What Is A Person To Do ?

Last week I won an auction on ebay for a piece that I've been chasing for some time. The Stamp is a C6, the DeHavilland Bi-Plane US Airmail and it had wonderful centering which is mandatory for my C1-C6 set I'm trying to complete. I was happy with the amount that I won it with even though it was over 50% of Catalog. The CV is $80.00 for a MH Stamp and I won it for $42.00 with Free shipping. So today I receive an email stating:

HI:

we are very sorry, we made few mistakes, we post the same stamp twice
we`ve already sold the item #170719964276( us stamps C6 MINT OG $80)
we will refund your money back.

The part that upsets me is that they couldn't even take the time to personalize the Email, 2nd is the poor grammar. Now I'm not an unreasonable person and I know mistakes are made here and there but I'm tempted to hold them to their sale as it is a binding agreement.
The seller refunded my Money which is arbitrary as I really wanted that piece and it will probably take some time to find another with this kind of centering for this kind of Money.

What would you do ? Leave them a very neutral Feedback ?

Seller remorse? Poor recordkeeping? Either possibility is not professional and deserves a less than stellar rating.

Very time I make a fuss and am full of justified self righteousness and I lay a heavy hand in discipline it always comes back and bites me.

So the law works if I smash a person the stamp I want will reappear in 20 years or more.
So the law works if I am humble and forgiving the stamp will be just around the corner.

Sometimes it is very hard stallzer but.

Always Happy Stamping. John.

Take a look at this listing, ending a few minutes later than yours, and garnering about ten bucks less...
ebay item # 380381283940

It uses the same photo as your listing. I can't help but notice that the additional photos in your listing have been deleted already, while they still appear in the above listing. (In case you need them, and they also have been deleted by the time you look, I saved them.)

So, stock photo? Gross incompetence? They apparently chose to complete the later-ending auction, which netted them about 25% less. Unless, of course, that buyer got the same email.

Nice one KG5
I'm with you.

I have always had my suspicions of when a seller (of any item on ebay) doesn't get the price they were hoping for, making the item disappear or in my case supposedly sold to another. 2 Years ago I won an auction for a very nice brand new pair of Revo Sunglasses that run around $150 - $175 at any Sunglass Hut for $25 and was quite excited about the price.....sure enough the item conveniently got lost in the mail for which the seller was quite happy to offer me a refund. In todays case the refund was already back in my account before I even had a chance to reply, which is another reason I smell foul play. I'm sure I'll take the high road and chalk it up to experience and not do business with this seller again, or it even could be just an honest mistake. But knowing they are using an image twice makes me lean toward the foul play.

You got your money back. Neutral at the worst in my opinion. ebay, craigslist, the local classifieds, don't matter some people will sell to anyone who will pay more than earlier agreed upon deals, a handshake is one thing but a verbal or electronic agreement are not the same.

I do agree with you Fred and at the worst I will leave a Neutral Feedback and not get into details as giving the benefit of the doubt will always server a better purpose in the long run. But I'm just saying.......

the days of a spoken word or a handshake to seal a deal are long past.

Stallzer, on rare occasions a Seller may accommodate another bidder/buyer's handsome last minute financial offer for a needed item.

I do understand your legitimate frustration, just note the seller in-case of repeat performance.

First incident with this buyer so consider 'benefit of doubt'. Neutral Feedback.

I'd be irked at least over that and would agree that foul-play was involved. As far as feedback that's entirely up to you but maybe a well thought out email that states your dismay is in order. Well wishes Stallzer and better fortune next time friend. The days of a good firm handshake are indeed fading into deep tones of sepia and will only serve a reminder of days long past. *sigh* -Jay

I emailed the seller back and told them of my disposition on this and they threw some young female employee under the Bus on this one...I thought that was pretty unprofessional. Anyways they did come clean which I see as a good thing and they admitted to putting the same piece up for auction twice and even admitted selling it for 11 Dollars less than my bid. Now the question is, did they sell it to someone over favoritism ? Perhaps someone that spends much more money with them than I do ? Either way it's a bummer but things like this do happen. They have offered me a $5 Credit on my next purchase which is better than a sharp stick to the eyeball. As far as Feedback goes, I think I will simply request that the sale be canceled so I don't have to leave feedback at all and since this is a Gray area as to what really happened, giving the benefit of the doubt in my mind will be taking the high road on this one.

Stallzer, in a way you've established a type of friendship with the Dealer. Their generosity and honesty after the incident is admirable considering other peoples attitude in similar circumstances.

Would have been disappointing if a young 'inexperienced employee' lost their job over a stamp.

We should have a list on here, perhaps a dedicated thread of only sellers that we would recommend. Not a list of bad sellers, but good ones that we would recommend to our SCF family.