Buyer expectations vs Seller's omission of details.

[master-jack]

Hello,

I have a question for the community. I made an inquery on an ebay ad. The seller contacted me with the information. The next morning he started messaging me encouraging me to purchase from his store. I get the hustle so it is what it is. I get it.

I send inquired about 3 items: an elgato caputre card (used, like new - no box), an LED desk light (new in box) and an elgato chat link cable. We agreed on a price and shipping - and offered "a nice quality HDMI included for free". He sent me an offer where the item price included the shipping then added the shipping again under the shipping tab. I asked him to verify he didn't make a mistake on the offer and he said that he was drinking when he originally contact me so the original quote was incorrect and the new quote was accurate.

Admittedly, I should have walked away right there. However, I accepted the offer. What I got was the chat link, an LED light that doesn't work and a capture card that didn't have any of it's peripherals (they're supposed to include an HDMI and USB-C cable, unless the owner has lost or broke them). In place of the missing peripherals I got the cheapest, low quality, unbranded cables. I hooked them up to a tester to see if it could even do 4k60 and to no surprise, the bandwidth throughput was just barely good enough for 1080p. These things were absolutel junk.

So I recheck that ad and there was no mention that the original hardware wasn't included or that he was supplementing the accessories with bottom barrel replacements. I message him and ask where's the original hardware and these substitute cables are not only poor quality, but unacceptable for use with this device. I add the LED isn't "new" and isn't working.

I reverse image search the products and find chinese resellers on amazon for the same products. They're listed for pennies. I can't be sure, but I believe that this guy is reselling amazon warehouse pallet returns. Listing them as new and peacemealing together a minimum viable product and reselling at new/like-new prices.

To replace the cables alone would already put this purchase well above buying everything (or it's closest equivalent) brand new at a local BestBuy.

The seller doesn't respond. In the interim, 3 negative feedbacks show up on his StorePage accusing him of lying about product details. Bait and switching products. Not responding to customers. So I filed a dispute, and within minutes he responds and he contradicts absolutely everything. Even the things he messaged me in ebay message centre. I didn't want to call him a liar, but I pointed to his "inconsistencies" and put screenshots of our conversation in the dispute. He responds with "ANYTHING IN MESSAGES ARE NOT BINDING SO STOP BRINGING IT UP".

Great.

He ends his message with "I'll give you $20 refund to end this otherwise you can send it back at your expense."

What is going on here? I didn't ask for a refund. I didn't ask for "a better deal". I just wanted to know where the original hardware was and he went from: "Hey check out my store, I'll give ya some good deals" to "Nothing I said is binding!".

I'm really trying to keep my cool here and I take a solid 2 hours to think before I type any responses. But, I find this guy unbelievable. Are my expectations too high or is he being unreasonable?

[pjcdn2005]

The seller doesn't sound that trusthworthy so even if you convinced them to send what you are asking for, I suspect you would be disappointed by the result.  If I were you, I would file a return request through the resolution center citing that the items were not as described.  The seller can then either refund you without a return or send you a return label and refund you once they get the items back.  Do not pay for the return shipping yourself and expect the seller to refund you that amount later on.  They must send you a return label or money for a return label before you send the items back OR send you a full refund without requiring anything back.

[reallynicestamps]

I agree this is a Not As Described dispute.

The Resolution Centre is at the bottom of this page and is entirely automatic.

You should be sent a Return Shipping Label and when the return shows delivered, you will be refunded.

My question would be- Did the seller combine three listings into one special listing just for you? Or did you make three separate purchases which were shipped together and the shipping cost massaged?

If the former, you may be told to return everything, including the satisfactory products. If the latter only the problem purchase.

[master-jack]

His store is odd. Which is why I even made the first contact with him about his items.

He had several items portrayed in the photos of a listing, but then the listing would only really describe one of the items in said photo. So my first contact was something akin to, "Is this listing for all the items depicted, or just for a single item in the description? The store page is quite hard to follow."

He ended up making a listing from one of the items, throwing in a little bit of detail about the product(s). Adding links to his other auctions in the description. Set the price and sent me the offer.

I haven't been in the selling game on ebay in a while, but looking back, even this seems like a questionable move.

I did put in a Item Not As Described dispute. He has until Sept 3rd to resolve the issue. Judging by his responses to my claim, it doesn't look like he's interested. He might be on the booze again. I'd love nothing more than to post a screen cap of the conversation but I'm not sure if that's appropriate or in violation of ToS.  I'll just wait until Friday and see where this goes.

Thanks for the advice!

[master-jack]

I would agree. I did put in the dispute, which is not the route I wanted to go, because I paid this with my credit card through ebay taking the hit on the currency coversion (USD to CAD). Win or lose, I still lose when the currency is reverted back. I have no incentive to recouperate the funds paid. I just wanted the appropriate accessories in order to make this **bleep** thing function as it's suppose to. I think I would've been less offended if he just sent no accessories in the box and said he forgot rather than this garbage that I found inside.

Judging by the last few feedbacks he's gotten since my purchase. Other people aren't too pleased with his shenanigans either. 😞