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Post by Toad on Jan 27, 2007 15:48:45 GMT -5
Beware of this eBay vendor. Here is the story. I bought 5 lbs a very nice looking labradorite for $10 per pound. I paid for it on January 8th. When there was no indication that they had sent it, I called them. Said they'd send it that day, January 19th. They didn't. Called again on the 24th, they agreed to get it out that day. It finally arrived today - the 27th - almost 3 weeks after I paid. They blamed getting ready for the Tuscon Gem show for their tardiness. I know this is the biggest event of the year, but its at the same time every year. Stop listing auctions if you know you'll be busy. Right? So anyway I finally opened the box. What a disapointment. Here is a link to the auction: cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=020&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=300066072182&rd=1&rd=1So I was expecting some very colorful/fire-filled material. And from the size of the samples in the picture, anywhere between five and a dozen individual pieces. I know that they said the rocks in the pictures were samples and the actual rocks I got would be 'randomly' selected. But here is what I was actually sent, 1 piece, here are pictures of both sides.   The auction showed stones with blue, gold, and some red and green. All I see on this rock is a lot of gray with small patches of blue. It's labradorite, but not the stuff they were advertising. Heck, it doesn't look much different from the sidewalk. I'm not black-balling them yet. They actually have Saturday hours and I got a hold of Julia today. She is very nice. She said she'd send me a return form and reimburse me for the postage back. But what a pain in the neck this whole process was. |
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spacegold
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2006
Posts: 732
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Post by spacegold on Jan 27, 2007 18:22:16 GMT -5
Well, sometimes a stone looks a lot better on the inside than the surface might indicate, but I agree that it sure doesn't look like $10 material in the picture. I don't buy stone on ebay from sample pictures. I want to see the stuff I'm going to get and ask the seller for pics if he shows "samples" in his listing. No pics, no bid.
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58vette
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 125
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Post by 58vette on Jan 27, 2007 18:23:15 GMT -5
Toad,
I saw their auctions and the pieces they show are really nice. I then checked their feedback and a few customers left bad remarks. I liked what they showed so I emailed them and asked if the pieces they have for auction looked liked the ones in the auction. I said if they were just as good then I would purhcase from them. They never returned an answer. I then emailed them a second time with the same results. I assumed that if they did not answer my emails then the material must be different. I decided to pass them by and I am glad I did.
Just thought I would pass along my experience with them.
gary
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Post by larrywyland3 on Jan 28, 2007 9:17:06 GMT -5
Hi
I bought both the labradorite and the rose quartz. Both were nice. The labrdorite broke very easily so I had to cut it about a 1/2 inch thick and work it down on the soft wheels. The rose quartz was real nice. I know they will let you order directly and have pieces that are already faced. I have not ordered any. Mostly, because I found a vender who mines it from labrador and the prices were better. I have been waiting for about 2 weeks; sent him an email 2 days ago and have heard nothing. I don't like headaches (get them 8 hours a day at my full time job). So if the material doesnt blow me away I will probably not order again. I post agian on subject when I get the rock.
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Post by lbowman1 on Jan 28, 2007 13:04:00 GMT -5
I saw those and the ones from a guy that sells spectrolite rough for $15 a lb. I went through the spectrolite guys feedback to try and see if people actually liked the rough that they paid so much for. After going back over a few months worth of feedback I found that not one single person that bought spectrolite from him left ANY feedback at all. Some of these people bought over 10 lbs of rough from him. A lot of times people will not leave a negative because they are afraid of getting one in return. I take the absence of so much feedback as a negative.
Sometimes it's not enough to look for negative feedback. It really pays to check out the neutrals and positives too.
Lori
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spacegold
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2006
Posts: 732
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Post by spacegold on Jan 28, 2007 14:21:37 GMT -5
Smart lady.
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jbrock
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2007
Posts: 9
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Post by jbrock on Jan 28, 2007 16:23:07 GMT -5
I bought the same lot. The shipping was very slow as in close to 3 weeks. I was pleased with the labrodorite in my box. I sorted it and high gradded about 6 golfball size pieces out of the 25 to 30 in the box. About 3 of the pieces were junk with no labradoresence. The photo in his auction was solid neon-blue and out of this world compared to what I got. I never expected he would "randomly" put that price in a shipment for the price paid. I have made several nice cabs and one pendant. There were enough pieces to give a rock to all of my gem and mineral friends. They were happy with it.
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earthdog
Cave Dweller 
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Jan 28, 2007 22:47:57 GMT -5
I see they are selling more of it and using the same pictures as in your auction, Toad.
I won't buy/bid on anything that they won't put a pic, of what I will get.
I'd send it back and ask for my money back..
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Post by Toad on Jan 28, 2007 23:07:06 GMT -5
I may do that e-dog...
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earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Jan 29, 2007 20:20:01 GMT -5
The sucky part is you never know who your dealing with, you might send them back and then not see your money ever agian. Why not do a paypal disbute or an ebay disbute before you send it back. I had to do it once and told they guy I was not sending crap back till the money was back in my paypal, and the return shipping.
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MichiganRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
"I wasn't born to follow."
Member since April 2007
Posts: 154
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Post by MichiganRocks on Jan 29, 2007 20:42:47 GMT -5
I saw those and the ones from a guy that sells spectrolite rough for $15 a lb. I went through the spectrolite guys feedback to try and see if people actually liked the rough that they paid so much for. After going back over a few months worth of feedback I found that not one single person that bought spectrolite from him left ANY feedback at all. Some of these people bought over 10 lbs of rough from him. A lot of times people will not leave a negative because they are afraid of getting one in return. I take the absence of so much feedback as a negative. Sometimes it's not enough to look for negative feedback. It really pays to check out the neutrals and positives too. Lori I agree Lori, I know that I don't leave negative feedback for anyone, because all that does is generate bad feedback for me. If I'm not happy with a source, I simply don't leave any feedback. I recently had that happen to me when I started getting the run around from a guy. I tracked down a former buyer who didn't leave feedback, and emailed him. His response gave me the clues that I needed to file against my seller with Pay Pal and force an acceptable solution. Couldn't fault the guy, he didn't leave negative feedback for the same reason I don't. Ron |
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Post by Toad on Jan 29, 2007 21:31:03 GMT -5
I have 45 days to file a paypal dispute, so I'm giving them one last chance to make it right.
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Post by freeform on Jan 29, 2007 22:41:50 GMT -5
Just my 2cents, Quality labrdorite goes for around $20 per pound, mine run would be priced at what they are selling. The piece you got looks to be mine run quality, but their advertising shows it should be better quality, yet priced at mine run. This is the game one plays when buying rough sight unseen, and from vendors who use tactics to further confuse the masses. I know ive seen more complaints from folks on this board about vendors they bought from sellers, that not only state random picks, but its sight unseen material to begin no matter how well ones is versed with it.
Wether the seller is the miner or not. Plus, ebay formatt is getting worse and worse for this kinda of product. And with the shows going on, which i agree is no excuse, espically given they are located here in Arizona. Most "miners" have already highgrade the highgrade to be for sale at the shows, not online, let alone ebay.
Be warned that this will continue to happen no matter who buys what, from which person when your buying random picks, and sight unseen rough. becsue the agrument a miner will give you is you got a big peice, instead of small ones. Which they often grade diffiently based on size alone. They did this back around the beggining of December i would assume in most cases. And was giving you the run around becasue they are a miner and want to sell bulk, not piece meal parcels. Plus they problely were scambling to try and match the quality knowing they didnt have any to ship.
I know its hard to resist with the fever, but i and im sure others are willing to act as a buyer for folks at shows. I didnt take on any requests this year becasue they were all from large general rockshop vendors not attending the shows. I would rather act as a buyer for small parcels and the like then looking for the best bulk deal i can find.
Just dont forgot about the nature of "rough", and really make a triple take when the "miners" say "random pick", look for a parcel instead. As i will never buy boulder or koroit opals as a random pick. I know they will mostly turn out bunk from experince. And i apply the same to really any flashy looking rough.
I am not disputing you or them, i am only pointing out a bit of consumer giude. The words, rough, miners, and random pick in any for sale items online will usaully result in disappointment unless your buying bulk, 100 or more pounds at a time.
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riverbendlapidary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,058
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Post by riverbendlapidary on Jan 30, 2007 0:36:14 GMT -5
I think sellers should show the actual stone or rough that you are getting, not a representative picture....
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Post by Toad on Jan 30, 2007 7:54:41 GMT -5
I've been on ebay since 1999 and usually don't fall for the bait-and-switch, but they got me this time. The thought of getting gem-grade material for half-price or better blinded me. Now I have to spend several weeks getting them to live up to the pics or refund my money, but I'll never get the time back. What an aggravation...
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Jan 30, 2007 10:17:25 GMT -5
Yea it kinda sucks what goes on on those "random picks" But when you really think about it- Well you know your not gonna get any Grade A material- I mean the Pix they showed were PRIMO stuff- that I'm sure went to somebody for a PRIMO Price!! You get what is left over - that is the nature of the beast I'm afraid- I hope they do right by you Toad-
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Post by freeform on Jan 30, 2007 18:11:49 GMT -5
I agree, not worth the hassle, and i hope they live up to their items. I have never purchases from them becasue since ive seen them selling on ebay for the last few years, the auctions are always the general same items stating "random". To me, if i want random, i want still whats in the photo, thats what your shopping for. If sellers want to note random picks in their auctions, it should be a full box of random pick rough. That way you getting the box in the photo from their random pickings. Thats tactic been around since ebay started.
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Post by Toad on Feb 8, 2007 20:14:39 GMT -5
Still no resolution. In fact, I got handed off to a second person today. He said he'd verify I returned the rough before sending out the replacement rock. Hopefully I'll have a better idea what's going on tomorrow. Of course now I lost my chance to leave feedback on eBay. But I still have about 2 weeks to file a dispute with Paypal.
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Post by lbowman1 on Feb 9, 2007 8:22:22 GMT -5
I filed a dispute once with Paypal. I had even paid extra on that transaction for their so called "satisfaction guarantee" since it was such a pricey auction. I filed the claim against the seller and Paypal's response was "We got our share of the money so we are satisfied." I never got reimbursed for the $150 and never got any merchandize either.
That's why I don't use Paypal anymore and I don't recommend any one else use it either. I haven't use them in over two years.
Lori
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spacegold
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2006
Posts: 732
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Post by spacegold on Feb 9, 2007 11:16:12 GMT -5
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