What is it with Ebay sellers

[OppoFood]

Today I received a "SACD" from America - Ozzy Live At Budokhan. Clearly advertised as a Super Audio CD. I checked the UPC code and it was the correct code for the SACD version. Tunred out it wasn't, just a standard CD, different UPC on the case.

Last week bought Cyndi Lauper She's So Unusual but asked before it was shipped - "oh no sorry it is just the standard version"

Last week I thought I had found BAT Out Of Hell, contacted ther seller, "oops not a SACD"

Yesterday saw a Peter Gabriel SACD sold, clearly SACD in the listing, way down the bottom a message "This is not the SACD version"

Have seen lots of others all claiming to be SACD, some then mention it isn't SACD in the listing "somewhere if you look" others only confirm after asking.

Are people just ignorant or are they purposely trying to pull a fast one or are the UPC codes incorrect in Ebay - or is it all three?

[Old Quad Guy]

I've ran into this same problem many times as titles became more and more harder to get. Bought a title and got a CD, happens to us all. So always ask before you bid "are you sure this is a Super Audio CD," with a link to SACD at Wikipedia, and even explain what a SACD is in detail in your own words, not too long, but to the point. I then saved the info to copy and paste for another time as this has to be done every time you buy. Same with DVD-Audio. It's just that these titles are getting ridiculously hard to find now.

Sometimes though you have to hit the BIN button in order to snag a deal, and I hate to do this, but ask if this is a SACD etc. before paying as that will tell you much about the seller and certainly get their attention. After you send e-mail the honest sellers will usual write back right away and reassure you with an intelligent response. Sometime you'll get an automated letter, like hey pay up now! Sure no problem, but please answer my question is what you have to write back until your concerns are addressed. When you do get the proper response to your question, one should then pay up immediately. The seller's response by e-mail gives proof if you have to make claim. Also, if you do need to make a claim, keep all packaging and do not open item if sealed and take a few photos. Like knowing whether or not something is spam, you usually get a feel for the good sellers from bad by how they post, but not always. You also want to keep track of all the good sellers by name in order to buy again. Hope this helps.

[Bob Squires Jr]

One good one is a disc by McFly - Motion In The Ocean.
One seller on eBay STILL lists it as SACD when it is not.
It IS in a super jewel box case.
I bought one and returned it, called them and told them it was a standard
CD and it was never an SACD but they still list it to this day as SACD.

You also have to watch as there seem to be a few SACDs that came in two flavors.. stereo only and stereo/surround.
Bat Out Of Hell and Gloria Estefan's Greatest Hits comes to mind.
Billy Joel's Stranger (Japan press) is stereo only as well.
But you won't know unless you think to ask and it's a pain if you don't even KNOW there are two versions.
I think there are 3 Toto IVs... One single layer stereo SACD, One single layer Stereo/Multi and
one Hybrid Stereo / Multi (the one I have).
Peter Gabriel's are Single layer stereo or hybrid stereo.

Unfortunately, you never know which one you're getting a lot of the time.
And when all else really goes to hell... you get a plain old CD as I did twice on a Barry Manilow Christmas SACD and
Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual. (I do have the SACDs of both... really! )

[OppoFood]

To be fair :-

The Cyndi Lauper seller apologized and so the sale was cancelled before I parted with money.

The Bat Out Of.. seller checked and then thanked me for pointing out the error.

And the Ozzy seller has just refunded the money and said to keep the disk, I have offered to sell it on TradeMe here in NZ and split the proceeds, might then get a bit of good karma myself.

However it is still annoying when quite clearly all three did not check that the listing matched what they were actually selling.

I suppose the real problems arrise with the sellers who use SACD in the title and have the SACD blurb but then put somewhere else that it is not actually the SACD version, as in the Peter Gabriel. Who takes the blame then? Especially if one paid big bucks ???

[rusinurbe]

Issues may arrise because with more popular titles just latly you can type in what you have got and up comes the title, if you are lazy when listing you just tick that is why there are so many stock photos on E-bay.
One of those 'nice features' which creates more issues than it solves.

[ndiamone]

However it is still annoying when quite clearly all did not check that the listing matched what they were actually selling.

Yes, sellers who are ignorant of the finer details of their mdse. are all over the Web. And what's sadder than that, is unlike these three, most of `em are annoyed that you asked - making them have to go repeat the item's research that was ``already performed''.

It's like my rant in the other thread about people today only caring about things that affect their check, their time off and how to get administration to leave them alone. One of the most annoying things is when buyer asks about a finer detail about an item and gets a cut-and-pasted recitation of the original ad in a return message.

To me, when a seller responds like that, it's like the biggest insult, like ``All I want is my crap out from underfoot, your money and for you to shut up'', (see above paragraph) or like ``Thank you for calling. If you have a problem or a question please call 1-800 C F I CARE (see-if-I-care) Monday through Friday 9-5 Eastern in English or Spanish otherwise leave me alone I'm busy''.

Or how about sellers with absolutely zero idea what their mdse is worth besides that?

All over the record and other vintage item sales world is people like that - like this gal I ran into online at eBay a couple weeks back. She's ``just trying to sell her granddad's records since he passed last year.'' which tells me she's maybe in her 20's somewhere - with one feedback as a buyer.

She had a John Lennon Imagine Aussie SQ that she even ASKED in the ad what an SQ was - and wanted $200.

And, instead of a red-label Colgems pressing she had an original BLACK-label of the first Monkees album, in stereo and no it was not an RCA Victor pressing from some other country. OK rare enough to be sure. But not worth the $250 she wanted.

Hell, I have AMERICAN RCA Victor pressings of both the Mary Poppins soundtrack (normally Buena Vista) as well as the cast album to Stop the World I Want to Get Off (normally London). But even in mint condition they ain't worth much more than the $5-$10 of a normal pressing. Hell, even the mono DJ copies don't list in the book for more than twenty bucks in mint shape.

So being the Good Samaritan I was I wrote her back and politely told her she was off her rock with those prices.

She wrote back and spent a page and a half whining and crying about how many people - presumably guys - presumably somewhat more than a little rougher around the edges than me - had written her back in a CONSIDERABLY less-than-polite fashion telling her the same thing and her talking about how mean was eBay and bla-bla-bla.

I told her - these guys have been doing their research in individual items for probably longer than you've been alive - and asked her how much item research she'd done, i.e. what the last item sold for etc, presuming the answer would be zero.

A week later I get a thing in my inbox from eBay talking about this chick and telling me I'm ``abusing a potentially high-volume eBay future seller'' threatening me with all kinds of sanctions.

So, since, like any grown man I don't tolerate kids telling me what I can and cannot do, I get on the horn to eBay Trust and Safety administration in Colorado - no tolerating call-center operators and their hierarchy on this one - and tell them to go look at the kinds of emails this girl has sent out to other eBayers when they tried to educate her about her prices - cuz I got a cloned one intended for another member mistakenly sent to me that was even worse than the one I got from her myself.

So they looked at her own behavior, closed the case in my favor, and banned the girl for ``creating or contributing to a business-nonconducive environment'' on eBay. And now she's all over Facebook and Twitter spamming random people bitching about how mean is eBay and to never go there. Whatever, girl.

Or other people like Shuga Records.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TALKING-BOOK-mar...item519a2cc70e

Got some old 60's 16 RPM talking-book-for-the-blind flexidiscs, (free back in the day) in this case the monthly discography that comes out to blind people to tell them what new books have been recorded and added to the library. Fifty bucks they want for something almost nobody can play, and about which even fewer people care.

Or, looking at their Items for Sale - a royal-blue copy of DSOTM for $1200 bucks? Or an LP copy of the Springsteen Live box set for sixty bucks?

And they ain't the only one. Go look up the ``Top Hundred Most Expensive Records'' on eBay on any given day. You won't need coffee or Comedy Central to get you going in the morning.

I swear I wonder where are these people's heads at thinking they can get prices like that.

[Quad Linda]

There are other SACD's that were released in Stereo and later released in multichannel (or vice-versa):
Blow by Blow-Jeff Beck
Tapestry-Carole King
Kind of Blue-Miles Davis
Someday My Prince Will Come-Miles Davis CBS/Sony Japan is 2ch Analogue Productions is 3 ch multi
Seven Steps to Heaven-Miles Davis CBS/Sony Japan is 2ch Analogue Productions is 3 ch multi
Spirit and the Blues-Eric Bibb Opus 3 CD 19421 is multi, CD 19411 is 2ch
Good Stuff-Eric Bibb
Just Like Love-Eric Bibb
JT-James Taylor Columbia is multi, MoFi is 2ch
Flag-James Taylor Columbia is multi, MoFi is 2ch
Dad Loves His Work-James Taylor Columbia is multi, MoFi is 2ch
Let's Get it On-Marvin Gaye Motown is multi Mofi is 2ch

There are many titles that were released in both hybrid and single-layer
Most Miles Davis titles on Sony Japan were released as single and re-released as hybrid
Many 2ch single-layer SHM-SACD's were previouly released as hybrid, some were released as a multi hybrid, like Moody blues
Quincy Jones Ultimate Collection
Blood, Sweat & Tears (2) Columbia is single, Mofi is hybrid
Couldn't Stand the Weather-Stevie Ray Vaughan Columbia is single, Mofi is hybrid
Texas Flood-Stevie Ray Vaughan Columbia is single, Mofi is hybrid

I'm sure there are many others. These came to mind.

Caveat emptor!

Linda

One good one is a disc by McFly - Motion In The Ocean.
One seller on eBay STILL lists it as SACD when it is not.
It IS in a super jewel box case.
I bought one and returned it, called them and told them it was a standard
CD and it was never an SACD but they still list it to this day as SACD.

You also have to watch as there seem to be a few SACDs that came in two flavors.. stereo only and stereo/surround.
Bat Out Of Hell and Gloria Estefan's Greatest Hits comes to mind.
Billy Joel's Stranger (Japan press) is stereo only as well.
But you won't know unless you think to ask and it's a pain if you don't even KNOW there are two versions.
I think there are 3 Toto IVs... One single layer stereo SACD, One single layer Stereo/Multi and
one Hybrid Stereo / Multi (the one I have).
Peter Gabriel's are Single layer stereo or hybrid stereo.

Unfortunately, you never know which one you're getting a lot of the time.
And when all else really goes to hell... you get a plain old CD as I did twice on a Barry Manilow Christmas SACD and
Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual. (I do have the SACDs of both... really! )

[mch007]

I had hard luck in recent times. I bought 9 items within 2 weeks from gohastings & here is what I got

First I ordered 2 Elton John SACDs from gohastings.com, I got the correct items, for one of them super jewel case was damaged badly but my confidence grew on them.

Then this happened
Ordered 6 items from amazon marketplace

3 were correct items, 3 wrong. They promptly refunded cost+shipping when I wrote them & I did not have to return the items.

Also ordered one more from gohastings.com, wrong again. I have written them about it & waiting for reply.

So they got 4 out of 9 incorrect & my confidence went back to where it was before these transactions (i.e. low), but atleast they are not hard to deal with. I doubt I will order another in near future.

Funny thing is in their packing slip they have correct upc printed, but the item sitting pretty had completely different Upcs in those 4 cases. So I guess the packer does not really care about upc, just picked & packed one of the many available.

[Don C]

When listing music items for sale on ebay, the seller doesn't usually have to type any description. He just picks his item from a list, and ebay fills in the canned auction details. Problems often occur when a rare item shows up on ebay's seller selection list earlier than a common item. The seller can easily pick the first item on the list that has the same cover photo shown as he item he's listing, without noticing that if he scrolled further down the list, there is another selection that matches his item better. I've contacted ebay before asking if they would be kind enough to move the rare items to the bottom of the lists where they would be harder to select by mistake, they don't care enough to make the change.

[Time Lord]

I may well as add my grumble. I bought quite a few titles from CDWOW until late last year. They advertised Roger Waters In The Flesh Live SACD which I purchased, of course it arrived as the CD version only, I wrote back twice, received 1 unsatisfactory reply, the SACD ad was deleted and I have never shopped there again.

[Bob Squires Jr]

Or, looking at their Items for Sale - a royal-blue copy of DSOTM for $1200 bucks? Or an LP copy of the Springsteen Live box set for sixty bucks?

And they ain't the only one. Go look up the ``Top Hundred Most Expensive Records'' on eBay on any given day. You won't need coffee or Comedy Central to get you going in the morning.

I swear I wonder where are these people's heads at thinking they can get prices like that.

I have one word for you... (or 3, depends on how you look at it!) MyMusicFix!
We've all seen these people who, for some unknown reason, will take a disc that 3 others are selling brand new on eBay for $20.00
and they sell the same thing for $145.00 (an example).
I just saw a DTS CD of the Police - Every Breath. 4 sellers had it for less than $25.00.
They had it for $135.00!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wonder if they ever really sell anything?

-B

[cupboy]

I wonder if they ever really sell anything?

Well, they do... at least according to their feedback. I'd love to know who their buyers are. Could be it's all fake sales to business associates or money laundering.

[mch007]

Hmmm...seems the regular SACD version which is available for $13 or so New...Here you need to pay $80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dark-Side-Mo...item51810c5ef0

[Chris Gerhard]

Hmmm...seems the regular SACD version which is available for $13 or so New...Here you need to pay $80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dark-Side-Mo...item51810c5ef0

I have a backup of that one I purchased years ago but I don't think it is worth anything, especially now. Mymusicfix2 sells a lot of music items at crazy prices but it beats why anybody pays the price. If you look at feedback, you will see a lot of people do pay her outrageous prices. I sure wish I could sell those same discs at those prices, I would do the same thing. I don't think she will be able to get that price for that common SACD, but I have been wrong a lot of times when I see her list something.

[Bob Squires Jr]

If I sold my collection for what she sells her discs at...
I could pay off my house

[w.a.reid]

you in oz? if so - you know your recession was a burp to the rest of the world - over here - yep - id say there is a lot of weird crap going on - ebay is just an example - if you want SACD retaliation - if SACD - is in the title description - report them to ebay - using SACD to draw buyers attention is against the rules - i found that out when listing one of my qsd-1 machines - "sansui qsd-1 - best qs synth quad decoder made - better than the qrx9001 and the qsd1000" - thanks to one of the 2 people trying to sell their qrx9001 - i got reported for that - and had to relist - no big deal - just crybabies - and ruined my sunday at 7 pm ending time. so if youre not trying to earn a buck by selling something honestly - at least try to keep the other honest sellers from getting in on the gig - or just go cowboy and see how long it takes ebay to catch up with you....not long.

Today I received a "SACD" from America - Ozzy Live At Budokhan. Clearly advertised as a Super Audio CD. I checked the UPC code and it was the correct code for the SACD version. Tunred out it wasn't, just a standard CD, different UPC on the case.

Last week bought Cyndi Lauper She's So Unusual but asked before it was shipped - "oh no sorry it is just the standard version"

Last week I thought I had found BAT Out Of Hell, contacted ther seller, "oops not a SACD"

Yesterday saw a Peter Gabriel SACD sold, clearly SACD in the listing, way down the bottom a message "This is not the SACD version"

Have seen lots of others all claiming to be SACD, some then mention it isn't SACD in the listing "somewhere if you look" others only confirm after asking.

Are people just ignorant or are they purposely trying to pull a fast one or are the UPC codes incorrect in Ebay - or is it all three?

[w.a.reid]

[See Why Audio]

It's bad, I agree, that people try and get 'these prices' but speaking for you and many other people who get affected by it, it's WORSE to let it get to you.
Just move on.
Trust me on that one, you'll do yourself damage by caring abut these people and there are millions others out there who are normal.

[leevitalone1]

Hmmm...seems the regular SACD version which is available for $13 or so New...Here you need to pay $80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dark-Side-Mo...item51810c5ef0

a very wise man once made a truth filled statement regarding people, and although it's quoted, repeatedly and we have all heard it, it still applies to today! PT Barnum " There's a sucker born every day" Put the right "spin" ( it's out of print) and you will get suckers lining up, who are too lazy to check. If we too had no morals or were unethical, we would do this also.