Buyer Beware: Leftturnvintage On Ebay

[peteguy]

Had this happen to me from JudPerl or whatever his name is. I think it is pretty common and I dont fault the seller. Imagine if you owned a store and someone marked a $300 pair of jeans for $30. I do wish ebay would crack down on the bullshit that they allow. Worst run online busniess ever.

 

[lightmybriar]

Had this happen to me from JudPerl or whatever his name is. I think it is pretty common and I dont fault the seller. Imagine if you owned a store and someone marked a $300 pair of jeans for $30. I do wish ebay would crack down on the bullshit that they allow. Worst run online busniess ever.

That’s the thing, though…he didn’t list the price as cheap. I won a week-long auction. He just didn’t like the winning bid amount and lied to me saying that the pipe had a “defective part” that he didn’t notice and his “integrity” will not allow him to sell it in that state. ?

 

[AroEnglish]

That’s the thing, though…he didn’t list the price as cheap. I won a week-long auction. He just didn’t like the winning bid amount and lied to me saying that the pipe had a “defective part” that he didn’t notice and his “integrity” will not allow him to sell it in that state. ?

Yup, he put it for auction and set the starting price without a reserve. It was won and was willing to be bought even with said "defect". It was definitely integrity that didn't allow him to sell it, a great lack of it.

 

[Hfinn]

So Ebay's dispute resolution policy isn't well thought out. It would be objective to ask the seller to demonstrate this very defect. All the more so Ebay is usually very loyal to buyers, but here the situation turned out to be exactly the opposite, the marketplace took the side of the seller.

 

[ofafeather]

So Ebay's dispute resolution policy isn't well thought out. It would be objective to ask the seller to demonstrate this very defect. All the more so Ebay is usually very loyal to buyers, but here the situation turned out to be exactly the opposite, the marketplace took the side of the seller.

Right. And you would think that the purchaser would have the option of receiving the item as is or as corrected/repaired. Stuff does happen but the coincidence of it happening on a low final price makes it unreasonable.

 

[Hfinn]

Right. And you would think that the purchaser would have the option of receiving the item as is or as corrected/repaired. Stuff does happen but the coincidence of it happening on a low final price makes it unreasonable.

I also think that there are no such coincidences, dishonest behavior on the face

 

[ofafeather]

I also think that there are no such coincidences, dishonest behavior on the face

Agreed - I don’t mean confidence as in chance but the literal meeting of circumstances. It’s situationally clear, as you said.

 

[sablebrush52]

So Ebay's dispute resolution policy isn't well thought out. It would be objective to ask the seller to demonstrate this very defect. All the more so Ebay is usually very loyal to buyers, but here the situation turned out to be exactly the opposite, the marketplace took the side of the seller.

It isn't that their resolution policy isn't well thought out, it's that eBay is loath to enforce it. They're loath to enforce policies pertaining to almost any questionable behavior, like multiple bid retractions.

There have been multiple examples of crooked sellers on eBay, forging listings. There was one seller in China who pulled images from legitimate listings and posted his own, offering to sell pipes that cost hundreds of dollars for thirty bucks.

You would think that people would assume that something fishy was going on and not bid, but plenty of people who think they're smart and onto something are stupid and go for it.

Craiginthecorn first alerted us to what was going on and I joined in with tracking and reporting the fraudulent seller. At first eBay did zero but after a few months of fake listings they pulled the plug. The seller was back in a day with the same scam, and I continued to report and report and report, while eBay did zero and the seller defrauded a lot of stupid people. They eventually closed down the seller and he waited this time for a few weeks before popping up again. I was on him like white on rice, and he got shut down again. We played cat and mouse for over a year before he didn't reappear for six months and I moved on.

We've seen fake Jess and Bo pipes on eBay as well as fakes of other high end Danish names, that have sold for thousands to starfucker clientele who buy names but don't actually know what they're looking at. And when a number of us have reported the fraud, eBay has taken no action. I've seen pirated material sold by "trusted" sellers with100% ratings and eBay certs.

If a dispute does happen you will likely get your money back, but whether that always gets clawed back from the seller is doubtful. For eBay it's just a small cost of running a bazaar that rakes in billions a year by not asking too many questions.

 

[cigrmaster]

In over 20 years I have done really well on selling pipes on Ebay. For years I used Coopersark aka Rob Cooper. One of the nicest guys you could talk to.

My first big sell with him were some Castello;s, Rainer Barbi's Formers, a couple of Dunhill Bruyeres and a few others I am forgetting,. When he was done selling them, I told him what I owned the pipes for. He was shocked and then he understood why I was very content at the prices he got for me.
All of those pipes were a trunk sale if anyone doesn't know what that means these pipes were stolen from I have no idea but he couldn't trade them fast enough for the Cuban cigars I had. If I was into a box of Siglo III's for 177,00 I doubled the price and he gladly accepted. All the pipes I bought were 50% lower than wholesale. It was fun while it lasted but the supply ran out. If a pipe retailed for 400.00 then cost on tat pipe was 200.00. I paid 100.00 for a pipe like that. So when rob sold them he got me good money.

Recently I have been selling over 70 pipes to make room for my new commissioned pipes. I have been using great-estates and he has had some big time scores. I had an old Michael Parks I owned for 140.00 and it sold for over 450.00. I had a Stephen Downie I was into for 125 and it sold for 305.00. There are many other examples.
I recently just got in my 13th Jack Howell commission and have a few more in the cue. My plan is working and I am expecting many more commissions from Jack. I have an empty 15 count glass door cabinet with his name on it. I told him my plan and he doesn't see any problems with it. I really love opening a package with a new pipe in it. I am just like a little kid at Christmas. even if I have a pipe going, I let it go out and I will smoke the new one, I can't help myself.

 

[Hfinn]

It isn't that their resolution policy isn't well thought out, it's that eBay is loath to enforce it. They're loath to enforce policies pertaining to almost any questionable behavior, like multiple bid retractions.

There have been multiple examples of crooked sellers on eBay, forging listings. There was one seller in China who pulled images from legitimate listings and posted his own, offering to sell pipes that cost hundreds of dollars for thirty bucks.

You would think that people would assume that something fishy was going on and not bid, but plenty of people who think they're smart and onto something are stupid and go for it.

Craiginthecorn first alerted us to what was going on and I joined in with tracking and reporting the fraudulent seller. At first eBay did zero but after a few months of fake listings they pulled the plug. The seller was back in a day with the same scam, and I continued to report and report and report, while eBay did zero and the seller defrauded a lot of stupid people. They eventually closed down the seller and he waited this time for a few weeks before popping up again. I was on him like white on rice, and he got shut down again. We played cat and mouse for over a year before he didn't reappear for six months and I moved on.

We've seen fake Jess and Bo pipes on eBay as well as fakes of other high end Danish names, that have sold for thousands to starfucker clientele who buy names but don't actually know what they're looking at. And when a number of us have reported the fraud, eBay has taken no action. I've seen pirated material sold by "trusted" sellers with100% ratings and eBay certs.

If a dispute does happen you will likely get your money back, but whether that always gets clawed back from the seller is doubtful. For eBay it's just a small cost of running a bazaar that rakes in billions a year by not asking too many questions.

Those are some pretty lousy things you talk about.

I think Ebay is slowly falling apart. They refused to work with PP, which is also not ideal, but to which many are already accustomed. Due to the new payment system, commissions have become much higher. I personally saw how several pipe sellers simply took off from there.

It would be great if Pipesmagazine created its own marketplace. I think they have enough resources to gradually roll out something like Ebay, but where only tobacciana would be traded. An audience of 25 thousand users is a serious potential, and seems it could give a high start.