Seller return/refund question

[global_dev]

Guys (Gals),

i recently took delivery of what i thought was gonna be a super sweet razor… based on the pics and supposed measurements, i truly thought this was a score for me. not a super score, but a reasonable priced score… I paid decent funds to have it shipped too. This is a seller who is clearly not ignorant of condition, size, rarity, etc.. The issue is a combination of mistake and what i think is slight deception.

When i got it, it was obvious that the pictures were either taken in a way (lighting) to eliminate a significant corrosion issue or just plain old (which is not what i think). I could actually clearly see all areas in question in the pictures (several instances), but the lighting clearly "masked" the issues (IMHO). They typically provide a lot of information, but not about this issue.

In addition to that, the measurements were way off, not even close. Likely they made a mistake or copy/paste error from a template. Based on previous sales of similar differences, the seller would know what the condition/size would be worth and prices accordingly. the size difference is a significant $ to $x2 changer.

When contacted the seller suggested a shipping refund to resolve. It was kind of insulting, but i was nice and I responded with a "reasonable" counteroffer or refund request. I also asked them to pay return shipping for the refund, which they accepted.

Unfortunately this is not a CONUS shipping, so it's kind of a hassle for me to return and i have no desire to front the funds for a return so I requested them to send an electronic mailing form or choose the shipping that they want and provide the funds. I want no responsibility for sending it air mail (as seller suggests) and it taking a month to get there while i wait for my refund which i had to spend additional money to get back to them (via first class basic service). Would delivery confirmation/signature required even benefit me as it's overseas and i didn't have to sign for delivery when it got to me. likely was just delivery confirmation if anything.

I also requested the seller to process the total refund now as i had already paid them immediately upon invoice, which in reality is really no different. I did not pay COD, i don't understand why my refund in this particular case would be as such also. I mean i kind of understand if i didn't want the razor, but in this case the seller is 110% at fault and I paid for it all…

am i being completely unreasonable in my request? or should i sit here and wait for a couple c-notes to be returned to me because of a seller error. the razor would not have been a couple c-notes had it been described and photographed accurately.

What kind of ticked me off was that he told me he would make an exception in my case…

 

[Luminose]

That's a tough call.

If it was an Ebay purchase I usually assume that unless the photo's are really great and show every angle then the item I'm buying isn't going to be as good as it's shown to be and there will be faults that were hidden.

A lot of sellers are honest, some are just ignorant and the rest are salesmen try to get the most money they can with slight tricks.
Even honest sellers will tend to play down the defects. They may admit there is "slight usage wear on the head" that could mean a couple light scratches & water spots or it could mean the plating is worn right off the edges..

When I see poor or blurry photos or the lighting seems off I first assume it was done on purpose before I consider the seller was ignorant or lazy. It's better to be safe then sorry since you're the one taking the risk. I mean it's not that hard to make a camera focus on a razor, even with a camera phone. Or how often do you see the razor in tons of nice photos but the head is always facing away from the photo?

I know you may not want to disclose how much you spent but do you have a link to the listing? It's kinda hard to tell what you mean by "Size" and "Shipping"

Was it a strait razor? I don't often see a size mentioned with DE razors.

I don't know if it's just me but I don't really feel safe buying from a lot of countries far away. I'll buy from USA, Canada, England, Japan(Yahoo Auctions for Japan) but I might think twice about the rest of western Europe and I won't buy from Eastern Europe or the majority of the rest of the world. I have nothing against those countries it's just that I don't feel rolling the dice on places so far away.

Most of the time when you buy something and want to return it you are responsible for the cost of both shipping fees to and back. I could see the seller taking care of those costs if he knew he got caught out on misleading info or if he just didn't want the bad review.

Most sellers aren't going to refund you the cost until they have the item back in their hands. It's hard to trust anyone. Someone could ask for a refund and then just not send the item back. Then again you could send it back and he could never refund you.

If it wasn't an ebay sale then having confirmation is up to you since it's a chance either way. If it was ebay then get the confirmation since it might be your only protection.

I hope everything works out for you!

 

[global_dev]

EBay..Pictures are pretty "great". Focused and all angles. Its a straight

Measurements of all appropriate things

Great description of what it is

Even says the Blade width down to half a mm. But it was pretty wrong. And the lighting is interesting, looks fine.

I will post comparison pictures tonight.

A better add than these you would not see...

 

[global_dev]

Unfortunately his ruler was not on the pic. But a diagram is always available in his ads.

 

[global_dev]

here are some pictures

auction pic of spine ( if you look really hard you can make out something is up. other pictures are similarly lit...

actual, tried a bit of mother's mag polish on a small portion and did nothing

here is the size measurement should have been bumping right up against 8/8s, but instead was hovering a bit around 6/8s

quite a bit of difference in my opinion… i did offer up a reasonable resolution for me to keep it IMHO. He definitely was not giving it to me for free, but a very reasonable amount based on some other recent auctions.

 

[Luminose]

Yeah with the photo setup that guy was using he definitely turned it in just the right angle for the lighting to reflect off the edge defect. If he was an honest seller he would have shown a direct photo of the defect and let the buyer decide.

I understand the size issue now. Does that mean it had been sharpened enough to shrink it down this far?

Looks like he was being slightly misleading and just hoping the buyer wouldn't say anything after they received it.

That sucks. Hopefully the refund all works out for you, minus the headache and frustration he gave you in the mean time!

 

[global_dev]

There is otherdirect photos, lighting "mask" is all the same.

Honing isn't an issue here. Its just plain incorrect.

 

[sychodelix]

Looks like some possible photoshopping too. Snakey.

Honestly, you could probably use a progression of sandpaper and take care of the rust. I would really push him to make up for it reasonably. I would be very cautious about mailing it back without a refund up front.

If he won't cooperate, you can let him know that Paypal can deal with it instead and his feedback would not be pleasant. I think maybe he'll see it your way.

 

[shaverjoe]

I agree- from the photos posted, it does raise the question of deception.

 

[global_dev]

Wow, this transaction has been really annoying. every step of the way, the seller seems to not do the right thing. I just got 99% back of the monies i put into this transaction because the seller didn't reimburse me int'l priority return shipping as a gift. he sent it as a purchase… so it got hit with a 6% transaction fee between paypal and ebay.

geez...