I’ve been buying a lot of comic books lately on e-bay. For newer books, it’s actually quite economical; I was able to buy a complete, bagged and boarded vf-nm set of JLA 1-90 for less than a third of their cover price, a complete set of Supergirl 1-80 for less than $100, The best aquisition was more than 400 various Spider-man books for just over $100, including a complete run of Web of Spiderman with no holes, and more than 100 issues of continuity for Amazing and Spectacular.
There are a couple of tricks to getting a good deal on e-bay comics. Auctions that include pictures typically sell for about 30-50% more than those without, and long full runs with no holes tend to cost significantly more than piecing together the same group of issues from multiple auctions. For example, a single auction for Supergirl 1-80 with no holes went for over $120. I managed to piece together a complete set from six different auctions for $88, and because of overlaps and extras, I ended up with a miniseries, a dozen issues of the previous series, and several issues of Adventure and Superman Family, all for a lot less than a single run would have been, shipping included.
In most cases, I pay through PayPal within moments of the auction’s end, this being the quickest and safest method of Payment. However, on occasion, someone doesn’t take PayPal. Usually, I don’t bid on auctions like that, as I don’t care for the hassle and time involved in mailing payments. Once in a while, though, the product being offered is just too enticing, at too good of a price, such as every Lil’ Abner and every Popeye (Thimble Theater) reprint at $5.00 a book.
On this occasion, I was bidding on a run of Avengers 26-50, and managed to win the auction for a very reasonable $32 plus shipping. I had unfortunately been looking at several different auctions, and had bid on one that didn’t accept Paypal, but insisted upon Money Order only.
I get the end of auction notice from E-bay within minutes of the auction’s end, and later that night, an invoice from the seller, Brenda. The automated form contains no payment address; however, the invoice sent by the seller contains at the very bottom this: If you want to mail your payment, please send it and include a copy of this email to: followed by Brenda’s payment address in Cambridge. I go through checkout, which confirm’s Brenda’s payment address in Cambridge, so that the transaction will be marked paid in My Ebay and I won’t keep checking it to finish my payment.
The next day, I send a payment of $36.25 using a postal money order. And I start waiting. And waiting. Fifteen business days later, I get an e-mail from Brenda. The subject matter line lists RE: I will be sending $36.50 shortly. The e-mail itself consists of a single line: Haven’t recieved payment yet. Don’t know if you’ve sent it.
I reply, saying I sent payment on x date via postal money order, that the money order must have been lost in the mail. I say I will be getting a refund for that money order, so if it does arrive don’t try to cash it, and will send a new one Priority Mail, which I do the next day. I send an e-mail to confirm the date I sent payment.
Another week passes. Another e-mail arrives, saying, “Still have not recieved payment. Brenda”. I copy my most recent e-mail to her. She e-mails me back: “Didn’t know you’d sent anything. Be sure to send it to:” and here she lists a different address, in Smithville rather than Cambridge.
I reply to that e-mail that I sent the payment to the payment address listed in both the invoice and on the checkout. Brenda replies that that is her old address, and here is what begins to anger me, that she has sent me the correct address in every e-mail she has sent me. This is simply a lie, one that she will continue to repeat in several subsequent e-mails.
A few minutes after that e-mail, another comes telling me that the e-mail to which I replied contained the correct address.
I go to the post office and get a refund for the second money order, and send an e-mail back to Brenda. In it, I copy the entire contents of the e-mails she sent me demanding payment, neither of which contained her new address, and the address listed in the Send Payment To section of the invoice she sent me.
In her reply, she tells me to take my time to get it right this time, and admits that it may be partly her fault for not updating her address before starting the auction. However, it isn’t really her fault at all, because that address is included automatically by E-bay, and she can’t change it once the auction begins, which is why she included her new address in every e-mail she sent me (which is not true).
I reply that she did not send an updated address until after I had sent payment twice and had to get a refund both times. I also state that, having already paid twice without getting my merchandise, I consider the transaction void. I won’t be sending any more payments, so she’s free to do whatever she wants with the comics.
Her next e-mail once again repeats the lie that she’s sent me the updated address in every e-mail, says that two other auctions closed that day and nobody else had this problem, and asks me whether I intend to pay for the comics.
I reply that I already told her I would not be paying for the same auction a third time, which was still my intention. Relist the books and resell them, give them away, burn them, I don’t care what she does with them, because I’ve paid twice, and it’s too close to Christmas to get them now anyway (they were to be a Christmas present).
Finally, yesterday, she sends me one more e-mail. She tells me it’s ok to consider the transaction void. She then repeats once again the lie that she’s sent me the corrected address in every e-mail, and adds that she’d copy the e-mails for me, but because it seems I was unable to read them the first time, I wouldn’t be able to read them this time.
I’ve been polite all throughout this procedure, wanting to resolve things politely and not wanting to get negative feedback due to her carelessness. As we seem to have concluded things, and I managed to get the same comics from another auction, I don’t want to inflame the situation by replying caustically to her last e-mail, so I’ve let things drop.
Brenda, you are a lying bitch. Repeating the same lie does not make it true, no matter how many times you repeat it. It was your responsibility to update your payment address before starting your auction. It was your responsibility to check that payment address before creating the invoice you sent me. It was your responsibility to update your payment address via e-mail before payment was sent. If you wait three weeks before sending your correct address, you are the person solely to blame for your not receiving payment.
When you lie so frequently and easily about one thing, it makes me reluctant to believe anything else you say. I don’t know that I could trust what you claim to be your updated address, or that you would ship me my purchase if I were to send you another payment. This may simply be a case of your trying to cover your ass by piling lie upon lie rather than admit you fucked up from the beginning, or it may be that you are a fundamentally dishonest person who was trying to scam me. In either case, I cannot trust anything you say.
And you may want to work on your reading comprehension. When I tell you that I won’t be sending another payment, and that I consider the transaction void, you don’t need to then ask me what I intend to do. When I reply to the e-mail with your new address to tell you which address I sent the payment to, it does no good to tell me not to send it there once it has already been sent.
By the way, when you move, the post office has these things called change of address forms. You fill one out, and any mail that happens to be sent to your old address will be redirected to your new one by the post office. It takes about 5 minutes to fill one out, and it helps to avoid any problems you might have with misdirected mail.