Thursday, October 9, 2008

Ebay 'Muppets'

The Retrobike guys call Ebay traders who manipulate the auction process for their own benefit, either through complete deception or just plain stupidity, as 'Muppets'. I love the term, and although I've gone nearly 4 years and almost 400 transactions with nothing but happy sellers and happy customers leaving me feedback, I think that is all about to grind to a halt.

I clearly have a bike addiction, anyone reading this blog can tell that. What that means is that I've got a hankerin' for everything that I don't have, and a need to dump everything that I do. Something is always on its way to me via the little man in the brown truck, or I've always got something that I need to drop at the shipper. In the last month I've done more than 30 transactions, all mostly sales.

The boondoggle concerns a seatpost that I recently sold. An early 90s vintage IRD (Interloc) post, which has been used for almost 10 years. I described it as "Good" and "straight" and as having "flaking powder coating" in the rail areas of the head, and as showing "cloudy white stains" on the shaft from where the raw aluminum is oxidizing in the atmosphere. My buyer asked me if the post was "Decent" which it is, and if it had been "sanded" which it has not, and if it had "gouges" in it, which there are none. He seemed pleased with my answers and bid accordingly.

Now, after getting the post, he has declared that he is unhappy with my "misleading" description of the post, and that it is unfit for his "Top Notch" bike restoration. What?! How did a "decent" seatpost with "flaking" and "cloudy white residue" from oxidation get even the faintest consideration for a "Top Notch Restoration"?!

His solution, which borders on petty extortion, I think, is to request a partial refund as he can only use the post for "parts", and that he'll have to have the head of the post re-powder coated anyway. What?!? Is this real? No thanks, pal.

Picture attached...picture from the auction...you be the judge.




MUPPET ALERT!

3 comments:

Artstudio Sri Lanka said...

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Steve Reed said...

Damn, I thought you had a real comment, and instead it's just "Artstudio Sri Lanka"!!!

I would offer to send him a full refund upon return of the post. If he chooses to send it back, you can always list it again. If he doesn't he bought it for the bid price. And when he leaves a negative comment, you can respond that he was offered a full refund and declined it.

utahDOG! said...

Had he not launched into some diatirbe in his email to me about how I intentionally misled him, I'd do just that. But I'm inclined to just let him stuff it, the punk. I'm glad I'm down to my last 3 or 4 items to sell, because Ebay is going down the crapper.