Jade East, bait and switch by Ebay vendor?

[Snick1946]

I bid on and won this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140722432331&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

What I got from this seller was a bottle of jade east by Regency, not Songo, it's the new stuff that does not have the fragrance or staying power of the original or of the Songo production. I sent the seller a message asking about it, here's the reply he sent:

'Regency purchased Jade East from Sango several years ago. There should be no difference in the fragance. The packaging has changed. If you need more ionformation, please contact Regency Cosmetics.
Thank you for your follow thorugh in this matter.'

I smell bait and switch- am I being paranoid? In checking his feedback he got a negative in January over exactly the same thing, shipping Regency for a listing he had as Songo. I left him neutral feedback but now I am wondering if I should persue a refund via Paypal? The bottle I got looks nothing like the picture.

Buying fragrance on Ebay is often like this. It's a minefield full of tricksters and switchers. Any comments welcome.

 

[insomniac]

Of course you should ask for a refund. You didn't get the product you paid for.

 

[smalltank]

ask for refund..OR take it up with paypal..I bought my first ebay straight razor..the pics were really bright and looked like NOTHING was wrong with the razor..got the razor..I had to polish it for 20 minutes to make it look much nicer than the pics looked..I rated the seller as neutral..his emails were respectful..but his pics were not "item as shown"

 

[galopede]

The listing does say Formerly by Songo so he might point to that.

Gareth

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

The listing does say Formerly by Songo so he might point to that.

Gareth

He listed the brand as Songo, so he can't point to that. Looks like false posting, his reply to me seems like he knows he is falsely advertising. I would report to eBay, and reclaim your money. Especially seeing as he has done this before to another person.

 

[Oscroft]

Yep, if he showed a photo of one product but sent a different one, that's cheating - unless he states otherwise, the photo shown in the listing should be of the actual item being sold. Complain to eBay/PayPal and ask for a refund.

 

[Kevan]

Ehh, I see your annoyance but it does say "Formerly by Songo" and a little Google-checking will tell you that Regency used to have the bottle pictured but about two years ago changed to a generic-looking thing with a tiger on it. The same thing happened to me with Amazon. The problem is, a lot of suppliers of this stuff are not updating to the current stock picture. And the picture he posted of the older bottle DOES say "Regency cosmetics" on it, as well as the fact that he describes the condition as new and not vintage, pre-owned, or New Old Stock..

So, yeah I can see your annoyance. But you don't have much room to complain, to be honest. Let this be a lesson of researching and clearing all your doubts before bidding. Ebay 101.

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

Ehh, I see your annoyance but it does say "Formerly by Songo" and a little Google-checking will tell you that Regency used to have the bottle pictured but about two years ago changed to a generic-looking thing with a tiger on it. The same thing happened to me with Amazon. The problem is, a lot of suppliers of this stuff are not updating to the current stock picture. And the picture he posted of the older bottle DOES say "Regency cosmetics" on it.

So, yeah I can see your annoyance. But you don't have much room to complain, to be honest.

tem specifics

Condition: New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item (including handmade items). See the seller's listing for full details. See all condition definitions Fragrance Type: Cologne Brand: Sango Size: 4.0 oz Fragrance Name: Jade East

Sorry but this guy really is trying to pull a fast one. Reading the Regency Cosmetics on the package requires you to look carefully. But regardless he put the brand as Songo (well Sango but that is a typo).

 

[Kevan]

Yes, he put Songo as the brand. I get that. But as an Ebay buyer, you have to read the whole listing, and there's "Formerly by Songo" in the description, as well as the condition being new and not vintage. Any buyer looking for vintage Jade East should know that they aren't buying stuff from the 60's if the thing says "Formerly by Songo" and "new."

On the whole, the listing does not seem to be misleading to me. Seems more like a case of a stupid or careless seller.

The OP should go through a Paypal dispute if he wants, but he needs to research next time. A few seconds on Google would've avoided this.

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

Yes, he put Songo as the brand. I get that. But as an Ebay buyer, you have to read the whole listing, and there's "Formerly by Songo" in the description, as well as the condition being new and not vintage. Any buyer looking for vintage Jade East should know that they aren't buying stuff from the 60's if the thing says "Formerly by Songo" and "new."

On the whole, the listing does not seem to be misleading to me. Seems more like a case of a stupid or careless seller.

The OP should go through a Paypal dispute if he wants, but he needs to research next time. A few seconds on Google would've avoided this.

There is a guy who complained about the Songo/Regency five months ago. I realise OP could have done more research, but to me the seller is neither careless, nor stupid. He knows that it is Regency, yet he mentions Songo the entire time.
New just means the product hasn't been opened or?
Regardless, it is up to OP to decide what he wishes to do.

 

[Kevan]

I can see both sides of this, but the entire situation is murky to be honest. Even Regency Cosmetics has the old pictures on their site, not the new "Tiger" bottle. Seeing that a lot of vendors use distributor photos and don't take actual pictures (because they're lazy or whatever else), it's hard to see how this one guy is intentionally being shady, or just dumb.

This kind of reminds me of the "Fake T&H cream on Amazon!" thing awhile back. The product was real, but the stock photos failed to show the new US packaging.

This vendor shouldn't have put "Sango" as the brand on the listing details. Idiot. But a rule of thumb for Ebay I learned a long time ago....clear all your questions before bidding.

 

[Scott0079]

I'll give you that the "Brand" issue is a bit underhanded but the listing's description is pretty clear.

 

[Timmy Dee]

I'll give you that the "Brand" issue is a bit underhanded but the listing's description is pretty clear.

I think the listing's description is quite unclear

Jade East for Men Formerly by Songo - eau de Cologne for Men - 4 oz
For the man who wants to be remembered. Jade East Cologne by Songo is a classic fragrance of the oriental/spicy group. Spicy florals, vanilla, and musk make it a wonderful fragrance for any man to have.


In the first instance it say 'formerly by Songo', and in the second it says 'by Songo'. This language is at least likely to mislead as to whether he's selling the fragrance he's calling a classic, or another one. Without any background knowledge of the fragrance (that it was reformulated) I would assume that the item for sale is by Songo.

Although it's not the only factor that should be observed, I would place the most stock in what the vendor lists as the brand in the item specifics summary. I think it would be reasonable to expect, based on the listing, that it is a fragrance by Songo.

 

[Mick]

Listing says: 14 day money back or exchange.

What is the problem? Have you had it longer than 14 days?

 

[Kevan]

I think the listing's description is quite unclear

Jade East for Men Formerly by Songo - eau de Cologne for Men - 4 oz
For the man who wants to be remembered. Jade East Cologne by Songo is a classic fragrance of the oriental/spicy group. Spicy florals, vanilla, and musk make it a wonderful fragrance for any man to have.


In the first instance it say 'formerly by Songo', and in the second it says 'by Songo'. This language is at least likely to mislead as to whether he's selling the fragrance he's calling a classic, or another one. Without any background knowledge of the fragrance (that it was reformulated) I would assume that the item for sale is by Songo.

Although it's not the only factor that should be observed, I would place the most stock in what the vendor lists as the brand in the item specifics summary. I think it would be reasonable to expect, based on the listing, that it is a fragrance by Songo.

So you would assume the fragrance was Songo even though the description says "Formerly by Songo" and the brand name is "Sango"? No shred of doubt in your mind? Enough to email the seller with a question before parting with your money?

And what about this? Amazon search results: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Jade+East All "Songo" until you do some looking and reading. So the misinformation is not limited to this "dishonest" Ebay seller.

 

[Timmy Dee]

Well as I said, it was for me without any background knowledge on the fragrance.

If I was unaware (as I was before I read the thread) that there were two versions of this juice, then yes, I would have assumed that the fragrance was by Songo. A typo (Sango) and the inclusion of the word 'formerly' would have been written off by me as the seller presumably having poor English skills (I would assume the seller spoke English as a second language).

I am of the view that it is not unreasonable to expect that an ordinary person would have been misled by the advertisement page, and I feel that misleading or deceptive advertising is exactly what lies at the core of this debate. For misleading advertising to have occurred, it requires no special knowledge of the product, meaning that it's not up to me to do research on the product to see if it has multiple versions/formulations. If you gave that ad to a stranger and asked them to tell you what the brand was, I think that the chances are good that they would tell you either Sango or Songo.

As for the link to Amazon, I wouldn't think that the fact that multiple vendors are engaging in similar conduct makes it right.

As a side-note, if I did do further research into the fragrance, and learned that it was initially made by Songo and now by Regency, I may well have assumed that he is advertising the Songo version, and by saying '...formerly by Songo', and using the word Songo and Sango once more each, he is confirming this fact. I would likely have chalked up his use of the word 'formerly' as a way of saying it's old formulation.

 

[Schad]

Do yourself a favor and don't buy frags from ebay. It's not worth the stress of situations like this and wondering "is this a legit bottle?" "Is this legit juice?". Whatever money you save isn't worth the headache IMO.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Do yourself a favor and don't buy frags from ebay. It's not worth the stress of situations like this and wondering "is this a legit bottle?" "Is this legit juice?". Whatever money you save isn't worth the headache IMO.

I think that there are two sides of this. You're probably right when it comes to buying contemporary, top shelf frags. It's possible you'll end up with a counterfeit, or maybe something that's off. But if you are willing to take the risk, you can score some good deals too.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a vintage frag, it can be a very useful resource (etsy too). There are other backchannel sources, but if you are looking for an old bottle of Jade East and you can't get it locally, eBay is probably the place to find it. Of course, there is always a chance you are going to get jammed, so you have to be ready to file a claim with eBay or PayPal. I think that's just the nature of the beast when you are looking for something that is out of production (especially when it gains some cult popularity).

 

[Snick1946]

Do yourself a favor and don't buy frags from ebay. It's not worth the stress of situations like this and wondering "is this a legit bottle?" "Is this legit juice?". Whatever money you save isn't worth the headache IMO.

Well I appreciate all the input. I thought about asking for a refund- he still would expect me to pay return postage. I could file a claim with Paypal- as a seller myself I guess I can be generous and treat this as a mistake on his part (maybe using the relist option without changing the description), but have decided not to. The product isn't that bad, it's just not what I wanted. I can use it up in a short time and it's not worthn the hassle. I already left neutral FB so hopefully he may get the message to be more careful.

BTW, you can order Jade East from Vermont Country Store:

http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/...or_Him/Jade_East_Cologne_and_Aftershave/54683

The show the Regency brand, so maybe if anyone orders from them you may want to drop them an email to clarify exactly wghat you'd be getting. It's at least a non Ebay source.