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Anyone shy away from collections/lots?
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Lord Dynel
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 1:14 pm

I have a question for the esteemed experts here.

I bought a collection off of eBay a few weeks ago and the products described pretty much sucked, condition-wise as well as for completeness (almost every item had something missing from it). I did what I am wont to do in this circumstance, which was to leave no feedback (in fear of the dreaded negative). I've just bought another collection, almost reluctantly:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& ... T&rd=1

My question for you gentlemen (and ladies - if any) is this; do any of you shy away from collections and lot becasue of a) poor pictures/product descriptions and/or b) relative obscurity of the seller?

I'm scared to spend $300 on a lot of items that might not be complete. I ask questions of the sellers, who reassure me of their auction, but I can't get over being a little reluctant in these cases. Of course, I could just not bid, but IMHO, I thought the lot was too good to pass up.

I guess my last question would be, what do you do in when you fear is confirmed and the lot turns missing pieces and/or in a much worse shape than you thought it to be?

My apologies of this type of query has been covered in the past.

bclarkie
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 1:26 pm

sword3274 wrote:I have a question for the esteemed experts here.

I bought a collection off of eBay a few weeks ago and the products described pretty much sucked, condition-wise as well as for completeness (almost every item had something missing from it). I did what I am wont to do in this circumstance, which was to leave no feedback (in fear of the dreaded negative). I've just bought another collection, almost reluctantly:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& ... T&rd=1

My question for you gentlemen (and ladies - if any) is this; do any of you shy away from collections and lot becasue of a) poor pictures/product descriptions and/or b) relative obscurity of the seller?

I'm scared to spend $300 on a lot of items that might not be complete. I ask questions of the sellers, who reassure me of their auction, but I can't get over being a little reluctant in these cases. Of course, I could just not bid, but IMHO, I thought the lot was too good to pass up.

I guess my last question would be, what do you do in when you fear is confirmed and the lot turns missing pieces and/or in a much worse shape than you thought it to be?

My apologies of this type of query has been covered in the past.

Hi Sword, and welcome to the forum.

I really think that it depends on a lot of factors. One thing to do is if your a weary is to definitely ask very specific and direct questions. There was a thread a few months ago that did cover this, but no problem asking again. It is listed here acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1680&a ... highlight=

So you can check that out for other opinions, although I sure some others here will gladly follow-up on this thread as well. :wink:

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Neitzche

Badmike
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 1:39 pm

sword3274 wrote:I have a question for the esteemed experts here.

I bought a collection off of eBay a few weeks ago and the products described pretty much sucked, condition-wise as well as for completeness (almost every item had something missing from it). I did what I am wont to do in this circumstance, which was to leave no feedback (in fear of the dreaded negative). I've just bought another collection, almost reluctantly:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& ... T&rd=1

My question for you gentlemen (and ladies - if any) is this; do any of you shy away from collections and lot becasue of a) poor pictures/product descriptions and/or b) relative obscurity of the seller?

I'm scared to spend $300 on a lot of items that might not be complete. I ask questions of the sellers, who reassure me of their auction, but I can't get over being a little reluctant in these cases. Of course, I could just not bid, but IMHO, I thought the lot was too good to pass up.

I guess my last question would be, what do you do in when you fear is confirmed and the lot turns missing pieces and/or in a much worse shape than you thought it to be?

My apologies of this type of query has been covered in the past.

The answer from me is YES, I do shy away for this reason. My record is about 50/50 for the collection being in great shape and well taken care of, to being an absolute mess of crap. I can't justify spending that sort of money ($300 and up) if the entire thing is unsalvagable. I've found that either people have absolutely no idea what foundation a grading system is based on (I've had magazines missing their cover graded as "near Mint, like new") or they are plain thieves and liars.
I used to buy collections frequently, but the last one I bought a few years ago was sort of a warning sign and it swore me off them forever. I spent about $400 to buy what was advertised as every Forgotten Realms item published, all box sets, modules, supplements, etc. It was, and the items were in reasonable shape, but ALL maps had been removed and ALL monstrous compendium pages from any box set likewise. My fault I guess because I had assumed when he listed the items as "brand new and complete" it would included everything! Basically everything was unsellable, on a hunch I contacted the seller and told him the situation, suddenly he remember he kept all the MC pages and maps in a seperate box somewhere. I was very lucky in that he found and mailed these too me so I could match up the maps with their items. But that taught me a lesson and I stay away from large collections unless I can see them myself.
You can protect yourself in a few ways. See if the seller has exceptional feedback and check some of his past feedback ratings. Even positives can leave clues of a not so good seller if they are couched in terms like "Not excatly what I wanted" or "Missing some pieces"....people don't want to get negged, just like you said, and so they won't leave neg but will "damn with faint praise" as the saying goes. I flat out won't deal with anyone under 98% feedback and if you are spending several hundred dollars you shouldn't either.
When in doubt ask as many questions as possible. Look at it this way, if you were buying a digitial camera, or ipod, or pair of shoes, and you spent $300-$500, wouldn't you be exactly sure it's the kind you wanted? If that kind of money isn't a big deal to you then no problem. A honest seller shouldn't be afraid to answer specific questions. If he is, pass him up. Sometimes the guys selling the stuff aren't that knowledgable about the material, maybe they don't know all the items are supposed to have color maps, or whatever. Ask specific questions, not just "Does everything look ok?" or "Is the item very used?" Ask about maps, handouts, pieces, etc in specific items
Don't be afraid to threaten to neg....you don't have to actually do it. I find that sellers with 100% feedback are loathe to lose their standing and if they have made a mistake, will very quickly rectify it in your favor (as well they should). At the very least voice your concerns to the seller and ask for a partial refund or if he has any more items he can ship you as way of paying you back for the lousy crap you got. You'd be surprised, sometimes people either feel guilty about sending you crap, or they just don't know. I got a load of Dungeon magazines awhile back, they were basically beat to shit after being advertised as "like new, never used" and I told the seller they were the absolute worst condition magazines I had ever received (some had loose covers!). He apologized, and offered me a full refund including shipping if I sent them back, which I did and he did refund me. I later saw him selling the same lot as "Fair condition, very used", so either he actually graded them the second time or had an attack of conscience.
The auction you sited, the seller seems reasonably familiar with his product and has included the information that the maps are present and that counters are punched but included, which is a very good sign. I might have specifically asked him if all the Gazeteers had maps as they all come with maps, If DA1 and DA3 had the maps, and if the B1-9 had the maps inside and if the spine was split (a common occurance with that supermodule) but the lot looks decent. Let us know how the items turned out.

Mike B.

bclarkie
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 1:48 pm

As a follow up also, the auction that you won where you were very disapointed in wasn't this one by chance, was it:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& ... 5179999785

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Neitzche

Lord Dynel
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Location: Winter Haven, Florida

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 3:58 pm

bclarkie wrote:As a follow up also, the auction that you won where you were very disapointed in wasn't this one by chance, was it:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& ... 5179999785

Yeah it was...I shoulda let peaches win it :evil:

I noticed that the conditions aren't given much detail and that the question about writing was (more-or-less) dodged by the seller (some of the books were awful bad in terms of writing inside).

I saved just about all the hardbacks (except two), the I12 (which was missing 3 pages...luckily I have it as a PDF). the screen, and the DM Log. The rest I was able to find some torn out sheets amongst the rubble (a huge box of loose pages and other "crap") and had some photocopies made of missing pages to make them complete so I could resell them to recoup some of my money for the lot of crap...hope that tactic doesn't make anyone here think ill of me. I made about $90 of the $200 back...and was it worth it? I don't think so, IMO.

I'll apologize now if any of you reading this won any of my recent auctions and get somthing from this lot...I tried to give as good as description as I could

Another question I pose is this; do you think there are some out there that willingly and consciously know there items are no where near to the description they give (be it missing pages/materials, worse condition than they describe, etc)? Sadly, my opinion is that there are.

Lord Dynel
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Location: Winter Haven, Florida

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:02 pm

Badmike wrote: I might have specifically asked him if all the Gazeteers had maps as they all come with maps, If DA1 and DA3 had the maps, and if the B1-9 had the maps inside and if the spine was split (a common occurance with that supermodule) but the lot looks decent. Let us know how the items turned out.

I did ask about what I called, "completeness" of the items. The response was that, as far as he knew, they were complete and all in relatively good shape.

I will let you guys know about them as soon as they arrive.

bclarkie
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:28 pm

sword3274 wrote: Yeah it was...I shoulda let peaches win it

I noticed that the conditions aren't given much detail and that the question about writing was (more-or-less) dodged by the seller (some of the books were awful bad in terms of writing inside).

I saved just about all the hardbacks (except two), the I12 (which was missing 3 pages...luckily I have it as a PDF). the screen, and the DM Log. The rest I was able to find some torn out sheets amongst the rubble (a huge box of loose pages and other "crap") and had some photocopies made of missing pages to make them complete so I could resell them to recoup some of my money for the lot of crap...hope that tactic doesn't make anyone here think ill of me. I made about $90 of the $200 back...and was it worth it? I don't think so, IMO.

Well, now I am glad that I did not increase my snipe any further. I actually set up a snipe for $175 or so, and I was very disapointed that I did nto win that lot. I figured with the T1-4, I12, I7, G1 mono, and D&D w/cthulhu would have been a nice grab, especially to resell. Looks like it worked out for the better for me. I ran into a very similar auction last January of what was described as a nice set of 2nd edition Greyhawk items i.e. WGR1, WGR6, WGA4, etc. There was only one picture and it was of the whole lot of items form a distance(it looked ok in the pic). Needless to say when I received it, it was awful. Not only were the items beat up, and littered with writing and highlighting, but they also smelled like they were stored in an ashtray.

sword3274 wrote: Another question I pose is this; do you think there are some out there that willingly and consciously know there items are no where near to the description they give (be it missing pages/materials, worse condition than they describe, etc)? Sadly, my opinion is that there are.

No doubt about it, and that is why it is very important to ask a lot of specific questions, and also as BadMike indicated, to check the sellers feedback for disappointed positives.

sword3274 wrote: I did what I am wont to do in this circumstance, which was to leave no feedback (in fear of the dreaded negative).

Feel free to neg away, there will be no reply, because the seller is no longer a registered user.
feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?View ... at-dealz4u

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Neitzche

jkason
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 7:41 pm

Yeah...The only reason I shy away is beacuse of the outlay of cash.
If I had it to spend, I would.
One auction is pretty much like another, risk-wise.
I do prefer to purchase from gamers, however, as they know what should be in the items, and they generally take better care of thier stuff.

Dave, get the barbarian in the corner a drink, quick!

rosenkav
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 3:54 am

I love sometimes taking chances - and large lots are just this kind of thing. They have more risk potential than individual sales, but generally they do tend to get well if the seller is honest and trustworthy - just check his feedback.

I believe that a con man is a con man - whatever he choses to sell, and his feedback would show.

As of my personal experience, I finally managed to get the four-month old shipping from Aussieland - and although the box have been opened (badly) by customs and not put back together, the interior padding have been so thorough that none of the material suffered damage - and there was lots, practically mint.

On the other hand, I bought a single module from another guy and discovered it was somewhat flawed - some of the maps and interior art had been coloured (he said he had lots of auctions going and didn't notice this one - seemed quite sincere in his mail).

So the outcome is - you really have no way of knowing. Either you have luck with them or you don't.

Oh, on a final note, our favourite furry friend bids heavily on lots.

"It's mint, it's a first print, and it's mine!"

KA-POW

"Not anymore".

killjoy32
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 4:17 am

i bid on lots quite often, when i have the time & money to....but generally have my limits, so if i dont win, its no biggie really, there will be something else and if i DO win, then its not such a massive loss if everything in the lot is an utter waste.

my success/failure rate is about 75/25 with these. generally i find some stuff in them i want personally and can sell the rest to make up for the loss and the balance that is sh*t i just toss aside into a pile, which is useful material for playing material for a.n.other someday.

i do honestly think tho, that big lots are generally "vague" and anyone worth their salt would sell items individually, as you would probably realise their individual values more by doing it that way - that is IF you have the time and patience to do that. i know some just like to wham a lot on and be done with it all in one go.

i dont think most ppl are deliberate in mis-leading. me personally, IF i was selling a lot of 100 modules, i would prb just say their condition and they are as-seen, so there "might" be some stuff missing, by general rule of probability. 100 modules are still 100 modules and so long as you are prepared to answer questions honestly, you will always come good on your deal imo.

Al

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Beyondthebreach
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 4:28 am

sword3274 wrote:I have a question for the esteemed experts here.

I bought a collection off of eBay a few weeks ago and the products described pretty much sucked, condition-wise as well as for completeness (almost every item had something missing from it). I did what I am wont to do in this circumstance, which was to leave no feedback (in fear of the dreaded negative). I've just bought another collection, almost reluctantly:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& ... T&rd=1

My question for you gentlemen (and ladies - if any) is this; do any of you shy away from collections and lot becasue of a) poor pictures/product descriptions and/or b) relative obscurity of the seller?

I'm scared to spend $300 on a lot of items that might not be complete. I ask questions of the sellers, who reassure me of their auction, but I can't get over being a little reluctant in these cases. Of course, I could just not bid, but IMHO, I thought the lot was too good to pass up.

I guess my last question would be, what do you do in when you fear is confirmed and the lot turns missing pieces and/or in a much worse shape than you thought it to be?

My apologies of this type of query has been covered in the past.

I think you did fairly well on this one. You're in good shape unless the Gazetteer's and DA modules are all missing maps. Look at who you narrowly outbid . . . all resellers, so everyone is confident they can make a profit. I would have tried to get this at just over $300, but I have quite a bit invested in inventory right now and decided to let it pass . . .

Still, you take your chances. The more lots you buy, the better you get at "sniffing" out those it better condition. Look for a little genuine honesty from the seller in describing them . . . avoid those who use words like "look good for their age", "have been used, but still have a lot of life left in them", "still perfectly usable", etc.

"Gleemonex makes it feel like it's seventy-two degrees in your head... all... the... time! "

johnhuck
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 6:07 am

Sometimes it's just worth the gamble.

My Oz 1st print Basic rulebook and Oz G/D mono combo were both in lots and turned out to be good finds.

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I often point the seller at the TSR archive site to confirm contents of boxsets. It's surprising how many often "forget" about maps and counters.

But I usually try and buy lots locally and collect in person. It gives you a distinct advantage if you can avoid the postage costs of a large set.

And I have recently started to advertise locally to buy RPG collections. Not much success yet. But I live in hope.

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