A Dim View

I checked my email this morning like I do several times a day looking for a reply from a seller on Ebay. I've been expecting a reply to a claim I made on a seller that substituted an item I purchased with an item of far less value. I've had really good luck with Ebay in the past. I've always had good experiences with buyers and sellers equally, and have made decent money on old things I didn't want anymore. I've also been diversifying my investments lately and been messing around with scarce coins again.



Now, before I explain, you must understand at first that I've collected most everything that could have been collected at one point or another in my life. I've been a philatelist, numismatist, & bibliophile. I've also got a rather sizeable collection of comics and a smaller assortment of old baseball cards. One thing I haven't collected that apparently is common enough to have an official name is sugar packets (sucrologist), and yes, you read that correctly. Bizarre.



I've always had very diverse interests and any one thing (Jeep, guns, whatever) usually doesn't keep me occupied for more than a few months at a time. This is a good thing because if I lose interest, I've always got a choice of other interests or hobbies to fall back on. It also allows me to learn alot about a ton of different things, and this can be nothing but good in my book.

So, rewind a bit. About a month or so ago, I found a coin on Ebay that was a very good deal (so I thought) and put in a bid for it. From the picture and description, I ascertained that it was worth $75 to $100. It was safe to bid $50 in hopes of maybe getting lucky on the 'good deal'. Well, I actually won the bid. Great. I waited two weeks and didn't see a coin (after I paid via Paypal) so I emailed the seller. "Oh, I'm sorry, I overlooked it. It will leave tomorrow and I'll get you a tracking number. Sorry again. "..


Huh? Two weeks later? Anyway, at least she was kind enough to reply. Fine. I never got the promised tracking number in an email, but the coin arrived a couple days later and more than three weeks after the auction ended. That's when I opened what was supposed to be a Morgan Silver Dollar from 1897, minted in San Francisco, in Mint State condition. Well, not so much.



I opened the small package to find a loosely packed, well-circulated brownish Morgan Silver Dollar that was obviously not my coin. It was from 1897, but wasn't an S mint mark. It was a much more common coin minted in Philadelphia. It also was in far worse condition than the picture of the coin I was hoping to get. The thing was worth about twenty bucks. Bottom dollar for any Morgan, really, since they're usually worth that in their weight in silver.

I started the process of getting my money back by emailing the seller. Nothing for three days. I got on Paypal and filed a grievance. For some reason, Paypal advertises 'Buyer Protection' all the time, but in this instance, I was told that they couldn't reach the Paypal customer and that I was basically out of luck. Awesome. I had almost given up and chalked it up as my first bad Ebay experience- until this morning.



I got into my mail box and noticed a different message from Ebay. I opened it to find that they had seen that I recently filed a complaint. Yes. Bad seller. The note went on to explain that it was actually a $100 voucher good for any one-time purchase of ANYTHING on Ebay. Huh? I'd never heard of them doing such a thing. I had developed a negative opinion of Ebay in the past, only because of their CEO banning anything related to guns (listings they catch) being eligible for sale on the site. I don't like any CEO of any company trying to enforce their own morals on the masses. WalMart not selling CDs with graphic lyrics, Ebay banning gun-related items, this kind of stuff. They are publicly owned and should act that way. Well, unfortunately, I have to use Ebay because it is easily the most effective forum on which to peddle my wares and garner fair market value for them. I can buy and sell my guns on Gunbroker.com, so it's not a major problem.

I was pretty pleased with Ebay's action to make things right with this $100 voucher, and was very pleasantly surprised. I got onto my Paypal account just to look around, and lo and behold, there was a full refund from the seller of the original problem coin. Huh? Wow. Not only did the seller refund my money, but now I have an extra $100 to spend on Ebay. Needless to say, my view of Ebay is somewhat brighter now. I still hate Wal Mart, though.
CZ