Anybody else always have bad luck with Ebay?

You could find a guy with 100,000 ratings at 100% and I would be the one guy who would have a bad experience with him.

I'm sick of people describing games as Very Good when they are clearly not very good. I bought Legend of Zelda for NES and the guy said it was in very good condition.

The game literally took nearly an entire day to work properly on my NES, and I had gone through about 10 Q-Tips cleaning it out over and over again. When I left feedback stating how badly the game needed cleaning, and how the product should not have been advertised as Very Good, he proceeded to pick a fight with me and claim I was lying and trying to ruin his rep.

Again with Sonic Adventure 2. The game was described as Very Good. Upon recieving the disc, it had multiple scratches, the case was cracked in areas, and the manual looked like it was falling apart. I left appropriate feedback stating such, and again this guy (different seller) tries to pick a fight with me and claim I was lying and basically told me to "Deal with it"

How the hell am I the one unlucky bastard who catches these guys on a bad day after somone peed in their cheerios. I cannot trust ratings anymore because of this.


BTW I don't think a single Ebayer owns a better camera than a potato.

I never buy anything that I need/want to know the condition of that doesn't have pictures that appear to be taken by the person themselves. If there's anything about them that look questionable or unclear, I'll ask them a question first. If they don't answer, I'll move on to someone else.

I've yet to have a major issue on ebay because of that. Any issues I've had are more with shipping/packing issues or my own rush in smaller items (slightly different model numbers, etc).

I also look for what bad reviews say if it's something that's going to cost a fair bit of money. Just to get a feel for what might be my worst case scenario with that seller.

It seems most sellers do not get this concept. Straight form Ebay. I think I lose money because I follow it.

Brand New


An item that has never been opened or removed from the manufacturer's sealing (if applicable). Item is in original shrink wrap (if applicable). See the seller's listing for full details.

Like New


An item that looks as if it was just taken out of shrink wrap. No visible wear, and all facets of the item are flawless and intact. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.

Very Good


An item that is used but still in very good condition. No damage to the jewel case or item cover, no scuffs, scratches cracks, or holes. The cover art and liner notes are included. The VHS or DVD box is included. The video game instructions and box are included. The teeth of disk holder are undamaged. Minimal wear on the exterior of item. No skipping on CD/DVD. No fuzzy/snowy frames on VHS tape. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.

Good


An item in used but good condition. May have minor damage to jewel case including scuffs or cracks, or to the item cover including scuffs, scratches, or cracks. The cover art and liner notes are included for a CD. VHS or DVD box is included. Video game instructions are included. No skipping on CD/DVD. No fuzzy/snowy frames on VHS tape. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.

Acceptable


An item with obvious and significant wear but is still operational. May have tears or holes in VHS/DVD box. The video game instructions and box may not be included. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.



I don't use a potato for my pictures. My Nex 3 isn't perfect but it does the job.

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Originally Posted by Iron Lizard

It seems most sellers do not get this concept. Straight form Ebay. I think I lose money because I follow it.

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Good for you. Seriously. I get rather perturbed seeing people described games with rips in the manual/box as "Very Good", and it happens quite often.

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Originally Posted by GKDAIR

How the hell am I the one unlucky bastard who catches these guys on a bad day after somone peed in their cheerios. I cannot trust ratings anymore because of this.

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it not just you i've had dealings with good and bad sellers. when i look back at things i bought i realized based off their descriptions i could of asked a question and save myself the hassle. I will try to find a game anywhere else before turning to ebay..I stay away from it like the plague.

Perhaps luck has nothing to do with it, Gdkair. Perhaps your judgment is just poor. Going forward, I suggest you heed ElectricGroove's advice to be safer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EclecticGroove

I never buy anything that I need/want to know the condition of that doesn't have pictures that appear to be taken by the person themselves. If there's anything about them that look questionable or unclear, I'll ask them a question first. If they don't answer, I'll move on to someone else.

I've yet to have a major issue on ebay because of that. Any issues I've had are more with shipping/packing issues or my own rush in smaller items (slightly different model numbers, etc).

I also look for what bad reviews say if it's something that's going to cost a fair bit of money. Just to get a feel for what might be my worst case scenario with that seller.

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^This. I don't bid on anything unless there are several good pictures detailing the condition and completeness. If none of that is there, I pass. I never take the seller's word for it if there's no/not enough pics to back it up.

That is actually my biggest issue with amazon. Every time I look for something on Amazon where the condition is important, there's almost never any pictures of it... and I rarely have any amazon seller answer a question I've asked them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EclecticGroove

That is actually my biggest issue with amazon. Every time I look for something on Amazon where the condition is important, there's almost never any pictures of it... and I rarely have any amazon seller answer a question I've asked them.

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I had a pretty good experience with amazon. Before I bought anything from a Japanese seller for the first time, I'd message them and ask if their games are all complete as far as the case, manual, and disc (in good working order). If they said yes and had a good feedback record, I'd buy from them. I think the Japanese have a little higher standard for condition because everything I ever bought from Japan on amazon was in great shape, barring one example. It was really the US based sellers that I had issues with the condition. I just learned that you're best off importing a game directly from Japan rather than buying one from a local seller. We just don't take as good care of our stuff and lie about the condition.

I got slightly screwed over by some US seller a while back when I ordered the Genesis version of Lost Vikings from him. Showed a picture of the box (just the box), listed the item as "very good". 2 weeks later.

Opened box (which was in good condition), take out cart - and - it has a huge ass sticker on the side of it, one of those nasty ones that leave lots of glue residue. Took me over an hour to clean it up. And of course, no mention of it was in the description.

I never, ever trust US sellers and their assessment of condition. A Japanese seller I will always trust, unless it is one of those dodgy sellers that post stock photos for everything. Stock photos should be BANNED from eBay as far as I am concerned.

Even with a US seller I did trust and had bought from a few times, I got fucked over. I bought Jp Splatterhouse 2&3 from him with both being claimed to be in "mint condition". The copy of Splatterhouse 2 that turned up was not the one in the listing photo and had a horrible tatty manual. I was very unimpressed. He said sorry and that was it, no offer of a part refund or to give me the item I paid so much money for...

I am one of the most anal people in the world when it comes to condition of used games I buy. Sometimes I will hate the condition of a game and have to buy it again whereas another gamer may think it was fine. In this instance however, it was simply in shit condition and I wasted $60 buying it. One of the other terrible buys I can remember was way back in 2000 when I first started using evilbay. I bought a "mint" copy of Keio Yugekitai for US$50, probably would have been close to $100 for me after shipping. The thing turned up and it was a fucking disc in a plain jewel case. I was so pissed off but there was no paypal back then outside the US so there was nothing I could do.

As others have said, it's not just you; Ebay sellers in the US have terrible standards when it comes to rating condition.

I also have to echo the pro-Japanese sentiment in this thread. Admittedly I've purchased a relatively small number of items from Japanese sellers, but if anything, they undersell a product's condition. I got a copy of Bare Knuckle 2 listed as "good" that was immaculate. You could've resealed that thing and nobody would've known the difference.

So yeah, either Japan, pics, or get the fuck out. Live by that and you'll be good.

Never trust even photos, especially of SNES games. I bought a Japanese copy of Magical Quest 2 for the Super Famicom, things looked all fine and dandy till I fired it up, and the entire game was in English. I thought I was crazy till I fired up the ROM of the Japanese version, and not a word was in English, basically someone switched the ROM out. The user I bought it from was an online store and apparently they either didn't know the game well enough to know something got tampered with, or they didn't test it to see.

In the end I was pissed for a little while, but got over it as the game was pretty much identical to it's US counterpart minus language. Just irked me everything was fine till I tested out and found out it was swapped.

It's the baggers can't be choosers mentality that some people have. It's probably more of a problem with American sellers than Japanese sellers. Honesty some sellers feel hurts their business and think most consumers are dumb. Some people are flat out greedy. A seller knows someone is not going to look at their item, if they list it in acceptable condition for a lot of money. You're talking about scammers wheeling and dealing items that aren't worth a whole lot.

Probably there is one of two things going is that there is more liability if a seller lies in Japan than there is here or it's more of cultural thing. Which ever tends to be true, would be interesting. You can get scammed anywhere by anyone selling something, so just because you get it overseas does not mean it's any better. There is no substitute for common sense and being careful.

EclecticGroove nailed it; another plus is dudes often put stock photos + no description ("posted from mobile" or whatever), i ask does it have original case + manual, they say yes and i'm one of the only bidders do to their laziness.

the few times i have received stuff marked otherwise - like geniuses marking cart-only "very good" based on said cart's condition & not the rest of the criteria), i have to admit, most sellers are so worried about negative feedback/reversed charges that they often refund a portion for me. it's a cesspool, sure, but you can make it work for you, if you're patient & persistent.