eBay Still Sucks Monkey Balls

[Albert]

I heard this morning from the seller regarding the missing antennas from my purchase the two wireless network cards,

 

"Hello,

Thanks for your inquiry

We are sorry that we no longer give free antenna with the purchase of this card.

We included a message at the bottom of the page. We don't know if you have noticed it.

We are currently closed during the Chinese New Year holiday.

If you really want antennas, we can send you a pair of antennas when we get back in Feb 19th.

We want every transaction a satisfactory one.

Regards"

 

Really? At the time of purchase the auction stated that the antennas were included, which was also true as of yesterday. I see that as of this morning they removed that bit from the auction text. Of course I want the antennas, which I told them. Who wants to place bets that I only receive ONE pair of antennas, and not two? Here's a screencap of the auction before it was modified:

 

 

eBay is just so damn adversarial these days.

 

..Al

[Cebus Capucinis]

A website admin just can't get a fair shake these days. Sorry you keep running up against completely unreputable sellers!

[+save2600]

Call me old fashioned, but why in the hell would anyone sell such a product without the necessary peripherals? Do most people already have a stash of tiny wireless antennae laying around? Doubtful to say the least! Even if you're replacing an old card for whatever reason, there might be a difference in fittings between 'em. I highly doubt there is a wireless antenna standard and if there is, it's still silly to assume that the end user would have a drawer full of them waiting to be mated up.

[+thegoldenband]

Seems a shame to waste all that injection-molded plastic that otherwise fits perfectly into an Atari. I know it's some extra expense, but could an aerosol varnish such as Krylon give them a suitable outer coat? There are thinner shellacs if Krylon turns out to be too tacky to the touch. For that matter, perhaps spray paint could render them usable, though it's not a good idea if the tactile deformities are more than a millimeter or so in size.

 

You've got plenty of carts, so I'd say experiment, unless you're worried about throwing good money after bad. But hell, some homebrews on gold or silver painted carts would be pretty damn smart looking I bet.

I had a similar thought. There must be some kind of textured material that could be applied to these -- something that wouldn't be thick enough to cause problems, but would cover up the surface irregularities. Maybe a game could be themed around it, so that the rough-looking carts are part of the design? Because when I think "banged-up looking carts", I think "E.T. Landfill Adventure: The Game".

[Albert]

Call me old fashioned, but why in the hell would anyone sell such a product without the necessary peripherals? Do most people already have a stash of tiny wireless antennae laying around? Doubtful to say the least! Even if you're replacing an old card for whatever reason, there might be a difference in fittings between 'em. I highly doubt there is a wireless antenna standard and if there is, it's still silly to assume that the end user would have a drawer full of them waiting to be mated up.

Well, either they have run out of the antennas or they decided to start selling them separately. I do believe the connectors on these wireless cards are standardized. Looking at one of these cards, the connectors are identical to the ones from the Airport card I installed in my Mac Pro (which I might say, was a bit of a pain in the ass).

 

..Al

[Ransom]

 

It's too bad eBay doesn't actually seem to do anything when reporting such emails. They can see the entire email exchange to see that you did not provoke the seller into a profanity-strewn rampage, but they don't give a rat's ass.

 

..Al

 

I suspected as much when their response was that they wouldn't be able to tell me what actions they've taken, in order to 'protect the seller's privacy.' If you won't tell me what you did to correct a problem, then you didn't do anything.

 

I guess I'll just have to spend more of my gaming dollars here. When's that boxed copy of Failsafe going to be in the store?

[Goochman]

Al,

 

I think you have a gold mine on your hands - def take all the ET boards you get and stuff them in those gritty carts - you can now liskt them as the 'Lost Landfill ET Carts'! Collectors would go wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiild!

 

I would also imagine folks might be interested in those shells for a discount on a game you might be selling - not sure how much they save you?

[+save2600]

Al,

 

I think you have a gold mine on your hands - def take all the ET boards you get and stuff them in those gritty carts - you can now liskt them as the 'Lost Landfill ET Carts'! Collectors would go wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiild!

 

I would also imagine folks might be interested in those shells for a discount on a game you might be selling - not sure how much they save you?

ROTFLMAO! Now that's creative financing at it's finest! Cashing in on all the nubile dolts that think they're video game historians thanks to daddy's high-speed internet access

[atarian63]

I heard this morning from the seller regarding the missing antennas from my purchase the two wireless network cards,

 

"Hello,

Thanks for your inquiry

We are sorry that we no longer give free antenna with the purchase of this card.

We included a message at the bottom of the page. We don't know if you have noticed it.

We are currently closed during the Chinese New Year holiday.

If you really want antennas, we can send you a pair of antennas when we get back in Feb 19th.

We want every transaction a satisfactory one.

Regards"

 

Really? At the time of purchase the auction stated that the antennas were included, which was also true as of yesterday. I see that as of this morning they removed that bit from the auction text. Of course I want the antennas, which I told them. Who wants to place bets that I only receive ONE pair of antennas, and not two? Here's a screencap of the auction before it was modified:

 

 

eBay is just so damn adversarial these days.

 

..Al

Not only that but ebay themselves are a real pain in the butt!

I can see how these idiots must work,since this it a repeating auction. we had a shipper that did something like this (he was written up for it). To make a long story short,he wanted to complete his list of item to ship each day before leaving,so far so good. However he would not let being out of a part like a new battery or a laptop bag that was included stop him from filling his daily quota. He would send out the item incomplete and send the rest a few days later. This was costing me more and confusing the heck out of the customer. This difference is we would NEVER try to hide something like these people did.

[Shannon]

Final message from seller, after I asked him for his return address,

 

"I don't want them back.

Merry Christmas!!"

 

..Al

Burn em!! Before some other hapless soul ends up with them..

[Thorsten Günther]

I have a nice model train that I haven't used in years, but it's all set up in the basement and it works fine. A couple of months ago I was going to sell the engine and cars on eBay (they fetch a decent price), but then I thought about it and realized it would be easy for someone who had a broken one to buy mine and send me the broken one back claiming it was the one I'd sent him/her. So that model train will just have to keep sitting in my basement.

 

I know this is way off-topic, but the guys from Hamburg who run the Miniatur-Wunderland weren't too happy with the stuff they bought from the USA anyway, esp. the wheels and axles were below their expectations. On the other hand, model trains have become a hobby of old men here in Germany, resulting in highly detailed and high-quality, but very expensive models, which in return led to a crisis on the manufacturers' side (a large one - Trix - died several years ago, a second large one - Märklin - is/was on the brink of bankruptcy).

 

Thorsten

[cavanor]

In purchases this year I have been ripped off probably close to $500 in things that are devalued due to not being as described. I'm Australian and basically I won't buy anything from Australian's if I can avoid it. Nearly everything I have purchased locally lately has been talked up and when arrived has been in far far worse condition than described. Europeans and Japan sellers are the best, USA I have had half half luck, meaning half my packages arrive padded with soiled old catalogues and newsprint in a mouldy old box. Thing is I'm halfway across the globe, not likely I am going to express post something back to the USA to get a refund, it costs too much.

 

Basically give the idiots the technology and they will use it! I'm sure some sellers will eventually get opposable thumbs and learn how to tape a box correctly!

Edited February 17, 2010 by cavanor

[FND]

Hay Albert

 

Here is another idea for your crap carts, you could have a CrapCart grab bag sale

and include a few good rare carts among them. Depending on what you include as the

prize would help decide how much each chance would cost, .50 cents each and you

could include a few hundred dollars worth of rare carts ?

[Thorsten Günther]

In purchases this year I have been ripped off probably close to $500 in things that are devalued due to not being as described. I'm Australian and basically I won't buy anything from Australian's if I can avoid it. Nearly everything I have purchased locally lately has been talked up and when arrived has been in far far worse condition than described.

 

I have to disagree here. I purchased some Atari stuff from Australia and it arrived in the condition described - less one lot of 2 "Atari 8-bit" carts that turned out to be C64 carts (as I also own a C64C, that didn't matter that much to me). OTOH, I have been ripped of by other Europeans and one American on eBay, yet only on very few occasions.

 

Thorsten

[Dino]

That would be cool. But to follow this tangent, it might be possible to spray the carts different colors and use them as large mosaic tiles the same way Invader does.

 

Or even better... use a bunch of the correct sized labels, but in primary colors, to go where the original labels went. That way the "tiles" would be the black cart framing a colored "label," creating a grid effect, that would emphasize the pixel art aspect. Plus, since it would be made of actual carts instead of just tiles, that would make it much more worthy of BS art snob discussion

These are both good ideas. I could make a big AtariAge logo out of carts for GGE.. Hmmmmmmm..

 

..Al

Why not use them to pave your driveway Al?

[rsiddall]

What about using something like Armor All on the carts?

[RecycledGamer]

That box of cart shells would make a hell of a mystery box in the CGE auction, Al.

 

But if I "won" it I think I would cry all the way back to Portland.

 

Chuck

[Albert]

That box of cart shells would make a hell of a mystery box in the CGE auction, Al.

 

But if I "won" it I think I would cry all the way back to Portland.

 

Chuck

Haha, holy cow that would be too damn funny. I do believe this may be the best suggestion yet. :D Are participants in the auction allowed to handle "mystery boxes" before the auction begins?

 

..Al

[Shawn]

You could make up a tub of rit platic dye and all those carts would be back to sexy black in like 10 mins. Just an idea.

[Cebus Capucinis]

You could make up a tub of rit platic dye and all those carts would be back to sexy black in like 10 mins. Just an idea.

 

And that's exactly what I plan on doing with them as soon as Al ships them to me

[+save2600]

You could make up a tub of rit platic dye and all those carts would be back to sexy black in like 10 mins. Just an idea.

 

And that's exactly what I plan on doing with them as soon as Al ships them to me

Oh yeah... vinyl dye, is that what you're talking about? That stuff is supposed to work like magic on plastics...

 

 

 

[Albert]

You could make up a tub of rit platic dye and all those carts would be back to sexy black in like 10 mins. Just an idea.

That sounds extraordinarily messy.

 

..Al

[Mirage]

You could make up a tub of rit platic dye and all those carts would be back to sexy black in like 10 mins. Just an idea.

 

And that's exactly what I plan on doing with them as soon as Al ships them to me

Oh yeah... vinyl dye, is that what you're talking about? That stuff is supposed to work like magic on plastics...

 

It does... we use it on all sorts of parts in bike restoration. It works better on some plastic types than on others, but it's pretty amazing stuff when it does work. You've gotta boil a bunch of water... dye it all in the bathtub when the women are away from the house! (j/k, don't really do that).

 

EDIT: for unfortunate and embarrassing wording.

[Shawn]

You could make up a tub of rit platic dye and all those carts would be back to sexy black in like 10 mins. Just an idea.

That sounds extraordinarily messy.

 

..Al

 

 

Nope not really. You ever dyed a t-shirt before? Same shit different pile. Hell you could do it in the washing machine if you really wanted too. I just suggested the bathtub so you could do more at one time.

[Albert]

Nope not really. You ever dyed a t-shirt before? Same shit different pile.

No, I have not. These shells have metal screws and springs in them. Would those need to be removed?

 

It seems like a lot of work given how easy it is to come by common 2600 carts in good condition..

 

..Al