Sorry Records Off Ebay

[paultp]

I know it happens fairly regularly but it still makes my blood boil.

Dropping on the mat today, badly wrapped in an amount of corrugated cardboard that would cover a small car was a copy of The Continental 4 - The Way I love You - great record and a staple of all sales lists at about 20 - 25.

When I finally extract it from its wrapping it looks pretty rough, I play it and this is what I hear:

duffc4.mp3

I go and check the listing to see if I have inadvertently bid on a VG- copy but no; the ebay seller grades it M- in the title then says "Plays M- Looks VG+" in the description.

I clean it and the intro sounds better, I think phew! I might be able to sell it on and get my money back ... then about 10 seconds in it jumps !!

The most annoying thing in cases like this is that the seller will probably not re-imburse postage; so for bidding on an item with a blatantly untrue description, I've paid $12.72 for the record; he charged me $8 (!) for P&P and if I return it, it will cost me another £3. So I'll have spent 7 quid on thin air plus my time

I know it happens all the time and it isn't a large amount of money but it grips my sh*t, it really does.

What is the answer to this!

duffc4.mp3

[Cheapsiderecords]

I suppose the simple answer is dont buy off ebay. I very rarely do nowadays for the very reason you have posted. Too many times I have ended up with a terrible sounding record graded as Mint, in fact I sorted out a box of them the other day and dumped them.

I am now of the opinion that there are enough forums like this and Fryer, Soul Talk, Soul Strut, Hitsville etc selling 45's. OK, you are paying the going rate but to be honest real ebay bargains are few and far between now anyway.

[Mark Bicknell]

I know it happens fairly regularly but it still makes my blood boil.

Dropping on the mat today, badly wrapped in an amount of corrugated cardboard that would cover a small car was a copy of The Continental 4 - The Way I love You - great record and a staple of all sales lists at about 20 - 25.

When I finally extract it from its wrapping it looks pretty rough, I play it and this is what I hear:

duffc4.mp3

I go and check the listing to see if I have inadvertently bid on a VG- copy but no; the ebay seller grades it M- in the title then says "Plays M- Looks VG+" in the description.

I clean it and the intro sounds better, I think phew! I might be able to sell it on and get my money back ... then about 10 seconds in it jumps !!

The most annoying thing in cases like this is that the seller will probably not re-imburse postage; so for bidding on an item with a blatantly untrue description, I've paid $12.72 for the record; he charged me $8 (!) for P&P and if I return it, it will cost me another £3. So I'll have spent 7 quid on thin air plus my time

I know it happens all the time and it isn't a large amount of money but it grips my sh*t, it really does.

What is the answer to this!

A real pisser when stuff like this happens and often there is nothing you can do about it apart from negative feedback then you get the same so it sucks, some records should not even be offered up for sale in the first place, I'm sure some sellers on Ebay don't even play through the records to check for any problems, I love the old chestnut good collection filler or will be ok for DJ'ing with which basically means it's fcuked, me I send them back for a refund but as you say you still end up out of pocket on the postage, still we have all had this happen and not just from the States, hope you can resolve this Paul.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

[stomper45]

Had a similar thing, the seller has already given me a positive feedback, have told him was intending to give him a neutral over condition of record, do you know if can then come back with a negative?

cheers

Danny

[Guest Adrian]

Had a similar thing last year, ended up doing a paypal claim as a point of pinciple as the seller was being an arsehole.......the end result was paypal deemed the listing contained an accurate condition description, quite how they come to that was a mystery to me as they never asked too see or hear the record....tossers

I should'nt have started this, heard I did'nt get a job I was after today so was in abad enough mood and remembering this has'nt helped!

[Guest Adrian]

Had a similar thing, the seller has already given me a positive feedback, have told him was intending to give him a neutral over condition of record, do you know if can then come back with a negative?

cheers

Danny

don't think so anymore, haven't ebay changed it so a seller CANNOT leave neg feedback?

[Mark Bicknell]

Had a similar thing, the seller has already given me a positive feedback, have told him was intending to give him a neutral over condition of record, do you know if can then come back with a negative?

cheers

Danny

I think once feedback is left it stay's on your account unless you both agree to remove it or something like that, someone posted negative feedback on me a bit back suggesting that I did not send the record which I did and I had proof on the Post Office website that the record had been delivered and signed for by the person, someone trying it on a real weirdo actually and I went to task with Ebay on this and get the negative feedback reversed and taken off and they did remove it after a bit of a battle, I think when you are unhappy with a transaction that you should be able to say so, however feedback is hopeless because if you leave negative feedback then the other person buyer/seller does exactly the same so really it serves no constructive purpose, I think the rules and conditions of Ebay should be revised, bugger me we pay enough in listing/selling/Pay Pal fees, perhaps returned items poor condition records etc. should be fully refundable including the postage then perhaps people will think twice before they list and offer for sale poor condition records.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

[Pete S]

If someone sends you a record that is not as described, why should YOU have to pay for the postage? I sold one to Rob messer the other week, he wasn't happy with it, I refunded his money plus his original postage and the money it cost him to send it back to me!

[Guest]

I know it happens fairly regularly but it still makes my blood boil.

Dropping on the mat today, badly wrapped in an amount of corrugated cardboard that would cover a small car was a copy of The Continental 4 - The Way I love You - great record and a staple of all sales lists at about 20 - 25.

When I finally extract it from its wrapping it looks pretty rough, I play it and this is what I hear:

duffc4.mp3

I go and check the listing to see if I have inadvertently bid on a VG- copy but no; the ebay seller grades it M- in the title then says "Plays M- Looks VG+" in the description.

I clean it and the intro sounds better, I think phew! I might be able to sell it on and get my money back ... then about 10 seconds in it jumps !!

The most annoying thing in cases like this is that the seller will probably not re-imburse postage; so for bidding on an item with a blatantly untrue description, I've paid $12.72 for the record; he charged me $8 (!) for P&P and if I return it, it will cost me another £3. So I'll have spent 7 quid on thin air plus my time

I know it happens all the time and it isn't a large amount of money but it grips my sh*t, it really does.

What is the answer to this!

That`ll teach ya`,£10/15 at nighters fukc Ebay.

[Guest soulwaxusa]

What was the seller's feedback?? As a regular ebay seller (soulmancandy) and occassional Soul Source seller I think the majority of ebay sellers are honest as are most Soul Source sellers. There are a few bad apples out there so always check their ratings and feedback. I will not buy from someone with what I consider excessive negative feedback. On the other hand it is possible to make a honest mistake. I have made a few over the years but I always offer to reimbursh all shipping charges both ways. I am sure many other sellers do the same.

[paultp]

What was the seller's feedback?? As a regular ebay seller (soulmancandy) and occassional Soul Source seller I think the majority of ebay sellers are honest as are most Soul Source sellers. There are a few bad apples out there so always check their ratings and feedback. I will not buy from someone with what I consider excessive negative feedback. On the other hand it is possible to make a honest mistake. I have made a few over the years but I always offer to reimbursh all shipping charges both ways. I am sure many other sellers do the same.

You're right the majority are honest, it's just the odd one who makes it risky. I'll see how it goes then I'll name and shame if necessary.

[paultp]

What was the seller's feedback?? As a regular ebay seller (soulmancandy) and occassional Soul Source seller I think the majority of ebay sellers are honest as are most Soul Source sellers. There are a few bad apples out there so always check their ratings and feedback. I will not buy from someone with what I consider excessive negative feedback. On the other hand it is possible to make a honest mistake. I have made a few over the years but I always offer to reimbursh all shipping charges both ways. I am sure many other sellers do the same.

Yep, his feedback didn't lie, over 140 negs

After I complained about the state of the record he immediately filed an unpaid item dispute saying that we had mutually agreed not to complete the transaction in order to claim back his ebay fees. He hadn't offered me a refund or anything actually.

I cancelled the dispute by disagreeing about the mutual agreement and started a paypal dispute. He sent me a ebay message saying "and here's your neg".

I don't have much choice now so I responded to his feedback, escalated the paypal dispute to a claim and left him negative feedback. Noticed that someone else had the same problem today with him too.

He is a guy called LES HARRIS of San Antonio, his ebay user id is lharris4gq and he is a thief.

Cheers

Paul

[Guest]

Yep, his feedback didn't lie, over 140 negs

After I complained about the state of the record he immediately filed an unpaid item dispute saying that we had mutually agreed not to complete the transaction in order to claim back his ebay fees. He hadn't offered me a refund or anything actually.

I cancelled the dispute by disagreeing about the mutual agreement and started a paypal dispute. He sent me a ebay message saying "and here's your neg".

I don't have much choice now so I responded to his feedback, escalated the paypal dispute to a claim and left him negative feedback. Noticed that someone else had the same problem today with him too.

He is a guy called LES HARRIS of San Antonio, his ebay user id is lharris4gq and he is a thief.

Cheers

Paul

Hi Paul

Les Harris is a right royal pain in the ass i bought stuff from him ONCE never again.

Derek

[John Elias]

Edited May 1, 2008 by dancingcollector

[Pete S]

Good grief!

https://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=lhar...by&ref=home

[Mark Bicknell]

Good grief!

https://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=lhar...by&ref=home

Yes Pete exactly what I thought sounds like a complete first class self abuser.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

[pikeys dog]

Just been reading through his horror story of negative feedbacks.... gotta be a record number for someone still trading on eBay.

Can't understand how you can get three unpaid strikes as a buyer and your out - but you can get hundreds (literally) of items not sent / poorly described, and there is no penalty on your account.

Oh yeah, just remembered, eBay still make money on items not sent/poorly described, but they don't make a bean on unpaid for items.

Now if I was the cynical kind....

[paultp]

Just been reading through his horror story of negative feedbacks.... gotta be a record number for someone still trading on eBay.

Can't understand how you can get three unpaid strikes as a buyer and your out - but you can get hundreds (literally) of items not sent / poorly described, and there is no penalty on your account.

Oh yeah, just remembered, eBay still make money on items not sent/poorly described, but they don't make a bean on unpaid for items.

Now if I was the cynical kind....

That's it, he's a powerseller so eBay keep him there cos they make money.

If you follow the links through the neg feedback items to the poor buyers feedback it gets even worse, he leaves them negs that make out he's given them refunds when he hasn't and signs off each one with "system sucks" - which is ironically true.

[Philippe]

Hi Paul

Les Harris is a right royal pain in the ass i bought stuff from him ONCE never again.

Derek

I remember when he put his sales list on Goldmine. A friend of mine ordered 20 or so records from him, they were so thrashed he had to return ALL !

I can't understand how such a crook is still in the business...

[Paul McKay]

This twat still owes me $200 plus from a refund on a returned record. Doesn't even bother to answer mails anymore.

[Benelew]

I know it happens fairly regularly but it still makes my blood boil.

Dropping on the mat today, badly wrapped in an amount of corrugated cardboard that would cover a small car was a copy of The Continental 4 - The Way I love You - great record and a staple of all sales lists at about 20 - 25.

When I finally extract it from its wrapping it looks pretty rough, I play it and this is what I hear:

duffc4.mp3

I go and check the listing to see if I have inadvertently bid on a VG- copy but no; the ebay seller grades it M- in the title then says "Plays M- Looks VG+" in the description.

I clean it and the intro sounds better, I think phew! I might be able to sell it on and get my money back ... then about 10 seconds in it jumps !!

The most annoying thing in cases like this is that the seller will probably not re-imburse postage; so for bidding on an item with a blatantly untrue description, I've paid $12.72 for the record; he charged me $8 (!) for P&P and if I return it, it will cost me another £3. So I'll have spent 7 quid on thin air plus my time

I know it happens all the time and it isn't a large amount of money but it grips my sh*t, it really does.

What is the answer to this!

Yeah, a difficult one - Speaking as a seller, it's all about how you treat your customers isn't it? If you treat them like shite they'll not buy from you. I find that if you treat people fairly then generally you get treated likewise (but you can't mitigate against arseholes/idiots) I lost my 100% positive feedback (over 1400 transactions) to someone who had their cheque to me returned undelivered i.e they knew I hadn't received the money and gave me Neg feedback anyway! Without making excuses up as a seller I may sometimes get the grading wrong. I sell a lot of cheap items and don't always play the track all the way through - life's too short - I give it a thorough visual look under the lamp and play maybe 10-20 secs before deciding on the grading. Of course I'm more careful with more expensive items. Over the last 5 years, I've only had a handful of people contact me to say the 45 is damaged or has a crack or is not as good as they expected. I accept that I'm fallable and make mistakes, especially when listing 45s at midnight! I think I've learnt to spot the timewasters but I treat everybody the same - I offer a full refund and postage if I want the record returned. Remember one man's Mint is another man's EX. As a buyer I always do a thorough check on feedback score (and comments) before I buy but I can see that maybe for cheaper items the temptation is to take the risk. As others have said - you can't beat having the thing in your hand before you buy it.

[Guest]

That`ll teach ya`,£10/15 at nighters fukc Ebay.

agree that ebay is dodgy once recieved a record LP in 8 pieces contacted the seller told me it was post office fault he packaged said record in normal large envelope and lightly wrapped the record in newspaper arsehead to teach me a lesson from the evil bay next day recieved a cheapie 45 abraham and sons it arrived with a nice 1 inch crack but that said the temptation of want at a decent price is too much sometimes, good record continental 4 got it off craig moerer last month for £15 m- nice reliable dealer

[Guest SteveSnow]

I got a Dee Clark - That's My Girl thru this week that played with a lot of noise & ticks - when I complained to the seller, he gave me a full refund and said don't bother sending it back. So not everyone's a crook on ebay. I agree, it is a gamble though...

More than anything, it's sooo disappointing when you slap it on the turntable - you've waited a week or two (or more) and then get to hear four rashers of bacon frying....

[Margo]

what i can't understand is with all this negative feedback this seller has got, which is there for all to see,

why are people still buying from him !!!!!

[Guest DELORENZO]

Good grief!

https://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=lhar...by&ref=home

The American is only playing at it !!!!!

https://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/neg90?User=old...ck&ref=home

[Sutty]

too right delorenzo, may not be a popular view on here possibly but the seller you mention is nothing more than a total liar and con artist. sold me a record, never got it, seller never responded to any mails until i raised a paypal dispute when he said my address was wrong and it had been returned. checked his feedback, he'd sold the EXACT same item two months previously and the guy lost his money as it was not via paypal. then proceeded to offer the SAME item for sale AGAIN 3 weeks later on ebay and sold to a buyer who NEVER GOT IT EITHER! what a surprise! pattern developing here?!

[Guest]

too right delorenzo, may not be a popular view on here possibly but the seller you mention is nothing more than a total liar and con artist. sold me a record, never got it, seller never responded to any mails until i raised a paypal dispute when he said my address was wrong and it had been returned. checked his feedback, he'd sold the EXACT same item two months previously and the guy lost his money as it was not via paypal. then proceeded to offer the SAME item for sale AGAIN 3 weeks later on ebay and sold to a buyer who NEVER GOT IT EITHER! what a surprise! pattern developing here?!

Hi Paul,

What's his name i had a run in with him on ebay 3 yrs ago same story paid for record not received blah blah blah. Can'tlay my hands on the order form right now.

btw in brighton for the day on saturday are you around?

Dirk

[Sutty]

Hi Paul,

What's his name i had a run in with him on ebay 3 yrs ago same story paid for record not received blah blah blah. Can'tlay my hands on the order form right now.

btw in brighton for the day on saturday are you around?

Dirk

i'll be around give me a bell we can hook up. i'll let you know his name offlist, I don't want to start a barney on here seeing as i've seen him listed as a DJ at event(s) in the north west, so he clearly has mates on here. speak to you on Sat about it.

[Pete S]

Hi Paul,

What's his name i had a run in with him on ebay 3 yrs ago same story paid for record not received blah blah blah. Can'tlay my hands on the order form right now.

btw in brighton for the day on saturday are you around?

Dirk

John from Preston

[paultp]

As an antidote to the listing of poor ebay experiences, today I received a copy of "Bobbie Smith - Walk On Into My Heart" in much better condition than I expected .....

...... and as an added bonus, instead of cardboard stiffeners the guy had used 2 other soul records to wrap it in !