While we talk about eBay…

[diode]

Just had an experience on eBay, fortunately less screwing than Paul's…

I've bought a few things lately, mainly from one vendor I had bought stuff already last year.

- a bluetooth usb adapter, given with crazy specs, working with win, os X, linux. 3€ inc. P&H.

Well, It may work on win, but not on OS X (it even screw up the start up of the macbook if plugged in). A friend on linux is having a try. Gave a neutral evaluation, as it way work on other OS and I can't tell, I needed linux/OS X… Given the price, no need to rant more with eBay and the seller…

- different cables, adapters… mainly from one UK seller, just fine
- same UK seller, an Apple magsafe for the macbook, given mine is dead after 3 and a half year of good service and constant care. (Opened the out of order one : it's in the electronics the issue, and as Apple decided to make an adapter full of glue, resin and stuff, it'll go in the bin… nice copper foils to recover though…) to get back to the new magsafe, it was advertised as Apple, it's not. It's a chinese copy. Only details diverging are the out cable, way less soft than the original, and the white plastic, which is slightly different and too whitish. This said, it works. I'm not sure the magsafe plug is Apple, certainly not, as it can be slightly off and not working, like my real never did, nor the original one recycled by hypermac for my external battery.

I have not complained about the fact it was advertised as Apple, as I have paid the normal price for a chinese copy and the seller is regular and selling great stuff usually.

Now, for one of the cables and the "magsafe", I have had an adventure.

I bought 4 objects from the guy in the last weeks. The first was paid and send ASAP, as I found out I needed other things only a couple of hours after I paid the first one… Then I saw with the seller to buy the 3 next objects I needed (magsafe, a swiss cable, an apple keyboard) and save a little on P&H? As he did last autumn, no problem with him, I had just to may the total with the recalculated P&H on paypal and he'll send the 3 objects on the spot. We did so, I received the packet a few days later, did the evaluations, and lived happily ever after… Save…

Save that eBay did not think this bliss should go on for ever, and they (eBay) opened a litigation against me, for not paying the objects. But the fun part, not the 3 I paid on one go, but only 2 of them… (don't ask me why).

I tried to contact my seller, to ask him to mark the objects as paid, no answer. Now I know why, in litigations, sellers have no possibility to do something…

Then I tried to give my evidences to eBay (thanks ebay to ask me to do something illegal, like copying in extenso emails from third parties…). But I couldn't. As the form they use to send them emails did not work in Safari, Chromium not Firefox… And there's no alternative way… Fortunately, the other form for tech issues worked and I received a long semi-automated answer, on how to deleted cookies…  It did the trick. (next time, just give a real email, it WORKS!) I send my 2 answers (one per objects in litigations) and received first an automaated mail telling me my account was back to normal while the demands were under scrutiny then the day after I was told that my case was erased given the evidence, but that I shouldn't do the bad boy again!!!!

I'm still wondering how I can be a bad boy when I have been a perfect customer who paid on the spot and gave evalutation after reception…

It reminds me all the administrative paper we receive in france for social security, unemployment agency etc. where whatever the subject we are always 1/litte stupid kids 2/morons 3/subject to prison and hell's fire in case we answer wrong… What the Monde Diplomatique called in a article some years ago an engine of social conformity not of social securing…

sigh…

Denis H]
No LOPPSI!
No HADOPI!
No ACTA!