Deceived: Part 1

Hello, my name is Tony, and I am an E-Bay Addict.

"Hello, Tony!!" (that's your part, jeez people, help me out here!!)

I love searching for stuff I don't need on E-Bay. It's one of the great joys of coming to work every day (don't tell the boss.) But sometimes, you make a purchase, and the results aren't as good as you had hoped.

Last week I bid on, a 1945 "First Edition" James Hilton Novel, "So Well Remembered." I am a big Hilton fan (if you haven't read Lost Horizon yet, DO IT!!), and I am also a collector of the aforementioned "stuff I don't need", so 1st Edition Hilton novels seemed appropriate.

After the bidding war ceased...ok, I was the only bidder...I had won the auction. today, the book came in. It looked like the photo...but upon closer inspection...

IT WAS A BOOK CLUB EDITION!!

Now, for those of you not in the know, a Book Club Edition is a mass produced edition of the original book that is distributed through the Book Club at prices that are the equivalent to 100 books for 3/4 of a cent. In other words, they aren't collectible, they aren't rare, and they definitely aren't FIRST EDITIONS!!

With my blood boiling, I layed down an e-mail to the seller, telling him of my disapproval. Before I sent the spewing hate, I rechecked the auction. Nope, it doesn't mention Book Club Edition...

So, I set back to the e-mail. Remembering that he has yet to leave feedback for me (E-Bay works off a feedback system...Positive, Neutral, and Negative. The more positives you have, the better your chances are of selling your items.) I decided to back off my original e-mail and give him a chance to respond to my allegations.

My letter basically said: I won this auction for a "First Edition" and the book is a Book Club Edition. I am very disappointed, as I feel deceived.

I never asked for a return in money or anything like that. Why? That's not the point. I don't want a refund...I want an apology, an explanation...AND, most of all, I want him to be nice and admit he deceived me. The book was cheap, so that's unimportant. I want him to say, "I made a mistake. I'm sorry."

But, I bet he won't. I bet he will come back and say something about "E-mailing him to ask questions BEFORE the auction ended."

If the description said "First Edition", would you e-mail and ask if the book was a first edition? Me either.

I actually hope he says something about "No Refunds." If he does, I'm going to bust him with the fact that I didn't ask for one, and then say: "It's funny that I can't assume the book isn't a Book Club, but you can assume I want a refund..."

What is today? The 24th. I will wait for his e-mail and update you all on what his resulting comments are. If he is nice...I'll give him a positive feedback for being nice, shipping fast, and the likes. If he is an ass about things, I'll sacrifice myself and give the negative. I have 219 positive feedbacks with only one neutral (a story for another time involving an LJN Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka doll...). I think it may be time to get that first negative for the cause of honesty in E-Baying!!