PREEMPTIVE NOTE: SORRY FOR THE WALL OF TEXT.
I mostly use eBay, so dealing with sloppy sellers comes with the territory; it kind of is second nature by now. I’ve had some unpleasant experiences in the past, but these past few months have been putrid for me. These are three that I can't seem to shake off my head (I'm about to go off far more than I have ever around here, so bear with me if you can):
1) I bought Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles for the PS2 from a seller that had it listed as "Good", but the images provided in the listing showed a very clean copy. To me this is rather normal since I've had many instances in the past where sellers have listed games in this manner and I’ve ended up receiving them in a condition that far exceeded my expectations. Even so, I still sent the seller a message regarding the game, asking about the condition of the disc, to which he said it was "immaculate", but threw in that he could buff it out if I wanted to. I don't do resurfaced games, don’t like them, so I obviously said no – what's the point if the disc is in the way he says it is, right? Well, fast forward four days after purchase and what did I get? I got a disc that seemed to have been used as a surfboard, and then got resurfaced by a 5-year-old. I messaged the seller about it, and long story short he played dumb. As per his response, he said that he looked at it and didn't realize that it was resurfaced, and that he barely played the game. Usually you would have to put a disc in the right angle to see scratches and notice any buffing swirls, but for this one it truly doesn’t take much; you’d have to be blind not to see the disc in the condition is in and not see it was buffed. Thankfully it didn’t take long for the seller to admit his mistake – I was refunded and told to keep the game, but at the end of the day it was still a waste of time. I didn’t bother to leave any feedback since the seller corrected his mistake, and so far he hasn’t listed anything ever since (assuming he doesn’t have a second account). A learning experience for sure; any time a seller now mentions resurfacing/buffing whenever I ask for the condition of the disc, it's a "bye, Felicia" moment for me.
2) Recently I’ve been on a Resident Evil kick, so I wanted to get some of the games from the series I’ve been interested in, the Outbreak games being two of them. As such, I bought Resident Evil Outbreak from a seller that listed it at quite a modest price. That’s all the pleasantries I’ll give the seller, though, because I'm truly getting tired of sellers that crassly misrepresent the games they're selling. I say this because after a good 8 minutes of sifting through listings, I came across his, and seeing as it was listed in "Like New" condition and at a good price I didn’t hesitate. After all was said and done, I ended up receiving a game best described as "acceptable"; it came in a filthy case with stickers; the artwork was frayed due to water damage with a dirty posterior/backside; the manual was frayed/bent and dirty; and, of course, the disc wasn’t spotless. I wasn't happy, so I initiated a return, but for whatever reason eBay kept derping out on me and I couldn't access the return label. This went on for days until I had enough and told the seller if he could do a partial so that I could move on. In the end, the seller refunded the full price and told me to keep the game. Sure, another free game, but, all things considered, it was still a waste of time.
Funnily enough, in a masochist kind of way, I’ve had some not-so-very-good experiences when trying to add the Resident Evil Outbreak games to my collection through eBay. Without going into much detail, the first time I bought the two from a seller whose hometown had been hit by a storm, so he would have to ship at a later date. I fully understood, so sure, just keep me posted is all I said. A week passed and nothing, then another and a few messages and nothing. The EDD had already passed and after having enough, I opened a case and got a refund. Most recently I bought the duo from another seller, and the package ended up getting delivered in a completely different state, literally miles away from where I live. I messaged the seller about it, and amiably asked if she could help me out since the package, according to the tracking info, showed that it was still located in her state, and that she could easily call the PO where she shipped the package and ask for assistance. Her response was a spicy diatribe on how it’s my problem and I should call and get the problem fixed myself or wait until the EDD passes and go from there. She lobbed the trite and infamous, “once a package leaves my hands, the USPS is responsible” half-truth that all shoddy sellers love to spew. I knew she couldn’t be reasoned with, so after that I stopped and decided to proceed accordingly. As of this post this is still ongoing, so we’ll see how it goes... It certainly has been a waste of time.
3) Okay, last one; I’ve been trying to get both Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 1 and 2 for a while (as evidenced above). Admittedly I’m not a fan of Naruto, but these games are right up my alley, so I would definitely like to give them a try. Over the course of mid August to late September I was eyeing a listing for four Naruto games; the Uzumaki Chronicles duo and Ultimate Ninja 1 and 2 – not that I’m particularly interested in the latter two, but I thought they could serve as recoupers. No-one seemed interested in this listing, so the seller kept reducing the price constantly, going from something like $30something (can’t remember) to $18.88. One day I sent a message to another seller about another game, and after being redirected to the “message sent” page, I noticed in the recommended tabs this one listing with not only both Uzumaki Chronicles, but also Ultimate Ninja 1, 2, and 3, plus other miscellaneous games for $12 plus shipping. I instantly clicked and sent the seller a message regarding condition, to which he stated that they were in “very good condition” attaching images of what appeared to be five very clean games. I usually go for “like new”, but often tend to settle for “very good” based on what the seller’s answer is regarding the condition – I tend to see “very good” as essentially a 7 to 8 out of 10. Long story short—not really—I bought the lot. Initially the seller got the package sent back by the USPS due to insufficient postage, so I ended up having to wait nearly a week for him to ship the games. At the time he was a new seller, so I let these few mishaps slide because I was once a new seller and all that sympathetic garbage. I ended up getting the games, and boy was I greeted with utter junk. With the exception of two, the rest of the games were in varying condition ranging from beat up cases, frayed artwork, worn, and even chewed manuals, and, of course, scratched discs. I ended up contacting the seller detailing all of this and, for a "new" seller, he had his excuses on point, which led me to believe this is just another seller using a new account probably due to past shady businesses. After a while I was fed up with his shenanigans and filed a case. Eventually I was told to return the item, so I tried accessing the return label that eBay provides, and just like with the Resident Evil Outbreak case, nada. All I got were technical errors, so I ended up calling customer support, this being the first time I have to do so for a purchase. The representative told me that he would send a request to the seller for him to send me a new label, but instead he received a message allowing him to send me the money via PayPal for me to cover the shipping, which he eventually failed to do. After nearly 3 weeks of this obscene and torturous waste of my time, I called customer support once again and finally got my money back, and in the process got to keep his trash. I’m still debating whether leaving negative feedback or not since the seller literally canceled all his other listing right after I opened the case, which fully confirms my suspicion that he’s an old seller just scurrying about eBay like a cockroach. I digress; thinking it over as I type this, I might just move on. Feedback truly means nothing on eBay anymore, and I got my money back.
Anyway, I’ve gone on for too long, but before I finish, as a side note, is it me, or do most people whose last feedbacks are from 6 months ago end up being crummy sellers? Besides these three fabulous cases, I've recently had to open INR cases and this was the common denominator. October, curiously enough, hasn't been a good month for me, as I've come across plenty of shoddy sellers. It’s gotten to the point where things people do on eBay rarely (if ever) surprise me, eBay after all is a 50/50 bag, but man do I hate when people waste my time. I really do.
