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A flake to avoid on ebay

Unknown_K said:
I love people who post an advertisement on CL and when I reply say it was sold a while ago and then keep renewing the ad.
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Facebook Marketplace is horrible about this, I messaged someone showing interest in...something (probably an old computer or a CRT) and they replied to tell me it wasn't available, but even after telling me that they couldn't put in the 30 seconds effort to switch the ad to "Sold" apparently.
 
VERAULT said:
I have had more problems BUYING on Craigslist vs selling. I have had low ball buyers. People coming to waste my time. But Buying has led to more headaches. Anyway I feel most people aren't using craigslist anymore which is a shame. Its still a great and viable platform.
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Not sure when they changed things but I went to list a Heathkit ham transciever on the local CL in early Feb, they now want my phone number to "verify" me even though my account has been active since the mid 2000's. I just deleted it and posted elsewhere. It was a good thing when they deleted the "personals" section and it might be a good thing to verify new users but they aren't getting my mobile number when I've bought and sold on there for over 15 yrs.
 
RussBlakeman said:
Not sure when they changed things but I went to list a Heathkit ham transciever on the local CL in early Feb, they now want my phone number to "verify" me even though my account has been active since the mid 2000's. I just deleted it and posted elsewhere. It was a good thing when they deleted the "personals" section and it might be a good thing to verify new users but they aren't getting my mobile number when I've bought and sold on there for over 15 yrs.
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Yeah thats strange. I have a few listings up and I have been a CL member for years. They never asked for my phone number.
 
Okay, I have a fun vintage computer horror story I'll tell to vent.

sold an old 386 PC that had a working hard drive BUT since the battery was dead you had to go into setup and reenter the info every time. it was an older style external battery which I didn't have any extras so I decided to sell it as is...big mistake which I know to not make again. I clearly stated that this was the case in the auction and that the buyer would need to enter the information and buy a new battery. anyways the PC sold. my first big red flag was when it arrived and I got this message.

"Hi, I got the item, please tell me how to connect it to a computer, what cables are needed etc. where to buy" along with "what is this computer called? What is the make? Apple or what? Need to get a system diskette. Also where to get power adapter?"

Okay...so I get the guy is new to vintage computers but come on, its like if I bought a car and then after it was delivered I call the dealership and ask whats the make and model, then ask what do I put in it to make it run and then how do you even drive?. I pretty much ended up being the guys tech support for the last 2 weeks telling him what cables he needed etc.. he just couldn't seem to get past the setup though nomatter how I tried to explain to him what to do. I even sent him a video of the very same computer and the setup process (setting the A and B drive, entering the HDD parameters) but again, he just couldn't seem to get it. anyways I just received a refund notice from ebay today and a "item not as described" as the reason. the claim said it was not working and that it wouldn't "open up", not sure what that means unless he didn't know how to use a screwdriver. I'm pretty much completely confident the PC is exactly as I described it but he just had absolutely no idea what he was doing and couldn't even figure out basic setup. Anyways lesson learned, I won't be selling any PC online that requires anykind of setup unless its a fellow forum member that has at least basic knowledge of what they are getting into....just a huge waste of time and money.
 
I take it he was foreign and english probably wasnt his primary language? I have had this same exact thing happen to me... Heck I have had the same thing happen to me without them even making the purchase.

I have had a couple regular customers (bought several PC's off of me in the past) ask lots of questions, but for them I dont mind I know they are good for it and genuinely want to learn.
However with that joker after a couple emails I tell them its on them to figure it out as best I could without having to do a return (its not your fault this guy has severe issues). I also add them immediately to the block buyer list... Life is too short to deal with people like that.
 
That thought crossed my mind as well but most of the time his English seemed good. I got a lot of "old man" vibes off him. I know this sounds kinda unrealistic but I almost got the feeling that he was just an old guy that never touched a computer before. I feel like he bought my 386 not actually knowing it was a vintage computer and just thinking it was a modern computer he could plug and play. seems kinda silly that anyone in 2022 would just randomly buy a 30 year old computer not knowing it wasnt modern but that's really the vibe I got off him.
 
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Had a similar problem. Sold a 486 with a bad bios battery. Said so in the auction, also that it needed win3 installing again. Got a not as described. Ebay sided with buyer. Buyer wouldn't return item, only thing he would take is 40 off it because he found an install of win3 on a hdd on ebay for 40? WTF? He would not return it, eBitch sided with him, took the 40 option, now I only sell parts.

NEVER get into providing tech support via ebay. The user is a time-waster/idiot. Just take the return and sell it to someone else.

And NEVER EVER try and sell used video cassettes recorded of the TV as blanks. The guy is a f'ing nutcase who will send you 40+ emails and only read about 4 words of your response. I honestly think that guy was just lonely and wanted a chat. I have the transcript somewhere. I should have given up when he said "I like watching ITN news broardcasts between 1992 and 1997....".
 
oblivion said:
That thought crossed my mind as well but most of the time his English seemed good. I got a lot of "old man" vibes off him. I know this sounds kinda unrealistic but I almost got the feeling that he was just an old guy that never touched a computer before. I feel like he bought my 386 not actually knowing it was a vintage computer and just thinking it was a modern computer he could plug and play. seems kinda silly that anyone in 2022 would just randomly buy a 30 year old computer not knowing it wasnt modern but that's really the vibe I got off him.
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I highly doubt it....
 
Hey speaking of ebay. Is anyone else having this issue. I use a web-based email (HOTMAIL, Had this account since 1996, uses microsoft Live messaging system.) in tandem with Ublock origin ad blocker. All the emails I am getting from ebay now have ads in them (how is this allowed?!) And the worst thing is as of a couple weeks ago the ads found ONLY in eBay emails causes my webbrower to crash (if the adblock is running) ITs so terribly annoying.
 
Interesting. I'm not seeing the ads, but in the last few weeks gmail has REALLY wanted to send the "Your item has sold" messages to spam.
Marking as Not SPAM hasn't worked - I needed a specific rule to keep them in the main inbox.
Probably related!
I wish there was a real competitor in that market.
Good competition seems to bring out better things - like Intel and AMD.
Everything I've looked into so far seems to be super niche-specific, with weird limitations, or a pain to use in volume.
Hm, I just took another look at Bonanza - that might be worth a try.
 
VERAULT said:
Hey speaking of ebay. Is anyone else having this issue. I use a web-based email (HOTMAIL, Had this account since 1996, uses microsoft Live messaging system.) in tandem with Ublock origin ad blocker. All the emails I am getting from ebay now have ads in them (how is this allowed?!) And the worst thing is as of a couple weeks ago the ads found ONLY in eBay emails causes my webbrower to crash (if the adblock is running) ITs so terribly annoying.
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I use Adblocker Ultimate and nothing of any ads in emails from FeeBay. I use both my ISP email and gmail and neither has any ads in emails from any source unless they were part of the original email. I also don't use Google for searches, I have used Duckduckgo for a long time (since 2010 probably) now for my search engine.
 
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I dont get any ads in email either, it just crashes the browser. I am more than happy with my ad blocker, I am not happy with microsoft allowing ads into email. I am not using Gmail. I refuse.
Maybe its best if I include a screenshot of what I am talking about. So I always have the adblocker on not to see these but like I mentioned sometimes I want to open an email from eBay if I sold something for instance. And it will crash the browser. If I turn off the adblock, the email opens (with all the ads)

Why would microsoft allow ads to be sent via email? What a shit company. If I hadnt been using this email for over 25 years I would switch..

You can see without the adblocker this whole bar of ebay ads loading at the top of the email body. And as I mentioned this only started a few weeks ago for me.
ebay ads.png
 
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well, quick update. got the PC back today and shock shock, it works exactly as I described in the description. I entered the setup info and booted right into the HDD. the buyer listed reason for return was the item was defective, diskette drives did not work and the PC "would not open". well, opens just fine, tested the hard drive and both disk drives, works perfectly. The buyer just ended up buying something he had no idea about and had buyers remorse. I get that happens I just wish he was honest with me about it, I'm not a company, usually, when I sell something it's so I can pay a bill so I can't just write off a return many times and now I have to figure out where to get that money...just a waste of time. anyways, thanks all for giving me an avenue to vent.
 
did you add him to your blocked buyers list?

And ebay is a scumbag company so they wont let you leave negative feedback. I would still blast the seller in bold caps even though it will come up positive. And if it were me I would mail them a harsh worded letter. You do have thier address.

Also did you share his username. I would like to add him to my blocked list as well. Its just not worth the 1 in a million chance I have to deal with them.
 
I've never had issues with gmail sailor boy. Use it for unofficial shit. Like online auctions n stuff. Dropped hootmail like a tonne of hot bricks I did.

Not being able to give bad feed back must be a over sensitive, me too, hugs for everyone thing.

No problems doing it here.
 
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I bought a 68060 in March from funkward-tech for $44. He actually sent it, but the tracking shows that it was returned to him sometime in May. Lots of emails and no item or refund, I tried to requesr a refund on ebay. They just closed it after some time due to «no activity». And that was like one day after my last email to the seller. Ebay claims they cant refund a «closed case»… So funward-tech on ebay is a thief and should be avoided.

For the record, I have hundreds of successful transactions on ebay, but not this one.
 
So why were you not on the phone with paypal or your bank? How can you just let that slide? Its your money? Thats ridiculous. I would have my money back.. It would be really stupid of you to be to lazy to get YOUR OWN money back. Ive run into this before where people are too timid to demand thier money back. I dont get it!
 
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