[Gojira]

Caveat Emptor folks. Be careful. I just attempted to purchase an older Sony PCDP from a seller with around 400 positive feedbacks and 10 negatives. I guess I wasn't cautious enough and didn't notice the negatives. Remember that a rare/desirable item is only good if it's real. There are a lot of slimy people on these sites.

Luckily this time I'm only out of $42, perhaps a small price to pay to learn a lesson. This was my very first half.com transaction and it strikes me as even more of a risky site than Ebay itself. It's almost impossible to get any personal info whatsoever on the seller. Their identity is well shielded by half.com. I won't be buying from half.com again without http://www.escrow.com, and even then only from a seller with no negatives ever and only on an extremely rare item.

Interestingly enough, I was ripped off on my very first Ebay transaction some years ago as well (but for a lot more money). Pretty weird.

[BTW, what I actually received in the mail from the seller was pretty disgusting.]

Edit: ok, I think "disgusting" was a poor choice of words. I've probably got you guys thinking he sent me animal remains or something. He did send me a PCDP, but it was some, extremely thrashed, el-cheapo model with *extreme* smoke damage (the open box reeks from 10 feet away). I think it's been through some kind of fire. I was shocked that anyone would send something like that. It's like a stink bomb through the mail

. I have to wash my hands every time I touch it because they stink of smoke afterwards. Yikes.

Note: we have now had some rather nasty email exchanges and, in one, he intentionally sent me an attached virus! But it looks like he actually *may* be willing to take it back now. I will have to see what happens.

 

[scottpaul_iu]

That sucks. What did you get from the seller?

 

[Watchdog]

Sounds like you received something in the mail, can you elaborate?

Sorry to hear you got ripped off. It's amazing how many people have been ripped off buying and selling over the Internet.

 

[Kermy]

How'd you pay? If you paid by credit card, call your credit card company.

 

[PeterR]

Sorry to hear that. So what did the seller's description of the PCDP sound like?
I've never been really screwed, knock on wood. Got one Sony with 'some wear' however, that was more like thoroughly roughed up. Scratched all over, barely any paint left in some places, dent in the lid, rusty screws... Still played perfectly, though. Reminded me of those old Nikon ads ("3x Kenia, 6x Kambodia, 4x Beirut, 0x repaired" or something to that effect).

 

[sacriste]

Any kind of fever is a possible victim. This people KNOWS there's a desperate market for old pdcps out there (thanks, Duncan), so we head-fiers must be very careful. I was ripped off two month ago on ebay, I know how are you feeling now. Just buy anything head-fic to forget...

 

[KR...]

Go here for help, Half.com will give you your money back if this jackass doesn't! Tell them what's going on!

http://half.ebay.com/help/index.cfm?...buyerorderprob

 

[Gojira]

@PeterR:
The seller described it as being in "very good" condition. But the huge discrepancy in condition wasn't really the problem per se. He sent me a totally different model discman from the classic one that i ordered. The fact that it was in that kind of condition was really just secondary. The thing smells pretty bad though. I never thought to ask sellers if the player has an odor. I would assume that they would consider it a pretty strange question.

 

[terrymx]

ofcourse, dont buy there

 

[waffenschmidt]

Not to minimize your plight, but I've always figured there is a certain amount of unavoidable risk with eBay or Half.com, but it comes with the territory. I figure I've gotten enough good deals off those two sites that if (when) I end up getting the shaft someday I'll still come out ahead.

Again, I realize this doesn't help you, and I'm sure I'll be upset when my day comes. I just don't think the answer is to stop doing business on these sites.

Good luck getting your money back.