I won a case on eBay as a SELLER...

Here's my story.  I got the new iPad mini for Christmas this year, so I decided to sell my iPad 2 because no one needs two iPads.  The item sold on December 31st, which was great because I had a plan for what I was putting those funds towards.

I mail the iPad January 2, since the post office is closed New Year's Day and I get a message from the buyer...  "You sent it to the wrong address, that is my sisters house."  So I told the buyer that since it was her confirmed address and the only way to protect myself, even if she told me this earlier it was still going to that address for my protection since eBay "never" rules in favor of the seller.  She says ok, my sister will mail it to me...

January 27:  Buyer has opened a case.  Really?  No e-mail nothing, just opens a case.  Suddenly my mint condition, perfectly working, barely used iPad "stop working after 3 use"... Yes, that was English.  I asked if it was charged, if it was plugged in during a power surge, etc.  I tried every which way to help despite not offering a return.  I also looked up her eBay ID to see any other purchases recently, and she purchased the Square Trade Warranty on items up to $500.  She bought it yet clearly didn't try to use it, if in fact there was a broken iPad sold to her.

January 30:  Naturally eBay said she can return it.  Wonderful.  It was well documented that this iPad had traveled the world once I mailed it so I decided to one up this con artist.  I called Apple and got the serial number confirmed for my iPad so that I would be certain it was mine coming back....

February 5:  iPad arrives.  I opened the box, it was well packed.  The iPad box was completely crushed in one corner and that was not at all what was sent.  I open the box, immediately notice a scratch that mine did not have.  I check the serial number.... NOT THE ONE I SOLD.  Nice try lady.  So now I call eBay, explain the item is not what I sent her and that I have proof that I never owned this serial number iPad nor was it ever registered to my Apple ID or name.  They put me on hold to contact the buyer and find out what is going on....  Guy gets back on the phone, says well third party shipping is not covered by eBay Buyer Protection so they are ruling in my favor and she gets nothing back.

While yes, it is great that I don't get screwed in the situation but what if it had gone directly to her, would I still have had a valid case with eBay?  Their ruling is based on the 'ring around the rosey' shipping they did with the item not that she tried to pull a fast one.  I'm happy to have won the case but I am annoyed that this person will likely do this to another person in the future with no repercussion unless the seller can prove with serial numbers what she did.

I know I shouldn't be annoyed about this anymore but it is still bugging me.

Moral of the story:  If you sell any items with serial numbers, list them in the auction as proof so they can't bother even trying to pull a fast one.  Luckily I had mine verified and both mine and the broken one sent to me were given to eBay for the case file.

Dear idiot eBay sellers...

Why do you list OBVIOUS fake "patch" cards online that no one believes are real? Actually, one person did believe that they were real because they were dumb enough to spend $66.00 hard earned dollars on the most insanely fake card.

See the $66 stupidity by clicking here. Let's call that Dumb Ass #1.

The next card I discovered last night while doing my usual search. It is /740 yet contains the only patch card with that serial number in the entire set. Wow! What a great pull, right? Not so much. Here is the ULTRA RARE patch card. Dumb Ass #2. BUT WAIT!! The SAME seller has another patch card for sale.... Look at this nonsense. Only $99.99! Oh. My. God. Must buy. NOT.

I linked all of these auctions to Topps on Twitter and they have yet to respond. Several other people also asked about the cards last night in tweets and from what I have seen there has been no response to anyone.

I know for a fact that companies like Louis Vuitton and Coach have people monitoring eBay for fakes and knock-offs because I know people who have gotten letters from eBay and the companies saying that they are not allowed to sell knock-offs online even if the auction explicitly states that they are NOT real. Where is the protection for sports memorabilia collectors or card collectors, Topps? How do they get alerted to this and do nothing and have no response?

I honestly think eBay needs to give their employees a class on this stuff because they supposedly have people who patrol auctions looking for things of this nature but it seems like they have no idea what they are doing when it comes to this particular topic.

None of the card companies have ever had an archive of pictures of the cards they produce that have patches or are 1/1 types of cards and they really should. How about maybe just an e-mail devoted to report fakes or investigate fakes? Then at least we could think that someone is looking out for us and more importantly protecting the integrity of the company. If you just started collecting and didn't know any better, bought one of those cards then found out... It probably would turn you off to collecting or to buying from that company even if they say they had nothing to do with it. At least for me it would be a turn off.

Thoughts?

Gypsy Queen "Scan" Artists

Topps had to have seen this one coming, and if they didn't they are going to be bombarded with all kinds of non-sense. I will not say if I think they deserve it based on the fact that they did not include what was supposed to be in the boxes.... however....

Now we are stuck with people like this Kill Joy who are going to make this whole process take that much longer for people who want the cards. As of right now there are only one of these auctions up.

That being said, I will be here later organizing the cards into another box and prepping our codes to send out immediately to avoid delays.

You have been warned.

An interesting eBay scam

It appears that sellers have found a new way to avoid paying eBay. Apparently this guy refuses to pay eBay's final value fees and would rather try and scam the system.

Let me show you what he does:

-Don Mattingly auto BIN for $4.23

-Don Mattingly auto #2 BIN for $4.23

-Mickey Mantle autographed plaque $17.99

Now, if you looked at those you can see what I am talking about. How the %$# does eBay allow this to go on? I will not say if me or someone I know has reported this days ago, but even still, don't they have someone who is assigned to each category to monitor things when red flags come up?

The funny thing is, the dude picks and chooses what he will play by the rules with and what he won't. Take a look at some of the other items he has for sale. Some have normal shipping, and then there is a CD that costs $20 to ship.

Not for nothing, I have sold plenty of things on eBay in my day and I sure as hell didn't want to pay the final value fees but you know what? That's life.

Has anyone else come across sellers like this? Do you think it's important to report them or would you just (obviously) avoid purchasing items from someone doing this?