Thread: "Caveat Emptor" Buyer Beware!

Hey Guys, I don't post many threads, or certainly as many as I read. However this one needs posting. Like many of you, I'm on ebay scouring for that one "diamond in the rough." I have noticed prices continue to skyrocket. Many of these blades are junk with ridiculous price tags. There are very nice blades on eBay. Be careful who you buy them from, and please don't over pay for a razor. It just encourages some of these guys to gouge. I recently say some really nice blades on eBay, however they were grosly overpriced. I emailed the gentleman to see if he was willing to negotiate on a particular razor that I was interested in. I owned the same razor, however I discovered it was cracked. Guy told me he was not a SRP member, just a collector. Claimed to have 2000+ razors. He said he wanted to get rid of his blades however he had to make a profit. I told him I was unwilling to pay any of his prices as they were ridiculous. He agreed to sell me the above mentioned razor at a decent price using the "Buy it Now" feature on eBay. I paid using Paypal. I noticed that the sale did not show in my summary. Turns out he sold outside of eBay. 6 days later I receive a shipping tube. It was empty. Immediatly called the guy and he states that I can't prove I did not receive razor. Total BS. Guys please be careful. Beware of overpriced razors being sold out of Midwest. If you are an eBay guy, and know razors, you will figure out who he is. Hope this helps. Be safe.

I write this with hesitation.

I have often wished I could warn others of garbage vendors, but it is against SRP policy to bash any vendor. That said, I appreciate your effort for the warning, and I realize that you tried to be sufficiently vague in order to circumvent the SRP policy, but the problem is that you have now labeled any seller from the Midwest as being suspect.

Aside: I would be so absolutely furious to be screwed over the way you were. Personally, I think that would make me want to take a road trip to deal with the seller in person.

Call your CC company

Originally Posted by Alan12

Hey Guys, I don't post many threads, or certainly as many as I read. However this one needs posting. Like many of you, I'm on ebay scouring for that one "diamond in the rough." I have noticed prices continue to skyrocket. Many of these blades are junk with ridiculous price tags. There are very nice blades on eBay. Be careful who you buy them from, and please don't over pay for a razor. It just encourages some of these guys to gouge. I recently say some really nice blades on eBay, however they were grosly overpriced. I emailed the gentleman to see if he was willing to negotiate on a particular razor that I was interested in. I owned the same razor, however I discovered it was cracked. Guy told me he was not a SRP member, just a collector. Claimed to have 2000+ razors. He said he wanted to get rid of his blades however he had to make a profit. I told him I was unwilling to pay any of his prices as they were ridiculous. He agreed to sell me the above mentioned razor at a decent price using the "Buy it Now" feature on eBay. I paid using Paypal. I noticed that the sale did not show in my summary. Turns out he sold outside of eBay. 6 days later I receive a shipping tube. It was empty. Immediatly called the guy and he states that I can't prove I did not receive razor. Total BS. Guys please be careful. Beware of overpriced razors being sold out of Midwest. If you are an eBay guy, and know razors, you will figure out who he is. Hope this helps. Be safe.

If you have a copy of correspondence with the seller stating "you can't prove I didn't send the item" or if you don't ..... contact paypal and file a dispute and escalate to a claim ASAP.

The morals of the story seem to be

1. Don't deal outside ebay as your options get limited - you can't leave feadback on the seller, and even if one incident doesn't do much if an ebay seller has a habit it will end up biting him badly
2. The seller has committed mail fraud, which is a fairly serious criminal federal offense. You should report it to the authorities (look up on usps.gov). Even if you cannot prove anything, it's definitely worth logging the complaint as that can end with a serious consequences to the seller in the future.
3. File a complaint with paypal as well, again the point is that even if you don't get anything, the seller cannot pull the same thing many more times.

To bad it was a phone call. I have a feature to record calls on my cell I record all calls when they might lead to problems It helps a lot with companies with the "but you said" they say no I did not. Its great to replay it for them.

It was not my intent to place any suspicion on any eBay seller from the Midwest. Rather, I encourage SRP members to look at the blades and the prices, and if they feel that the prices are inflated, I mean really high compared to similar items being listed, and the buyer happens to be from the Midwest, be careful. Simply be careful!

It was my fault as I should have advised this seller that I would only buy directly from eBay and if I later discovered he was attempting to sell outside of eBay, I would immediately report him. Perhaps this would have prompted him to do the right thing.

My sincere apologies to any ebay sellers from the Midwest.

Paypal doesn't discriminate between items bought on one venue or another. If you got beat you can call them and state your case.

If other options fail, you might be able to find a witch doctor that can put a curse on the seller causing him to become infested with fleas.

Good luck!

In much the same manner, "seller Beware" should be mentioned. I recently sold a very concave razor on Ebay and the buyer complained that it did not work well. After discussion it was determined He had a very tough beard. I sent him a stiffer razor and he sent the other back. Priority mail insured as agreed. He was happy and I thought I had a good customer. I coached him on shaving and lather, stropping and the whole deal. He desired more razors so I sent him 9 from which to choose. He eventually picked 2 razors and sent the money for them via paypal. The remaining razors were to be sent back, priority insured as agreed. After not recieving, he told me his wife had sent them via media mail and had no tracking number and was just plain sorry! Won't pay for them either! He surely buys more razors on Ebay though, and changed his name on SRP at that time! Now I am out 7 nice razors and am left holding the bag. Ebay and Paypal keep folks honest, as a little padlock does on the shed, but without any authority, some folks will take advantage who would normally do the right thing. Makes me feel stupid for having trusted someone. Never again will I ship without being paid.
It makes it very hard to put trust in folks when this sort of thing happens. Sad