Thread: E-bay related moral dilemma

Hey guys. As some of you may know I got this W&B from e-bay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1
The seller left me a positive rating upon payment and it's a great price but she did not mention the edge-deep nick on the blade right next to the stabilizers. Since she only mentioned "a few black marks", I thought someone just left a black marker mark (that's what they are).
Since I am getting a great deal in any case, I was thinking of leaving her a positive and sending a private warning. What do you guys think I should do? It's a $13 W&B afterall.

Well, as we all saw with the "specially designed sideburn shaver," a large percentage of razor sellers on eBay don't know much about them. They're just unloading junk they've found at flea markets and rummage sales, for the most part.

I'd be ticked off if I were in your shoes, but I don't think I'd take much of my anger out on the seller. It was cheap, after all. If it were a forty or fifty dollar razor? Well, that'd be a different story.

I bought a Dubl Duck Goldedge on ebay for seventeen or eighteen bucks a couple of months ago with quite a nick in the blade. I honed it out and now it's one of my better shavers.

I advise sending her a polite, but disappointed e-mail. Put the ball in her court. Show that razor some TLC and it will return the favor.

If you're happy with the deal, you may just want to let her know you appreciated the transaction and tell her about the defect for future reference. The other thing for future reference is not to be afraid to ask the sellers questions before bidding about nicks, pitting, tarnish, rust or cracks in the blade or handle. Lynn

I was planning on honing out the nick and polishing the razor. Actually from the pic it looked like it was frowning, so I thought I'd need to remove that much steel just to turn that frown upside down. The edge is actually straight. So I'll probably go by the original plan.

Edit: Since there are two people already supporting my original line of action, I'll abide by it. Thank you gentlemen.

I would just chalk it up to the perils of eBay. The nick is visible in the pic, but I can see how it could look like rust or something else. Plus, the fact that there is only one blurry picture and a vague description would set my suspicions off. I once bought an E. Kirschbaum razor off eBay that looked great. Multiple pics from different angles (all with the blade open) and a detailed description. When I got it in the mail and tried to open it, the entire tip broke off at a 45 degree angle from the end of the spine to the edge! The spacer between the scales was way to big and the blade had been forcefully jammed into the handle. Needless to say, when I contacted the seller, he blamed it on me and threatened to leave negative feedback. Wasn't much I could do besides not leaving any feedback. In your case, I'd say try and resolve it with the seller first and see what happens. If it doesn't work out, you have the right to leave negative feedback, but I would reserve that for a situation like Urleebird had not too long ago.

Oh I left her a positive but instead of "*HONEST SELLER* leaves feedback upon payment! Shop with confidence!" I left "Good deal. Fast shipping." I also sent her this message:

Hi. The item just arrived and I left a positive since I still got a good deal, but I do have an admonishment for future razor sales:
The edge has a fairly substantial nick that did not get mentioned in the listing. Next time please mention such damage when listing razors as this will take a lot of work on the hone to remove. Thank you.

Ilija

I hope she listens.

Chalk it up to a learning experience and nicely let her know that the picture didn't show the nicks and many straight razor buyers are concerned about them.

Some people don't expect nicks to be an issue. Woodworkers use straight razors to make carving knives. They don't really care about nicks on the blade because it gets removed in the process. She may be used to dealing with these kinds of people and not shavers.

I was courteous enough in my PM to the seller and now she knows that nicks ARE an issue. Let's hope her descriptions take a turn for the better.

Here's what I do:

1. Contact the seller immediately and ask whether there are any defects that may not have shown up in the photo or in the item description. It gives the seller a chance to really evaluate the items again. This may mean gently running a thumbnail along the edge to check for tiny nicks. Some sellers may not be comfortable doing this. A toothpick can be a nice little probe in that case.

2. If you're not happy with the photo in the auction, ask for close-up shots. Indicate specifically which areas of the razor you'd like to see. I'd think twice about bidding on any item, whether it's a steal or not, if the seller won't at least try to send me some better photos.

3. Ask about returns, and mention that you're a collector who enjoys using the razors and that you really don't want a razor with a substantial defect. Will the seller refund your payment in full if you find a defect in the item? If so, great. If not, go with your gut instinct.

4. If you win the item, inspect it carefully the moment it arrives. If you find a defect that was not clearly photographed or described in the auction, take some photos and e-mail them to the seller with an explanation. Hopefully, a return scenario will have been ironed out with the seller before the razor arrives.

5. Make sure all communications are handled through the eBay system.

Originally Posted by Ben

5. Make sure all communications are handled through the eBay system.

Please guys I cannot stress what Ben said here enough. I work at eBay (although not in the trust and safety department) and if you take things off eBay (even just the simple communications) it makes it much more difficult for eBay to track things if they go wrong. I hate it when people take things off eBay, then have a problem and eBay can't help because they have no tracking and then not only do people have a bad experience with the seller they end up getting miffed at eBay too. We really do try very hard to "do the right thing" but we are constrained by all sort of legal red tape.

Please, if you're doing any business on eBay keep *everything* on eBay (paypal is part of eBay so that's fine...)

-- Gary F.