Tuesday, June 14, 2005

eBay blues

December 1999: My first eBay transaction. Scary, but enthralling. The product? A 1978 Nikon F2A. When I was 15, I discovered Quality. Capital "Q." Some products were just better. My parents thought I was becoming snobby. Perhaps I was. But then and there, I decided that at some point in my life, I'd own three things: A Gibson ES-335, a Nikon F2A, and a Porsche 911. I bought the Gibson in 88. The Nikon was my first eBay purchase. The Porsche... hey the Gibson is curly maple, real pretty. Yeah.

So along the way I bought a few other items. Then I started selling some. Usually old stuff I no longer needed, but sometimes a product that I picked up cheap elsewhere. The best example was a model of an old 1960's Lotus F-1 racer. Exquisitely detailed. The local Big Lots had 'em for $12. I bought four. Gave one away, sold the other three... for an average of $80. Whee! Didn't do so well with some of the other die-cast models, however... in fact I still have far too many 1963 Aston Martin DB5's. But that's the price of inventory.

Last month I came into ten sets of laser grips, very good price. They mount onto a certain brand of 9mm pistol, and cast a rather useless laser dot. They look cool, but aren't that accurate. Then again, some shooters are so unskilled they need all the help they can get. Some such buyers grabbed them up on eBay. Life was good.

Then along came a customer, who we will call Paul Brooks II. Mr. Brooks purchased a set, paid quickly, so I left him positive feedback right away. Many sellers don't take this step right away, as they feel that they could be vulnerable to unsavory buyers. Me, I figure honesty is the best policy. Well, i did... sure enough, Mr. Brooks left me my very first negative feedback, out of 200+ transactions. Claimed the grips were "used." (the box was shrinkwrapped!). So I emailed him; "What's wrong? If you're unhappy, I'll send you another set or give you a refund." I was amazed, none of the previous seven customers had a problem. Mr. Brooks responded: "Well pal, you have 100% positive. If you want to keep it, it will cost you." Disgusted, but stuck, I offered $25. "Not enough pal. Tell you what, refund ALL my money, let me keep the grips, and I'll withdraw the feedback."

I have my price. That's above it. I did a little checking on Mr. Brooks, and it turns out he's a registered sex offender in Maryland. Convicted felon. I wonder if law enforcement is interested in why such a person owns a 92F? We'll see. On the flip side, am I now liable if Mr. Brooks decides to return to his criminal past, and start gunning people down? Using the laser grips that I sold him?


Let's... be careful out there.