Would you neg the seller?

[Kawika]

Shown is the seller's scan. Now that I look at it there is a faint trace of a crease to be seen. Description in its entirety: "John McGraw "You're a Knocker" image post card" followed by boilerplate asserting his impeccable reputation and accompanying b.s. No returns accepted.



This is the postcard I received. Well lookie here! Packed tightly between two pieces of cardboard that showed no creasing, bending, nothing - i.e., the card was not damaged in transit.



Do I neg the guy straightaway? An egregious bit of fraud on his part I would say, and isn't the whole point of feedback to keep the system honest? Or, do I be Mr. Nice Guy, email him politely as to the fact that he has given the appearance of being ever-so-slightly-less-than-impeccable, send him back the card and await a refund?

I don't like negging sellers. Have done so on only three occasions in over 2500 eBay transactions since 2001. I am plenty pissed off about this but thought I would count to ten and maybe accept the counsel of the wise galoots of Net54.

[nebboy]

even know (No returns accepted) talk to the guy and show him what your showing us. Give him the chance to do the right things. You can always go the other route later.

[joeadcock]

David

My first inclination is always a negative feedback, in my mind. This same incident has happened to me(because I've bought so much from ebay) since 2003.
However, after thinking about it more, I think about "Judge not, that you be not judged". In other words, I would email him first and as ask that he rectify what is wrong. There maybe a reasonable explanation.
That is how I would handle it, as I have in the past. The result has not always been pleasant.
I no longer jump as I used to. Even here on the board, in past, I made a mistake when I misinterpreted what an answer to a question of mine was. I apologized because I totally misinterpreted what he meant.

If your not given satisfactory answer, then I would go ahead and do what you feel you have to.

Thanks for letting me give my opinion.

Frank

[quinnsryche]

I would try to work it out with the seller first. If you neg him right off the bat you probably will get nowhere fast. Take a deep breath and give him a chance to make good before you give him a beat down.

[Ladder7]

Give a warning and ultimatum. Then, if still not satisfied:

This seller's mede extra cake through deception. Christmas is over... Neg him. Then retract the feedback in a few days -after he does ya proper of course.

As an added bonus., You will likely be blocked from his later sales!

[tiger8mush]

At least the "John McGraw Image PC $85" white circle sticker wasn't attached when u received the card

Anytime there is little/no description followed by "no returns", you have to be suspicious as a buyer.

If you want to keep the PC, then one idea is to leave neutral feedback with a very low "item description" score and a few words about his deceiving scans. If you want to return it, send him an email and see where it gets you. If he won't budge and doesn't see anything wrong with his deceiving scan, then maybe neg him and give low scores across the board.

Good luck, David!

Rob

[glchen]

I've had similar things happen to me before. What I've done is message the seller, and tell him that I'm very unhappy with the card because of so and so. Usually the seller will reply and say that he didn't realize that and will ask what needs to be done to make it right. Then I would usually give what I believe is a fair price for what should have been the card, and the seller would refund me the difference. If the seller doesn't respond or is hostile after you message him, I would neg him and give him low DSRs across the board.

[3-2-count]

David. I would most definitely try to work it out with the seller first, but make note to mention your displeasure in how you think the scan was tinkered with to look better than the item actually was. If then the seller gives you any grief go through the proper channels for a refund if your going to return it, or leave him the proper feedback, (possibly a neg) on your buying experience if your going to keep it regardless of it's flaws. Nice item by the way, creases or not.

[iggyman]

As others have mentioned, I would email the seller to get his/her version of events. Perhaps something can be worked out to your satisfaction. Just keep in mind that the ebay sellers "ABSOLUTELY NO REFUNDS ACCEPTED" statement is worthless. You can get a full refund, if that is your desire (just make sure to send it back with delivery confirmation or if over $250 with signature confirmation).

Leaving a quick negative might give you some initial redemption. But over time, you will look at the postcard with some contempt and probably get rid of it on the B/S/T board for a 50% loss (email me first by the way).

Lovely Day...

[D. Bergin]

Looks like he scanned it without the "Descreen", on and the green dot pattern of the print of the postcard was in turn exaggerated and camouflaged the creases in the process. Maybe even went through a default scanner correction program. I don't think it was manually airbrushed, otherwise he probably would have corrected the notch down near the bottom.

Not sure the purpose of the label on the front. He probably should have mentioned the creases in the description.

I'd ask for a refund and see what his response is.

[bbcard1]

I would try to work it out with the seller, but I am suspicious of a little photoshop work on the original scan. You can sort of see the crease along the a....

[Leon]

I would simply ask him to help you understand what happened?

Then, you can go from there. I would leave it open initially. You never know. One time I had a good board member accidentally send me the wrong, very scarce PCL card. I asked him about it and he had ANOTHER just like it but with no crease, which is what was pictured and what I based my buying decision on. He sent that one, I sent his other one back and all ended well. Ya' never know till ya ask.

[prewarsports]

I owned that postcard once (but I am NOT the seller on ebay). Here is my archived scan of it from last year. I think it was probably just the sellers scanner since the price sticker is on it, that means he scanned it inside the plastic sleeve and that layer of plastic probably messed with the resulting scan. Just my opinion, as I know the seller a little and he has never altered anything before (usually gets most stuff graded etc) and this is a pretty inexpensive item.

Rhys

[Jewish-collector]

Send him a link to this thread/forum. Tell him to join our discussion about it.

[Bridwell]

I'd give him a chance to do the right thing. A couple of times I received a partial refund and was able to keep the card. If you don't want the card, you should be able to return it due to the problem with his scanner.

Ron

[JeremyW]

I generally ask people on Ebay if there are creases, wrinkles, etc. on cards before I purchase an ungraded card. Many times scans are not enough. If you asked that question, a neg is justified.

[steve B]

I'd try to work something out as well.

I used to be fairly active selling assorted stuff back when that was actually profitable. I had a couple items with complaints. The stuff mentioned was easily visible to me in my scans. But...I've got 20" crt monitor that I've had since that was considered to be really big. I had relative look at the item on a small screen, and the problems weren't visible at all. I refunded the sale price, and asked them to keep the item in one case, and totally refunded without a return in the other. (both items under $10 )

But the buyer who left a neutral over an issue that was clearly stated in the brief description- Something like "cross stitch partial kit, pattern only, no cloth or floss included"- and she complained that it wasn't complete! wouldn't have gotten any sympathy.

I didn't know about the "descreen" feature. Interesting, I may have it on as a default, as most of my scans end up making the item look worse. A real coin toss as a seller, stuff may sell for less, but when it looks better than the scan the buyers are usually happy and that's not a bad thing.

Steve B

[danmckee]

I see the crease in his scan though your scan is much better. That is a cool postcard. I may buy you out of this deal if you like.

I don't see where the seller did anything wrong. Write him and tell him you didn't see the crease and if he says no return, then blast him.

I would have sold that exactly as he did, pictured and with less description.

Difference is I take returns.

Write me and let me know if you want out of the deal

dan

[Kawika]

Thanks everyone for your responses. The consensus is clear that I should give the seller the opportunity to explain himself and to rectify things to a reasonable extent. I do want to keep the card even though it has an ugly crease right down the middle that I didn't know was there (and, dude, I shouldn't have to ask, I'm not some dumbshit newbie, the seller is supposed to disclose stuff like that) - only have seen one other and that was posted on this Board recently - but don't want to feel I had a fast one pulled on me. I will refrain from a kneejerk negative feedback and contact the seller, and will report back to the Board when there's more to say.

Apologies for chop suey syntax.

[JLange]

Its so frustrating to get a card in the mail that you really want, only to find it damaged! My first thought is always, "I want the CARD, not my money back!" but then I realize its not what I wanted/expected. Before you neg him, I would correspond with this person and tell him what you want. Give him some options that you would find acceptable given the facts. You can a) send back for a full refund; b) accept a price adjustment for the lower grade; c) exchange the card for something else in his inventory. Be creative, but only offer a remedy that would make you feel (close to) whole and that won't still piss you off if he accepts one of the remedies. Only after I have exhausted all of these or similar approaches with no honest attempt on the other's part to satisfy me as a customer, would I neg somebody. Good luck!

[cfc1909]

I have only left 1 neg the entire time on ebay and that was when I could not get the seller to respond to me. I always give the seller a chance to do the right thing and they have except once-and as Dan says -blast them negatively.

[novakjr]

f

[novakjr]

Hi, from a little research, I found this page. And it claims that the drawing on the postcard is actually Willie Keeler.

http://www.vintageball.com/PlayerPostcards.html

[ubiqty]

In a similar experience, I won a raw Luther Taylor Rotograph (portrait) card in an auction about 2 years ago. I paid alot for it based on the apparent VG-EX condition. When I sent it in to be encapsulated by SGC, it came back as altered due to color added. I was also disappointed like you were. I contacted the auction house and let them know what happened. At first they said they would contact the seller to see if he would do anything to make it right. After about 2 weeks of no response and a few non-returned calls, I finally reached someone at the auction house who said, "The owner isn't willing to offer any type of discount off of the price you paid and neither are we, but if you want to return the card, we'll refund your money." Since I had been waiting for one of these for a while, I just decided to keep it. Fortunately, I haven't seen one since and I'm glad I have one even though the deal left a bad taste. That sounds like how it will end up for you too.

Scott.