Well my UNfriend, I'm the type that holds a grudge.

[reddragdiva]

Just in time for me (not) to send the cheque: the seller of the camera is no longer registered. "'Not a registered user' can refer to members who have cancelled their membership, or whose membership has been suspended by eBay." Gosh, I wonder which.

Even if they're reinstated, I'm not especially keen on sending them my scarce cash now. (Personal cheque, of course; no PayPal.) What are my eBay obligations here? The answer board is less than clear on the subject ...

Comments

[bootpunk.livejournal.com]

I'd get an answer from eBay directly - surely in cases like this it is vital that you are told if they were suspended for abusive behaviour?

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

What does "CASH ON COLLECTION PREFERRED" mean, in the item description? Is that where the item can be mailed, you go to the post office with a envelope full of banknotes, and trade the one for the other? That might seem a worthwhile way of dealing with this absent other factors.

[reddragdiva]

That means you go pick it up from them.

[reddragdiva]

Nuh! They're not allowed to tell us that — privacy policy.

We've contacted customer support with: "The seller of this item, electronicz-4-u, appears to have been suspended - just as I was about to send a personal cheque to pay for the item. Even if the seller is reinstated, I am now very reluctant to risk continuing with this deal. What are my obligations in this case?"

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

Erf. Not so convenient then. Midlands is a bit of a schlepp from London, if I remember rightly.

[bootpunk.livejournal.com]

Isn't this a brilliant case of privacy policy getting in the way of plain common sense? I think the public dissemination of the fact that your account was suspended is something that you should sign a waiver for as part of agreeing to deal with eBay in the first case.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

It doesn't state the account is suspended, only that the seller is no longer registered with eBay.

[sweh.livejournal.com]

It really looks like a throwaway scam account; first feedback 16th Feb, last feedback 26th March... uh huh.

[reddragdiva]

Yeah. It looked like a shop just starting out, and didn't trigger Liz's keen eBay scam detector. Of course, it does now ...

If they haven't shipped you the camera....

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

...don't send them any money.

I don't think anyone would have voluntarily cancelled a membership mid-sale.

If you don't send the money, he can't register a complaint against you since he's no longer a member, right?

Some of the positive comments look like comments from other sellers which is really kinda funny.

You're talking around $180 here for an old model camera. Casio on line sells new ones similar, the EX-Z60, for around $250. Amazon has the Casio Exilim EXZ55 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom for $225.57 on clearance.

B&H has this for around $210 and they ship world-wide (I love them -- stuff I ordered Sunday night arrived here this morning at ten). http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=399883&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

Shipping to the UK would be another $42 roughly, not going with the cheapest option, so that's $252 for a known good better cameras rather than $180 plus whatever shipping and handling for the eBay one (arrgh, 20 pounds sterling for shipping and handling, almost $35 US). Total cost for the item as bid on: $215, if you get it. Twenty pound for shipping and handling seems a bit high, personally, unless that's a guess for large items.

Don't know what you'd have to pay customs for the B&H purchase, though.

The B&H one will arrive promptly and will work just fine. You will have to set up an account with B&H and they probably will require a credit card (they may be able to do checks -- you can always email them for more information).

Or you can just not buy any new toys until you've got work again.

And if B&H doesn't do right by you, I can go to NYC and beat them up for you.

That didn't appear to me to be a deal, and for $40 or so more, you could have a new camera from B&H, shipped from NYC, unless the duties would be excessive for a camera.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

also, it's worth noting that if you try to go back and view his older auctions, most of them link to "INVALID ITEM! ebay has removed this auction, etc" which is pretty suss.

More suss is the way the seller didn't have any real pictures of the items - just editted photos from the manufacturers website.

Re: If they haven't shipped you the camera....

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

http://www.ajelectronics.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?Prod_code=EXS500 for your camera in the UK.

Re: If they haven't shipped you the camera....

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

he can buy brand-new (as opposed to allegedly "customer returned") cameras in the UK for that kind of money too. From shops that accept returns, too.

Not that model, no, but decent Fuji and Canon models you can't complain about.

[shamus9999.livejournal.com]

Read these and make up your own mind about going through with the purchase. If you don't at least they won't be able to leave you negative feedback.

I've been in B&H in NYC as well as having dealt with them on line.

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

I've had one of the salesmen tell me that a certain large film daylight photo tank wouldn't work the way I'd been told it would work. On another visit, I was told that I really didn't need to upgrade my powerpack and lights. They may not be warm and fuzzy, but they're amazingly honest.

The store is a full NYC block long and is worth the visit in anyone is in the city. They move items on overhead conveyer belts. Folks who do that sort of volume trade will probably glitch up from time to time, but they've got the best reputation among pro photographers that I know of.

I think I bought from them on line before going to the store. I wouldn't buy from them by phone unless I knew precisely what I wanted. They don't have the time to do advising by phone and always had a reputation for being gruff. But if you're in the store during the week, they will talk to you, and they know their stuff.

[reddragdiva]

Yeah, Liz noticed the older items were slowly disappearing ;-)

The second point isn't actually that suss - quite a lot of honest vendors on eBay don't photograph the actual item. Of course, it's nicer when they do.

Re: If they haven't shipped you the camera....

[reddragdiva]

There's another 17.5% VAT and then ParcelForce charge several quid for collecting the VAT (Because They Can) and etc. That is, the numbers here closely resemble the numbers there plus all that stuff. Meh!

Re: If they haven't shipped you the camera....

[reddragdiva]

Yeah, yeah ;-p

I'm currently stalking Ixuses.

Re: If they haven't shipped you the camera....

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

If you don't have to pay VAT on an overseas purchase, then B&H would be the way to go. If you do, I'd talk to pro photographers and find the British equivalent of B&H. Robert White has a great reputation (US Minolta medium format people find buying from Robert White is a significant savings over buying from stores stocking from Minolta USA), but he didn't have Casios.

[frou-frou.livejournal.com]

Do you have any contact details for the seller? I'd contact them directly and see what's happening. My gut tells me to forget about it though - if they're not registered, they've broken some rule somewhere and you're under no obligation to continue the transaction.

as an aside, I'd be careful buying stuff like this from sellers without many feedback, especially if it's less than 10 feedback and one of those is negative.

I recently had a buyer who became deregistered - ebay removed the postive feedback they left for me. And they didn't even tell me which buyer! They're very keen on privacy when it suits them, although it's scary how much information you can access about other traders through their system.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I had a seller de-registered once, before I sent the cash.
Turns out there were some irregularities with their account, which eBay had suspended.

Once they were re-registered I sent my payment and got my item.

Then, on a future purchase to another bidder I accidently sent the money to the aforementioned seller. I contacted them and it was refunded the next day.

So it isn't always a bad thing. I would be cautious though.

[markeris.livejournal.com]

eBay have in the past confirmed that a seller had attempted to fraud me, that he had been suspended due to dodgy practices and that they recommended quite seriously that I sent them no money.

Later on they blacklisted me on the grounds that simply because it would have been stupid of me to give the guy money, a fact which they advised me of, didn`t, as such, relieve me of my obligations as a buyer. They have yet to respond to my flurry of four letter words 3 months later. The key problem seemed to be that I hadn`t resolved the matter amicably with the seller. Which assumes that in the corporate world of eBay conversations along the lines of the following are common :-

"I say. You`ve just frauded me haven`t you? You`ve quite literally and clumsily pushed the value of those items up the maximum value going and then retracted your final bid made under a false ID."
"I did indeed. It`s a fair cop. Do you still want them?"
"Well, I did set my own maximum after all, so it`s clearly what I thought was something I`d pay, and I do still want them. If I send you the money, will you actually send me the things?"
"Ah, no, you`ve got me there as well. I`ll be keeping your money and you won`t be getting anything"
"Ah. I see. Best call it off then. Shall we?"
"Yes. Thats fine. Have a nice life"

In actual fact, the conversation that occured was (something like):-

"I`m not buying these goods, you`ve behaved in a suspicious fashion, and have, to boot, reported me to eBay for not paying rather than responding to my message asking you to quote combined and INSURED postage. Which wasn`t particularly nice. However I don`t want you to be out of pocket on the listing fee so file for mutual agreement not to proceed and I`ll agree"

"Grunt. Here`s the combined postage without insurance. send me money."

"Now. Look here young fucko.............etc. etc. etc."

I`m not best impressed with eBay on such matters right now.

[markeris.livejournal.com]

as mentioned below, I told them that they clearly had an obligation upon myself to tell me if I was being frauded or not and they did. This might have gone in my favour because they suspended him specifically based on my inquiry as to whether I`d just been shillbid - though I had to ask firmly even then.

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

just write it up to experience. certainly don't give them any money unless you can pick up the item in person.

[reddragdiva]

I wonder if reaverbob still lives in Middlesbrough. He would certainly be hard to intimidate.

[grumpy-sysadmin.livejournal.com]

Yes, but at this point, showing up with a few large friends and some blunt instruments may be worth it just for the giggles.

[reddragdiva]

If it was nearer Coventry, I'd ask grega to help. Pic. And I'm not a little guy myself.