Bartertown.com

In you opinion is a person justified to ask for return postage if the stuff they recieved was misrepresented or in any other described incorrectly? Shipping is getting expensive and why should a person have to spend their money returning something if it wasn't what they were told it was.

I find myself in that sort of situation AGAIN. It's starting to add up and it is very upsetting.

It depends on the situation. IMHO it depends how badly the items were represented.

I had a deal to buy some OOP 5th ed. Dwarf Thunderers. I could tell the seller wasnt very knowledgeable. I asked several times to make sure they were 5th.
Guess what? I got them, they were not. He deeply apologized & I shipped them back at my expense and we called it off. I felt it was an honest mistake. So I was out $5.

I was just recently in a trade that was "misrepresented" I got the package, opened and started to take a look at it. After a tally I was short a few figures (though there were figures that were not listed, to compensate) I was in a particularily good mood, so I sent a MO to cover his shipping.

Will I do it again, probably not. If I had thought about it I wouldn't have, as the figures to compensate means that the other person either didn't know the contents of their package, or didn't really care to accurately describe their items.

This was about LE models being converted or not, modles having THEIR shields, and a specific model. I can also add that it's going to be about $13 to ship back but the point is I point blank asked a questing, got an answer, agreed to a trade, and the many of the models weren't what they were supposed to be. Why should I have to put up with that and spend my own money for someone elses short falling? Also this isn't the first time I am sending something back because it's not what I was told it was. Odviously it's clear that I am tired of this "oh geez I didn't know" or "that's they way I got it" excuses. Those aren't reasons. They are abusable excuses.

That being said the guy in this particular instance seems to be a decent enough guy and under different circumstances I could see a budding friendship.

On the other hand those that know me know I am collecting information for a possible BTR by asking these guestions. So ask yourself...

"Do you want someone else spending you money?"

As I said, it depended on the situation. In your case, I would ask for return postage. If he complied, I wouldnt give a negative though. Try to keep it friendly.

starslayer wrote:As I said, it depended on the situation. In your case, I would ask for return postage. If he complied, I wouldnt give a negative though. Try to keep it friendly.

LOL. Those that know me also know that I am short and therefore carry a Book of Grudges with me at all times.


In this particular instance I think it's worked out because, as I said, the guy seems to a decent guy. But should a standard be set? If back outs have their own section shouldn't mis-represnetations? Certainly I would want to know if someone has a history of this sort of behavior. After all I did have a very good offer from someone else but I choose this offer over the other persons.

Again not necessarily to protect people from this particular person but from people who establish a pattern of this behoavior that may be slipping through the cracks. A sort of "this rubbed me the wrong way" kind of thing. I guess it's a question of where do you draw the line?

This just happened to me. I sent an OOP Empire Codex out thinking it was the newest one. My trading partner got it before I got the stuff he sent and just had his stuff rerouted back to him. I told him to keep the book and offered to pay his shipping as I felt that was only fair but he declined the money. I feel it was my fault and he shouldn't be out the cash but as it was an honest mistake he was really cool about it all. If we ever trade again I told him to remind me and I'll make it up with some extras or something. At any rate I feel it should be reimbursed by the party at fault or at least the offer should be made.

The bottom line is that, if you are trading something, it is YOUR responsibility to KNOW what you're trading.
I'm not innocent, myself. I've made deals before for things I thought I had, only to look for them and have them not be there (because I'd traded them MONTHS ago and forgotten or forgot where they were or... whatever). Bottom line is that I was responsible.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.
If you ship me something that is wrong, you WILL pay for shipping costs to have it returned to you, or your item will be forfeited. Period. I work hard for my money. I don't need to spend it on YOUR screw ups. I have enough screw ups of my own to spend it on. LOL
The law states that, if you receive something in the mail that you didn't order or ask for, you can keep it (short version). It might be a stretch, but one could use that as defense for keeping the items if the guy refused to pay for return shipping.

You break it, YOU buy it. -- Different circumstance, same theory.

Eric

What was advertised, and what was delivered?

If the models are materially different, i.e. converted or otherwise unusual, and this was not disclosed, then you are justified in asking for return postage.

Obviously i don't know the specific details. But in general, I think if you asked a clear question about the models and got an incorrerct answer, then the models were misrepresented and you shouldn't have to pay to return them. I understand that someone who isn't that knowledgable about an army/game might mistake one model for another. But i also believe traders have an obligation to make sure they are correctly describing items. If they're really not sure about something, send a picture of it to the other trader and let him figure out if it's what he wants. Actually, in the past when posting an ad i've included pictures of the exact models i'm looking for in order to help avoid this problem.

kbolster12345 wrote:In this particular instance I think it's worked out because, as I said, the guy seems to a decent guy. But should a standard be set? If back outs have their own section shouldn't mis-represnetations? Certainly I would want to know if someone has a history of this sort of behavior. After all I did have a very good offer from someone else but I choose this offer over the other persons.

Again not necessarily to protect people from this particular person but from people who establish a pattern of this behoavior that may be slipping through the cracks.

Instead of a misrepresentation section, maybe this is the type of situation that would warrent a neutral reference? I don't remember the guidelines for neutrals, but i would think this ought to qualify.

Caveat Emptor. I would NEVER ask for return postage unless it turned out to be a case of deliberate misrepresentation or a wildly blatant mistake on the part of the sender (like sending me what is clearly the wrong stuff.) In this case it sounds like you are a very specific collector looking for very specific things. AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. However, what it does mean is that you have to take extra steps to insure you get what you're looking for and don't waste the time and money of someone who is not as knowledgeable as you are. While it would be nice if everyone around here knew which parts came from what figures at all times, the very nature of the secondary hobby market is that weird things are going to make their way around and not everyone is going to be able to readily identify every piece that comes their way.

What I would recommend is that in the future you demand a photo of anything you want to be very specific about and if they don't have a digital camera in the age of $20 digital cameras... ...then be very clear in the initial deal that you reserve the right to ship the product back at the senders expense. I think you'll find that valid traders will learn very quickly the value of a camera and product knowledge, and that the ones who laugh and tell you to go #*$% yourself are the ones you didn't want to deal with anyway. Or the other way around, depending.

As to a special section - definitely not. BTRs and backouts are based on easily discernible facts - you either agreed to a trade or you didn't. You either sent your stuff or you didn't. Beginning to call people out because they didn't realize the shields on their minis come from another edition or army begins to get into very strange territory. The lines of fact and misunderstanding become blurred. And it will only serve to make some people look overly picky and others look like complete idiots. And ultimately it will not make this a BETTER place to trade, which the BTR and Backout sections do.