Message to an eBay seller...

Everything about Interesting Magic-related Auction Sites auctions, Auction Sites Problems, Inquiries and MTG Commercial Websites.

Moderators: cataclysm80, hammr7, l0qii, Apocalypse2K, berkumps, dragsamou, mystical_tutor, pp

What do you think of my message to the seller?

Too harsh. You should relax, man.
1
9%
I could not have handled it better.
6
55%
You should have torn him a new one. Too weak!
2
18%
Hey I sold you that card!
2
18%
No opinion
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 11

Alien_Starfighter_Pilot
Legendary Lost Ace of Atlantis
Posts: 992
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:32 am
Location: Austin, Texas
Contact:

Message to an eBay seller...

Post by Alien_Starfighter_Pilot » Sat Aug 07, 2010 4:30 am

for an auction entitled "1x PROMO ~~ Revenant ~~ MTG {MINT}"
Hi I received this and the other 2 cards. while I am not concerned about the slight play wear on the other 2 cards (that were listed as mint), this card is, using your grading scale, MODERATELY played. it has definite play wear along the edges on both the front and back sides, WATER DAMAGE on the lower left edge on the back side, and scratching on the front of the card significant enough to remove the layer of the card with art on it. If an employee of mine were to grade this card as Mint, I would no longer employ their services of grading cards. I request you propose a satisfactory resolution to this issue, as I am wholly unsatisfied with the condition of this card, and will NOT put this card into my MINT promo card collection as I had originally intended.
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af11 ... tfront.jpg

http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af11 ... ntback.jpg

User avatar
berkumps
Legendary AA Coffin Puppet Master
Posts: 2192
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:56 am
Location: Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Post by berkumps » Sat Aug 07, 2010 5:08 am

There have been many instances where I've wanted to tear an online seller a new one regarding misgrading, but it is always better to take the high road and refrain from said tearing of said new one. If you can leave emotion out of it, especially if messaging through Ebay, it is usually best. It only helps your cause when dealing with both Ebay and the seller.

The response you wrote looks fine to me.

hammr7
Librarities Legend
Posts: 698
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 11:29 pm
Location: Southern New Jersey

Post by hammr7 » Sat Aug 07, 2010 5:57 am

It seems that some people think that MINT is short for MIsued and Nearly Trashed.

Volcanon
Legendary Snooty Caller
Posts: 487
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by Volcanon » Sat Aug 07, 2010 6:45 am

Demand a refund without sending it back to him. If he does that, leave a positive: "A bit of a misunderstanding, but he made it good!"

Otherwise, neg him and file "item not as described"

Hayden
Librarities Legend
Posts: 364
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:57 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Post by Hayden » Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:37 am

IMO Mint means Mint! ... Pack fresh, barely handled just as a new born card should be. I rarely if ever state a Mint grade on my sales items unless they are pack fresh items... and even then I call them NM/Mint.

I think your response is appropriate. Be civil at first and give the seller a chance to make good (if they are smart they will).
Happy customer = good fb.

Keep all correspondence within eB (if that is where you got it) so it can be tracked and viewed later if it comes to a claim. You will want to show that you tried to work things out with this person.

Worst case, if it all falls apart... then I would clearly state that this vendor OVERGRADES THEIR CARDS (with maybe a mention of water damage on Mint card) in nice bold letters in my negative fb left.

Good Luck

Alien_Starfighter_Pilot
Legendary Lost Ace of Atlantis
Posts: 992
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:32 am
Location: Austin, Texas
Contact:

Post by Alien_Starfighter_Pilot » Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:17 am

First off, thank you to everyone that has responded so far. Yes, I think that a civil yet firm message is appropriate, and I intentionally leave options for how the seller can try to resolve the situation.

response from seller:
Feel free to return the card and I will issue a refund as soon as I receive it. I apologize that you didn't agree with my grading but that card had never seen play and had been in a storage box from the moment I acquired it back in 1998. Again, I apologize that you don't agree with my grading and would be willing to offer a refund.
My response:
It is hard to agree with someone's grading a card as "Mint" when it has water damage. Please understand that I have been playing MTG for 15+ years now, and with those years I have gained enough experience with handling cards to tell if one has been played or not, and without a doubt this one has. it is not too heavily played, but it still shows a very noticeable amount of edge wear. what I can't figure out is what put divots on the surface on the front of the card. I can only imagine you have me mistaken with someone you did send a mint Revenant to, because it was not me. Now, I feel it would be much more appropriate that you send the refund before I return the card, because as I recall I sent payment before you sent the card.

Alien_Starfighter_Pilot
Legendary Lost Ace of Atlantis
Posts: 992
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:32 am
Location: Austin, Texas
Contact:

Post by Alien_Starfighter_Pilot » Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:26 am

seller's response to my second message:
Sorry but in your business do you give the customer a refund before they bring the product in? All of my auctions are NO REFUND auctions, however I do like to keep the customer happy and so for special cases I can make the judgment to give a refund. Now, as you stated, you are not happy with the card, fine, I will give a refund, but I am not giving it until the card I sent to you is back in my hands.

Volcanon
Legendary Snooty Caller
Posts: 487
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by Volcanon » Sat Aug 07, 2010 2:21 pm

Neg him.

You could file "not as described" with paypal, but then you'd have to send it back registered.

Hayden
Librarities Legend
Posts: 364
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:57 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Post by Hayden » Sun Aug 08, 2010 11:11 am

Based on the Sellers last reply about not giving refund until you send the card back...

I sense (as you probably do already) trouble with this one. Any seller that states "no refunds" flag themselves as trouble for me and I try to avoid at all costs - so it is no surprise the the seller is obviously lying about storing the "mint" card since '98 , yadda yadda yadda... Even if it was stored since '98 - he pulled it out of the box, posted it on eB and then handled it again to ship it to you and NEVER once saw that it was not as he described... SNAKE!!

Sorry bout that but these kinds of sellers PMO.

Anyway...

The odds are that if you send the card back regular main (to save on shipping) the seller will claim he never got it and since you cannot prove shipment you will lose in PP funds battle.

So it looks like you have some choices as follows:

- Keep the card but negotiate a reasonable partial refund from the seller to make the final cost outlay appropriate for the card in its actual condition. That way you reduce the risk of getting ripped off again and then you can leave neutral FB (or as appropriate).

OR

- Send the card back via registered mail (or trackable equivalent) and at the same time open a claim stating "condition not as advertised". This way you will at least get your money back other than the added shipping costs (which always sucks)... I would ask the seller to cover the added return costs - but we already know he will say no... And that is when I would leave the -ve fb to send the msg that this crap will not be tollerated.

PS: it may be better to start the claim before sending the card back to ensure PP puts the hold on his funds before he has a chance to drain his account.

All I can say is I wish you the best with this one...

Tha_Gunslinga
Librarities Legend
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 8:48 am
Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Contact:

Post by Tha_Gunslinga » Sun Aug 08, 2010 12:40 pm

I'd just leave a negative and move on. It couldn't have cost much, and surely your time is worth more.

Hayden
Librarities Legend
Posts: 364
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:57 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Post by Hayden » Sun Aug 08, 2010 1:59 pm

Tha_Gunslinga wrote:I'd just leave a negative and move on. It couldn't have cost much, and surely your time is worth more.
Good point... it's all relative to the cost vs your time. I am not into the Promo thing so I don't really know what the card is worth. If it was not much then it may not be worth the added stress/fight... My prior suggestions were made with high valued cards (Vintage/Power/Summer) in mind.
;)

the only time I ever went through the trouble of returning a card was when I bought a supposedly NM Beta Mox Sapphire and it turned out to be the best fake I had ever seen... In that case it was worth it to spend $15 to ship it back Registered to ensure I got my refund... Then put the seller on my Blacklist.

gzeiger
Librarities Legend
Posts: 283
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 12:46 pm

Post by gzeiger » Mon Aug 09, 2010 6:24 pm

I don't really feel it's unreasonable to ask for return of product. Unless I'm greatly mistaken this is somewhere in the range of a $2 dispute, and it doesn't seem that unlikely that an incompetent employee or a guy in a hurry grabbed a bunch of cards and listed them with only cursory inspection (that card does look mint in some areas, for example if it were fanned out in a stack) or as you suggested he did have a mint one and just grabbed the wrong one. None of that is good practice, but he did offer a refund to make good on his mistake. There are enough dishonest buyers out there, and no protections in place for sellers, that his position seems entirely reasonable to me.

The negative feedback alone is worth far more money than this auction, so I don't think you need to worry about him not sending payment unless you leave it prematurely.

My only complaint about the original message is that the random ALL CAPS does come off as rude. It seems better to find out what happened before being uncivil.

User avatar
mystical_tutor
Legendary Old Fart Magic Player
Posts: 3056
Joined: Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:02 am
Location: Colorado Springs

Post by mystical_tutor » Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:33 am

Alien_Starfighter_Pilot wrote:
Feel free to return the card and I will issue a refund as soon as I receive it. I apologize that you didn't agree with my grading but that card had never seen play and had been in a storage box from the moment I acquired it back in 1998. Again, I apologize that you don't agree with my grading and would be willing to offer a refund.
My response:
It is hard to agree with someone's grading a card as "Mint" when it has water damage. Please understand that I have been playing MTG for 15+ years now, and with those years I have gained enough experience with handling cards to tell if one has been played or not, and without a doubt this one has. it is not too heavily played, but it still shows a very noticeable amount of edge wear. what I can't figure out is what put divots on the surface on the front of the card. I can only imagine you have me mistaken with someone you did send a mint Revenant to, because it was not me. Now, I feel it would be much more appropriate that you send the refund before I return the card, because as I recall I sent payment before you sent the card.
You folks are all so darn nice. I try a mister nice guy approach such as the first message, really desiring to give the person a chance to correct what could be a honest mistake.

Getting a reply like the one given would then send me off to fireball mode. I hate this short fuse I have as I get older. Not good.

"In all fairness to you this information has been shared with the most prestigious MTG collectors in the world. Even with normal scans the damage is easy to see and they agree with my assessment of the card.

In all fairness to my fellow collectors I will initiate appropriate action and leave appropriate feedback. It is obvious that your business is incapable of properly grading MTG cards and collectors need to know that."

Or something like that.

Gary

Alien_Starfighter_Pilot
Legendary Lost Ace of Atlantis
Posts: 992
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:32 am
Location: Austin, Texas
Contact:

Post by Alien_Starfighter_Pilot » Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:21 am

Thank you all,

I feel that I should wait a few days, think about things and put them in perspective, then respond. Everyone that has replied has provided excellent insight and suggestion, or atleast put a smile on my face (I really like the MINT acronym!).

ok, my typing some words in all caps was me fireballing. I coulda phrased some of my first phrase a little better but I am frustrated with receiving promos with grading scales as abused as the card, or not taking reasonable precautions when shipping cards (seriously, $20 cards in penny sleeves in no. 10 envelopes?!?!?). getting burned for a $2 promo just irked me.

I'm hesitant to file a claim against this guy as I have filed a few other claims recently and am currently 100% for getting reimbursed on claims, and I would hate to break the camel's back over the aforementioned $2 card.

so this guy will get a Neg, and I will send a message to the seller with mainly what you put Gary.

It would be nice if this post becomes a requirement to read before contacting a seller about an "item not as described".

gzeiger
Librarities Legend
Posts: 283
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 12:46 pm

Post by gzeiger » Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:03 am

If you're going to wait a few days, why not just send the card back for a refund?

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests