Topic: 19thC Green Glass Torpedo Paperweight

[gkep]

Hello I'm George a newcomer to Paperweights, I've joined your forum hoping you can offer some advice please.

I purchased this paperweight on eBay which the seller described as having "Some roughness to the centre of the body". The sellers original images did not show any of this roughness in detail. The marks go all the way round the middle surface of the weight.

To me these deep surface scratches and marks are more than just "Some roughness" to me the paperweight is seriously damaged, am I correct in this opinion?

I welcome your comments thanks in advance.

[Nick77]

Hi George

I guess it's a matter of opinion as to what some roughness means,  I'd say it's had a pretty hard life but I don't see any serious chips or bruises so it could be professionally repolished for maybe £40-£50. Have you contacted the seller about it?

Nick

[pooleandpaperweights]

Thing is, polished up, it's only worth £40 to £50 max. They aren't unusual, so I would ask to return and find one in good condition.

By the way, its a Victorian Dump paperweight by name, not a torpedo!

[bfg]

if you're not happy with the purchase the best thing to do is go through ebay and start an 'item not as described' case.

This gives you 8 days to sort it out with the seller ie returning for a full refund. Don't leave the seller a negative feedback before you have tried to resolve the issue - keep it friendly and non aggressive.

All sellers want/need happy customers so if differences of opinion on condition etc occur always give them a chance to respond

The link for cases is here: http://ocsnext.ebay.co.uk/ocs/sr?search=1&query=1735&popularTool=true&st=0&popularToolName=My%20item%20doesn%27t%20match%20the%20seller%27s%20description

but you'd probably be better off getting help from the ebay community boards as it is an ebay issue so the buyers one is here: http://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Buyer-Central/bd-p/21900000767

They will be able to talk you through the process if you find it a bit daunting :-)

- Hope its ok to say this mods - if not - delete, delete.

[gkep]

Thanks for all your replies much appreciated, I know I've been had, the seller claims he couldn't have done any more to show the extent of the damage!!! Which annoys me a bit, but I'm more annoyed with myself for buying it in the first place (lesson learnt).

If his eBay pictures had detailed sharp close ups of the (Damage) scratches and marks, myself and ten others certainly wouldn't have bothered bidding. Instead he chose to show blurred images on a bright background and write a vague "Some roughness" none detailed description.

He hasn't seen my sharper detailed pictures yet, but it looks like I'll be going up the Resolution Centre road.

At least I've found a great glass forum. Thanks for the advice again

[gkep]

Good news! I sent the seller my detailed pictures of the damaged areas and he's agreed to give me a refund, saying he appreciates that it's worse than I imagined from the listing.

Thanks again

[pooleandpaperweights]

if you're not happy with the purchase the best thing to do is go through ebay and start an 'item not as described' case.

This gives you 8 days to sort it out with the seller ie returning for a full refund. Don't leave the seller a negative feedback before you have tried to resolve the issue - keep it friendly and non aggressive.

All sellers want/need happy customers so if differences of opinion on condition etc occur always give them a chance to respond

The link for cases is here: http://ocsnext.ebay.co.uk/ocs/sr?search=1&query=1735&popularTool=true&st=0&popularToolName=My%20item%20doesn%27t%20match%20the%20seller%27s%20description

but you'd probably be better off getting help from the ebay community boards as it is an ebay issue so the buyers one is here: http://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Buyer-Central/bd-p/21900000767

They will be able to talk you through the process if you find it a bit daunting :-)

- Hope its ok to say this mods - if not - delete, delete.

This is the worst advice I have ever seen.  Doing this is the single most annoying thing for any decent seller.  If you have a problem, however small, the courteous thing to do is to mail a seller and ask them what they can do about it.  Even ebay says you should do this first.  Logging SNAD's, reporting issues, anything like that is a last resort and is there to protect a buyer if they come across a seller who refuses to listen, respond or deal with a problem.


As you will see, you asked your seller nicely, and they responded well, which 95% of sellers will do.  I do always laugh at sellers who say no returns, or sold as seen.  Paypal will side on the buyers side without even thinking about it and refund any item when you can prove you have returned it.  So, never return anything by anything other than tracked mail!

Ian

[gkep]

Hi Ian, I asked the seller three times for a refund because of the surface marks etc, but he claimed the damage was clearly shown in his pictures (which it wasn't) but he was prepared to give me a £10 refund as a goodwill gesture which I couldn't except.

My next step would have been the Resolution Centre.

It was only when he'd seen my detailed close-up pictures (last night) that he agreed that I may have been misled by his pictures in the listings so agreed to a refund.

George

[pooleandpaperweights]

George, you have one of the 5% of bad sellers.  It doesn't mean you should annoy the good 95%!

How much did you pay for it?

What annoys me about SNAD's is that Paypal/ebay expect you to pay the return postage.  I really don't get why a buyer should end up out of pocket for the postage if a seller is at fault.......

Ian

[gkep]

Ian, it was £37.