'd be all over a midtech Blur, Shallot, and Leek.
 
Have you checked the seller's activity on the auction site? If the seller is posting other stuff or other activity, I would find that inconsistent with the hospital story. Is there some reason the wife can handle the explanation/excuse-making part of this transaction and not the shipping-the-knife part?
 
Thanks for all the comments so far, guys. It is much appreciated and I am taking them to heart. I really appreciate the feedback so far. :thumbup:

RevDevil said:
I would request a phone number from her, and you tell her that you want to talk things out, make sure that everything is going smooth you know. I don't know why KO doesn't make more of these, I'd be all over a midtech Blur, Shallot, and Leek.
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Good suggestion. She may not be willing to give out a phone number to a stranger even if she is legit, but it is certainly worth a try.

IamMatt said:
Have you checked the seller's activity on the auction site? If the seller is posting other stuff or other activity, I would find that inconsistent with the hospital story. Is there some reason the wife can handle the explanation/excuse-making part of this transaction and not the shipping-the-knife part?
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Yeah, I've been watching that and will continue to do so. No new additions and those items still for sale were placed there a couple of days ago, so that part is consistent with her story - at least so far. As far as the wife not handling the shipping, well, that is one of the things that concern me.
 
The story goes something like this: Seller baits the hook with a teaser price of $375. He's hoping the sharks will swarm and bid up the knife. Much to his dismay, only one bid is placed. The auction ends, giving that one bidder the item at the teaser price. The seller has no intention of letting the item go for this low a price and starts laying the groundwork upon which the refusal to complete the deal will be based.
 
they do not have the knife, this is very old scam, often used here, and every site.The web is a seller whse. now days. You purchase the knife, now he must find one, might have had one, or not, pictures are nothing, look at RevDevil's avatar. I know he is a big teddy bear and Karda is an Angel fish.. JUST kidding guys . I'm already leaking. Actually a lot of Businesses successfully and honestly operate this way. I cked several sites today. Look and see if you don't see that same photo on 2 different sites ? Bet you find it. But what can you do ? What method paypal, goods or gift. One huge point about paypay gifting that is not cover here is the taxes the IRS will recover. Not only are the buyers and sellers at risk, but the selling point also. The IRS does not play and can and will monitor and review all online purchases.
 
Bryan J said:
The story goes something like this: Seller baits the hook with a teaser price of $375. He's hoping the sharks will swarm and bid up the knife. Much to his dismay, only one bid is placed. The auction ends, giving that one bidder the item at the teaser price. The seller has no intention of letting the item go for this low a price and starts laying the groundwork upon which the refusal to complete the deal will be based.
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]

This would be my guess, and the seller will be more than happy to refund your money.

Tom
 
Bryan J said:
The story goes something like this: Seller baits the hook with a teaser price of $375. He's hoping the sharks will swarm and bid up the knife. Much to his dismay, only one bid is placed. The auction ends, giving that one bidder the item at the teaser price. The seller has no intention of letting the item go for this low a price and starts laying the groundwork upon which the refusal to complete the deal will be based.
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That was exactly my first thought.

I see you found the item. This is a knife that I have only seen available twice before and both times it sold for much, much more than $375 and was way out of my price range. I think that the reason that this one got no bids [Edit: except for mine] is that he/she listed it with regular production models, the most expensive of which was $125 for a CRKT Ripple signed by Ken Onion. Doubting that anyone watching those knives understood what this one really was.
 
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Bryan J said:
The story goes something like this: Seller baits the hook with a teaser price of $375. He's hoping the sharks will swarm and bid up the knife. Much to his dismay, only one bid is placed. The auction ends, giving that one bidder the item at the teaser price. The seller has no intention of letting the item go for this low a price and starts laying the groundwork upon which the refusal to complete the deal will be based.
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Bingo. That would be the aspect I missed - that sellers really don't want to sell items for less than they paid, and this is a very common thing they do. I got a great deal on a custom knife last year, and looked it up when I got home to see what the real value was. I found an Ebay auction were the same knife had sold, and realized it was the same person I had bought it off of, it was actually the same EXACT knife, and on his feedback someone was going crazy because they never got that knife. I tracked down the seller (a local) and confronted him, thinking that he was a scam artist or the knife was stolen - he actually just didn't want to let it go for what the auction price was at so he refunded the winner, which messed up his perfect rating - and what's worse is that I paid less than the auction price because he couldn't put it back up on Ebay, and the market around here for custom knives is terrible.

I really hate that for you if that's the case OP. Ebay will make sure you get your money back, but you won't get the deal you thought you had. Just make sure that the seller's feedback reflects that he renegs on deals that don't suit him.
 
A Justice said:
...Just make sure that the seller's feedback reflects that he renegs on deals that don't suit him.
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Absolutely. He/she probably won't care, but if I wind up without the knife for the price I bid for any reason, then I will note that on the sellers feedback.
 
I hope you paid through paypal. Look at the listing again to see if the seller stated anything about a paying time frame or a shipping time frame. Sometimes they state "ships within 3 business days".
Right now the money is in limbo. It's in your sellers account stating "funds pending", depending on your sellers selling activity paypal will hold the money for up to 21 days. So, it's not quite time to push the panic mode, give it a couple of days if the seller did not specify a shipping time, if he did you have to wait however long was stated. You can open a claim and get your money back, hope it all works out for you
 
Ajack60 said:
I hope you paid through paypal. Look at the listing again to see if the seller stated anything about a paying time frame or a shipping time frame. Sometimes they state "ships within 3 business days".
Right now the money is in limbo. It's in your sellers account stating "funds pending", depending on your sellers selling activity paypal will hold the money for up to 21 days. So, it's not quite time to push the panic mode, give it a couple of days if the seller did not specify a shipping time, if he did you have to wait however long was stated. You can open a claim and get your money back, hope it all works out for you
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Paid through paypal, and not gift. Expedited shipping listed on the ad along with an estimated delivery date that originally stated "2/27/14" and now states "within 4 business days", which is actually the same thing. I have a copy of the original ad, BTW.

Thanks. :)
 
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