Who Buys These Things???

[glchen]

I don't think that SNAD's on ebay's are always wins. I've "lost" 2 cases myself. The first was a reprint of a W517 Ruth for ~$300. The photo on ebay was a bit blurry so I did not see the W517 in the bottom corner that indicates the card was a reprint. I asked seller for return, and they said no. I filed a SNAD case with ebay, and showed them scans from the Standard Catalog that indicated the card was a reprint and that the ebay listing said the card was authentic. Somehow, the seller called ebay and managed to convince the ebay rep to rule in favor of the seller. Then I got this long message from an ebay supervisor basically telling me to be more careful in the future. I was fairly shocked obviously, and called ebay the next day, and got the case reviewed and ruled in my favor. Therefore, I still got my refund. However, because ebay initially ruled for the seller, they still got to keep their money, and the refund came out of ebay's pockets.

For the other case, I bought a factory set for 1981 Donruss that the seller said was unopened. I got the set, and I opened the box, and it seemed like it was opened and culled. Therefore, again, seller refused return. I filed a SNAD with ebay. However, because they said I could have been the one who had gone through the set, not the seller, so they ruled in favor of the seller. And the ebay supervisor gave me a bunch of other stories of all of these other SNAD's they refused for various items like antique dolls. The set only cost me ~$20, so I just negged the seller and moved on. I have never tried to use my credit card to generate a refund.

[iggyman]

Gary,

Those two cases are interesting and thanks for sharing. Obviously, eBay got it wrong with the W517 Ruth. I can see both sides of the Donruss dispute, but that sorts of blows-up the entire "not as advertised dispute will always trump sellers return policy" mombo jumbo.

A grey area will always exist when you have human beings making snap decisions, but here is what I learned from both your cases. When opening a dispute against a seller that does not accept returns, give eBay as little information as possible AND always always always stick with the "item not as advertised" mantra.


Thus...eBay rep: why do you want to return the Donruss 1981 unopened box??? They were not as advertised.

eBay rep: What was wrong with them??? The cards were not the same as advertised in the auction - both in the description and the pic.

eBay rep: Can you give me more detail??? Auction advertised a Donruss 1981 unopened, box but when the package arrived it was not a Donruss 1981 unopened box.

eBay rep: How can you be so sure, did you open the box??? Oh, I'm 100% sure! I've been collecting baseball cards since 1972 and it's a fine American hobby. You can say, here is the opportunity and the Youth of America says, 'How much are you going to pay me?' It's like going to the university--they want the biggest, the best, the most. If necessary, we'll pay the bonuses. But they should earn it.

Lovely Day...