Item not as described

[kryptonianfletch]

I bid on a video camera (item # 131142314482 ) and I won. It seemed odd that I got it so cheap, for what it was, so before I paid I asked the seller to confirm the listing was accurate. He said it was NOT a PAL (the video system in Europe and the East) Camera as he has it listed as in the "Detailed item info", "Key Features" ... in his words "This is not a Pal Camera it is a NTSC camera it has only been used in Chicago and u can only shoot ntsc in usa. It saids PAL on the auction because i used a pre arranged ebay template it said pal there but could not change it to ntsc." ...

Now he is saying "How can I cancal the auction ? U said u dont want to buy it so if u can contact ebay for me to cancal the sale." (sorry to quote the bad spelling)

Can I do this? Does he have to? How? How can I avoid a "non-payment" strike? Am I obligated to buy the item even though its not what he listed it as?

[afantiques]

Ask the seller to send you a mutual cancellation request, when it the ebay message arrives just OK it.

Renders the sale null and void and the seller gets his final value fees back.

[kryptonianfletch]

I don't get the feeling he is too familiar with Ebay and procedures, and I wound not know where to find that myself. Can someone direct me to where you would find the place for him to do this and I can email him the instructions?

[dmil8030 · Accepted solution]

Send him this information 'how to' page:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/cancel-transaction-process.html#cancel

pointing out that he will need to click on the Resolution Center link provided to

open a Cancellation case.

[femmefan1946]

The best time to ask questions is BEFORE bidding.

Sorry to nag, the kid just went back home and I was getting used to nagging.

[kryptonianfletch]

>> The best time to ask questions is BEFORE bidding.

>> Sorry to nag, the kid just went back home and I was getting used to nagging

I'm sorry but I don't understand your advice, you are saying that I should ask if an item is exactly as described before I bid? Isn't it the onus of the Seller to list accurately? Are you saying that, if I see a DVD of a "King Kong" listed, I should be emailing the seller and asking "Can you confirm this is a DVD, and not a VHS Tape, and also can you confirm the movie is King Kong and not another title?". Would you as a seller put up with every potential buyer constantly emailing you to confirm every detail in your listing?

This wasn't a case of a question I should have been asking before bidding... I only suspected something was wrong because the final bid came in so low, and I didn't want to send this guy thousands of dollars if something was wrong, so I asked first before paying. Had the item sold for more (I had bid up to $3500) I would have assumed everything was fine, sent him the PayPal, waited for the item to arrive and found I paid for something different from what was listed and not what I wanted, and had to go thru the hassle of a refund.

Honestly, to say that this situation is somehow MY fault is ridiculous.

[femmefan1946]

so before I paid I asked the seller to confirm the listing was accurate.

If you have any doubts (and the PAL thing is always a problem) then, yes, ask before bidding.

It's not a question of fault. It is a question of taking responsibility for actions. You'd be amazed at the questions I get about my cheap paperbacks, most of them sensible and useful since they help me be a better seller.

For $3500, I'd be asking a lot of questions.

[afantiques]

I'm sorry but I don't understand your advice, you are saying that I should ask if an item is exactly as described before I bid?

If careful reading of all the information shows discrepancies, then, yes, you should ask.  Before bidding.

Does it really weigh only 5 ounces?  Those spare lithium batteries might be a problem shipping by air. It's a GSP item which might have deterred possible buyers, and is a pretty daft selling choice for something not suitable for export. Clearly the seller is something of a klutz as they state they knew it was NTSC but did not bother to mention it in their description, despite saying they could not alter it in the item information.

[kryptonianfletch]

>> If careful reading of all the information shows discrepancies,

>>then, yes, you should ask.  Before bidding.

>> If you have any doubts (and the PAL thing is always a problem) then,

>> yes, ask before bidding.

Let me be as clear as I can be... There were NO doubts or discrepancies UNTIL the auction closed with such a low price. Having bid before on these items, they always remain at a low-bid for a long time then a flurry of bids at the last moment put them in the $3K to $4K range at close. When this didn't happen... that was the ONE and ONLY discrepancy.

How could I have asked about this BEFORE the bidding ended?

To the guys who wrote on here telling me how to instruct the seller to Cancel the auction (which he did with my help), THANK YOU.

To you other guys that either like to tell people on here how they are in-the-wrong, does that help you feel better about yourselves? Great! Go for it! Go find lots of people on these boards that have problems and are asking for HELP and tell them how its all their fault and don't give any constructive advice at all. Must be great to have that Holier-Than-Thou feeling.

[patken123]

I agree with you,if the listing is incorrect and misleading,then you are right and deserve to get your money back but the point some are trying to make is ,you must also do your due diligence by making sure to ask all the right questions BEFORE you commit to buy.

[kryptonianfletch]

But what "due diligence" could be done? This was a listing with hundreds of details, should I have 'confirmed' with the seller that every one of them was correct before I bid? How would I know what the "right questions" are?

I firmly believe the onus is completely on the seller to actually describe the item being sold; I as the buyer should have no need to nor any responsibility to second-guess the accuracy of a listing.

To take an extreme example. Should a Seller be able to list a copy of "War and Peace" as a 1st Edition and autographed by the author even though it is a mass-market reprint (and not signed)? When the buyer discovers the listing was inaccurate and is in danger of receiving a non-payment strike when he/she doesn't want to pay, or pays and receives the item only to discover it is not what he/she paid for, the seller can simply claim he was using a 'template'. Are you suggesting that the buyer in this case would in any way share responsibility for the situation?

[patken123]

You could ask for more pictures to verify their claims, (provenance): the history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature. 

Nov one is putting the blame on you if a listing is misleading,I did say that in my post ,my point was/ is ,in order to save yourself a lot of headache that follows a seemingly  legitimate purchase gone bad ,you owe it to yourself to ask the seller for more details ,pictures,etc before you invest your hard earned money,basically  to be prudent and not accept their claim on face value but  to try to trace the legitimacy of  that claim...

[marnotom!]

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@kryptonianfletch wrote:

Let me be as clear as I can be... There were NO doubts or discrepancies UNTIL the auction closed with such a low price. Having bid before on these items, they always remain at a low-bid for a long time then a flurry of bids at the last moment put them in the $3K to $4K range at close. When this didn't happen... that was the ONE and ONLY discrepancy

How could I have asked about this BEFORE the bidding ended?

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I'm not following you here.  The camera would have been an NTSC camera no matter what the closing bid price was.  If you wanted a camera with a specific recording format, the information was right on the item specifics portion of the listing for you to read and have clarified prior to bidding, if necessary.

For me, a US-based seller advertising a PAL camera would be something that would need clearing up.  My second thought after the recording format would be, "Does the charger work on the North American electrical grid?"