The Burlingames

As many of you know, I’ve been wanting one of these for a long time: the Fender Jaguar bass. About a month ago, I bought a vintage effects pedal on Craigslist for quite cheap and recently sold it on eBay for a ridiculous amount of money. I felt quite confident that I could sell the pedal with enough of a profit to pay for the new bass, so I started browsing eBay. I found a Jaguar that looked good and put in a low-ball bid, which ended up being successful. I paid for the bass after getting home from work the Friday of Labor Day weekend.

NO CONTACT

I sent a couple emails to the guy about when he planned on shipping it, but didn’t hear from him until the following Tuesday. He said I’d have the bass by Friday, but didn’t give me a tracking number (the auction listed UPS as the shipper, so I was expecting a tracking number). I emailed a couple of times throughout the week, but heard nothing. Friday came and went with no bass at my door. I started to think I’d been taken for a ride. I kept emailing the seller, hoping to get any kind of info on the bass, but still heard nothing.

The next Tuesday the bass finally arrived (still without any word from the seller) and I was very excited that I wasn’t out a bunch of cash. Upon inspecting the bass, however, my excitement was squashed. The condition of the bass had been grossly exaggerated in the listing. The bass had a big chip in the bottom that was noted in the auction, but was stated to otherwise be in “excellent” condition. I was fine with the chip since it was clearly noted, but there were other problems.

• Most of the hardware, including the frets and pickguard screws, were badly corroded.
• The jack plate was visibly bent, as if someone had pushed down on the cable while it was plugged into the bass.
• The tone knob cut a lot of volume.
• There were small splotches of something (maybe paint) in a couple places.
• There were a lot of small nicks, dents and scrapes that were not mentioned.

That’s a lot of problems for a bass supposedly in excellent condition.

THE CONFRONTATION

Needless to say, I was less than pleased. I emailed the seller, informing him of the problems I had found. True to form, I didn’t hear from him. I then went to PayPal and started a dispute. PayPal is not involved at that point; it’s merely an official forum for buyers and sellers to voice their concerns (and have a written record, should things become more serious). I said that I’d still be willing to consider the transaction a success if he’d be willing to knock down the price to compensate for the condition of the bass. The seller declined my request for a partial refund, stating that he had accurately listed the bass.

Next came one of the most hilarious parts of this whole ordeal: a statement supposedly from the seller’s father. Here is what he posted:

This is his father and the guitar was in good shape. Seth is a good Christian man and I feel you are trying to exploit him. I will pay you $75 as a good will gesture for your “pain’. After that, we take it up a notch and ask for a paypal arbitrator. Judging by out feedback for selling items correctly, I am sure they will judge in our favor. Your call.

He then offered me the refund for $75, but, before I could act on it, he took the refund offer back and escalated the dispute to a claim (saying I was trying to extort money from him). It’s at this point that PayPal gets involved.

I was especially aggravated by his last comments posted to the dispute log right before he escalated it to a claim. He theorized that I had a case of buyer’s remorse because he read on this very blog that I had been out of work for awhile and that Megan is pregnant, leading him to believe I had bought something more expensive than I could afford. First, I wouldn’t buy something I can’t afford. Second, he left out the fact that while I missed work I was getting sick pay, not just sitting at home going into debt. Third, who stalks people via their blogs? I wouldn’t think a “good Christian man” would take the time to peruse our blog looking for ammunition to use against us. What a nut.

He finished his statement by touting his good feedback rating (99% positive, compared to my 100%) and saying that, if I were found to be in the wrong, he would like me sanctioned on eBay. The most frustrating thing was, once the dispute became a claim, I could no longer add to the dispute log to rebut his comments.

VINDICATION

Fortunately, PayPal decided in my favor a day or two later and determined that I was entitled to a full refund. The only loss for me was that I had to pay for the return shipping, which isn’t such a big deal since I get a nice discount on shipping through FedEx. The bass arrived back at the seller’s house late this week and I should be receiving my refund early next week.

This is the first really bad experience I’ve ever had on eBay in the nine years that I’ve been buying and selling. I’ve had other minor problems, but nothing that couldn’t be worked out. Hopefully this doesn’t happen again. I wouldn’t wish this kind of drama on anyone.

I have decided to show my support for my fellow eBay members fighting for fair treatment by participating in the forthcoming eBay boycott. I will refrain from buying and selling February 18-25. Please see my previous post for a short explanation of some of the issues created by eBay’s recent changes.

One of the main challenges we face is the lack of a true competitor for eBay. Some members are trying to organize a mass migration to a new site as voted upon by all those interested. My hope is that these steps will create enough commotion to force eBay to revisit their policy changes. As many have stated elsewhere, the purpose is not to destroy eBay, but merely make it a better marketplace.

eBay has changed their fee structure effective February 20th. Like any corporation worth its salt, they’ve tried to disguise a rate hike as a discount to sellers. What a screw.

They claim to have reduced the risk associated with selling by decreasing the insertion fees. To offset their loss, they’ve increased the final value fees. I calculated the break-even point of the new rates, which is $11.43. Any auctions ending below that price will be charged a fee that is slightly less than under the previous system; any about that price will be charged a higher fee. I made a chart to show some sample end prices and their associated fees, as well as the difference between the new and old system.

I’m guessing that eBay is going to come out ahead in this. A few pennies per auction might not seem like much, but, given the volume of auctions, those pennies are going to add up quick. I understand that companies up rates now and again, but I take offense when they try to disguise it as something that’s supposed to benefit me.

Some other changes are looming as well. One that I, as a seller, find particularly disturbing is that I will no longer be able to leave neutral or negative feedback for buyers: positive only. I assume it will be positive or nothing, but leaving no feedback seems like a pointless gesture as it doesn’t say anything about the buyer’s reliability, unless it somehow figures into their feedback rating (which I doubt is the case).

There are some positive changes as well, but they are outweighed by the negatives in my mind. Click here to see all the new stuff.