cudak888 

That's a good question: What is the seller hoping to achieve? He's arguing that Olmos are undervalued. Ok, fair enough.

But the next part that doesn't make any sense at all: He's arguing that if he putts a sky-high price on it, he'll get a whole bunch of lowballs. That doesn't prove a thing.

If anything, it makes it easy for him to entrap someone into making an offer, so he can attempt to force a sale.

Granted, someone would have to be pretty stupid to fall for it, but the seller is outright daring/challenging other eBay users to his game.

-Kurt

conspiratemus1

Full marks for a great portmanteau word, certainly one for the times.
And bonus points for slipping it into the sentence without feeling the need to put quotation marks around it.

The Golden Boy 

That guy was a nutball of the highest order.

It's funny how the stuff that I have, is selling for next to nothing on ebay- less than half of what I paid for it over the years... But the stuff I want is scarce or crazy expensive on ebay...

I've had a couple of kooky buying experiences... one was some sunglasses- they were advertised as new old stock, with a new case, new cleaning cloth- they looked swell in the pictures. First of all, after I hadn't gotten anything after the first week or 2, I messaged the seller- who said they were on vacation... When I finally got them- there was no case, a dirty used cleaning cloth with an ink stain on it, small chips on the lenses and the logo had mostly rubbed off one of the arms- clearly used. Additionally- they were wrapped in a reused plastic bag- no case, no padding... I mean, no box- just a reused shipping bag you'd get clothes in from the Gap, scotch taped shut. A pair of 30 year old sunglasses wrapped up and shipped in a plastic bag. So I messaged the seller, no response. So I put in a claim. Nothing happened, the seller didn't respond. After a month or so I hear from ebay- they refunded my money- the claims guy from ebay told me the seller didn't respond to them and to keep the glasses and the money. I felt bad, so I messaged the guy and told him I'd either send the glasses back or send him a fair amount- his response was "whatever you have to do to get this over with." That felt like a really ****ty reply so I dropped it, but felt like saying "it IS over with, I got the money and the glasses, I realize you're getting ****ed, but I'm offering you your stuff back or a fair price for your used stuff that you tried to **** me over on." And for whatever it's worth, the arms on the glasses broke within a few years- those things were abused before he sold them as "new."

There was another seller that I bought a seat post from- it looked great in the pix, and when I got it, there were ZZZZs in the area that wasn't in the pix... The seller seemed horrified and embarrassed- and refunded me full price and told me to keep the seatpost- I felt bad, so I sent him half back and we were cool.

plonz 

You nailed it. Thinking there is some sort of phenomenon at play...

Mackers

Yeah. these are quite plentiful on Aliexpress, except over there they are careful not to mention Shimano at all, just that they're SPD-SL compatible.
The Ebay guy however does mention Shimano in the description, so I imagine he's open to all sorts of "Item not as described" shenanigans.

cudak888 

I bought a chain tensioner that looked identical to a Sturmey-Archer unit on Amazon. Same P/N, seller listed the same brand name as their business - CyclingDeal.

When it arrived, it was the genuine article. Seller had Photoshopped out the SA logo.

I'll bet that the buyer of these pedals will get Shimano Ultegra-marked items. Perhaps in a baggie instead of retail packaging, but genuine Ultegra pedals just the same.

-Kurt

Mackers

Yeah, except the real Shimano 8000 is a different model than the one on Ebay.

If the Ebay version were the real deal it'd be the 6800....

Fahrenheit531 

The word actually appeared in a Bloom County comic in the mid-80s, probably spoken by Opus. A fine word that has existed for me ever since, but Berkeley Breathed gets credit for its creation.

sdn40

I came away with the opposite feeling.
He is fully admitting that the stove is hot - and not to touch it. So unless a 5 year old has an ebay account, his pitiful attempt at reverse psychology will fail

cudak888 

I stand corrected. I found a similar pedal to those on eBay. Chinese or Taiwanese Shimano clone: https://www.daraz.lk/products/quanbu...107206254.html

If it wasn't for the fact that I have zero use for SPD pedals, I'd buy a set just to find out what the seller is palming off as Ultegras.

Fair point. Either way, he's basically screwing his own sale.

-Kurt

Mad Honk 

So Randy,
I bought a gemstome a few weeks ago thinking it would make a nice gift for the War Department after being set. It was supposed to be a garnet of a specific cutting. Garnets can be scratched but rarely damaged through impact. The stone came in with spider cracks on the face, I asked to return it, I got a response of a $2 credit to keep it. No way was I going to keep a piece of glass being passed off as a Garnet. I filed a claim with e-bay and two weeks go by and e-bay settles with me, to pay my claim. Then a week goes by and I get a note about how I did not return the stone, and how I should give a five star rating for the seller's service. Once again a bad seller and another scammer. Makes me want to wonder about the legit folks who sell out there, but most are good folks trying to move stuff along. The Bad apples are no fun but won't keep me from looking at what is out there. Smiles, MH

conspiratemus1

How would this constitute entrapment? If the seller accepted an offer, the offerer would be obligated to follow through to a sale, even if the offerer claimed to have been “only joking.” That’s the same as any other offer to buy. Nothing illegal (which entrapment is) about that. Best to sit on your hands and not scratch your nose during an auction. Giving the finger to the auctioneer could be construed as a binding bid.

cudak888 

As I said - "Someone would have to be pretty stupid to fall for it, but the seller is outright daring/challenging other eBay users to his game."

If anything, it's a really lousy adaptation of aggressive salesmanship that might work in person, but doesn't translate to eBay.

-Kurt

conspiratemus1

“Plastics!”

Or, ... to make money, you have to buy what other people want. Not what you want (or did at one time.). This is a corollary of “Buy low, sell high”, and just as difficult to do consistently. Fortunately for the rest of us, (who are better off just being somebody else’s payroll problem,) Americans are still better at creating wealth by doing this than anyone else. So there is hope for the world yet.

unterhausen

I sell stuff on ebay for a while and then the experience disgusts me too much and I don't list anything for a longer while. I don't understand the listing of this olmo, I sincerely doubt anyone is going to guess how much he wants for it.

My point being there is no reason to bother listing it. Hang it on the wall and look at the rust spots

cudak888 

Take a look at his other listings. He's another wacky flipper overpricing and overselling his wares - only on eBay instead of Craigslist or OfferUp, where we usually expect these characters.

-Kurt

The_Joe

He's not too kind in his listing for this Vitus frame either. The pandemic must really be getting to some people.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114391022312

randyjawa 

I don't know about most of the situations that other BF members experience during this pandemic. My situation is near complete isolation, at my summer cottage on the shore of Loon Lake, Northwestern Ontario, Canada. For months, now, it has been my wife and me (not an issue, we care deeply for each other, and have done so for over fifty years) but I miss the old days...

Days of visiting with friends in the city once or twice a week.

Days of going to weekend yard sales, hunting for something cool.

Days of simply being social.

Bike Forums offers me a place to be social. To talk bikes and view bikes and learn/teach about bikes. The BF site, and you guys and gals, offer me the next best thing to being social at the moment, and I do enjoy the social situation that this site offers. Many of you, or perhaps a few of you, have become personal friends. That is a great social experience/result in my opinion.

I have been trying to present interesting/teaching threads for those who want to learn. I have been trying to initiate threads that entertain, hence my what I found at the dump thread. Or threads that produce debate and make no mistake about it, any BF thread that creates debate (not conflict) is welcomed by many BF members. Hence this thread.

This thread is a waste of time - perhaps. But quite a few people have managed to share the experience and two pages of responses suggests, to me, that I have offered others, perhaps in isolation like me, a chance to be social.

jamesdak 

Life needs more Bloom County nowdays!

jamesdak 

Well....at 5 AM as I sip my first cup of coffee I found it pretty entertaining. Especially those getting offended at others getting offended at the seller. Good stuff!!

iab

This thread has been you complaining about someone else's complaining. You are the same as the ebay seller. Wishing someone acts in the manner you want them to is exactly the same as pounding sand. It is not a learning moment, it is a lesson that should have been learned long ago.

But by all means, cayrryon.

jamesdak 

See, this is why this is such a fun read. People complaining about people complaining. Just so funny this early in the morning. :-)

tkamd73 

Yup, and maybe some of the Far Side, and definitely more Calvin and Hobbs.
Tim

1987

Short URL
https://www.ebay.com/itm/114391229242

@randyjawa
You can contact sellers that has blocked questions! Go to the sellers page and remove the "?_trksid=p..." int the URL, then click Contact.
Or just go here, with my cleaned URL:
https://www.ebay.com/usr/vernbren

Cougrrcj

I tried to correct the poster of a Miyata 112 on the local Craigslist. "Quality top-line components Asking $800!!! "

I pointed out that the 112 was one of Miyata's entry-level bikes and got the "I know what I have!" and "You're just trying to J** (Ethnic slur for 'talk'/lowball) me down in price!" Slam! (abrupt hang-up)

Whatever....

Still listed the same a month later...


.