got a new helmet, with a story, want others opinions...

[tory]

yo, so i got this shoei obelisk helmet on ebay. i can normally find it anywhere else betwen 300-430$, but this guy selling it for wholesale price at 240$. he had about 3 of 'em, and he also had the best offer feature. btw the helmet is black w/the silver and gold trim, if anyones interested i can try to get a pic up in the next few days, but it's a sick looking helmet. back to the point, i asked him about the best offer, and he said there is no best offer, he just didnt know how to turn it off once the auction had started and he didnt mean to have it on. that lead me to believe that all best offers would be turned down. so i get my helmet for about 50-100$ cheaper than all the others and it was infact brand new never worn perfect mint condition so i was rather excited about it all. a week later, i happened to be looking at my feedback and accidentally clicked the item link. i noticed 3 best offers had been made. because i am who i am, i decided to check and make sure they had all been turned down, and to my surprise 1 was accepted for 200$. a whole 40$ cheaper than what i had paid. we exchanged several e-mails after that. he said they had sent him rebates on the helmets and he didnt know that he was getting them until the last one. i said that's still not fair you tell me no everyone else gets told no, unless you make another auction, i said it was the same auction not a different one, if in that 1 auction you tell me no, and give it to someone else that's lying. he said he wasn't lying because he didnt know he was getting the rebate. anyways to sum it up he told me i'd get the 40$ back yesturday and i didnt get it yet, so i'm still resolving this issue, but would any of you have done the same things i did? try to get your 40$ back? i told him in my last e-mail to put himself in my shoes and see if he wouldnt be upset and want his 40$ back.i just want to make sure i'm not out of line.

[hellcamp]

If he gave that price to someone else, you should definitely ask for your money back. I'd recommend trying to settle the matter amicably. But if you still think he's being unfair, you always have the power of negative feedback. I'd probably let him know beforehand that I thought he was being unfair, and I may be forced to leave him negative feedback.

In general, I don't know how good an idea it is to get helmets off of ebay. For one, you can't really tell whether it is brand new or not, and two, who knows how the shipping guys handle packages. I wouldn't want them to toss my new helmet into a van from a 4 foot loading dock. No matter how well it was packed, etc. That's my opinion, please correct me if i'm wrong about that.

[Yellow2002Kat]

Why didn't you just use the best offer option to start with? The worst he could have done was turn your offer down. Why you asked about the best offer option as opposed to making an offer is puzzling to me.

It doesn't matter that someone got the helmet for $40 less than you paid. He had the best offer option up so it's still available for use. You agreed to pay $240 (presumably with the Buy it Now option), that's what you paid, and you still felt you got a good deal. The agreement between the two of you was for $240 so you're not entitled to a refund. I suppose you could try, but if he says no you really have no recourse. The deal is done.

Next time you see an option to make your best offer, do just that. If it's not accepted, move on. Another deal will always come along.

Listen, hopefully $40 isn't going to change your life. You got a helmet you really seem to like at a price you were very satisfied with. Enjoy the hemlet and just forget about it - it'll save you an ulcer in the long run...

[ZukiFred]

Why didn't you just use the best offer option to start with? The worst he could have done was turn your offer down. Why you asked about the best offer option as opposed to making an offer is puzzling to me.

It doesn't matter that someone got the helmet for $40 less than you paid. He had the best offer option up so it's still available for use. You agreed to pay $240 (presumably with the Buy it Now option), that's what you paid, and you still felt you got a good deal. The agreement between the two of you was for $240 so you're not entitled to a refund. I suppose you could try, but if he says no you really have no recourse. The deal is done.

Next time you see an option to make your best offer, do just that. If it's not accepted, move on. Another deal will always come along.

Listen, hopefully $40 isn't going to change your life. You got a helmet you really seem to like at a price you were very satisfied with. Enjoy the hemlet and just forget about it - it'll save you an ulcer in the long run...

+1

[tory]

Why didn't you just use the best offer option to start with? The worst he could have done was turn your offer down. Why you asked about the best offer option as opposed to making an offer is puzzling to me.

It doesn't matter that someone got the helmet for $40 less than you paid. He had the best offer option up so it's still available for use. You agreed to pay $240 (presumably with the Buy it Now option), that's what you paid, and you still felt you got a good deal. The agreement between the two of you was for $240 so you're not entitled to a refund. I suppose you could try, but if he says no you really have no recourse. The deal is done.

Next time you see an option to make your best offer, do just that. If it's not accepted, move on. Another deal will always come along.

Listen, hopefully $40 isn't going to change your life. You got a helmet you really seem to like at a price you were very satisfied with. Enjoy the hemlet and just forget about it - it'll save you an ulcer in the long run...

your right 40$ isn't going to change my life, but 40$ would be nice to have back. i did use the buy it now feature, that's all there was besides best offer. i asked for the best offer price to save me the time from having to re-submitt offers. they have 48 hours to respond, and if they dont accept it in most cases as per my experience they just let the offer expire. i needed the helmet for my basic rider course, and i had done tons of shopping around. if he didnt tell me his best offer price i would've low-balled it, but in this case he just wouldnt have accepted it, or declined it. what my point was, supposidly, through his words, effectively there was no best offer function even though it was on the auction. i did buy the helmet, i do love it, the problem i had was he gave a discount to someone else when he told me there was none available.

[tory]

If he gave that price to someone else, you should definitely ask for your money back. I'd recommend trying to settle the matter amicably. But if you still think he's being unfair, you always have the power of negative feedback. I'd probably let him know beforehand that I thought he was being unfair, and I may be forced to leave him negative feedback.

In general, I don't know how good an idea it is to get helmets off of ebay. For one, you can't really tell whether it is brand new or not, and two, who knows how the shipping guys handle packages. I wouldn't want them to toss my new helmet into a van from a 4 foot loading dock. No matter how well it was packed, etc. That's my opinion, please correct me if i'm wrong about that.

i did tell him i'd leave follow up feedback to the effect. i'm not being mean, or rude about it, rather professional... i'd say something along the lines of, "said no best offer, accepted best offer from another customer and not me" i havent done anything yet. i've also accepted the fact that i may not get the 40$ back and i'm fine w/that. in terms of shipping, the helmet had the brand new smell all over it. there were no scratches, knicks or marks or anything. your right, ups might've mishandled it. i never thought about that. i think the risks involved in selling an item labeled as "new" and it not being new could be pretty substantial if caught. it is false advertisement, but at the same time he had perfect feedback, and it was more than a few hundred. as well as other buyers who had purchased helmets. i've known tons of people to buy helmets online... just never looked at it that way i guess. also, the corners of the box werent damaged either, and there were no bends in the box, or anything to signify mishandling.

[WildKat]

I would definatley have contacted him and asked him what was up with the difference in price and offers with the helmets. However you probably dont have much of a case because its your word against his and since he is the seller he could probably convince any higher party at ebay that he "honestly" didnt know about the rebates and such. You could fight it if you want to, but for 40.00 its probably not worth all the hassel.

I would have certainly contacted him yes, and at the very least left him some negative feedback or nuetral feedback but other that, you may just to bite the bullet on this one and be glad you got a great helmet a great price overall.

[steves]

ebay almost always sides with the sellers on matters like this anyway. I got burned on a set of headers, and the seller relisted them the same day.

I did get my cash back, but good luck trying to file an ebay claim.

[tory]

I would definatley have contacted him and asked him what was up with the difference in price and offers with the helmets. However you probably dont have much of a case because its your word against his and since he is the seller he could probably convince any higher party at ebay that he "honestly" didnt know about the rebates and such. You could fight it if you want to, but for 40.00 its probably not worth all the hassel.

I would have certainly contacted him yes, and at the very least left him some negative feedback or nuetral feedback but other that, you may just to bite the bullet on this one and be glad you got a great helmet a great price overall.

i have accepted the fact that i may not get it back. the helmets great, i'm still glad i got it, i especially like the little vent at the top to keep the visor from fogging up. overall i did save money compared to the rest. what really boggles my mind is he seemed to think it was no big deal. i dont know anyone in real life that wouldnt be marginally upset about it, i've asked. when i specifically asked him if he was in my shoes wouldnt he be bothered by it? and that's when he responded with a simple "i'll refund you your 40$ today" he didnt answer my question.

anyways, aside from all that other stuff, ya'll think the helmet looks good or what? (-;

[tzortn]

...anyways, aside from all that other stuff, ya'll think the helmet looks good or what? (-;

No. That helemt sucks. Send it to me and I will dispose of it properly.

Forget about the $40 and enjoy the helmet. You still got a great deal. I have a Shoei and I have been very happy with it.

[tory]

...anyways, aside from all that other stuff, ya'll think the helmet looks good or what? (-;

No. That helemt sucks. Send it to me and I will dispose of it properly.

Forget about the $40 and enjoy the helmet. You still got a great deal. I have a Shoei and I have been very happy with it.

lol. i tried a few other helmets, when i tried on my brothers shoei though, i knew that was the brand i had to get.

[JohnE1000]

Lesson learned, and you still got the helmet at great price.

[HS2020]

That is dealer cost on that helmet. So you were out$40. So you got a great deal on a helmet. He might not have made a dime off of you or the other people. If he did it was the $40 in rebates he recieved.

[tory]

yeah. i havent heard anything from him. i'm almost tempted to e-mail him just because, if he thought he sent me the money (via paypal) and i hadn't gotten it by now than someone else probablly got it... if he just didnt send it then i'm cool with that, i'll just let it go.

thanks everyone for the advice, it was greatly appreciated.

[bamarama]

Since he's selling them personally, it's up to him to accept what he wants for the helmets. If he chooses to give one 40 bucks cheaper to someone else, it's his perogative. It sucks for you, but that's business. If it was a company, then I think they should sell equally and be the same price for everybody.