I’ve recently made several ebay purchases and in all but one case, got what I believed was advertised and was very satisfied. The one exception is an interlocking tower I just received. I thought what I was getting was a Walthers built-up in cream and green colors which matches other railroad structures I have in that line. I remember the description was that it had been lightly weathered. What I received was a kit built (fairly sloppily) in a strange color that I don’t believe Walthers offered. Now before I leave a negative feedback, I want to be fair to the seller. If he misrepresented the item, that’s his fault. If I made assumptions about the color and condition of the item, that’s my fault and I don’t want to ding this seller. My problem is I tried to go back and look at the original description but when I click on the link, I don’t see the description any more. This auction ended on 11/10 and I just received the item yesterday. Is there a way to bring back the original description of an item for which the auction ended almost two weeks ago?
Try signing into your “MY EBAY” account at the top of the page. There will be the history of your purchases under the WONt tab. The link there might work. I just checke mine for a purchase I made on the same day (11/10) and the description is still there.
Dan
After checking the description as outlined by Dan and if the description doesn’t match I would contact the seller to see if a settlement could be reach…If not then you have no choice in leaving a negative feed back with a simple explanation why…
CAVEAT EMPTOR!! The rule for eBay.
It is the responsibility of the SELLER to represent the item fairly.
It is the responsibility of the BUYER to make sure there is a meeting of the minds. This needs to take place BEFORE the transaction takes place.
In other words, the BUYER has more responsibility than the SELLER.
David B
I followed the above suggestions and was able to locate the original description. As it turns out, the description said “preassembled kit”. I focused on the word preassembled which I took to mean factory assembled and overlooked the word kit. This misunderstanding led to a second misunderstanding by me regarding the color. Since I believe it was one of the built-up towers, I knew those only came in 3 color combinations and based on the photo, the only one it could have been was the cream and green combination. As it turns out, since this was a kit built, it apparently was painted by the builder in colors similar to the cream and green, but hardly a match.
As it turns out, I have myself to blame for the misunderstanding and I won’t leave a negative feedback for the seller. I’ll just have to read more carefully on future ebay purchases. It wasn’t my intention when I posted this to whine about having gotten burned on ebay as others have done in the past. I simply wanted to make sure who was at fault for the misunderstanding and in this case it was me. I fully understand the risks involved with ebay shopping. You can get great deals, but you can also expect to occasionally get burned by a bad seller and that is one of the risks you accept when shopping ebay.
It isn’t a total loss. This line of structures is not currently avalable from Walthers and I suspect they are being discontinued which I why I resorted to ebay to try to find one. If I can color match the cream and green paint scheme on the factory built-ups, I can still end up with what I wanted. It just means I’ll have to do a little more work than I planned. As I mentioned in the OP, the kit was fairly sloppily assembled and the four walls have since come apart but that will actually be a plus when I go to repaint the thing. It’s as if I am starting with an unpainted, unassembled kit.
I see what you mean. I think. You are wanting to see the description and see how it is worded before making a decision based on what you think you read. For instance did the seller say it was a structure built up by Walthers (or their manufacturer) or was it a Walthers structure that was built up. Could be an easily confused wording that may or may not have been intentional by the seller. It may involve a judgement call by you even after you get the information you desire. Sometimes terms used by Model Railroaders are repeated by others not realizing what the difference may be if there is one at all. A “builtup” or “Prebuilt” to one may infer prebuilt from the manufacturer but to another, a term meaning simply already built by anyone or simple not an unbuilt kit.
Personally I have not had a problem with not seeing the original post where there was a problem and frankly I’ve not had a problem excet once and after reading the description I saw I had read into it. More accurately, I read what I wanted to and didn’t read what I needed to. It was not a bad purchase. Even cheap. But I learned to read carefully and ask if I don’t know. Or even pass. That however is water under the bridge so to speak.
But to your question. E-bay claims to keep the description on file for 90 days. I understand that is when they supposedly remove it. I’m not sure if a seller can pull it sooner. I wouldn’t think so. But I guess it is possible. Someone who sells could tell you. Try going into your Papal receipts they E-mail you or your E-bay “you won” E-mail and follow the link ther to see.
If it differs, in your opinion, from what you recieved I would follow the previously mentioned advice and contact the seller, through the E-bay contact seller link so there is a record with E-bay, and see if you can’t resolve it first. I’d hate to see a misunderstanding lead to a bad feedback. Sounds like you feel the same way or you w
Nothing against jecorbett , but this is one of the reasons I will only sell brand new items on ebay. It always seems like the guy who buys something he is not exactly sure of , then gets it and don’t like it, is the guy who complains and leaves negative feedback. Ebay sucks enough in the way it is totally in favor of the buyer and that is why this kind of nonsense is not tolerated by me so I only sell new items with complete descriptions and a few pictures.
I find most sellers are willing to talk if there is a slight problem-I am told E-bay has tighten down on less then stellar sellers which is good for the buyer since it removes those types of dealers…Even a old hoss trader like me knows to be honest and stand behind the deal.
However,pictures speaks volumes and can sell the item or warn the buyer its not what he/she thinks or is nothing but,a piece of junk with missing or broken parts-I seen my fair share of those on e-bay.
It is always my policy to ask questions to make sure I understand what I am getting BEFORE placing a bid. The onus is on the buyer to properly research their purchases to avoid bad experiences.
Well, buying on E-bay, as noted in an earlier post, is pretty much a Caveat Emptor situation. How ever in most cases, you can’t beat the prices. But, my experiences with dealers (ie: questions, more detailed descriptions, etc.) has been very good. Also look at the sellers rating and if his/her number is below 99%, go into their feedbacks. Those are good indicators of sellers reliability.
Just my coupla cents worth.