PowerBook 1400cs/117

[Mike Richardson]

PowerBook 1400cs/117 from eBay

Dead battery. Attempting to run Battery Recondition results in funky sounds and colors on the screen until I unplug the machine.

Unfortunately the seller stiffed me. I won the item for $6.17. I only bid because he is located in Houston and told me I could pick up the item. After the auction ends he decides that there is a "$5 pick up fee" and I told him that was crap and asked him why he needs $5 to do absolutely nothing except answer the door and give me a PowerBook. Then he says "Forget it. NO LOCAL PICKUP. YOU MUST HAVE IT SHIPPED" and I wind up paying the damn $14.99 to have it shipped 15 or so miles across town.

So I paid more for it than I would have liked. I was going to get a 520c parts machine from him for only $6 or so but I refused because of his antics.

I've got my eye now on a pair of 1xx PowerBooks from another Houston seller for $9.99. Just waiting to see if they'll do local pickup.

 

[coius]

I would give him bad feedback and just say in it that "Seller couldn't make up his mind on shipping. Overcharged from what he said it was"

Simple as that. He needs to have someone stand up against him. If he gives you bad feedback, give a reply that he stiffed you. Simple as that

 

[LCGuy]

I agree with what coius said. Besides, isn't charging a "pickup fee" against eBay regulations? I haven't used eBay for years, but i imagine it would be against their rules.

Either way, stuff him, after that i'd be more than happy to give him negative feedback - you have a good reason to.

 

[funkytoad]

What a jerk!

 

[madmax_2069]

yea really, some ebay sellers are so rude and very (how can i say it) stupid.

but most of the times the sell will bend over backwards to please you.

just give him a negative and leave a nice little remark with it. and move on

 

[Mike Richardson]

Neither of us have left feedback. I was hoping he would leave some first (and that it would be neutral or positive) so I could then leave the negative.

 

[alk]

If you knew about the battery issue before you bid, then your complaint really comes down to a matter of $15 and local pickup. Are you really willing to risk receiving retaliatory feedback over $15?

Chalk it up to experience and move on.

I've had considerably worse experiences (two semi-working PowerBook G4s and $700+ risked in a gamble that ultimately left me totally exposed - thankfully the seller refunded my money after much discussion). That the seller won't allow local pickup after he said he would is crappy, and that he wanted to charge you $5 to do nothing but answer the door is equally dumb. I fully support you in your right to complain, but in the end I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

Peace,

Drew

 

[Franklinstein]

The way eBay was originally set up, the friggin' seller is supposed to leave feedback after payment is received, the buyer after the item is in hand and is pleased with the purchase. Unfortunately, there are only like five sellers out there that follow this. Mostly, they withold their feedback until the seller has left theirs so they can reciprocate. If the buyer leaves a negative because the seller lied about the item or the thing just plain doesn't look/work like it was suppsed to, then the seller will leave a negative out of spite, even if the buyer does everything correctly. It's just one more bit of dicketry involved with most of the jerkoffs on eBay anymore.

I usually don't leave feedback unless I get it first, like I'm supposed to. I'm at 90-something now (I've been registered since '03), and as far as I can tell, besides a pretty little star, there's no reward for having a feedback number higher than 10 (unless you're selling, which I rarely do). I've never seen a seller that refuses bids for people with less than 100, anyway. So yeah. The seller doesn't follow the rules, they don't get feedback from me. They're the ones who suffer in that arrangement, so they can eat it.

 

[Mike Richardson]

If you knew about the battery issue before you bid, then your complaint really comes down to a matter of $15 and local pickup. Are you really willing to risk receiving retaliatory feedback over $15?

That's why I didn't plan to leave any feedback unless he left some first. He hasn't done so, so I doubt either of us will leave feedback.

 

[The Macster]

The way eBay was originally set up, the friggin' seller is supposed to leave feedback after payment is received, the buyer after the item is in hand and is pleased with the purchase. Unfortunately, there are only like five sellers out there that follow this. Mostly, they withold their feedback until the seller has left theirs so they can reciprocate. If the buyer leaves a negative because the seller lied about the item or the thing just plain doesn't look/work like it was suppsed to, then the seller will leave a negative out of spite, even if the buyer does everything correctly. It's just one more bit of dicketry involved with most of the jerkoffs on eBay anymore.

I always leave feedback after receiving the item if buying and after having received feedback from the buyer if selling. As a seller, leaving feedback first has a very big risk of getting an unjustified negative as a lot of bidders can be a bit stupid eg if they misunderstood or didn't read the description and so don't get what they were expecting, or if it gets lost in the post and they think that's your fault, or something similar. There have been a few times as a seller (I haven't had any problems as a buyer yet) that I've wanted to leave negative feedback for people who change their minds after bidding or take weeks to pay, but I never have as they would just leave a negative back even though I'd done nothing wrong - that is the main problem with the feedback system, that a lot of issues aren't reported through it as it's not worth it for the retaliatory negative. There's not much they can do though, as there's no way they can determine which negative feedbacks are justified and which aren't though.

I would have been very unhappy in this case though, as the charge for pickup should have been made clear and that way the buyer has a say if they think such a charge is unjustified (which it is, the seller obviously just wanted to get more money for the laptop than was bid) by choosing not to buy. Of course, you could have refused to go through with the purchase, I'm sure eBay would have taken your side if you'd used the disputes system, but then you would have ended up with an unjustified negative. I guess $15 still isn't a bad price though, I'd like a PPC laptop myself and that's quite cheap