Some days I hate eBay!

5 replies

 

So I recently tried to sell my Beogram 5005 on eBay. I had it listed with a buy it now price, and (stupidly) I allowed offers to be made also. This person comes along, and sends me multiple low ball offers like $100 below my asking price. In their offer, it constantly says how they can't afford the Beogram and then have to go buy a cartridge for it as well. Lucky for me, I had it set so that extreme low ball offers like that would just automatically decline, but they kept going till that auto decline limit was hit, making the lowest offer that eBay would send through to me.

I then noticed all the previous low ball offers (at least 5 of them), and made a reasonable counter offer. They declined and once again re sent the lowest offer that eBay would send through, saying that a new cart was expensive and that it was just too much for them. Not my problem, though trying to be the nice person, I informed them that Sound-Smith had the SMMC4 for $199 plus shipping. Cheaper than the $250 that they were previously complaining about. At that point, they decided to try and make another offer on it, the same price that I had previously counter offered with. However, eBay must have seen all this activity, and didn't allow the offer to go through.

So once again, I get a message from this person, asking why they can't make the previous counter offer. At this point, I was thoroughly annoyed with them, and just didn't respond. It's obvious they weren't worth my time.

A few days latter, they hopped on someone else account. Once again making the lowest offer that eBay would send to me. I knew it was the same person since when the offer comes in, eBay tells me the city that the item would be sent to, and it was the exact same place, just a different account.

I should have just declined. It would have been the right thing to do, but wanting to sell the Beogram, I decided to re make the previously agree'd upon counter offer. So I sent it, they accepted. I shipped out the Beogram...

I had this thing packed well. Platter removed, transport screws set, even the spindle was removed and the belt in a nice little bag. I put felt between the dust cover and the plinth so that it wouldn't rattle and leave marks. I had it in a nice protective liner, surrounded by air bags, and inside a Sterlite plastic container, surrounded by a cardboard box. The tone arm was even braced and surrounded with felt. I really couldn't have packaged it any better.

After a few days, they come back:

Feb 27
The buyer (avintagevision) created a return (5077918481)
Reason for return
Doesn't work or defective
Comments
Needle does not drop. Cannot be used.

I respond:
This is a common problem with shipping these units. I've tried to do everything I can to minimize shipping damage. Luckily this is easily fixable. 1st remove the platter, spindle, and belt. 2nd, turn table over and remove the two screws on the underside. 3rd, open up the table (move the tone arm carrier to the inmost part of the deck, and open the "hood". You'll see a long metal spring that goes from the front of the table to a white tube that runs along the tone arm. It's just jarred loose. I'll look up some pictures, and send them to you. It's a 3 minute fix.
I guess calling it a spring isn't technically correct... It's just a small metal rod with a two prong fork like end.
(I add this picture of my Beogram 9000 to help show what I think could be wrong with it)

They respond with:
Thank you for the detailed walkthrough. Unfortunately this did not solve the problem. There are other issues, the bracket is broken off and the spring has come loose and cannot be attached so the needle still does not drop. I have attached pictures.

I respond with:
I can't see any photos. Please send them again. Also, the item was in perfect working condition when I sent, that is also why I added the shipping insurance. I had to purchase two Beogram 9000's and do a ton of work to get just one of them into working condition. Maybe I can help walk you through a repair, if not, you'll have to collect the shipping insurance.

The respond with:
I attached the photos again. I have spent over 2 hours trying to repair it.. it does not work.

-----------------------------------
So yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get ripped off badly on this one. I'm sorry for the long rant, it's basically just me trying to blow off steam, but this one sucks.


TL;DR
Never sell anything on eBay to: avintagevision or carstensen100

Location: Minnesota, USA

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoplay-H95.png Beoplay-H95.png
Beomaster.png Beomaster.png

Oh, if you were curious about the pictures that they sent back to me of the issue... Here it is:

 

Location: Minnesota, USA

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoplay-H95.png Beoplay-H95.png
Beomaster.png Beomaster.png

Ebay used to be a good place to sell stuff, but with more and more people not paying after buying or complaining about "not new" items I try to avoid it the best I can. 

But it is still the biggest platform out there.

Feel sorry for you about the bad experience but on the other hand as a buyer I would not accept to work an a "working unit"... I bought a Beogram 7000 that arrived not working, sent it back and the seller "repaired" the item. We agreed on postage to send it back was on me. But this was within Germay, so postage was low...

I sold some Beograms the last years that arrived just fine (box in a box, plattter removed etc. etc.).
What I do is make a video of it running and take photos of the packing process so buyer (and insurance company!) can/could see it was handled with care.

In Germany you as the person that sent the item is responsible for insurance claims because you have a "contract" with courier....don't waste much time on this because it is not documented good enough and done in time it will be difficult.

Would the seller accept a price reduction? That is the way I'd go - to avoid all the hassle.
Second best - for me - would be to take it back and sell it as defect....
Sometimes it is better to accept little bad stuff happening than to keep on wasting time with it ;-) 

All the best for you - hopefully you will find a solution. 

Have a nice week-end!

Ralf

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beoplay-V1.png Beoplay-V1.png
Beoplay-H95.png Beoplay-H95.png
Beoplay-E8.png Beoplay-E8.png
Beoplay-A1.png Beoplay-A1.png
Living Room: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-2 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 8000 (Rears), Screen: Sony KD-85XH9096
Home Cinema: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-4 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 4000 (Rears). Projector: Sony VPL-HW55
Home Office: BeoVision 11-46, 4 x Beolab 3, BeoCenter 9300 (BLC 1611/ML/NL)
Bedroom: Sony KD-65XH9077, Beosound Essence MK II with Beolab 6002 and Beolab 11 (all white, wall-mounted)
Dart Room: BeoPlay V1-40 on floor stand
Guest Room: BeoVision 7-40 MK IV, Beolab 7-2, BeoSound Ouverture

Sorry to hear your sad ebay story. Hope it will have a good end.

As there are too many too bad people on ebay that don't care selling you broken items or scam you, you should have enough photos (especially of the serial number sticker and individual signs of usage) to identify YOUR unit. 

There are people who buy your product, claim that it's broken / defective and send you back their broken unit, not YOUR unit. That's the one they keep...
ebay doesn't care, Paypal neither... that's why Paypal is avoided, too, when I'm selling.

The people doing bad practices on e-bay should immediately be "punished" with a bad rating. As such their percentage drops and is a sign for future buyers and sellers. Good luck with your case, but it surely doesn't sound good...

or
BeoWorld Gold Membership card
Join BeoWorld

Register to access the forums, reference material, and exclusive member benefits — including our monthly prize draw.

Become a Member

December 2026 Prize Draw

Gold Members Only

As a Gold member you're automatically entered into our exclusive prize draw — your chance to win iconic Bang & Olufsen products. A unique benefit of BeoWorld Gold membership, every draw brings a new opportunity to win something special.