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Bad Seller on E-Bay!!!

I'm sure everyone has an Ebay story, mine goes like this: I won an auction for an 8-bit VGA card. Paid for the card and shipping. What I received was an 8-bit MDA card. Took several weeks to get a response from the seller but he finally replied back that it was a mistake, send the card back and he would send the correct one. Here's where I made my critical mistake, I sent the card back as cheap as possible which meant no proof of delivery. The guy acknowledged in an e-mail that he received the card I sent back and would send me another, only he never sent it. I contacted PayPal who initiated an investigation, the first thing they did was put a hold on the guys funds. He let me know that he wouldn't send the card until the funds were released, I wouldn't tell PayPal the thing was resolved until he sent the card. Finally, PayPal determined the situation in my favor and asked for proof that I returned the item. I sent them the e-mail from him acknowledging receipt but PayPal wouldn't accept that as proof. In the end, the seller had his merchandise so he was whole, PayPal kept what I paid for the card so they made an unearned profit and I was screwed out of the cost of the item and shipping in both directions!

Moral of the story: Always return an item asking for proof of delivery!
 
...Here's where I made my critical mistake, I sent the card back as cheap as possible which meant no proof of delivery. The guy acknowledged in an e-mail that he received the card I sent back and would send me another, only he never sent it. I contacted PayPal who initiated an investigation, the first thing they did was put a hold on the guys funds. He let me know that he wouldn't send the card until the funds were released, I wouldn't tell PayPal the thing was resolved until he sent the card. Finally, PayPal determined the situation in my favor and asked for proof that I returned the item. I sent them the e-mail from him acknowledging receipt but PayPal wouldn't accept that as proof. In the end, the seller had his merchandise so he was whole, PayPal kept what I paid for the card so they made an unearned profit and I was screwed out of the cost of the item and shipping in both directions!

Moral of the story: Always return an item asking for proof of delivery!

Correct, as well as that an eBay seller that says they have sent an item should be able to produce a tracking number...
 
Now just out of curiosity, will a 2032 work with the AST Six-Pack Plus? Are the polarities the same? Because to be honest, I really don't see much of a difference. They are both 3v lithium cells, and about the same size. So if the 2032 is just slightly smaller, and that's the only difference, then I'll grab one today to test it.

The number is actually only the spesifications of the battery. For example in 'CR2032', 'C' means that it's a 3V Lithium based battery, 'R' means it's of cylindrical shape and '2032' means that it has a diameter of 20mm and heigth of 3.2mm.
 
The number is actually only the spesifications of the battery. For example in 'CR2032', 'C' means that it's a 3V Lithium based battery, 'R' means it's of cylindrical shape and '2032' means that it has a diameter of 20mm and heigth of 3.2mm.

So, if that's the case, since bothe are 3 volt lithium, there really isn't any reason that the 3032 won't work as long as it fits. The 2032 seems to fit as a direct replacement, albeit, with a little less slop, side to side.

Since it does, and the board didn't throw any kind of errors when I enabled the clock, I guess everything is OK. I'm going to download the configuration diskettes for the AST so I can write a new DOS 2.2 boot diskette to include the AST and printer configurations. Well, here goes!
 
I'm sure everyone has an Ebay story, mine goes like this: I won an auction for an 8-bit VGA card. Paid for the card and shipping. What I received was an 8-bit MDA card. Took several weeks to get a response from the seller but he finally replied back that it was a mistake, send the card back and he would send the correct one. Here's where I made my critical mistake, I sent the card back as cheap as possible which meant no proof of delivery. The guy acknowledged in an e-mail that he received the card I sent back and would send me another, only he never sent it. I contacted PayPal who initiated an investigation, the first thing they did was put a hold on the guys funds. He let me know that he wouldn't send the card until the funds were released, I wouldn't tell PayPal the thing was resolved until he sent the card. Finally, PayPal determined the situation in my favor and asked for proof that I returned the item. I sent them the e-mail from him acknowledging receipt but PayPal wouldn't accept that as proof. In the end, the seller had his merchandise so he was whole, PayPal kept what I paid for the card so they made an unearned profit and I was screwed out of the cost of the item and shipping in both directions!

Moral of the story: Always return an item asking for proof of delivery!

I totally agree, but how does one get proof if it is sent over seas. P.O. says they have no way to track it. How does PayPal handle a dispute that is international? Just wondering since some sellers will sell overseas. If and when I sell I would like to add that, but not if I can get burned.
 
I totally agree, but how does one get proof if it is sent over seas. P.O. says they have no way to track it. How does PayPal handle a dispute that is international? Just wondering since some sellers will sell overseas. If and when I sell I would like to add that, but not if I can get burned.

I just got a transmitter pallet from Greece and the tracking number only took me to the boarder, so to speak. Absolutely no tracking on this end of the journey. However, I had to sign for it when I got it. Canada Post offers this service, and I'm pretty sure all the other postal services do too.

Just don't use FedEx as they will not only charge you, but the costumer will have to pay them as well. They also lie about where they have delivered something so the costumer can be out of pocket even more having to retrieve the item later. Another result of using them is it can't be proven if you got the item or not since anybody can sign at some other location. I have recent experience with this, which is why I say use the post office and you will have actual proof that the item was delivered.
 
Ok, thanks. But I did ask the U.S. Post Office when I went to mail some thing to Spain, they said they have no way to track it. Maybe this why people do not sell outside the US on EBay.
 
But I did ask the U.S. Post Office when I went to mail some thing to Spain, they said they have no way to track it.
Same here. And, what makes it even more confusing is that I often get packages from India and other distant lands that have tracking numbers on them. I am able to track those packages from the day they are mailed until their arrival at my door with no problems. When presented with that fact the USPS has no response. I just don't get it.
 
Same here. And, what makes it even more confusing is that I often get packages from India and other distant lands that have tracking numbers on them. I am able to track those packages from the day they are mailed until their arrival at my door with no problems. When presented with that fact the USPS has no response. I just don't get it.

If the packages are marked Express Mail Service or "EMS" they can usually be tracked across borders.

Emslogo.png


USPS offers this service: https://www.usps.com/ship/express-mail-international.htm
 
I don't know first hand but the thing that worried me was customs paperwork that apparently needs to be properly filled out, the potential waiting time in customs or corruption in certain countries and if you were worried about the buyer/seller then the legal grounds are pretty much nil if something went wrong. Here in the states it's not too terrible difficult to get legal grounds or a civil lawsuit if one really needed to for a scammer, etc but cross a country line and not too many people are going to care about your problems or do anything about it anymore.

That was my understanding on international shipping, mostly just harder to do and know facts if the deal goes good or bad.
 
I would never sell anything on ebay where I didn't have a tracking number (so nothing overseas). Even with a tracking number some items take ages to get to their final destination so a claim could be filed on you even if you did ship it out because they have not recieved it yet. The other issue is paypal and ebay get a cut of shipping now which is pricey since in the US everything shipped outside the country is by air so you might even lose money on the deal because of fees.
 
Right but there's still a problem if it takes longer than 30 days which I think is the protection one gets from ebay/paypal. That would be my concern, even a legitimate deal if either party gets antsy would be difficult to resolve if shipping is an issue. Given I still have no idea how all the Chinese/Korean auctions ship quick and cost so little.
 
Why do people want tracking numbers? Who cares what route the package takes? For practical purposes what you need is confirmation that the recipient actually got the goods.

I've gotten lots of stuff that had a tracking number which I didn't need to sign for. I could just as well say I didn't get it. However for the purpose of this discussion, I guess that would be OK, since the PO would then take responsibility. At any rate, it is not the tracking number which determines whether a person got the item or not. Only a signature can do that. (Unless it's FedEx where both tracking number and signature are meaningless.)

barythrin: I don't know first hand but the thing that worried me was customs paperwork that apparently needs to be properly filled out,
Other people in the US don't need to do this. :) I've gotten lots of stuff from the US that didn't have "paperwork". Stone (on this forum) sent me something last year and I don't think he was burdened by customs paperwork. You just put the contents on a sticker, same as in Canada. How hard can that be? I have a feeling that there is some FUD going around about this.


Your posting that is absolutely perfect here. Those of us who don't live in the US probably haven't perused the USPS site, but I would certainly hope that any sentient being has done so for their own country's PO. :)
 
Right but there's still a problem if it takes longer than 30 days which I think is the protection one gets from ebay/paypal. That would be my concern, even a legitimate deal if either party gets antsy would be difficult to resolve if shipping is an issue. Given I still have no idea how all the Chinese/Korean auctions ship quick and cost so little.

I see, that 30 days could be a problem. That is a long time though. I think too, that if either party gets "antsy" it is difficult to resolve shipping issues under most circumstances. Whose signature? Whose address? Etc. If someone wants to make trouble it's never too hard. :)

I think the trick the Chinese/Korean people use is popping it in the mail. That's fairly fast (10 days or so) from almost anywhere to anywhere. From a Chinese "mailbox" to being on a plane headed to NA is probably only two days. The rest of the time it takes is probably (speaking for Canada here) just the PO leaving the foreign mail to last because they can always blame those primitive foreigners. In fact I think they deliberately delay it because they think it makes them look good.
 
Why do people want tracking numbers? Who cares what route the package takes? For practical purposes what you need is confirmation that the recipient actually got the goods.
Ole, FWIW, a tracking # is nothing more than slang for what the USPS calls... 'Delivery Confirmation'. Yes, there's no signature required but the USPS will confirm that the package *was delivered* to its intended addressee. And that's enough for eBay/PayPal.
 
Other people in the US don't need to do this. :) I've gotten lots of stuff from the US that didn't have "paperwork". Stone (on this forum) sent me something last year and I don't think he was burdened by customs paperwork. You just put the contents on a sticker, same as in Canada. How hard can that be? I have a feeling that there is some FUD going around about this.
Yes, I actually was. :) And I was getting really confused because I've been sending lot's of stuff to Canada and Australia and even some stuff to South America and Europe -- Latvia, of all places. :) So I asked... 'Why is it that everytime I send something abroad I seem to get to fill out what surely seems like different paperwork?' The answer I got was quite simple and definitive. Different countries have different requirements. But It got even simpler than that when I probed the clerk a bit further. (You know, *nobody* volunteers any f*cking information any more! :) :) You have to pry it out of their buttbrains.) I was finally told that the real world turns out to be a binary animal, after all, at least as far as this topic is concerened. The bottom line -- packages to Canada have type '0' paoerwork and packages to the rest of the world have type '1' paperwork. Needless to say I wish I had realized that or had been told so a few years ago!!! :) But I have much more pressing things to figure out on my own time than than the ins and outs of Postal/Customs specifics.
 
I was thinking of adding dumb buyer to this post too, but decided against it...

Funny that you should say that lutiana. I'm still recouping from some health related issues, so my wife volunteered to get the batteries for me. She went to sevral Radio Shack stores and they all told her they had never head of that battery. So I called several others, yes, they do sell these, but only online. Dumb, but OK. So next, I tried a couple of electronics supply stores and pretty much got the cold shoulder, "No, we don't carry anything that old" That's when I decided to go eith E-Bay.

Now normallly I have had the same experiences with quality, and the like, but I have never been treated like that. Even thinking about it makes my blood pressure raise a point or two. One nice thing though... It looks like E-Bay pulled all of this sellers stuff. There isn't even a reference to them any more. Cool.

i think your mistake was telling the stores it's for an AST Six Pack Plus. if you just say you need a CR-2032, you'll be out of there in 2 minutes with a fresh battery for pocket change!
 
Yes, I actually was. :) And I was getting really confused because I've been sending lot's of stuff to Canada and Australia and even some stuff to South America and Europe -- Latvia, of all places. :) So I asked... 'Why is it that everytime I send something abroad I seem to get to fill out what surely seems like different paperwork?' . . .

Well, thanks for doing that. :) I was certainly pleased with what I got.

Yes, I've found the PO to be capricious here too. I used to send stuff for a music store and sometimes when I went to the postal outlet, the price would be different for a similar item and destination as last time. There's no arguing with them because they all "know" what they're doing. The only solution is to take as much as possible into your own hands. As for the paperwork, we only need a green sticker for most things to USA, but intercontinental requires 3 copies of the invoice stuck on in an envelope, IIRC. It's seriously easy, just don't talk to anybody at the post office. Hand them the parcel ready to stick in the bag so they can put their "buttbrains" (lol) to more productive use - like perhaps some introspection about how they came to act like gatekeepers when they should be facilitators.

But I have much more pressing things to figure out on my own time than than the ins and outs of Postal/Customs specifics.

I hear you. It's the same all over NA. Public employees are loosing sight of what their jobs are, and we have to do it for them without getting paid.

Ole, FWIW, a tracking # is nothing more than slang for what the USPS calls... 'Delivery Confirmation'. Yes, there's no signature required but the USPS will confirm that the package *was delivered* to its intended addressee. And that's enough for eBay/PayPal.

Got it. Thanks. :)
 
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