Every now and then the faceless, vaguely utopian underground economy known as eBay can become a little more like the real world.
It is by and large a self-policed marketplace, and most transactions go smoothly, the wheels greased by our faith in one another-- and by the fear of engendering bad buyer and seller ratings.
People do still get defrauded though. Here's a story about eBay fraud, one with a happy ending (we hope).
Yesterday's eBay Scavenger included a cat bench/ottoman that was billed as a valuable mid-century antique, with a price tag to reflect it ($125). Reader gregory called it out as a $19.99 Target special from a few seasons back and reader NMC left a link that proved it in the comments.
We emailed this info to the seller, ModLifeCrisis, who happens to be a Power Seller with a stellar rep.
She was initially a little taken aback and asked for proof, but after seeing the link, had this to say:
Thank you for all your research and the link . . .I purchased this at a retro gallery, not Target, for a lot more money with absolutely no intent to sell something newer as vintage.
If I add it [the new info] to the bottom of the auction, which is my only option once there are bids, there is a chance bidders will not see this addition which goes at the very bottom past all the photos and payment info and I want them to see its not mid century clearly from the title.
There are in fact bidders right now. The price is currently at $142!
The seller thought on it and wrote again with a solution:
Since I can't change the auction copy with bids, what I will do is relist it tonight at my normal launching time and take out the Mid Century Vintage part. Thank you for your help, otherwise I would not have known.
Sounds like the seller was taken in, too-- though it seems odd that a Power Seller who deals in mid-century items could call this "Eames era," and believe herself. Even as a descriptor of its style, if not its vintage, "Eames era" is stretching things a bit. Color-blocked corduroy? We included it in Scavenger because it's funky, not classic. Maybe she could have called it "Brady Bunch era."
So...all's well that ends well? We'll see what happens tonight. Hopefully, because of our readers, we've averted a scam.
Anyone out there ever mistakenly buy a fake on eBay? What did you do about it? What did the seller do?
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
i just bought a vase on ebay that was white in the listing's picture, but when it arrived, it was blue. i'm talkin' blue blue, not a bluish white, not even close to white. the seller was blase about it, blaming their camera! um, so when they wrote the listing, they could have mentioned the color difference.
i was annoyed, but it was too cheap to send back.
the lesson, hopefully learned (but probably not learned) is buyer beware.
so anyone want a blue vase?
Regarding the blue vase: I've had similar situations twice. You should have insisted on a full refund, including shipping, once the seller blamed it on the camera. If they refuse, let them know they will be receiving a negative feedback. I've found that the worst seller I ever dealt with on Ebay was obsessed with not receiving bad feedback- so she gave me a full refund and allowed me to ship back to her at her expense. You should use the dispute console if the seller doesn't offer a refund. It will help keep things honest.
I buy and sell on ebay and have been pretty fortunate, as I've dealt with honest people (except one, who had a new story each week as to why she hadn't paid for her item --- grrr) but I know that there are those who have not been. As with purchases from brick and mortar vendors, you have to be a savvy consumer and absolutely don't buy anything from someone who has more than a handful of negative feedbacks. The woman I referenced above, who kept delaying payment for weeks and weeks, left me a negative in retaliation for my filing a non-paying bidder alert against her when she didn't pay for the items. After she finally paid, she left me a negative by claiming the items were poorly packaged and broken in shipping, before she even received the items! (Thank goodness I use delivery confirmation!) Plus, the shipment was insured, so if there really had been breakage when it arrived, she could have filed for the insurance claim, but never did....Even the best seller can get a negative feedback or two, as there can be misunderstandings, but if you notice a pattern to what the negatives say, then it's likely that the seller has a deserved bad reputation. In this case the seller may or may not be telling the truth. Look at her feedback and see what's there.
My ebay story is bigger!!
Check this item 160081574864 on ebay Australia.
It's a glass candlestick which usually sells for approximately US$150 -- here a genuine bargain at (drumroll) US$7,845.
Yes, you read that right.
I just checked her listing and it hasn't changed. She did not relist it last night or even revise the information, which she CAN do. I also noticed that she had recorded a date of 1960 for the stool originally, how did she estimate that?
Her suggested "correction" of relisting it without the Mid Century info is not enough in my opinion. She has a store that claims to sell Mid-C items, even without it in the title, just being in her store implies that it is Mid-C or at least a vintage older than 5-8 years ago.
I certainly hope when I check back later today that she will have corrected this. Noone should have to pay that amount of money for a Todd Oldham Target stool, no matter how cool it looks.
alana, you are right about busting on the blue-not-white vase people to keep ebay honest.
now, i'll have to get off my lazy butt and do it.
heh, what i'd like to do is ship it back broken, but with insurance, and let them deal with some post officey hassle. (of course, i'd never do that, bad karma even thinking it... bad pc, bad...)
When you see this on ebay PLEASE alert the high bidder that they are being scammed, unintentionally or not.
If the seller is actually using the word "antique" to describe something that's less than 100 years old, they either don't know what they're talking about or don't care. The word "antique" specifically means something 100 years old or older.
I found this whole "people without lives" drama about this ottoman which AT LAST a reputable ebay seller say would correct so distasteful. I hope you all angry villagers will finally put down your fire torches and find a real monster, there are enough to choose from on ebay.
I cant tell you how many honestly good sellers leave ebay for brick and mortar stores because of armchair or keyboard "experts" that act so viciously and vindictively.
That leaves you with 25.00 dollar plasma TV sellers launching auctions from Nigeria that say USA on them.
Reading the replies from this seller, only further shows how a professional seller should behave and likely why they became a powerseller.
AJ: I don't think there are many "angry villagers" out there, especially here. I think an eBay seller just got caught trying to mistakenly sell an item for a lot more than it's worth (in itself, that's not a crime; as someone who has sold many of items, I hope their other auctions do well). But misinformation should be corrected, and people online will inform one another of these sort of things. Experts? Hardly. But considering I have one of these "Eames era" foldout chairs here in our office from last season, I think it was worth mentioning.
That being said, anyone want one for half price?
Wow...we posted the same one over in Chicago.
Gregory
Informing a seller who apparently took the information well and did correct the situation is not a problem...doing it like a posse, inform the high bidder, rules about the word antique, should not be allowed to list anything retro that is not MCM...geez...
Lighten up
AJ