Donkey Kong Poster DAMAGED what do I do? PLS HELP ME I'M SCAMMED!

vitalogy10

okay so I just bought a DK MSG poster off eBay for $529.. I unroll it and quickly notice BROWN STAINS on the white of the poster, clear as day. I lost my mind and flipped out at the guy who sold it to me. He tells me he had no idea there were stains on it. It's brown on white for Christ's sake. I go to look at the item's picture on eBay and i notice he "cut off" the spot that stained in the photo he took. I questioned him on that and he replied "I just took the picture." .. Also, his description says he bought it at the show (which was 5 years ago) and it's been lying flat ever since. I've had the poster in my possession for 24-hours now (only took a day to ship) and it still hasn't flattened out. I've bought posters online before, usually takes 3 days to ship (rolled), and they flatten out in a few hours; this one's been a full day and it's still curved like crazy.. The Scammer is telling me i need to send it back to him before he refunds my money. I have a HUGE problem with this because I know I'm dealing with a scammer and he can just as easily say he never got it, keep my money, and go on to his next victim. This stained poster should be OUT OF CIRCULATION.. eBay will get involved on the 30th, but I'm freaking out. I feel helpless. Someone please give me advice on how to deal with this. Thank you very much.

weddingparade

Nice first post. You paid $529 for a poster. That's almost plane fare to Maui

Dr. Matt

weddingparade said:

Nice first post. You paid $529 for a poster. That's almost plane fare to Maui

Or half of a bottle of 25 year old The Macallan

Gern Blansten

Send it back registered return receipt....

eddiec

I think he's not obligated to refund the money until you send it back.
If I were you I would send him a message and try and get a partial refund. Tell him it's damaged goods but you will accept it for a large deduction in price. Say 350 off. I doubt he'll go for it but if he does you get a Kong for 150. Once it's framed you won't see the white part anyway.

Indifference71

weddingparade said:

Nice first post. You paid $529 for a poster. That's almost plane fare to Maui

So what's your point? The guy got screwed and he's posting about it to see what he should do.

SVRDhand13

Send it back and make ebay give you a FULL refund.

The white on this poster is still seen when framed.

MayDay10

just relax first of all.

Take pictures and document

Try to resolve it on your terms (make sure you save correspondence). If you cant within a day or 2, file a claim with both ebay and paypal. Let those avenues do their thing. As far as I know, the buyer on ebay is very well situated.... maybe too much so.

Do not send the poster back until ebay/paypal instruct you to do so. When you do, make sure you have it adequately tracked

PJ_Soul

If he refuses to refund (if you return it) or won't work out a deal with you, just file a claim through eBay/PayPal. You are protected from this kind of thing.

pjsteelerfan

If you bought through EBay you should be covered. They side with the buyer 99.9% of the time in disputes.

Suziemay

I would first get in writing from eBay specific instructions on how you should proceed. If they say send the poster back, make sure you have that in writing, then send a message to the seller letting him know exactly what you were instructed to do per advice you received from eBay, what you are going to do, and what you expect him to do once he receives the poster (i.e., issue refund). Take lots of pictures of the poster in the condition you received, and then take pictures or maybe even video of you repacking the poster. Then send it certified with proof of receipt; check with your post office to confirm that your method of sending will be defensible in court. For example, sending it just with tracking is not proof that they actually received it and would not hold any water in court.

If you have any conversations with eBay/PayPal, write down date/time/name of person you spoke to. If you can, go the extra step of sending a note back to an official eBay/PayPal address with all the details discussed so that there's a written trail.

Can't stress enough: document, document, document.

vitalogy10

Thank you all for your tidy input! i appreciate it. He told me in a message that he "suspects me of doing a bait and switch, and informed eBay about it." I'm very scared. I guess the best thing to do is just wait until the 30th? I wish i could post pictures to show you all, but I have no idea how to use html.

Suziemay

vitalogy10 said:

Thank you all for your tidy input! i appreciate it. He told me in a message that he "suspects me of doing a bait and switch, and informed eBay about it." I'm very scared. I guess the best thing to do is just wait until the 30th? I wish i could post pictures to show you all, but I have no idea how to use html.

Take a deep breath and don't panic. As someone else said, I think eBay/PayPal protects buyers more than seller. Don't buy into his threats and don't engage in any of his nonsense. Why would you do that? That makes no sense. You wanted that poster. That would be a lot of effort to go through and risk $529. Make sure anything you write is rational and level-headed, even if you have to have someone else read it before you send. I think it will only help you and hurt him if you can produce a message trail where you are the rational one and he's making dumb accusations. Good luck!

PJ_Soul

Don't be scared. The seller is full of shit.

dmbolp

Post a link to the ebay auction

edit: NM, I assume it's this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pearl-Jam-Donkey-Kong-Poster-MSG-2010-/262103696950?hash=item3d06990636:g:2dMAAOSwuTxWBJYh

andyfarrimond

It clearly states that returns are accepted, so the buyer here is definitely going to be protected by ebay

shecky

Great advice from everyone who commented to your post, vitalogy10.
Just relax and let eBay and Paypal do their thing.
And then, my advice to you regarding buying on eBay is, learn something from this experience.
1. Don't buy if the seller doesn't offer a refund (and, before bidding, ask them why not).
2. Look closely at the photos provided and ask for more photos if they aren't clear or complete.
3. Be very wary when a seller grades a poster as "Mint". More times than not, in my experience, the seller is not grading critically enough. There's a line from Paul Simon's song 'The Boxer' that goes "A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest."
4. Ask the seller questions BEFORE you bid including, "Will you please take another close look at the poster under a bright light and see if there are ANY tiny defects at all".
It's all a bit of an effort but nothing close to the hassle you are currently going through.
Good luck!

on2legs

dmbolp said:

Post a link to the ebay auction

edit: NM, I assume it's this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pearl-Jam-Donkey-Kong-Poster-MSG-2010-/262103696950?hash=item3d06990636:g:2dMAAOSwuTxWBJYh

Pretty sure that's it. I was watching that auction out of curiosity and that's at least the second time I believe it's sold. I was watching the first auction too and got a notice a few weeks later from ebay saying it had been relisted. So it's possible there was a non-paying bidder the first time OR the guy who bought it the first time also had an issue with the stain and sent it back. Either way you should be covered by ebay/paypal since the listing says "mint" which it's not.

buck502000

ebay - ain't so bad when something like this happens - it will get resolved.

HesCalledDyer

Man, sorry to hear about your misfortune. Nothing worse than a fucking schyster ripping you off of hard earned money. I assume you've filed a case with ebay since you mentioned they will get involved on the 30th. Ebay almost always sides with the buyer, so don't fret too much yet. I know that's hard to do when $529 is on the line.

If the stains weren't mentioned in the description, and since he also cut that part of the photo off, it falls under "product not as described." You should be okay with getting a refund. Send the poster back to him and make sure you use tracking with signature delivery. That way you have that info to give to ebay, and he signs for it personally. If you just use tracking he can always say "it wasn't delivered to my mailbox" even though it shows delivered.

If you used Paypal, file a claim with them as well.

And as a very last resort in case none of the above works, if you paid with a credit card, you can file a dispute directly with your card issuer. But let the ebay team do their thing before you go this route.

Also, please mention the ebay seller's user name here so others are aware not to buy from this sob.

dmbolp

The cropping of the photo is interesting, and seller went to the trouble of posting a second photo of the Ames brand, but didn't post a photo of the stain, instead claiming it's "mint".

I'm going with the original buyer also returned for the stain, hopefully that's the case and Ebay already has a record of that incident, making your claim that much easier/true.

nycrats

sorry for your troubles - please keep us posted. i actually bid on this one, sucks when you want something to make u happy and it bends u over instead. it will get resolved tho. ebay and paypal are good about this stuff.

buck502000

Anyone have a Kong for sale or trade?

MayDay10

I bought a Yield Firehouse Promo and the seller shipped it between 2 broken down boxes, which were folded by ups during shipping and creasing the poster.

I lucked out. The seller filed a claim with USPS aided by my pictures, refunded my money, and I never heard from them again. Still have the damaged Firehouse

mcgruff10

Is it possible to frame out the stains?

MedozK

vitalogy10 said:

Thank you all for your tidy input! i appreciate it. He told me in a message that he "suspects me of doing a bait and switch, and informed eBay about it." I'm very scared. I guess the best thing to do is just wait until the 30th? I wish i could post pictures to show you all, but I have no idea how to use html.

Hopefully everything will turn out ok for you. But this situation reminded me of one of the last times I sold something on ebay. In regards to what he is saying, I had a buyer purchase a record from me and when he got it, he emailed me saying that it was badly damaged, with seam splits. I refunded him and he sent it back to me. The way I pack vinyl, there is no way it could have made the damage that I saw when he mailed it back to me.. I am almost positive it was a bait and switch. The whole ordeal basically turned me off to selling anything on ebay. Ebay will side with the buyer 99% of the time, which is good for consumers.


Again, I hope your problem is resolved and everything turns out ok.

densan

Also, if you have not contacted the credit card company that you used to purchase the poster, you need to let them know right away all the details and what you have done so far. You are their customer, and they are on your side. Ask them what you should do. It is so much easier then dealing with eBay or PayPal. That gives you 3 chances to resolve this. I wonder how the seller would react if you contacted the PO about mail fraud too. Not sure, but seems like they would have you file a police report in the sellers home town for mail fraud. Things seem to change when the police are involved. I think it's worth checking in to. The more options the better. BTW, speaking for myself I'm sorry you were kicked when you are down. I do not think you need judging now, but some help is nice when you your stressed and and do not know what to do. Pm me if I can help any further. Good luck....pulling for you!

Wma31394

Follow all the proper eBay/PayPal channels everyone has mentioned and your fine. I would also request the seller reimburse you for your insured..trackable..signature required return shipping costs. They have 100% positive feedback and they don't want that tainted..

100 Pacer

When filing a claim with Paypal for receiving an item significantly not as described, it is the buyer's responsibility to cover the postage cost for returning the item back to the seller. When possible, always use a credit card for purchasing through Paypal and file your claim through the credit card provider as opposed to Paypal.

vitalogy10

The scammers eBay name is frankt31.

High Fidelity 2000

Hey I don't see any brown marks in that picture! What a scam. The guy obviously framed his photo to not show the damaged part. What a liar.
You can file with paypal if you used a credit card and they will take the money back out of his paypal account if you can prove everything. First thing I'd do is take a screen shot of the auction page with his fucked up cropped picture.
Lesson learned, if buying a $500 poster, ask to see more photos of the whole thing. A seller only two photos of a poster of that value is fucked up to begin with.