Douchebag Alert: bigbadserpent

[ghsqb]

Hey all,

For those of you active on ebay that go after Intellivision auctions, you guys certainly already know about a few of the resellers that buy up games and try to resell for big profits.

 

Pikachu, robotkingness and bigbadserpent are probably the three most common examples.

 

Well for me, bigbadserpent goes right to the top of the douchebag list.

 

Exhibit A, consider this auction for Stonix for the Intellivision, sold by a great seller, that has sold many games in the last year:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 250956443919

This is a pretty accurate reflection of what Stonix will fetch, this auction ended December 24th.

 

The 25th, bigbadserpent listed his own copy of Stonix, which I won for a price of $81.00

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130621762739

 

Ok, so a reseller gets caught, with a game selling for less than he anticipates, so what does douchebag do?

 

First he tries to cancel the auction.

I get an email from ebay saying the seller is cancelling the auction for the following reason:

(Buyer requests shipping to a country I don't ship to)

 

In fairness, his auction was set up with the ship to field saying : United States

However, as any Canadian will tell you, most sellers have this in their listings by default, but most still ship to Canada. Utahmountainrose who sold the first Stonix in the link above is a perfect example.

 

They dont change "ships to" to read Worldwide, or North America but they do, most people just never change that field.

 

Some people specify in the auction description that they ship US Only, no International shipping, and when I see that I always respect it, but that wasn't the case here.

 

 

Here's where he gets especially douchy:

 

Because he wants to cancel a transaction that has already completed, I have a chance to respond, and the case stays open until January 4th.

 

Realizing this, douchebag sends me an invoice (after saying he doesn't ship to my country) for my price of $81.00....plus $71.94 of shipping....bringing the total to $152.94, or a few cents more than Utahmountainrose's auction.

 

 

Moral of the story: I think most of us know these resellers are dicks anyway.

But when one of them gets burned and an auction sells for less than they want, they resort to all kinds of douchiness to avoid having to honor it, especially this loser.

 

Anyone ever ship anything to this clown and can give me an address?

[Fushek]

First off, let me tell you that not all resellers are dicks ... some tend to be fair, honest and really nice guys

 

As far as his shipping, even in the US, his current auction has shipping for a single game at $29.10, about 5 or 6 times the average auction. Idiocy like that needs to be reported but, since eBay started adding their fees to the shipping cost as well as the auction itself, I don't think that they care much anymore about it.

 

And sorry, no address, and might I recommend a 24 hour cooling off period before anyone submits one.

[roberto]

I wonder what he will do if these auctions ends cheaply: eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130621921315 and eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130621922362

He is selling a Stadium Mud Buggies and a NIB Melody Blaster and, less than 4h before the ending, price is still extremely low (MB is... $2.25 only!). Clearly it will rise but I doubt he will get what he expects.

I was actually tempted to bid but don't want to be quoted a $200 shipping charges to Singapore!

Edited December 29, 2011 by roberto

[mphokie]

I was also bidding on the Minehunter he was selling. The US$33.13 shipping price was obviously bunk and I was taking that into account with my maximum bid. I don't think I've ever won anything from him, and have only bid on a few things mainly because he seemed dodgy to me (with over-the-top starting prices and now huge shipping costs).

 

It's a similar thing w/European sellers having ~US$80 shipping costs. I refuse to pay double the sale price when shipping's added in (unless it's under $50 or an extemely rare game).

[edintv]

Just ask a friend in the Us to receive the game for you. and Why do you need his address?

[pimpmaul69]

I am bidding on another mud buggies. Hopefully the one im bidding on doesnt do the same crap

Edited December 29, 2011 by pimpmaul69

[ghsqb]

First off, let me tell you that not all resellers are dicks ... some tend to be fair, honest and really nice guys

 

As far as his shipping, even in the US, his current auction has shipping for a single game at $29.10, about 5 or 6 times the average auction. Idiocy like that needs to be reported but, since eBay started adding their fees to the shipping cost as well as the auction itself, I don't think that they care much anymore about it.

 

And sorry, no address, and might I recommend a 24 hour cooling off period before anyone submits one.

 

Fushek, you are absulotely right.

My line about us knowing those resellers were dicks, I was specifically referring to the three I named, which have some nototriety on these forums already.

 

Not all resellers are dicks, as a matter of fact, I have won a couple of your auctions, and I have no problem with people reselling for profit.

 

This can be an expensive hobby, and if folks can make some extra $ flipping some games, hell why not?

 

I think you would agree though that some are just downright dicks.

 

Playing games with shipping, shill bidding, not wanting to honor transactions once they don't go the way you had hoped....

 

Anyway, I wanted to warn everyone here about this seller.

The seller has seen this thread, and has already sent me several messages today trying to explain his side of the story.

 

I thought I treid to be fair by pointing out that I bid on an auction that said US in the ships to field....but in my exprience many people just leave that there by default, and have no issues shipping to Canada.

 

At any rate, I would invite bigbadserpent to come in and offer the explanations that he has offered to me, that way both sides of the stroy are out there and folks can decide for themselves.

 

For me, I stand by my original position.

Edited December 29, 2011 by ghsqb

[ghsqb]

Just ask a friend in the Us to receive the game for you. and Why do you need his address?

 

I've considered using one of those services where you hire a company to forward stuff to you, for those that insist on shipping to US addresses only.

 

Ive never gone through with it, because I'm not sure how I would go about having that address verified by Paypal since it doesn't match the address on my credit card billing statement.

 

I suppose it's something I would have to look in to.

Edited December 29, 2011 by ghsqb

[cparsley]

Im free to have any items shipped to a US location (Iowa) and then will go to the USPS and send it outside for whatever they charge, no more ... Douchebags (hate em)

[yell0w_lantern]

$71.94 for shipping? Yeah, I guess it would be more expensive to ship a cartridge than that 130XE I just got ($16 postage from Canada to the USA).

 

Can you feel that sarcasm?

[+save2600]

I just won the Stadium Mud Buggies auction. Figured there'd be little action on it, since he's obviously gouging on shipping and I was right. He's obviously doing that to avoid paying such high commission fees, but am a little surprised eBay allows this. Seems to me, whenever I list a game for sale, I'm only allowed to charge upwards of $4 to ship it.

 

Oh and you can bet I'm asking for this to be properly packed in a box, et al. If it shows up in a padded envelope, I'll be pissed!

[IntellivisionDude]

It's his own fault for his auctions underselling with shipping prices like that. That scares people away. And he might be thinking i'll jack up shipping for a little insurance just in case it undersells, but after he scared everyone away it sells for even less and that insurance is not enough.

For a high dollar guaranteed to sell item it's best to do free shipping, then theres a good chance it might sell over what it's worth. He's only screwing himself.

[+save2600]

The seller just communicated with me after I requested my winning does NOT get shipped in a bubbleope. Said he has UPS pack and ship his stuff now, so that's why he overcharges for shipping. Claimed even eBay gave him the go-ahead to do so. We all know something like this costs less than $6 to ship via USPS (including a box, packing material and postage), but whatever. I've been wanting a Mud Buggies again for a while and after the total with shipping, seems to be in the ballpark of what they're going for.

[Rev]

The seller just communicated with me after I requested my winning does NOT get shipped in a bubbleope. Said he has UPS pack and ship his stuff now, so that's why he overcharges for shipping. Claimed even eBay gave him the go-ahead to do so. We all know something like this costs less than $6 to ship via USPS (including a box, packing material and postage), but whatever. I've been wanting a Mud Buggies again for a while and after the total with shipping, seems to be in the ballpark of what they're going for.

 

 

So, is going to put in a box or not?

[yell0w_lantern]

I just shipped about 6 cartridges by Federal Express in one box for 8 dollars and change. The lady at the store told me that UPS charges the same rate.

 

Sounds like shenanigans to me.

[Fushek]

First off, let me tell you that not all resellers are dicks ... some tend to be fair, honest and really nice guys

 

As far as his shipping, even in the US, his current auction has shipping for a single game at $29.10, about 5 or 6 times the average auction. Idiocy like that needs to be reported but, since eBay started adding their fees to the shipping cost as well as the auction itself, I don't think that they care much anymore about it.

 

And sorry, no address, and might I recommend a 24 hour cooling off period before anyone submits one.

 

Not all resellers are dicks, as a matter of fact, I have won a couple of your auctions, and I have no problem with people reselling for profit.

 

This can be an expensive hobby, and if folks can make some extra $ flipping some games, hell why not?

 

I think you would agree though that some are just downright dicks.

 

Playing games with shipping, shill bidding, not wanting to honor transactions once they don't go the way you had hoped....

 

 

Yep ... can definitely agree that many are, the ones discussed here included!!! I wonder if he is a true fan of the Intellivision or if he's just trying to profit only. I think that probably makes a difference. I buy and sell cause I love playing the games, collecting, refurbishing, etc ... and making some money is a definite plus. If the money part is all that there is (and the person is a dick by nature). So the question is ... are most resellers true fans or just out to make a profit?

 

Actually once, Pikachu found me through Closed listings of games that I had won and tried to get me to sell Stadium Mud Buggies to him for $200! That's the first time anyone's hunted me down like that and it was kind of creepy.

 

On a COMPLETELY off subject question ... Is there a section on the forum where people do trading? I have some games that I'm interested in trading for some that I don't have yet.

[goldenegg]

I get an email from ebay saying the seller is cancelling the auction for the following reason:

(Buyer requests shipping to a country I don't ship to)

 

In fairness, his auction was set up with the ship to field saying : United States

However, as any Canadian will tell you, most sellers have this in their listings by default, but most still ship to Canada.

 

Sorry, but you're in the wrong here.

 

It doesn't matter if other sellers will ship to Canada, even if they list US only. It's your responsibility to contact the seller prior to bidding to confirm they'll ship to your destination and get the final shipping price. Complaining that a seller wants to cancel an auction or charge you more for shipping because you made an incorrect assumption is not the seller's fault.

 

To make it clear, I'm not defending the crazy shipping cost he wanted to charge. That's the only 'douche' worthy thing the seller did.

[boxpressed]

It makes no sense to jack up shipping to make up for a low closing bid unless you're hoping that the buyer isn't paying attention to shipping. For a while now, eBay has been calculating its commission based on the closing bid plus shipping, so eBay is going to get paid regardless of any chicanery involving shipping prices. This seller probably told the shipping calculator that the parcel weighs something like 40 pounds in order to get shipping so high. The winning bidder should carefully note the weight of the parcel once it arrives, then report the discrepancy to eBay. At the best, the seller is clueless about eBay's new commission system, at worst, the seller is hoping to nail an unsuspecting or unobservant buyer.

 

One other thought: The seller may think he/she is obligated to refund only the bid price in case of a return, but eBay's Buyer Protection "encourages" the seller to refund the outbound shipping as well.

Edited December 29, 2011 by boxpressed

[ghsqb]

First off, let me tell you that not all resellers are dicks ... some tend to be fair, honest and really nice guys

 

As far as his shipping, even in the US, his current auction has shipping for a single game at $29.10, about 5 or 6 times the average auction. Idiocy like that needs to be reported but, since eBay started adding their fees to the shipping cost as well as the auction itself, I don't think that they care much anymore about it.

 

And sorry, no address, and might I recommend a 24 hour cooling off period before anyone submits one.

 

Not all resellers are dicks, as a matter of fact, I have won a couple of your auctions, and I have no problem with people reselling for profit.

 

This can be an expensive hobby, and if folks can make some extra $ flipping some games, hell why not?

 

I think you would agree though that some are just downright dicks.

 

Playing games with shipping, shill bidding, not wanting to honor transactions once they don't go the way you had hoped....

 

 

Yep ... can definitely agree that many are, the ones discussed here included!!! I wonder if he is a true fan of the Intellivision or if he's just trying to profit only. I think that probably makes a difference. I buy and sell cause I love playing the games, collecting, refurbishing, etc ... and making some money is a definite plus. If the money part is all that there is (and the person is a dick by nature). So the question is ... are most resellers true fans or just out to make a profit?

 

Actually once, Pikachu found me through Closed listings of games that I had won and tried to get me to sell Stadium Mud Buggies to him for $200! That's the first time anyone's hunted me down like that and it was kind of creepy.

 

On a COMPLETELY off subject question ... Is there a section on the forum where people do trading? I have some games that I'm interested in trading for some that I don't have yet.

 

Absolutely. Many people have worked thrades through one of these sub-forums, but the main place is the Marketplace.

If you post a thread with the FT header, you'll be able to work out some trades for sure.

 

If that fails, GAmeTZ is a decent option.

[ghsqb]

I get an email from ebay saying the seller is cancelling the auction for the following reason:

(Buyer requests shipping to a country I don't ship to)

 

In fairness, his auction was set up with the ship to field saying : United States

However, as any Canadian will tell you, most sellers have this in their listings by default, but most still ship to Canada.

 

Sorry, but you're in the wrong here.

 

It doesn't matter if other sellers will ship to Canada, even if they list US only. It's your responsibility to contact the seller prior to bidding to confirm they'll ship to your destination and get the final shipping price. Complaining that a seller wants to cancel an auction or charge you more for shipping because you made an incorrect assumption is not the seller's fault.

 

To make it clear, I'm not defending the crazy shipping cost he wanted to charge. That's the only 'douche' worthy thing the seller did.

 

Thats fair ball man, like I said, I accept my part in that.

Would he be looking to cancel it if the bid wasn't $81, but $155 which was my max bid?

Somehow I don't think so, but maybe.

 

Like I said, there's always another side to the story...and you're right that I shouldn't have just bid, but 99% of the time it works out, this time it didn't.

 

My opinion is that the seller is using this as a convenient out, but that's only my opinion.

[+save2600]

So, is going to put in a box or not?

After our conversation - you'd think so!

 

If not, you know I'll be raising Cain.

[+cmart604]

A few thoughts.....

 

Firstly, I second what ghsqb said, Fushek is certainly a seller I'd recommend dealing with. His prices are fair and I'll certainly buy from him again. To that end Fushek, you can certainly post in the marketplace for trades and I'm sure there are a number of us here who would gladly trade with you.

 

Secondly, while I agree that it's best to contact US sellers about shipping to Canada, and I almost always do myself unless it's a last second thing, is it really that hard to ship to Canada? I send stuff to the US all the time, it takes an extra couple of minutes tops, and I'm yet to die from doing so. there are certainly a large number of Canadian collectors (and Europeans as well) that sellers are missing out on. That said, it's a good idea for Canadians to have a US buying/shipping buddy for those sellers who won't budge. Thumbs up to cparsley for offering. (and to my US shipping buddy too. You know who you are.)

 

Nextly, while I respect the right of folks to sell their goods at whatever prices they so choose, I must admit I don't understand the business practice of ridiculous BIN's. I'm certainly not adverse to paying high prices for collectible things, I know for a fact I've overpaid for hundreds of things in my collecting lifetime, but when they've priced things so stupidly on a repeated basis, I stop looking at their auctions. Wouldn't you want an idiot like me bidding on your stuff, even if I come second, as it'll likely ensure you get a good price for your wares.

 

I'm also puzzled by the fact that either these sellers aren't aware that there are forums on the interwebs where like-minded folk discuss things that piss them off (like ridiculous or douchey sellers), or they just don't care. Those are the only reasons I can think of for having a business model predicated on hopefully preying on unsuspecting, uneducated buyers hitting their overpriced BIN's versus say, a model like that of utahmountainrose, whom many of us have bought from and whom we speak very highly of, and as a result we look forward to her next batch of auctions and very often bid on them, to the point that she gets very good results on her game sales. This is due in part to the service we've all received when dealing with her, including very cost effective and transparent shipping fees. Maybe this is why she wouldn't have got $40 for a Stadium Mud Buggies with manual and OO's (nice price by the way save2600!!!) or $20 for a sealed Melody Blaster.

 

Just sayin.

[Fushek]

A few thoughts.....

 

Firstly, I second what ghsqb said, Fushek is certainly a seller I'd recommend dealing with. His prices are fair and I'll certainly buy from him again. To that end Fushek, you can certainly post in the marketplace for trades and I'm sure there are a number of us here who would gladly trade with you.

 

Secondly, while I agree that it's best to contact US sellers about shipping to Canada, and I almost always do myself unless it's a last second thing, is it really that hard to ship to Canada? I send stuff to the US all the time, it takes an extra couple of minutes tops, and I'm yet to die from doing so. there are certainly a large number of Canadian collectors (and Europeans as well) that sellers are missing out on. That said, it's a good idea for Canadians to have a US buying/shipping buddy for those sellers who won't budge. Thumbs up to cparsley for offering. (and to my US shipping buddy too. You know who you are.)

 

Nextly, while I respect the right of folks to sell their goods at whatever prices they so choose, I must admit I don't understand the business practice of ridiculous BIN's. I'm certainly not adverse to paying high prices for collectible things, I know for a fact I've overpaid for hundreds of things in my collecting lifetime, but when they've priced things so stupidly on a repeated basis, I stop looking at their auctions. Wouldn't you want an idiot like me bidding on your stuff, even if I come second, as it'll likely ensure you get a good price for your wares.

 

I'm also puzzled by the fact that either these sellers aren't aware that there are forums on the interwebs where like-minded folk discuss things that piss them off (like ridiculous or douchey sellers), or they just don't care. Those are the only reasons I can think of for having a business model predicated on hopefully preying on unsuspecting, uneducated buyers hitting their overpriced BIN's versus say, a model like that of utahmountainrose, whom many of us have bought from and whom we speak very highly of, and as a result we look forward to her next batch of auctions and very often bid on them, to the point that she gets very good results on her game sales. This is due in part to the service we've all received when dealing with her, including very cost effective and transparent shipping fees. Maybe this is why she wouldn't have got $40 for a Stadium Mud Buggies with manual and OO's (nice price by the way save2600!!!) or $20 for a sealed Melody Blaster.

 

Just sayin.

 

Thanks for the good word ... appreciate it!

 

As far as resellers not on this forum, it doesn't surprise me. I wouldn't have stumbled upon this place unless I was a fan also and trying to get back into the collecting so I think that it's more of a fan thing than a reseller tool although I have learned a few things going through the forums. And, yes, I like having "idiots like you" bidding on my stuff!

 

I wonder if eBay would setup an exception for the shipping policies to not allow international bidders unless they are a member of the INTV Brotherhood? I'll email them and ask.

[ghsqb]

I was glad to see Cmart weigh in on this.

As a fellow Canadian, and someone who has to deal with this issue of "ships to" I was curious how he handles it.

 

I have been dealing on eBay a LONG time. (my ghsqb eBay ID goes back to 1998).

My experiences are that the "Ships to" field are meaningless.

Heck, look at the auction I linked in the original post by utahmountainrose, look at the "Ships to" field! It says United States.

 

She clearly ships to Canada and Europe, in her description she states the conditions for doing so, but the ships to field remains United States.

Again, 95% of the time, the sellers will have no issue shipping to Canada, and if they are opposed to it, they will usually explicitly say so in the description.

 

So the obvious question is, why not just ask?

I used to, with mixed results.

 

My experiences were that (in most cases) the odds of whether or not I got a reply (and whether that reply was + or -) depended on how the auction was going.

 

If the auction was doing worse than maybe they had hoped, they would be all for shipping where ever they needed to in order to get the price up.

 

If the auction was going ok, their motivation to reply at all, or affirmatively is greatly reduced.

 

So over time, I learned to just bid, and 95% of the time, it works out.

 

Again, for sellers, it's not a bad thing having Cmart and I on your auctions.

It's more money in their pockets in the end.

Edited December 30, 2011 by ghsqb

[ghsqb]

A few thoughts.....

 

Firstly, I second what ghsqb said, Fushek is certainly a seller I'd recommend dealing with. His prices are fair and I'll certainly buy from him again. To that end Fushek, you can certainly post in the marketplace for trades and I'm sure there are a number of us here who would gladly trade with you.

 

Secondly, while I agree that it's best to contact US sellers about shipping to Canada, and I almost always do myself unless it's a last second thing, is it really that hard to ship to Canada? I send stuff to the US all the time, it takes an extra couple of minutes tops, and I'm yet to die from doing so. there are certainly a large number of Canadian collectors (and Europeans as well) that sellers are missing out on. That said, it's a good idea for Canadians to have a US buying/shipping buddy for those sellers who won't budge. Thumbs up to cparsley for offering. (and to my US shipping buddy too. You know who you are.)

 

Nextly, while I respect the right of folks to sell their goods at whatever prices they so choose, I must admit I don't understand the business practice of ridiculous BIN's. I'm certainly not adverse to paying high prices for collectible things, I know for a fact I've overpaid for hundreds of things in my collecting lifetime, but when they've priced things so stupidly on a repeated basis, I stop looking at their auctions. Wouldn't you want an idiot like me bidding on your stuff, even if I come second, as it'll likely ensure you get a good price for your wares.

 

I'm also puzzled by the fact that either these sellers aren't aware that there are forums on the interwebs where like-minded folk discuss things that piss them off (like ridiculous or douchey sellers), or they just don't care. Those are the only reasons I can think of for having a business model predicated on hopefully preying on unsuspecting, uneducated buyers hitting their overpriced BIN's versus say, a model like that of utahmountainrose, whom many of us have bought from and whom we speak very highly of, and as a result we look forward to her next batch of auctions and very often bid on them, to the point that she gets very good results on her game sales. This is due in part to the service we've all received when dealing with her, including very cost effective and transparent shipping fees. Maybe this is why she wouldn't have got $40 for a Stadium Mud Buggies with manual and OO's (nice price by the way save2600!!!) or $20 for a sealed Melody Blaster.

 

Just sayin.

 

Thanks for the good word ... appreciate it!

 

As far as resellers not on this forum, it doesn't surprise me. I wouldn't have stumbled upon this place unless I was a fan also and trying to get back into the collecting so I think that it's more of a fan thing than a reseller tool although I have learned a few things going through the forums. And, yes, I like having "idiots like you" bidding on my stuff!

 

I wonder if eBay would setup an exception for the shipping policies to not allow international bidders unless they are a member of the INTV Brotherhood? I'll email them and ask.

 

An interesting challenge when I bid on stuff, is that I have the eBay app for my iPhone, and if I try to bid on an auction where the "Ships to" field says United States, and I am trying to bid using my iPhone, it won't accept my bid.

The system says "You cannot bid on this item as this seller does not ship to your location."

 

If I bid through the main site, no problem.

 

So if there's an auction ending for something I really want and "ships to" says United States, I have to make sure I am near a computer, lol.