OMG - he's at it again!

[BGary335]

Neew here, just thoughtI'd add my 2 cents since I recently had an encounter with this creep. I bid on an A500 he was selling. At the time I bid it was selling for approximatly $25-not too bad. However, shortly after, I found another 500 selling for slightly less. Not only that, but it also looked like it was in better shape than the one RetroGeek was selling, and it also came with several accesories that his did not. Well, needless to say, I bid on it, and so needed to cancel my bid on the RetroGeek 500. It took an entire day of going back and forth with him via e-mail to get my bid canceled. Finally, with less than 30 minutes remaining on the auciton, he canceled my bid. Probably because I warned him that if he sold it to me he was going to get 0, whereas he could at least get something out of it from the runner up.

[BGary335]

I'm not complaining that he let me off the hook-I'm complaining about the shady way he did it.

BTW, given this guy's knack for selling crappy stuff, how could you possibly blame me for wanting out?

[BGary335]

You know what, I was just looking through my messages to Retrogeek, and I rembered that I didn't want out just to bid on another 500. I wanted out because I found out after placing my bid that he doesn't accept Paypal! I had no money outside of my Paypal account, and I told him that I wouldn't be able to pay if I won the auction. His response? Paypal sucks! Of course, I tried to explain to him the convienence of Paypal (especially for someone whose operating a storefront), but I'm sure it probably fell on deaf ears. Was I still at fault? Probably. I assumed that since he was operating a store he would take Paypal, which most do. But in my opinion he's at fault too because he asked for cash payment, and I think everyone knows that sending cash in the mail is not exactly the safest method there is.

[BGary335]

He sent me ane-mail the other day regarding that A500 I almost bought from him. Oh by the way, the A500 he sold went for something like $75, maybe even more than that, and it was not in great shape. I saw several others in much better shape. anyway, back to the e-mail, he got very vulgar with me also, so no surprise there.

By the way, maybe it's just me, but I consider some yellowing normal for computers that in many cases are 20+ YEARS OLD!

[BGary335]

Anyone notice this? Is it really possible that this system is as rare as he claims it to be?

[BGary335]

I kind of had a feeling he was probably up to his usual tactics of making something out to be more than it really is.

[BGary335]

All I know is I feel sorry for the poor guy who falls for all the hype he's made over this supposedly rare 500 he's trying to sell. For the record, I was looking through my A500 manual, and it actually makes mention of the Commodore key. It just says that it is functionally the same as the Amiga key found on the majority of 500's. It doesn't mention any particular reason why some have Commodore key's, and it doesn't say that it makes those 500's any more special than the rest.

As for the Commodore emblem, the 500 I just bought has something I've never seen before-it doesn't even have the Commodore emblem! Instead, it has the words Commodre A-500. Wonder if I could make a hundred bucks by hyping it up on Ebay? :-D  :roll:

[BGary335]

Its not a real store front. Search Ebay stores-he won't come up, because he's not an Ebay store. He just dresses his auction pages up to look like store fronts.

[BGary335]

I absolutley agree with you 100%. I've personally complained to him about his non-acceptance of Paypal. Know what he told me? Paypal SUCKS! That is exactly what he told me. I tried to explain to him the convienence of Paypal (especially when your trying to run a store front), but I'm sure it all fell on deaf ears. That's one reason his so-called storefront is anyting but. Anyone really trying to run a succesful store front would accept any method of payment without thinking twice. Very rarely do you find regular Ebay sellers that don't accept Paypal nowadays, so you know your dealing with a schister (sp?) when your dealing with a store front that doesn't accept Paypal.

[BGary335]

After the attitude I've gotten from him, I think his feedback ought to be lower. I think that whole story is bunk to be quite honest. You can't stop a Paypal payment. Only a person who doesn't know better would believe that you can. If RetroGeek had any brains, he'd deposit the money order and make sure it clears BEFORE sending the item. Maybe I'm the one without brains, but that just seems to me to be the common sense way to do business on Ebay. If he's getting beat up, its because he's kicking himself in the butt by not operating the way he should.

[BGary335]

Paypal will refund your money in such situations. Just one of many reasons why it does not suck.

[BGary335]

The problem though is that no matter how fast you want it to be shipped, you can never guarantee that the seller is going to ship it out as quick as he says it is. In this case, Retrogeek sits on his business for that length of time. That's why it takes that long. If he were to move his packages out same day ornext day like most sellers do, it would take a wekk tops, not this 2-8 weeks crap.

As for Paypal, you were just unlucky. If you can furnish proof to Paypal thata sale was made, they will go after the buyer, and ifneed be shut his account down. apparently I'm not the one who lacks experience with Paypal (whoever said that).

[BGary335]

That's your fault then, is it not? If you would've shipped it when you were supposed to, you wouldn't have had a problem.

Money orders are the worst way to pay in my opinion. I like Paypal the best because of its convienence. I buy alot of Buy It Now stuff, and you can't do that without Paypal. And as a seller I would very much prefer Paypal over any other payment method. Using Paypal for selling actually helps me to avoid being taken. When people pay with Paypal, they usually do so instantly. If a few days go by and I haven't been paid, I know I won't be getting paid, and I can take the proper course of action right then and there.

And I beg to differ about Paypal not being able to go into your bank account. They've already done it to me several times. If you use a bank accouunt with Paypal, they WILL take money from it when you owe them.

[BGary335]

No, but it doesn't entitle you to any protection either.

And it its extremely legal for Paypal to take money from your account. In essence, when you add a bank account to your Paypal account, it's collatoral. By doing this, you guarantee that even if Paypal has to go into your bank acoount all of your buying and selling expenses will be paid. It's Paypal and Ebay's way of knwoing that if you happen to owe money and have none in your Paypal account, they will still get what they are owed because they can remove it irectly from your bank account. It's as legal as a loan company needing collateral for a home or car loan. In essence it works exactly the same way.

[BGary335]

There's no strict regulations like that. If you default on a loan payment, they can take whatever thay have to pay your obligation. It pretty much works that way with Paypal. Say the end of the month comes and Ebay sends you an invoice for yourmonthly sellers fee's. If they go to take it out of your Paypal account, but the money isn't there, they can then take it out of the bank account you've associated with it. Believe me, they've done it to me a couple of times.