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Sellers and "Ambiguity" or "Integrity" of "item as described" descriptions on eBay

Hello all:

I posted this on a thread about speakers and fraud and eBay, but I thought it might merit its own topic:

I have a situation at the moment where I bought a subwoofer on ebay. The seller described that the subwoofer was "In perfect working condition and sounds great. It has some cosmetic wear" but neglected to mention that it was missing a cable that is not an off-the-shelf item, is unique to the system and without which the subwoofer - by the manufacturer’s own statement, does not perform "In perfect working condition". The manufacturer no longer makes the sub or the cable.

It also had a small tear in the surround, which I was not as concerned about, as I am able to repair it, but the fact of the matter is that tear was not mentioned in the listing and only shows up in his photo if you blow it up 200% and then only if you know to look for it. There is an anomaly in the image that is near the tear in the surround that suggests that someone was trying to retouch it out but did not know what they were doing and not only did a sloppy job, but missed the spot.

I am disputing the transaction. Would you consider the description fraudulent? If so, to what degree? Or am I to blame for not reading the fine print? Thank you to all beforehand for your responses.

So far, I’ve gotten one response: from mr_m273 posts05-20-2017 2:12pm
Yes. I would think so. Just for the missing cable alone. I’m quite sure this guy knew that sub needed the cable in question.
128x128unreceivedogma
sisyphus51's avatar
sisyphus51
121 posts
 
I agree 'dogma. They should give you a RMA and refund. Then you could purchase a 'complete' kit. :-)
tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
I don’t buy/bid-on an item unless there are detailed photos showing all angles, and don’t assume any accessories come with it unless explicitly stated or shown in the photos. 

Unfortunately there are many listings, both here and on eBay, with profoundly bad photos.  I’m not sure how someone expects to sell a pair of speakers when there’s only one small photo, taken from far away, in poor lighting with the grill still attached (which, while as extreme example, is something I’ve seen). 

If if you’re asking someone to part with their money you should be willing to post photos showing all angles/sides of a product, and in the case of speakers and subwoofers remove the grills and show closeups of the drivers/surrounds. 
gdnrbob
4,408 posts
 
Like the OP, I too got tricked by an Ebay seller. Yes, the photo showed the damage, but it was not a clear photo, and it wasn't pointed out in the listing. The seller was a total a**hole, saying I didn't do my due diligence.
True, perhaps.
But whenever I sell an item, I make sure to detail as much of the dings and negatives as possible.
I wish the OP would let us know how things shook out.
Bob
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Ebay is the home of pure garbage i would buy nothing or trust no one on ebay.Good luck though!!
unreceivedogma's avatar
unreceivedogma OP
887 posts
 
Wow, this is an old thread from 7 to 12 months ago, suddenly getting picked up again.

I never paid for the item as I had bought it with Paypal credit and then withheld payment. I canceled my Paypal credit account and sent them a cease and desist letter.

I will try to provide more details later, but the short story is that the seller - from Colorado, he sells audio and golf clubs, go figure - said the item worked perfectly in 4 places in a 1,000+ word ad, he supplied links to positive reviews which was more reading, and buried in small print toward the end of the ad were the words “driver and servo only” which I didn’t even see until after I discovered on my own that the reason it may not be “performing perfectly” was that it needed a non-stock cord that he failed to provide, when I asked him if he forgot to pack it he said it didn’t need it but it most definitely did need it, and without it he could not claim that the unit “worked perfectly” because you would not even know if the servo was controlling the woofer. The guy lied and doubled down on the lie. And Ebay and Paypal took his side.

Paypal paid for the item, I plan to ship it to them since they now own it.

I bought another one from somebody closer to home. He lives in Baltimore (he designs cables for the Pentagon and says “don’t spend a lot of money on audio cable”, lol). It does “work perfectly”.
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