@terminills

This man's experiences should be taken note of. Still doesn't cover the criminal actions we are discussing here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvYsw8f77RY

It seemz like it would be a good idea for each of us to create our own "watermarks", some symbol or initials orbword to scratch into the pcb, case interior, etc which cannot be erased.

Then, if a formal investigation does ever happen, then you have photo proof you had those items before, and now thr buyer does, or your buyers buyers have those items, etc.

Maybe ne3d to do before and after photos to show the watermark is yours, not standard on that product, or video of youbapplying the watermark... How deep does the paranoia hile need to go?

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All glory to the Hypnotoad!

@terminills

Thanks for those.

The similarity of that first one and my case is striking. I have reported to eBay that even though this buyer claimed the A4000 was packaged up ready to be returned, he was at the same time making a buy-it-now purchase for a Zorro II SCSI hard disk controller... Hmm.

Encouraging that it had a happy outcome for the seller. So eBay do get it right sometimes.

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Matt

@g01df1sh

Quote:

g01df1sh wrote: @mattk What a complete arse. if he is an Amiga lover I hope he goes the way of commodore very soon. He is not a true Amigan by doing this to you. I Hope you get it all sorted.

I do not think this guy is an Amiga lover... it is just a professional burglar who steal items under commissions by someone else, who are the same that grant him the good feedbacks.

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"When the Amiga came out, everyone [at Apple] was scared as hell." (J.L. Gassée, former CEO of Apple France and chief of devs of Mac II-fx, interviewed by Amazing Computing, Nov 1996).

I know I am not going to be liked for saying this but I simply wouldn't have accepted this back. On any of my listings I write "I am a private seller, not a shop so no warranty, refunds or returns is offered or accepted". I add, when selling retro gear "this stuff is old, it works now but I am not liable if it arrives not working" or similar.

You should mark returns as "not accepted" on the ebay listing too. I mention on my listings to check my positive buying and selling feedback for reassurance.

I had one guy leave me good feedback many years ago for a ham radio transceiver. He then said it had a major fault. He reported me to eBay, but I won the case saying it arrived ok and he subsequently got bad feedback for trying it on with another seller.

You just need to be accurate in your listing and be firm but fair.

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Amiga A1200, 3.1 ROMs, Blizzard 1230 MKIV 64MB & FPU, 4GB DoM SSD, Workbench 3.1

@A1200

+1, I always state the same when selling any retro gear. No returns period. Sure it might stop some people bidding on the item and ultimately getting a lower price BUT it's just not worth the headaches for me.

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c64-2sids, A1000, A1200T-060@50(finally working!),A4000-CSMKIII
! My Master Miggies- Amiga 1000 & AmigaOne X1000 !
mancave-ramblings
X1000 I BELIEVE

@A1200
That doesn't prevent it completely though. If they make an "Item not as decribed" complaint (saying you described the item as working and/or it has faults you didn't describe) egay will still give reason to the buyer, just look at ebay related forums and specialty forums (HiFi etc.) and you'll find many cases.
There is also another situation that can occur that's almost impossible to prove, which is when the buyer already has another identical machine that's not working, I think nor further explanation needed.
ebay currently is a burglars paradise, all types of them, from vulgar ones to higher grade big volume illegal stuff being sold across the world. Heck I've seen fake Gibson Les Pauls from China being sold:)

Last edited by Jose on 16-Feb-2017 at 07:00 PM.

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José

@A1200

I did indeed consider that at the time, the advert was indeed marked as 'No returns accepted", but don't believe the outcome would have been any different. Remember this is a guy who started a return request without ever intending to return the item in question.

As Jose says, the no return thing doesn't apply because the buyer claimed the computer was a) not as described and b) faulty. It is not easy to argue neither of those is the case to an eBay layman. Particularly the latter without the item in hand. So eBay was always going to side with the buyer and insist I accept a return. The choice I would have then would be to either accept the return or lose both the computer and the money.

I reasoned that at least by voluntarily accepting the return it showed goodwill on my behalf; which might act in my favour later on. [shrug]

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Matt

@mattk

good point and hopefully eBay will see that fools at fault sooner rather than later

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c64-2sids, A1000, A1200T-060@50(finally working!),A4000-CSMKIII
! My Master Miggies- Amiga 1000 & AmigaOne X1000 !
mancave-ramblings
X1000 I BELIEVE

I feel for you. I made this account purely to show some support.

There is a Mark Steel living on Isle of Man. He is on Facebook and is a member of the Commodore Amiga group. He has some very recent A4000 video posts there. He has used the nickname steelmm on twitter for quite some time. A quick Whois search gives a full address and phone number, this matches your shipping address.
May not be your Mark Steel, but my spidey senses are tingling.

Your eBay buyer has purchased from two known Amiga eBay dealers. PaulWillingham4d79 and Amigaone_Haven. I would reach out to them and ask to compare records.
I would also contact the Isle of Man police service. Chances are your A4000 is still on the island.

Last edited by TargExplorer on 17-Feb-2017 at 12:35 AM.
Last edited by TargExplorer on 17-Feb-2017 at 12:24 AM.
Last edited by TargExplorer on 17-Feb-2017 at 12:23 AM.

@TargExplorer

I could be wrong (please don't get me wrong, what you did is a GREAT gesture with crucial information), but I think it would be better if that information was given to Matt directly, not through a public forum. There is a chance the buyer could see this thread and take measures to avoid being caught.
I suggest you delete the post as soon as possible and send a private message to Matt directly or the buyer will try to hide his stuff as much as he can.

Last edited by Jose on 17-Feb-2017 at 01:17 AM.

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José

@TargExplorer

well done and what a first post!..welcome aboard

@ all

anyone here on that facebook group that can call that fool out for us ?? he's busted

Last edited by klx300r on 17-Feb-2017 at 02:02 AM.

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c64-2sids, A1000, A1200T-060@50(finally working!),A4000-CSMKIII
! My Master Miggies- Amiga 1000 & AmigaOne X1000 !
mancave-ramblings
X1000 I BELIEVE

@mattk

Desperately sorry for you mattk. That was a nasty and rather hurtful surprise.

I very much do hope your A4000 is alive and kicking. I know how it feels. A part of you has died.

Wishing you the best, hope something can be recovered from this situation.

I like billt's idea of the "watermarking" or "stamping". Would be wonderful to have personalised Amiga stamps or stickers that can be stuck somewhere to identify the authenticity of the previous owner.

Q!

"i am home"

Last edited by QuBe on 17-Feb-2017 at 04:55 AM.

Yes you have to be careful with selling stuff on eBay because PayPal will normally side with the buyer and get you to refund the money if there is any dispute raised.

You can mark your eBay ads as 'no returns accepted' which is better than nothing.

AmiBay is probably a much safer place to sell old Amiga hardware.

Last edited by NovaCoder on 17-Feb-2017 at 06:02 AM.

I would've just told the buyer to fuck the hell off. Simple.

@Thorham

Emotions for the Amiga run deep... it becomes part of your life, your hopes and dreams, your happiness.

When the machine dies apart of you dies. It can be a great loss associated with deep grief or panic.

It must have been devastating to receive a box of mangled stuff like that. The initial shock must have been enormous.

Initially it may have looked like the A4000 was sent back as a wreck... gut wrenching...

Q!

"i am home"

@QuBe

It's not about the Amiga, it's about some bullshitter trying to scam you. If you send something over that works, then you've done your part. That's all there's to it.

@mattk

You should report this.

Thanks for posting and letting others know.

@TargExplorer

Oh wow, that information is VERY helpful! Thank you so much for going to the trouble to create an account to say this!

It simply has to be the same guy. All ties up. At one point he told me he was an IT professional, doing something with servers I believe. I don't use Facebook so cannot check that. But I am now tempted to follow your example and create an account just to see what he has been posting. In particular the timing of those posts, cross-checked against the things he was telling me.

The twitter account has a photo of the guy to put to the name.

Thanks again.

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Matt

@mattk

Most definitely the same guy I'd say. He's posted a few videos very recently in the Commodore Amiga group after doing a quick search there.

Sorry you've had to go through all of this

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A1200T - OS4.0,OS3.9: 603e PPC 200mhz,060 50mhz, 256mb ram, FastATA MK-III, BVision, 160gb,20gb HDDs

A1200 - OS3.1: Blizzard IV 030, 64mb ram, 400mb HDD

OS4.x - Flying the AMIGA flag