Ah yeah, another thing to beware is the average white chick phrase "exactly the same" as in "I don't have a camera, but it's exactly the same as this photo" or "You're looking for one of those? I have exactly the same one!" the meaning of which is it's maybe the same general color, around about the same size plus or minus 300mm and may even have been intended for a similar purpose if you are lucky.

DaveJustDave wrote on 2021-08-04, 19:38:

I've found lots of times that "untested" or "don't have cables to test" is usually codeword for "DEFECTIVE". Like you have a Mac SE and a power cable in the photo. you seriously didn't even plug it in to see if it turns on?

I've had pretty good luck with "untested" items, though I only buy them if they are a really good price and it is something I am having trouble finding.

On of the most irritating things about some sellers is that after I purchase an item or win an auction and then pay, they either cancel because "item damaged" or they come back and say it is no longer in stock...

I really don't believe either. Usually the auction ones are because they didn't get what they wanted. The BIN ones I think are because they didn't calculate the shipping properly or they sold it to someone else for a higher price after I bought it... Grrrrr.

Always use "untested/no returns" in the description even though you know full well that it doesn't work. I could sell like a 100 of faulty boards that way to unsuspecting bidders, none of them have any burn marks on them so it would be easy. Too bad I have a conscience.

Yep, if I haven't tested something I generally sell it in a lot with other stuff for "scrap".

Anything worth selling by itself gets tested if possible before I list. I've even bought stuff so I could test before listing some items.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-08-05, 16:01:

On of the most irritating things about some sellers is that after I purchase an item or win an auction and then pay, they either cancel because "item damaged" or they come back and say it is no longer in stock...

Yeah, I'm getting tired of that. Seller lists it with a starting price of £0.99 and I win it as the only bidder. Then, a few days later after hearing nothing from the seller, the cancellation notice turns up. I had one guy last summer refuse to sell me an item unless I transferred £9 to him to bring my bid up to what he considered the going-rate. Took 2 months to get my 99 pence (and P&P) back. Perhaps don't list it for a pittance if you won't accept a pittance for it.

In some cases they've listed it on some other site and it's now genuinely out of stock because someone else, unbeknownst to you, has bought it/won it with a higher bid.

I once bought an ebay buy-it-now item from oversea for a really good price, but if I remember correctly still with sensible shipping costs. I got an automatic notice that I bought the item, and it should take 4 to 6 weeks to arrive. I immediately paid using paypal. I didn't hear anything further the next 8 weeks, not even a shipping notice or tracking number, and no item arrived. I opened a "item not received" case at ebay, and two days later, I got the money back, without any further communication/explanation.

Is waiting for an "item not received" case in some way the easiest or cheapest way for a seller to back out of a transcation?

mkarcher wrote on 2021-08-05, 18:00:

Is waiting for an "item not received" case in some way the easiest or cheapest way for a seller to back out of a transcation?

Is it worth it to tarnish their feedback score with all the negatives? Aren't too many defects lead to restrictions/suspending on Ebay?

Miphee wrote on 2021-08-05, 19:19:

mkarcher wrote on 2021-08-05, 18:00:

Is waiting for an "item not received" case in some way the easiest or cheapest way for a seller to back out of a transcation?

Is it worth it to tarnish their feedback score with all the negatives? Aren't too many defects lead to restrictions/suspending on Ebay?

Yep, but if it is a huge seller, than the few defects don't affect the percentage of defects much at all.