talkmagic.co.uk

I know that there have been postings in the past about the pro's and con's of trading on ebay so I thought that I would post to let you know of a recent bad experience that I'm still trying to resolve.

To start, I would like to thank Stephenmagic for his help and advice in trying to help me resolve this matter - your time was very much appreciated.

Anyway, you may recall that I recently posted under the magic wanted section to ask if anyone knew where I could get an Eddie Gibson 10p/2p version of his Coin Unique. I received information from a member that there was one on ebay for sale and I looked this up to find a nice photo and the item described as 'Eddie Gibson's Coin Unique'. The item number was 6201102702 if anyone want to look it up.

Having seen this I placed a bid of £21 which I felt was reasonable for a second hand coin with new ones costong around £28, and after a few hours wait I received notification that I won the bid.

I paid by PayPal immediately and I do mean immediately and I sent off an email to the seller asking if he could post soon, so that I received it before going on holiday. The coin arrived on the Thursday morning, the day before going away.

I unpacked the coin to find that it was not an Eddie Gibson and not even a coin unique. It was more like a scotch and soda coin and the 2p was nothing more than a shell. It was nothing like any of the other Eddie Gibson coins that I have, in both construction or quality. Obviously peeved, I sent an email to the seller politely expressing my dis-satisfaction before going away and expected a reply when I returned home last weekend.

On my return there was no reply. I quickly sent another email and the next day received a short response which said that it was an Eddie Gibson coin and that there was not a problem. Hard luck.

I disputed this and having provided some evidence, and asking for a refund I received a very offensive and abusive email from the seller in which he agreed to refund me the cost if I returned the coin.

The seller called me a dole scrounger (words to this effect), amongst other things for asking for my £21 back. He wrote that it's only £20 followed by some abusive name calling for having the audacity to ask for this paltry sum. I told him that it was a matter of principle that I was asking for my money back.

I returned the coin using recorded delivery and the Royal Mail web site confirms through the tracking that the coin was delivered on the 13/09/05 before 12:10. I have written two emails that I know the seller has read, thanks to the mail read receipt notification in Outlook. He has yet to reply and I feel that he is stalling so I have this evening reported the matter to both PayPal and to ebay.

Although I look at ebay a lot, this was actually my first transaction and it hasn't been a happy one. I don't yet know if I will get my money back and I don't have the coin anymore. I'll have to wait and see what ebay and PayPal have to say on the matter

I know that many of you will have conducted loads of transactions on ebay without any problem but like myself, if you're starting out then please beware.

If you see any items for sale from BlueMagic7 then beware!

Ebay can be good and bad. One of the most important things is the feedback score for the seller because if he/she has a high feedback score then I would consider them trustworthy. It's not just the percentage score but the amount of people giving feedback. I say go for the ones with at least 100 feedback.

Unlucky there dat. I think you can report the user to ebay.

StEvEbO!

The feedback was around the 97% mark so sounded trustworthy.

I offered the seller the benefit of the doubt by stating politely that he may have been duped himself, not knowing that what he was selling as an Eddie Gibson was in fact a fake.

He said in an email that he bought it from Davenports and was checking with them but when I followed this up by politely asking what Davenports had said to him, the tide turned and he became abusive which he has remained since.

If I were tempted to buy again I would certainly makje further enquiries with the seller before bidding, just to make sure.

If you do not resolve the issue then I think that it would be a justifiable act for you to disclose who the offending vendor is so that others might be more wary. But that has been done now so arbitrary point, but one for people reading - disclosing - 'naming and shaming' is the last stage in the process - dialogue first.

This might be a case of the person selling thinking that they have sold what they thought was a genuine Eddie Gibson, or again they may have meant 'in the style of Eddie Gibson'. Words are powerful and explicit and can be read as something they are not of course so check the description (and save a copy of the web page for later reference.

It might help to send the person a copy of the description of a real EG product and perhaps even a description of what you got in a mirror of Scotch and Soda or whatever fits closest.

You could even ask them to send a proper EG product and then you'll be happy (or a the original product and a copy of the Davenport's receipt).

Hope this of use,

Vic

Yes, You were very unlucky. You just happened to find one bad egg.
I can definitely say that everybody who I have dealt with on eBay so far have been very polite.
I use eBay quite a lot, but I'm finding it harder and harder to find a bargain because of the sheer amount of people that use it, but it is very good for finding old and rare items.
You were very unlucky dat. Try not to be put off by this experience.

ive had a problem on ebay once. Basically in the magic section there was an aucion for a job lot of 55 magicians sponge balls, 99p no reserve, the picture showed magicians sponge balls so i put a maximum bif of £15, as i thought that was an ace price for so many sponge balls.

I won the item, and when i got them, they wernt magicias sponge balls, they were promotional stress balls, which had a large white cross on it. I was really disappointed about this, so i email the guy saying that they wernt as advertised and i requested a refund, basically, he said that the balls were red and spongey, so no refund (infact, they were mad out of that foam that you squeeze and they then form back to their shape.

This really piddled me off, so i send a complaint to paypal, to get a refund. I managed to win the case, but he had put it s that it had to be redirected through a canadian distribution centre, to get back to him, and i would get back the postage i used to send back, or the postage i paid for the item in the first place.

I decided not to send it back, and call it a bad experience.

By the way, if anyone would like to buy these balls off me, then make me an offer! giveaways for your kids shows!

Guess what - I've just had an email confirming that the package has been delivered but the seller has stated that the package was empty.

Looks like I'm going to lose the coin as well as the money!

Whos betting another coin unique gets put on auction on ebay from this guy?

I've just checked and you're sure right!

The same coin, again being sold as an Eddie Gibson is back on sale with the auction ending in 2 days.

You can always email the winner - tell them of your experience.

I've just emailed the current highest bidder and sent another report to ebay.

I have to say that I haven't been too encouraged by ebay's response so far.

If you keep emailing the winners I'm betting he pays up, but it is disgusting that this should be allowed and a slur on Eddie Gibsons name, perhaps he should be told? Oh and don't just email the winners but all of them as otherwise he may just offer it the next one in the line.

I'm watching the item and emailing each top bidder as they are posted. I've also sent an email to Eddie Gibson to inform him that his good name is being used to pass off a fake onto unsuspecting buyers. I will also email Davenports as I have an email from the buyer that states that they mis-sold it to him.

I think that my next step on Monday morning will be to contact trading standards.


EDIT: Thankfully I sent the item by Registered delivery and the Royal Mail tracking system confirms delivery on 13 September just before 12:10. Although BlueMagic7 states that the package was empty I have noted that the coin set that he's selling went on sale at 12:11 on 13 September.

I have taken the liberty of offering BlueMagic7 my services in resolving this - think it's part of the dog-collar thing - hopefully this can be resolved.

Regards,

Vic VDB

That would be most generous of you and thanks.

The last email that I had was to say that I was being reported to ebay for violation of their terms. I don't know what I've done and have remained polite throughout, hoping that common sense and decency will prevail.

It's a shame as the seller appears to have an excellent reputation judging by his previous sales comments and I really don't know what I did to offend him and to make him take this course of action, other than to ask for my money back.