Wrong/deceptive wording in eBay auction?

I wasn't taking a chance on making a bargain. The seller listed two proof sets in the auction and I was simply expecting to get two sets.

This is what I got today: "I do not refund shipping. I feel I am being more than generous in refunding
your money at all since I see nothing wrong with the way my auction was worded. Take a look and you will see many more the same way. I did not have a
single problem with any of my other auctions, everyone was pleased with what they received and evidently got exactly what they had expected or better.
Whether you send the coins back for refund is up to you. As long as I receive the coins in the same condition I sent them, your bid price will be refunded. Now as far as I am concerned this ends the debate. If I don't receive the coins within 5 days, I will consider the transaction closed and final."

 

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I did not mean to imply that you were taking a risk. My comments became more general as we started discussing the deals that can be had with badly worded auctions. Your situation is different. You were mislead, whether intentionally or not, by the seller. Completely different situation.

 

Okay, I see. I guess I misunderstood you I agree with you all when it comes to the chance taking and sometimes taking advantage of less-knowing sellers. One guy was selling 2000-2004 proof Sac dollars for $11 each (buy now), and since both the 2001 and 2002 Sac coins are usually way more expensive than that, I took the opportunity to buy them. The seller probably realized his mistake since he included a note saying "You got a real bargain here, didn't you ", but he never tried to back out of his commitment. That's the kind of honest and seller I like.

 

eBay advice needed - Thought question

I bought a inexpensive coin ($2.25) on eBay.
Probably payed a few cents too much for it, but it was one I needed to complete a set.

Coin was sold as UNC - What I received was a poor quality - no scratch that - Bad quality - CIRC coin - seller has offered to allow me to return it - Don't think I am interested in doing so - already paid $ 1.25 in shipping, returning it would only cost me more money-
To me it is a matter of principle and ethics -

We have discussed principle and ethics before.

How would YOU handle feedback for this seller.

Remember this could have just as well been a valuable coin.

 

Did you discuss full refund with the seller including shipping? For a coin that was that misrepresented, you should not have to pay anything.

 

His email to me

Susanlynn
His reply to me was he would refund the purchase price, no response to shipping. He current feedback is 99.5 % positive
with only 7 negative in the last 12 months out of 2959
Ratings
positive 252 1492 2959

Neutral feedback rating neutral 0 0 2

Negative feedback rating negative 0 0 7

It is not returning the coin it is the matter of ethics that he as many do on ebay, was not truthful in his description.

 

Can you post a link to the auction or to the other auctions that the seller has running right now?

You have a couple choices...since he did offer to refund, you can leave a neutral explaining that the coin was not as represented. The disadvantage to that is that neutrals don't show up in the overall rating and once it's off the first page, chances are that no one will see it. The advantage is that the seller may only leave you a neutral instead of a negative.

Your other option is to leave him the negative with an indepth explanation of why. PM me for instructions on how to leave 125 character feedback. This will give you plenty of space to explain the problem.

Does this seller, in your opinion, grossly overgrade all of their coins? or was this a one-time mistake? I have misgraded a couple of coins (remember we all make mistakes). I'm a little concerned with the disparity between the description and the actual coin (describing MS for a circulated coin is a bit much), but know that mistakes can be made. If it was an honest mistake and the seller will make good on it, I would not consider the transaction completed yet. If all of their coins are overgraded, then I would want to be sure that people reading the feedback would be aware.

 

For anyone with a significant number of feedbacks, I don't consider "checking the feedback" completed until I have run the seller's ID through this site's filter. You get all negative and neutral postings, and very often the story is in the neutrals, or the replies.

There is a Power Seller who shall remain nameless, with a feedback score of almost 18,000, and "only" 53 negs. But when you run him through toolhaus you discover 309 neg/neutrals that would curl your hair (or straighten it if it is naturally curly ) and some pretty vicious replies that give you some insight to his approach to customer service.

 

You are so right, Roy. I've been using that for a long time now. I don't know why I never thought to post it here in the forum. Thanks for posting it.

 

You are right

Sent sellers coin back today while at work, came home to find second coin from seller same story- posted as UNC but coin was very CIRC.

He sent me an email offering to return my money and suggested I do not bid on his auctions in the future.
Good advice. I'll take it
live and learn- "Teach Others"

 

That deserves the "Doh" award for the most unnecessary advice of the decade!

 

A tough situation, for sure, CoinSwede. Take the refund and don't expect to receive your postage cost refunded. What I mean to say is...that's what I'd do.
Chalk it up to experience. It's always good to send the seller an email before bidding to confirm exactly what you'll be getting. Especially with an auction with no pictures...yikes! I didn't know anyone still ran ebay auctions with no pics.

 

Pictures blurr

There were pictures but not very clear
coins were shown in flips & they must have been stock pics
because the flips I received had writting on them the ones in the auction did not.
Coins listed in both auctions were listed as UNC in two place in the auction
neither coin was UNC both were very circulated with dirt nicks gouges and worn surfaces.

Lesson learned