Caveat Emptor, use it before you buy.
The item is exactly what the ad said, but you're upset that the seller has more and suggested otherwise. Do you want it or not?
My thoughts: you do want it which is why you won't return it but you still want to leverage this to get a partial refund or discount on something else under the implied threat of bad feedback. Not very gentlemanly.
The explanations are all over the place.
If your only motivation was to get another buckle from the seller, so you could compare it with yours and determine if it was a fake or not, why haggle on the price? Forgive me but it sounds like you're not liking the responses you're getting, and are now changing it to " I'm only doing this to see if he's selling fake $25 belt buckles".
I agree with this, but it seems like the majority of people think I was at best rude; at worst trying to rip the guy off. I will continue with my intentions to reimburse the guy and use the augmented model of thinking in the future. I forgot that eBay is geared towards helping dishonest buyers and hosing sellers now and I need to remember to keep that in mind. Paying a bit of "I am an idiot tax" to the guy does two things. It reminds me to remember that ebay is hard on sellers and it will reimburse the guy if he just really is awful at writing, descriptions, meant well and was actually being as truthful as he could be with me. I doubt that he is, but in the off chance...First, you asked for opinions/advice and I disagree with some of the responses:
1) The seller apparently misrepresented the product. The seller offered a refund or, as reimbursement, a second product at an agreed upon price: the seller agreed to sell to you the second buckle at a lower (fair?) price and requested (and you apparently agreed to provide) positive feedback for both sales. If you get what was sold, in described condition then you owe positive feedback nothing more. You don't ethically or legally owe him an additional payment and I suggest you not send it. The seller seems to be dealing at the very least in a deceptive way and you entered into the second deal knowing that, and that you were buying a 'less than rare' item, so you follow through and nothing more.
I initially posted this for the partial reason of getting feedback for both my actions and to see if I was seeing it all correctly. I have nobody else locally who deals online, I wanted some perspective from others who do. I also posted because I was frustrated with how a simple transaction went. The complaining part of my reasoning, you are correct; thank you: was wrong in it's intent. This was initially posted in the barbershop for those reasons. None of what I did or said was intended to be anything but the right thing. I have received remarks from decent folks that have different viewpoints than what my own was, some who expressed opinions that showed me I had not fully explained my own thoughts and some who replied in agreement with my own thoughts at the time. With respect to education; It seems the vast majority of topics and subsequent replies to those topics on this forum are intended to at least partially educate.2) You made a decision to make the second deal in lieu of a refund so quit complaining and walk away. If your mission was to educate others then thank you. If it is to stop the seller then you should have taken the refund, optionally given negative feedback, and reported the misleading description to ebay support. Like you, I've never given negative feedback, but I have taken a refund and reported a seller in the past. If no refund was offered, then you have a gripe. As it is (and forgive the bluntness of my remark) you chose your path and really have no further justification for complaint. To bastardize a quote: You dance with the devil - the devil doesn't change.
Thank you.As for my position on the matter? I'm sure the seller has their side too, but going from what I've read here it seems the seller misrepresented the product (and I've experienced the same or similar, more so recently). First I would have done my research (you didn't do your due diligence IMO) and then I would have made a choice on dealing with an apparently dishonest seller. That said, in your position and having done the deal, I would have taken the refund and then reported the misleading information to ebay.
I have searched sellers in the past and found similar things happening. I do not choose to do business with those sellers on both the principle of deceit and as I usually suspect the items are fake.In the realm of straight razors you'll find hundreds of knockoffs or cheap ones sold as "rare, only a few existing". In these cases I always research the seller if the price point is significant or more than I feel is fair. There is an option in the ebay advanced search to check past auctions for a specific seller to see what they've sold and for how much (you can also do this from their feedback). There are many instances where I've done this to get a fair price for an item I found the seller to be repeatedly selling as a limited edition or as a rare item that I wanted to purchase knowing it was not necessarily rare (which seems to be the case here). Specifically, I wanted an Omega watch travel case that a seller had as 'only a few available' and I believed but couldn't prove they had a colleague bidding up the price behind the scenes. I researched the lowest price and had to bid a couple of their subsequent auctions to get that price. I could have just paid the extra and saved time but of course - it was the principal of the thing, so I chose to take the extra time - that was on me: Caveat Emptor
I would, but in doing so would reveal the seller's identity with a simple eBay search. If it turns out to be fake, I will no doubt do so. If it is genuine, then by a significant number of opinions here, I am the only one proven to be rude here and should be the only one here to reap the scorn or be associated with it. I still believe the seller lied intentionally in the listing, and had the vast majority been of the same opinion, I would have been less hesitant to post pictures. As that is not the case, I cannot in good conscience at this time do anything but protect the seller. Maybe I have missed something that the others are seeing, maybe they are missing something.How about some pictures of the belt buckle?
I'm not versed in the collectible belt bucket market and I would like to see what is causing such a hullabaloo.
I'm not sure why a second belt buckle ever became part of the equation. You say it's a resolution you offered, but one that makes no sense really.
If you don't want the item or are upset about the terms with which it was sold to you, you were offered a full refund. There was no reason to bring another buckle into play. You're really giving this too much thought.