Ebay Ethics

[pshabi]

I'm going to the AC Gala Event next week. I'm shopping ebay for something vintage, cheap, and superfly like a motherfucker.

I got outbid on my first choice, a 70s disco-type suit,which would've been perfect. I find a second suit, classy vintage, snug fit. Not bad. I put in a max bid of $50 about 3 hours before the auction was too end. Then, I'm looking at the description and the color says: Navy. WTF, the suit in the picture is brown. I'm not sure I want a Navy suit. I message the guy asking about it but I had to go to work. I figure dude must have misprinted it. It's a "company" that has a shit ton of vintage suits listed.

I leave for the gym, comeback and I won the auction @ only $20 + $20 shipping. Not bad. But, I got a message from the dude and the suit is in fact fucking Navy. I don't want it. I'm thinking of not paying him and saying fuck it. I'll message him and let him know I feel the item was misrepresented and that I'm not gonna pay. I'd rather just go shop here in town at this point.

Am I in the wrong here if I give him the shaft? I don't wanna hear shit about "It's just $40, don't be a bitch" cause it's not about the money. It's the fact that I wanted something different and won't even use this one. The advertising was unclear, IMHonestO

What are the possible consequences if I decide to stiff the dude? Bad Ebay rep???

[Planetary]

if he was unclear in his description, it will be reported but i think you will be granted the right to not have to pay for the item. if you misread the description you will be given a short ban.

[Bob]

i dunno, sounds complicated. i mean, if the written description clearly said "navy" from the beginning then i'd kind of think it's your fault for not reading it before you offered to pay money for it.

but on the other hand you're right, it's kind of misleading of him to post a picture and then not have any kind of disclaimer saying that the picture is not of the actual product in any kind of immediately recognizable way.

maybe it's just law school talking, but i'm kind of leaning in favor of the seller here; he posted a written description of the item, and he's not unreasonable in assuming that people will read it and, if they have questions about it, ask for clarification before making an offer.

when did he message you in regards to the color of the suit? was it before or after you won the auction?

i really don't know how ebay works, i've only used it once. i don't think you're being terribly unreasonable though, i mean it all happened pretty fast. i'm just saying it probably would have been a good idea to read the description before placing a bid

[YoungRemy]

its pretty clear cut... its what the description says... if it says Navy, then you should have seen that... the pictures dont always show up properly, especially black, brown, or Navy...

thats what I have discovered at least... I got two suits recently off Ebay, and while They were good deals/fits, it was a crap shoot...

by the way, check out http://stores.ebay.com/FAMOUS-FINDS_Mens-SUITS-vintage_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm ?

p.s. what wrong with a Navy suit? show me the link for the item if you want to share

[Suavee-Bolo]

Dude, I'd think you're much better off getting something from a local spot at this point in time anyway.
I'd be worried it wouldn't arrive in the mail in time, shit's less than a week away.



But to answer your question, the term "ebay ethics" is an oxymoron, do what you gotta do, son.
I was shopping for a "hum-dinger" myself on there for this show and I had the same exact problem with black/brown/navy suits looking different colors in different lighting.

[Documad]

On a practical note, if you pull out can he give you bad feedback?

P.S. What do you have against navy? You will probably look sharp! Or were you trying to be brown because Beasties are wearing a lot of brown lately? :p

[pshabi]

On a practical note, if you pull out can he give you bad feedback?

P.S. What do you have against navy? You will probably look sharp! Or were you trying to be brown because Beasties are wearing a lot of brown lately? :p

I just don't like Navy. I dunno. I'll look sharp in whatever. The first diddy was a blue/silver combo, then I chose brown.

My listing is dead, cause the auction is over. Here's another suit by the same seller. Apparently, they use the same "brown" suit in every listing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mens-Vintage-60s-Mod-Indie-Pinstriped-2-PIECE-SUIT-40_W0QQitemZ170134532309QQihZ007QQcategoryZ52399QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Notice the description says, "black." Mine was the exact same picture but said "Navy." Misleading or no? Maybe not maliciously but duhhhhhh!!!

It's not a lighting issue, it's more of a not-so-fine print issue. I'm still up in the air with what I'm gonna do. Probably dispute though.

[Documad]

Yeah, that's crappy. The "black" is buried in the text. It's a good reminder to all of us that the sellers who have on-line stores tend to use stock ads. I've generally purchased from people selling individual items and it's clear that they took a shitty photo of it themselves. :rolleyes:

[Bob]

I just don't like Navy. I dunno. I'll look sharp in whatever. The first diddy was a blue/silver combo, then I chose brown.

My listing is dead, cause the auction is over. Here's another suit by the same seller. Apparently, they use the same "brown" suit in every listing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mens-Vintage-60s-Mod-Indie-Pinstriped-2-PIECE-SUIT-40_W0QQitemZ170134532309QQihZ007QQcategoryZ52399QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Notice the description says, "black." Mine was the exact same picture but said "Navy." Misleading or no? Maybe not maliciously but duhhhhhh!!!

It's not a lighting issue, it's more of a not-so-fine print issue. I'm still up in the air with what I'm gonna do. Probably dispute though.

ah alright then, i change my mind, that is pretty darn misleading. i mean, i'll still say that it would have been a good idea to read the written description before bidding, but it is pretty lame of the seller to prominently feature photo after photo of a brown pinstriped suit and then casually put in the actual description in wrting below.

again, no idea how this would pan out with ebay, but i don't think you'd be a dick to dispute this

[Suavee-Bolo]

That brown one is pretty ill though.

[insertnamehere]

it was written in the description, so it was kinda your fault for not reading it.

tell the seller how you feel and see what he says about it. maybe he'll understand and let you out of it. he does say that he offers returns for items that have been misrepresented. i'd try to work something out with him rather than just not paying up.

soon after the xbox360 came out, someone put an ad up for and xbox360 box. a picture of the box was included. in the description, it clearly said that you were only getting the box, nothing else, no games of any kind, just cardboard. people bid like $500 on it. you gotta read descriptions.

[Bob]

That brown one is pretty ill though.

no kidding

actually i think i might place a bid on that black one, that would probably look pretty good

[pshabi]

it was written in the description, so it was kinda your fault for not reading it.

tell the seller how you feel and see what he says about it. maybe he'll understand and let you out of it. he does say that he offers returns for items that have been misrepresented. i'd try to work something out with him rather than just not paying up.

soon after the xbox360 came out, someone put an ad up for and xbox360 box. a picture of the box was included. in the description, it clearly said that you were only getting the box, nothing else, no games of any kind, just cardboard. people bid like $500 on it. you gotta read descriptions.

In that case, I'd definitely not pay them.

BTW, "not paying" includes contacting him and letting him know my feelings about the whole thing. I'm definitely not just breaking contact or anything douchebaggy.

[insertnamehere]

ok, thats understandable. i thought you meant just not pay/never contact him again. as long as you communicate with the guy. i feel like any reasonable person would be understanding of your confusion.

[Dorothy Wood]

I dunno, I had to read the description twice to find where it said "black". there's just so much text, it'd be really easy to miss. also:

"Check out this killer vintage pinstriped 2-piece suit! Why spend 100-200 £ at a vintage boutique or designer store when you could have this completely unique 2-piece suit for a fraction of the price? Don’t let this pass you by."


it says "check out this killer vintage...." which leads you to believe that the suit you are bidding on is the one pictured.

they should say, "not actual suit", or "the suit you are bidding on is BLACK".

[insertnamehere]

it does say that it's black, i didnt have any trouble seeing it. i mean, its in with the rest of the regular description. there are more words, yes, but its not hidden. if you actually read rather than skim, is there

on the other hand, usually when people use photos that arent exact examples of what they are selling they make sure to mention like three times in the description and use all caps or something eye-catchy so they dont have to deal with stuff like what this seller is about to have to deal with.

i'd make it as clear as possible, not out of consideration for my customers, but out of consideration for myself and not wanting to have to deal with situations like this one.

[Dorothy Wood]

yeah, but you have to admit that you were probably looking for a color description when you were reading it. and if you were looking at it without knowing the situation, it'd be really easy to miss since the beginning of the description leads you to believe that the suit they're selling is the one in the picture.

[YoungRemy]

that's shady...

the picture doesnt match the description...

you dont know what you are buying because you are not receiving the item in the picture...

if you dont feel comfortable, state your claim through some sort of ebay arbitration...

godspeed to you

[Bob]

yeah, but you have to admit that you were probably looking for a color description when you were reading it. and if you were looking at it without knowing the situation, it'd be really easy to miss since the beginning of the description leads you to believe that the suit they're selling is the one in the picture.

and it's not even like there was just one picture, it's just picture, after picture, after picture, after picture; it seems to me, even after reading pshabi's story that the pictures are the prominent feature of the ad. the text description looks like an afterthought, though in reality, it's the only thing that gives an accurate description of the product.

i'm not even really accusing the seller of malevolently trying to deceive (i think brown suits are probably kind of a niche market anyways; probably for people going to beastie boys gala events or possibly the beastie boys themselves), i just think they're really kind of crap at this whole selling thing.

i mean, i still stand by my "read the description carefully before buying anything on ebay" stance, but i dunno, the seller's being pretty lame here.

[Jitters]

I think if you just tell the guy you made an honest mistake you should be off the hook for the most part.

As long as whatever you're buying is not really expensive you should be able to pull that trick if the situation calls for it.

[ms.peachy]

I think that's pretty deceptive. You have a right to expect that the item pictured is an accurate representation of the item for sale. I think if you write to the guy again and be non-confrontational about it and say "Look dude I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time, but I didn't want a navy suit, I wanted the suit pictured, can you relist it as I'm really not keen on navy."

[Pootytang]

I think you should confront the guy about the misleading pictures and then offer him a buck fifty for the money he's gonna spend to relist it. I know ebay has free relisting, but that is on items that didn't sell. I honestly think he is the one at fault here w/ misleading pictures, and I say fuck what the description says; he's the won that is using the same pictures for different suits. Who to say that this is the same style suit that you will recieve anyways.

Personally, I always look at the sellers feedback before bidding. That will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about their honesty, unless they have very little feedback.

[abcdefz]

What I'd probably do is write and say you were mislead by the photo and the text reference to the photo ("check out this suit"), but then saw the different color listed in the description after you had already bid.

So then say, "Look, honest mistake. Let me give you $5 as a kill fee to pay for the insertion fee so you can re-list it. If you have any brown suits like you show in the photo, let me know, and I'd like to bid on that."

See how that goes. But, like they say, a bid is a contract, and it sucks in a situation like this, but you do have to read carefully. It stinks to have to be meticulous, and you want everybody to be up-and-up, but that's how things are.

If you get bad feedback, it's really really really hard-to-impossible to get it removed. Just so you know.

[Nivvie]

What I don't like about it is there's no picture of the navy or black suit, he's expecting people to buy something they can't see, and as that rarely happens, it's not surprising you bid on it expecting it to be brown.

I agree the listing tells you it's black, but he should at least have a small swatch size picture of that fabric at the bottom, if he doesn't want to re-shoot the lot. Then you would know something at least, and it would raise alarm bells if you saw a different sort of fabric there.

If he's a good, professional and serious seller, he should take any advice you give him on board, especially as his feedback is low.