I have heard it all now.....an Ebay excuse for the ages...
RonBurgundy
Posts: 5,491 ✭✭✭
I guess I have learned my lesson on Ebay. A few weeks ago I bought a raw 1956 Warren Spahn card advertised as NM-MT, for $31. Scan looked great, seller's feedback was great. Well as you can imagine, I got the card and it was no more than an EX-MT card. Didn't even look like the same card as in the scan. I asked the seller for a refund, which is what his return policy was. He asked why, and I told him (politely) that the condition of the card was not as advertised. Here is the response I got:
I apologize about that. My son's friend owns a card shop here in town and pretty much labled each one with its condition on a sticky note. Maybe we can work something out. Now the only reason I am relluctant to just say, 'Ok send me the card back for a refund' is because during the last month my family has suffered two major blows financially. My son and daughter-in-law had an illness that caused them to get very behind in bills, so my wife and I helped out. And a few weeks ago when hurricane Katrina hit, my brother-in-law, and his family lost their home in the storm (they were all shaken but fine otherwise) and my wife and I made arrangements to have them stay with us for the time being. As it was my wife's only sibling it was hard to do anything else. So I have an abbundance of mouths to feed while Tom tries to find a new job and tries to rebuild his families life. Where this concerns the card issue is that I am a retired carpenter and only receive pension checks at the end of each month and have lierally no money until the end of the month. So if you would lie to keep it as a filler card then that would better suit me, or we can work out a deal for after the 1st of October. Please let me know. Regards, Brent
In one paragraph, I get:
a) the excuse of "my (insert friend/relative of a friend/relative) graded and/or labeled the card incorrectly";
b) the excuse of "my family has suffered a major financial blow"
c) the excuse of "my (insert parent, child, friend, relative, or dog) is sick
d) the excuse of "my (insert parent, child, friend, friend of a friend, brother, sister, etc.) was in Hurricane Katrina (a new one!)
e) the excuse of "I have mouths to feed so I really can't refund your $31
f) the excuse of "I have no money to refund your $31 until the end of the month"
g) the tactic of "please keep this card as a filler card".
I hate to be cynical, but jeesh. If this guy has all these problems, perhaps he should devoting his time to resolving these issues rather than selling on Ebay.
I apologize about that. My son's friend owns a card shop here in town and pretty much labled each one with its condition on a sticky note. Maybe we can work something out. Now the only reason I am relluctant to just say, 'Ok send me the card back for a refund' is because during the last month my family has suffered two major blows financially. My son and daughter-in-law had an illness that caused them to get very behind in bills, so my wife and I helped out. And a few weeks ago when hurricane Katrina hit, my brother-in-law, and his family lost their home in the storm (they were all shaken but fine otherwise) and my wife and I made arrangements to have them stay with us for the time being. As it was my wife's only sibling it was hard to do anything else. So I have an abbundance of mouths to feed while Tom tries to find a new job and tries to rebuild his families life. Where this concerns the card issue is that I am a retired carpenter and only receive pension checks at the end of each month and have lierally no money until the end of the month. So if you would lie to keep it as a filler card then that would better suit me, or we can work out a deal for after the 1st of October. Please let me know. Regards, Brent
In one paragraph, I get:
a) the excuse of "my (insert friend/relative of a friend/relative) graded and/or labeled the card incorrectly";
b) the excuse of "my family has suffered a major financial blow"
c) the excuse of "my (insert parent, child, friend, relative, or dog) is sick
d) the excuse of "my (insert parent, child, friend, friend of a friend, brother, sister, etc.) was in Hurricane Katrina (a new one!)
e) the excuse of "I have mouths to feed so I really can't refund your $31
f) the excuse of "I have no money to refund your $31 until the end of the month"
g) the tactic of "please keep this card as a filler card".
I hate to be cynical, but jeesh. If this guy has all these problems, perhaps he should devoting his time to resolving these issues rather than selling on Ebay.
Ron Burgundy
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
0
Comments
SD
Or you could just keep the card as filler...which I'm sure is what you had in mind when you dropped $31 on it.
"I respectfully disagree with your grading of the card. I would like, however, to work this out. I have two options in mind: (1) I will keep the card if you refund me x dollars of my purchase price; or (2) I will send it back to you for a rull refund. Either way is fine with me. Once we get this worked out, I will be happy to leave you positive feedback."
Short, simple and sweet. I find it is never good to get vindictive and hostile with a seller (remember, they have your money) no matter how ticked you are. Remaining nice and professional seems to go a long way.
Good luck as to whatever you decide to do.
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
did u use a credit card? or transfer?
good luck in any event.
SD
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
I know it stinks to hear a sob story, were you expecting to get a nm-mt Spahn for $31? SMR for an 8 is $265. A 7 is $90 and a 6 is $55. I am sure you probably know this. This guy is offering you a deal. I think a 6 is not a bad deal at $31 let alone if you can get it for $20 or a little more. If the card is unaltered and he just misgraded I say take him at his word maybe he does have a hardship. If the guy is stalling at a mere $31 I would tend to believe him. We're not talking about a fortune here and it sounds like a decent card. I am not trying to be snotty but this really does not sound that bad to me. I try to by raw cards on ebay and get them graded. It seems you do too, and this situation happens more often than not. This instance really I would chalked up to the upside of a disappointment. You wanted an 8 and got a 6 for less than the price of a 6 plus grading. Put yourself in seller's shoes. Would you be estatic at selling a true Ex-Mt '56 Spahn for less than $31? I sure as hell wouldn't. The card auctioned for $31 and you were the high bidder. Maybe you got more excited about the auction title/description than the scan. Other bidder's bids abviouly didn't reflect the scan as appearing to be nm-mt. If they thought it so no way the card goes for what it went for. I bet the card would have brought the same or a little more if described as ex-mt or ex-mt+. Again just trying to provide a little perspective here and not trying to be offensive.
Damian
Methinks the seller saw how low it went and quite possibly sent a different example.
SD
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
I just had a batch of cards sent to me from a friend because he wanted it pre-graded by yours truly. One of the cards was a 1985 Topps Roger Clemens rookie that he purchased raw for $34. The seller said the card was Mint + and is very gradeable. He received the card and it had a couple fisheyes on the cap and the surface wasn't that hot altogether. Anyways, he complained about the condition and they worked it out where the seller sent him back $17 to compensate for the condition....okay fair enough. I looked at the card yesterday and the card has been trimmed. So yes, the card is Mint + once it was fixed up and badly done. Spend what you can afford to lose and don't have high expectations.
Here is what I would reply to the seller, just to shake him up -
"You think you have problems. I was rescued from my roof six days ago and the only personal property I have to my name is this Warren Spahn."
Can you post a scan of the card and a link to the auction? It might shed some light, but I don't think I missed your point. The bids of the other bidders and people not bidding at all don't reflect a card that looks Nm-Mt in a scan. Alot of people honestly are liberal graders. To alot of collectors there really isn't a big difference to them in ex-mt and nm-mt. They just don't know. If everyone did PSA would not be in business. If you are going on the description alone for auctions what is the point of having a good picture or picture at all in the auction? If your issue is with peoples grades in describing card condition for raw cards on ebay then you have issue with 99% of raw sellers on ebay. Rarely do I get a raw card graded by PSA that meets sellers grade. I have gotten 8's on cards listed as mint but rarely. Also it sounds to me that the guy is offering a partial refund on the $31 you paid. No? There is an element of trust involved in doing that. As a seller I won't do partial refunds. If buyer is unhappy they can send the card back for a full refund. How do I know the card really has that "missed surface wrinkle" they are claiming? Anyway I guess my point is you are taking a gamble buying raw and trying to make big bucks on every card you purchase. Your posts makes it sound like this seller is some huge scamming rip off artist just out for your wallet. I don't think its the case. He sounds like a relatively honest seller that grades more liberally than PSA and you are upset that you are not going to triple your money. I respect you and have probably even had a similar feelings before about raw cards I've bought, but I just don't think you are being realistic. Its great when you get a bargain on a raw card, but it's just not going to happen everytime. I say take a partial refund and turn the card in trade or sell and buy something else. Sorry to preach.
Damian
Have you responded to the seller???? Respond to the seller!!! What are you waiting for?? Tell us what you responded. Tell us what he responded. Then...you can gripe. Taking issue with responses to your post on this board isn't going to solve your issue . Take some action! Let us know how you made out! Regards.