Author Topic: What where your worst experiences as a buyer overall when dealing 2nd hand stuff  (Read 2367 times)

sworddude

As far as real scammers and money scams go I haven't had any issues with that in the past 4 years luckily.

but I have to say these are top 3 most annoying things I had to deal with as a buyer wich come very close to a scam, would love to hear what other people have been through aswell

1

I bought a bunch of dreamcast games from someone. The guy wanted to keep them in the end and said he would refund my money in 14 days and broke all contact basicly just borrowing my money. The guy paid after exactly 14 days but super annoying pretty much a scam imo.

2

So I bought a certain nintendo set pictures where excellent very hard to fake and abundant. Well later on the guy could not find the most important games of the set and he would refund my money. I could however not contact him for a week. Though I had been scammed. Turned out the guy was on a business trip wich is why he was so hard to contact. Got my money back. But seriously selling stuff before you go abroad absolute pain  what is with some people these days.

3

Than I have this seller I bought from this guy almost 10 times over the years. So I bought a sega set from the guy for a great price this guy always has steals. so in this case something fishy happened the guy did not respond anymore wich was strange usually a good seller als the exact same bank details like always. I have however dealt with this guy on both facebook and other market places so i contacted him on facebook to see what's up. Apparently his stepson hacked his marketplace and his bank account and he's having problems with it atm since some other people fell for it aswell. So apparently the kid was taken out of the house since he acted like a criminal.

Truth or not I did get my money back pretty fast but I'm thinking twice before I buy from this guy again. People can do strange things if they really need money so the story could just be made up.

Also keep in mind 2weeks before the incident i bought allot of games from this guy wich just went as normal some **** happens i guess  :o


Luckily these where the only cases and these are very rare but they can be an absolute pain to deal with.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2019, 06:42:29 pm by sworddude »
Your Stylish Sword Master!



aliensstudios

I've had people try to sell fake games to me from Craigslist ads and one time somebody sold me a convincing Pokemon Nintendo DS fake on eBay but I got my money back. I believe the old adage if something is too good to be true... well it probably is.
"I collect vidya games and vidya game accessories, I tell you what."

Just a PlayStation 3 caked in brown sticky dirt all over it. I could not tell if it was soda or special sauce. I know brown sauce is a old joke on the forum but the same thing happen to one of my PS3's I bought from amazon. But come to think of it it didn't smell anything like cigarette smoke. I said it was nicotine before on here but it was covered in something brown and sticky for $120USD. I'd say I got brown sauced  before ::)
« Last Edit: May 10, 2019, 07:11:20 pm by oldgamerz »
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ferraroso

Once, I bought an MSX2 for a fairly good price on Yahoo! Auctions. The guy didn't give me any guarantees it would work, but I was told that it would at least turn on, so I purchased it hoping I would probably be able to fix it.
When it arrived, the ON/OFF light was really turning on, however, I noticed that it was turning on even when the computer wasn't connected to any external power source. So, when I opened it, I saw that the motherboard was completely burnt and that someone had connected the ON/OFF switch to the ON/OFF light using a watch battery!!! That was the reason why it was apparently "turning on"!

In the end, I was able to send the system back to its seller and they gave me back all the money I had spent on it, but it was the biggest gaming-related scam I've seem someone trying to pass on me around here...

indenton

I was sold 2 Bootleg GBA carts of Pokemon ROM hacks (Shiny Gold & Chaos Black) for £20 I think.  I remember the exact day I picked these up, it was exactly 1 day after Pokemon Ranger released, 14th April 2007.  I was a tween but man I sure was naive

Not a scam per se but rather the first unsuccessful transaction I have had using Craiglist. Someone had listed their copy of Sekiro for $40 and this was maybe like a week or two after it came out so at that price I was willing to get it. I contacted the individual and we set up the day and time no problem over text. Now prior to that I had setup another meeting for something else and then drove to get Sekiro. Prior to driving to their location, I texted then that I was on my way and I had not received a reply but I figured they just saw it and went on my way. After some driving around and getting parking since it was a one way street, I texted them stating I was there and no answer so I wait for like 20 minutes and realize that the seller never read the message as it was still on delivered. I waited maybe another 5 minutes, realized this wasnt happening and left. What made this infuriating was that getting there was a pain in the ass and it about 30 minutes from where I live and leaving wasnt a cakewalk. Regardless I left and it was just frustrating. Not as bad but round 2 of getting Sekiro came on Letgo when someone else was selling it for $40 but the problem with them was that their respond time was so trash that I couldnt even setup anything. Like he texted me on a Sunday and I texted back if it was possible to pick up that day and it took a week to get another response asking if I was still interested. By that point, I had already payed kamikaze on this forum and got it from him. To my surprise, he did sell it not too long after which was surprising.

My most recent was 2 weeks ago as of tomorrow when I had setup on Letgo once more to buy an Elgato HD60 just the unit and the Smash Ultimate Collectors Guide for 45 total which I thought was really worth it especially for the Elgato at 35. It was setup and I drove 30 minutes to their place. I texted that I was outside and no response. I texted again telling them my car, no response. I dont know why but i kept waiting and sent an is everything okay text. I was there for an hour so by that point, I was just done and left. This same day I had arranged to pick up an Ipad and a copy of DB Fighterz so after getting back near home where the person selling DBZ was, I decided to waste some time before going to pick up the Ipad since the person selling it kept pushing the time and the first time was fine but then while waiting, he pushed the time again and I was just like wtf, I dont even want this anymore. So I tell the ipad guy that I didnt want to because at this point I just wanted to get what I need to get at the supermarket and go home. Just as I was heading there, I get a text from the first person saying that they passed out I guess before I got there. They asked if I still want it and would lower the price if that was the case. Needless to say I still wanted it so I parked at a walgreens, told him to stay put and I would go pick it up. At the same time, I told the Ipad guy I can make it to buy it. So I drove back again, texted them I was outside. They came and looking scared like I was about to eff them up and I was out. It went from 45 to 40 and while not a huge difference, I still got what I wanted. Drove to where I needed to be for the Ipad and also bought my supermarket stuff since the meetup was at a shop rite lot which worked out fine and meanwhile inside shop rite, I again setup a meeting on letgo for DS Lite which went fine. Needless to say after that escapade, I  uninstalled Letgo. It only lasted a week but good god man.

Before Ebay had buyer protection I bought the first Panzer Dragoon game from a seller who described the item in very good, complete condition, but no pic was supplied. The price was good so I took a chance on it. Low and behold it was not complete when it arrived; the case and disc were original, but the manual/cover was a printed out one from a cheap black and white printer. I called the buy out on it, and of course he never responded. I then opened a case against him, but he literally abandoned his account instead of giving me a refund, which was interesting since I remember he had at least 40 feedback. Unfortunately I didn't get my money back for that one.


Another ebay horror story involved my girlfriend who bought something off ebay that arrived in a crushed Poptart box. Obviously she was pretty pissed about it and left negative feedback for the seller. The seller then proceeded to flip out on her and began sending her threatening messages. She reported the buyer and the buyer and his 4000+ feedback account were banned. This pissed him off and he proceeded to create fake accounts and harass her for the next month. She eventually got tired of dealing with it and because she knew the guy's name and address from the item she bought from him, she threatened legal action if he sent her one more threatening message. They stopped immediately after that.


This last one is more funny than bad, but I used to have a honey hole from about 2011 to 2013 where I found a ton of amazing deals on games. It was a 2nd hand media store owned by the now defunct Hastings, and before retro gaming/collecting became very popular it was a constant goldmine of new, amazing stuff coming in. Just as reference to how amazing it was, all retro games, which was everything before PS3/360/Wii was priced at $3 each regardless of title. I found games like Haunting Grounds, Skies of Arcadia, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Saturn Bomberman and so, so, soooo many other expensive items for just $3. Hell, probably 80% of my PS2 collection came from that place. But anyhow, around 2013 when video game collecting really started gaining traction, there was a guy that worked there who was a total scummy dickbag who would follow me around and see what games I would pick up and would love to ask me how rare/valuable they were. At first I thought he was just curious, but then realized he was trying to gain knowledge on what to snipe before it hit the floor. And snipe he did! At one point in 2014 he'd post several new ads on CL a day of stuff he picked up from there, and of course during this same time almost nothing good made it to the floor. I had to get clever to beat this guy, and I did this by gaining a good relationship with a few employees who would always check the back when I asked them about new retro stuff that came in. Because of this I was able to undercut that one employee, however by that time there were probably 4 other employees that were sniping the games too. Eventually my friendly employees either quit or were pressured to stop helping me, but that didn't stop me from asking employees who were either new or were at least somewhat decent. At one point there was this really goofy looking employee that really, really hated me for trying to purchase games that he felt entitled to. One evening I walked in and asked an employee behind their buyback counter about any new retro games that came in, and the goofy employee literally ran over to me and started yelling at me to stop asking. I was shocked that an employee was yelling at me. Instead of getting upset I asked to speak with a manager and eventually got one, but the manager didn't seem to give two shits that his employee just verbally thrashed me. At this point I was fairly pissed off, however there was a cart behind the counter that was barely within arms reach from my side that had some pretty nice Gamecube and PS1 titles on it. Mind you that these games were priced, but none of them would have ever made it out with the employees working there. I waited for a chance and when no one was looking i grabbed them and hung onto them while I continued to shop, however I wanted to make sure something happened while I was still there. I found the asshole employee that yelled at me and I made sure he could see the games i had, and holy crap you could just see the anger and hatred on his face when he saw what I had. I thought he was going to accost me again, but instead proceeded to look butt hurt. I ended up buying those games and was victorious that night. Unfortunately I barely found anything else there for the following two years until Hastings went under and so did that store in 2016, but by then it was hard for me to feel any sense of loss since that place stopped being worth it years prior.

sworddude

@bikinhatjuty I kinda have a simular story as yours as far as stores and honey holes go

There was a store in wich you could find many expensive retro titles for pennies. until almost late 2017 wich is very late imo it was a honeyhole. It however became allot more popular and just like you employees where getting the good stuff when it came in before it would reach the store or site formerly older employees did not give two shits about old stuff. Than again I can't blame them crappy salary etc or maybe a collector aswell so those cheap rare games are a nice bonus I guess. employees are good chaps though so no horror stories like yours.

Sucks for a collector but that's just how it goes in this day and age.

And there was also this store that would probably monitor if I bought something of the more hidden stuff. 9 out of 10 times they raised the price when they got it in stock again since they sold it for a fraction before. it happened allot and lucklily some of the best deals kept being that low and missed the increase in price hammer ;D

obviously it was done this way since I bought allot and prices did not increase in the past when I went wild allot  ::)

competition was low since their mainstream titles are one of the most overpriced in the entire market people mostly came for new stuff as a result so that worked out very well for the less known gem titles wich had very od low prices.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2019, 05:47:05 am by sworddude »
Your Stylish Sword Master!




And there was also this store that would probably monitor if I bought something of the more hidden stuff. 9 out of 10 times they raised the price when they got it in stock again since they sold it for a fraction before. it happened allot and lucklily some of the best deals kept being that low and missed the increase in price hammer ;D



There's a local retro game store that does this with me. The owner screwed me over on a Ni No Kuni Wizard Edition preorder back when that game came out; I preordered it several weeks prior to it coming out, however when the game released he saw that people were paying around $300 for it, which was 3x retail. He "just wanted to be fair" and told me I could have my preorder at the bargain price of $250 even though I had locked down a copy well before the prices got insane after it launched. Obviously I was super pissed about this and had it not been for his store being one of the best in terms of selection I'd easily have stopped shopping there for good. Fastforward several years later and with the memory of what he did to me still on my mind, I see the have three copies of Class of Heroes 2G on the PS3 on the shelf priced at only $60 each. This was before the reprint and when those games were selling between $200 and $250 each. I bought every copy while the owner was in the store and he looked ultra salty about it. Mind you I had caught them slipping many times before this, however it was always on single items so the had no idea that they were letting the game go for way under market. Following that visit, every time I found a good deal on something, they'd increase the price on that item to at least ebay if not higher. Literally every item I bought they did this too! On top of that whenever I go in the store now the owner acts very weird around me, almost hostile as if I'm an unwanted house guest. The guy is a douche and as long as he doesn't flat out ban me I'll continue to go to his store and try and catch him slipping ;)

theflea

there's many times I've had "issues" getting games in my collection. These are the top ones I can think off.

1.
I find a NES lot on Ebay and in the lot was Flintstones Surprise at Dinosaur Peak for $500. I contacted the seller before buying and asked if the game was an original or reproduction and can I get a picture of the board. He contacts me saying it was original, He found the lot at a thrift store. He tells me he didn't have the tool to open the cart. I tell him if I buy the lot I would open the cart and if it was a fake I would return it. Again he tells me its real. I buy it and it comes in the mail. I open the box and look only for the rare cart. I find it and open it up and see it's a fake. So I contact the seller telling him it was fake and want a refund. He tells me I'm lying and refused to refund the money.
I file a refund with Ebay and they make him send me a return label and to refund the money once he gets the package back. He sends me an message yelling at me telling me I'm a scammer and said "You didn't you ask me to take a picture of the board before he sent it"
I send a copy of the message where i asked to show me the board but he didn't have the tool. (so you can open the cart now?) He then tells me to never buy from him again, Not a problem bud. I sent everything back and he had to refund my money.

2.
This happened not long ago, I was out game hunting and stop at a tiny used game store I've never been to before. I see a picture of Mountain Bike Rally / Speed Racer SNES cart by the SNES games. I ask about it and they tell me they have a copy of that super rare game. I ask the price and they tell me $800. I think damn that's not a bad price on that. I ask to see it and they tell me they can't sell it til they contact the owner. I think WTF, While they contact the owner I ask is the cart not here? They tell me it is here in the back but they cant sell it til the owner okays it. They finally get done talking with the owner and they tell me he's looked up the game and the price is now $2000 because someone listed it at that. But the last one that sold went for $1200, they tell me sorry owner wants $2000 now. No I didn't buy it. I doubt I'll stop at that store again. I was warned this place was horrible, They also had a fake copy of Earthbound priced at $200. Maybe the other cart was a fake too.

3.
I once saw a N64 lot I was interested in but the seller lived over 60 miles away. (it was the rare gold one, at the time I didn't have it) I emailed him and he gave me his number to call and we can meet. We talked on the phone and agreed on a price and I drove the 60+ miles to meet up with him. I get to the Walgreens parking lot we agreed to meet at early and 20 minutes pass from the time we agreed to meet and I try and call him. (He never picks up the phone) I wait a while longer and try again. (again no answer.) After over an hour of this and me calling several times and he never answers I'm pissed at this point. I send him and Email telling him I had to go, maybe we can meet up again? later that day I finally get a message back saying sorry I sold it to someone else. Thanks for telling me jerk.

I'm sure there's more but these where the ones I could recall at this time.  :P



"Happy game hunting!!!"

The only time I got scammed was actually here in the marketplace, to be fair it was probably my own fault for being too trusting. A newer user had a used vita listed and I offered him less than his asking price and he immediately accepted. He asked that I send it friends and family and I did, I figured he's doing me a favor by cutting the price, least I can do is save him some fees. Long story short I never got a tracking number and it never came, he had excuse after excuse. He ended up getting banned here but I never got my money back =( Lesson learned I guess.

I have had old people try to take things out of my hands on multiple occasions.  Also unrelated to games often times at auctions there are people who push and shove or steal stuff while you aren't looking.


3.
I once saw a N64 lot I was interested in but the seller lived over 60 miles away. (it was the rare gold one, at the time I didn't have it) I emailed him and he gave me his number to call and we can meet. We talked on the phone and agreed on a price and I drove the 60+ miles to meet up with him. I get to the Walgreens parking lot we agreed to meet at early and 20 minutes pass from the time we agreed to meet and I try and call him. (He never picks up the phone) I wait a while longer and try again. (again no answer.) After over an hour of this and me calling several times and he never answers I'm pissed at this point. I send him and Email telling him I had to go, maybe we can meet up again? later that day I finally get a message back saying sorry I sold it to someone else. Thanks for telling me jerk.



This is precisely why I gave up on Craigslist. Luckily I never had to drive 60+ miles away, but even 5 miles and getting stood up one too many times eventually made me give up on it. On top of that I knew that after we had agreed on a price and a place to meet there were probably at least 3 other interested parties that were trying to undercut me, and of course they decided to screw me over instead of honor the deal. Luckily CL in my area is 99% overpriced crap so I don't feel like I'm missing out.

Let me add another that I remember now. Again on letgo, I had setup a meeting with someone to purchase an Xbox One. Date and time was setup so I was good to go. I did drive too far into the destination before I stopped my car to ask the seller a question. Not only did I not get an answer but in the process they blocked me on letgo so Im guessing he must have sold to someone before me and honestly I wasnt pissed about the selling but rather the lack of balls in telling me and then just outright blocking me because of it.

Gah, flea's story reminds me of a situation I had years ago that I conveniently blanked on when talking to folks elsewhere about these sorts of things.

I saw a listing on Facebook for a SNES lot for like $90, had easily 40-100 games stacked in a sizeable box.  Guy lived like 2 blocks from my work, so I tried to pick it up immediately while I was already over there.  Guy said he wasn't home and he was at work and we'd have to meet later.  We scheduled to meet later in the evening after I would've already driven home from work.  In the picture I could see Turtles in Time at least, so I knew even if every other cart in there was garbage, that plus a good condition snes was worth the hassle.  Picked up my wife and basically drove back to work.  Guy finally gets home and texts me that his sister sold it this morning and that someone came and picked it up from his house already.  I was pretty pissed because I would've picked it up immediately, even offered to do so and asked about if someone else was home who could do the transaction.  Wasted a chunk of my evening for that.  Wound up going to a couple of pawn shops, not finding anything, and then picking up In N Out and going and visiting with my wife's family who lived relatively near that area.