The Energon Pub

Hi folks

A few weeks back I sold an odd R2D2 figure on ebay - the description was as follows

Hi there, and welcome to what you likely won't see again for a long long time (ago...in a galaxy far far........)

Something of an oddity here, this is a Blue R2D2 from the Star Wars line, I have never seen one of these before in my life, and I'm not sure what it is other than something that will look great on your shelf amongst your other r2's.

The body is blue with a silver rotating head. The paint has come off of where the legs (which are loose) sit next to the body, I'm not sure if this is from age, shoddy paint, or what

It is marked Hong Kong 1977 on the underside of the canister body.

As I said before I'm not 100% sure exactly what it is? Maybe a prototype?, maybe a ko? If anyone can enlighten me as to it's specifics, please do, I'm quite curious. I'm just not enough of a Star Wars guy to keep it around. If it is a prototype then it would be quite the find for you.

That being the case I won't set a BIN (though I am open to offers) and we'll set it at ten bucks (I feel is quite fair as you likely won't see one again anytime soon) and we'll see how it plays out.

Any questions please ask, I combine shipping and have other Star Wars auctions up right now

I recommend insurance as I will not be responsible for items lost by the postal services. However having said that, please feel free to check out my feedback, you are in good hands.

Good luck

I included a good, clear close up picture in this auction

Last week I got an email from the buyer saying that he was very angry with the item and was sending it back for a refund - he gave no reason as to why he was dissatisfied with it.

I feel I covered all the bases on this, I said the legs were loose and the paint was off in the leg areas and made it exceedingly clear that I had no idea what it was.

I sent back a message asking what he felt was the matter with the item - no response

Last night I get an email from him that says "please refund money - thank you! - again no explanation as to why he was dissatisfied with it - I still haven't seen this item show up in my mailbox.

I'm usually really really easy to get along with as a seller but this one really irks me - I feel the description was very accurate, and I was clear about my lack of knowledge regarding the figure.

To take issue with an item is fine, but to send it back(apparently - I'll check again today), demanding a refund without explanation seems really unreasonable to me. Ebay isn't a "guess I didn't like it that much - I'll just return it now" This seems particularly odd as he is a 100% positive ebay member with over 800 transactions - shouldn't one be a little better at working out stuff by now after that?

Anyway my first instinct is to tell him to be less difficult in resolving this or to go fly a kite (the words in my head are meaner)

Am I being unreasonable here? I try to be a really good seller and very accomodating but thus far this seems a little ridiculous to refund this guy at this point in time.

Please let me know your thoughts - do you think ny description covered all bases based on what I've said?

Thanks much

Alligator

Well, you either get an explanation and/or the item, and he gets a refund.

That's my take on most e-selling

I'd ask for an explanation again. This guy doesn't seem to be too helpful, just rude, 100% feedback or not. At any rate, tell him you haven't received the item back yet, so no refund at all until you do.

Just be diplomatic. You know... one of those "I understand your position, etc. etc." and save all correspondence. And contact him through eBay and have him contact you through eBay so they have all records. Just in case anything goes down.

I don't sell on ebay, but I've run into a few nasty customers in other places. So maybe I'll say something useful (hope springs eternal).

Did he pay by Paypal? They've got a really decent Conflict Resolution Center, that can get a third party involved. Nice. All the transactions go through the Paypal Conflict Resolution Site, so there's plenty of evidence that the third party can review. It's helped me in a few similar transactions.

Good feedback isn't, alas, always so telling. I've had some of my most nightmarish half.com customers with impeccable feedback. You can jink any system like that by having 'ghost transactions' where you sell stuff to your friends and they give you oodles of feedback. Sockpuppet accounts do the same thing. (Holy bananas you should see the nonsense that goes down on Amazon!)

My read is that you came across as too nice and too accommodating in your listing of the item, so the guy thinks you're a total pushover. If you don't have a lot of sales, he might figure you'd rather be out the money than risk bad feedback. I know, it sucks that you can't be a decent human being listing items, but clearly some jerks try to take advantage. Stick to your guns--no money unless and until you get the figure back. IN GOOD CONDITION.

HK, slap his pee-pee! slap it!

I give sellers nasty reviews when they take forever to mail me what i won/bought. And I always pay sellers right away.

Coughler wrote:I give sellers nasty reviews when they take forever to mail me what i won/bought. And I always pay sellers right away.

I'm torn on this. On one side, sellers are responsible for what goes on in a sale. If they choose a method of transport that fails at times, then they're liable for that. If USPS can deliver on time 100% of the time, but they choose UPS which does it 80%, then they should still feel responsible for not bridging that 20% gap, even if it's unavoidable. After all, every choice they make represents them.

On the other hand, it's true that unforeseen things come up and, while it sucks when it happens to you, it might not be their fault.

Me, Grimlock! wrote:

Coughler wrote:I give sellers nasty reviews when they take forever to mail me what i won/bought. And I always pay sellers right away.

I'm torn on this. On one side, sellers are responsible for what goes on in a sale. If they choose a method of transport that fails at times, then they're liable for that. If USPS can deliver on time 100% of the time, but they choose UPS which does it 80%, then they should still feel responsible for not bridging that 20% gap, even if it's unavoidable. After all, every choice they make represents them.

On the other hand, it's true that unforeseen things come up and, while it sucks when it happens to you, it might not be their fault.

I dont mind waiting 3 weeks. anything longer than that im pissed. But i have had a seller tell me he had issues with the post or whatever so i was understanding.