(I know this should go in the "Ebay-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" "repository", but I've looked for it and can't
find it. If this needs to be moved, hopefully the moderator will tell me to where...)

ARGHHHHHHH.

I am so torqued off I could spit nails.

These guys are an auction house out of Memphis, Tn. They had an in the box, with all paperwork, used Man 200 but they were too ignorant to even know what they were selling. It had the usual clueless "Waterman Fountain Pen, blah, blah, I'm clueless" listing. In the listing they said the pen was 5.5" long. Now, we've had a discussion here the past couple days about the dimensions of Man 100/200. Wanna guess what that was all about? Yep, THIS pen.

So I send them a message and ask them to check the paperwork and see if it anywhere mentions Lemans 100 or 200.
They answer back that the booklet says "Lemans 100". Hmmm. That would be a Lemans 100 with 1/4" shaved off of it?
Something is amiss, either it's NOT a 100 or it's NOT 5.5" long, one or the other. So, I ask for some clarification. Please remeasure and/or please recheck the paperwork.

I guess a bidder wanting to know what the heck he is bidding on makes one a problem child. (And though I only have
20 feedbacks, they're all 100% positive with no retracted bids or problems.)

I WAS the high bidder.

Right up until 3 hrs before the auction ended tonight when they yanked my bids and blocked me from bidding on
the pen. On-line chat with ebay got me no where. I even emailed them back and told them that I would have taken the pen whichever one it was (for what I was going to bid). The d**n auction ended at what MY highest bid was. SOMEONE
(at least maybe it was someone from here) snarfated MY Man 200 for $104.50.


For what it's worth, I'm still gonna file a complaint on them with ebay. They had no reason to pull my bids
and block me for wanting to know what they should have had in their listing to flippin' start with.

And no, I DON'T feel any better.


Bruce in Ocala, FL

Hi Bruce,

If it is any consolation, these pens are popping up on eBay regularly these days, and you will surely find one soon.

As for the descriptions, sometimes sellers do not give accurate descriptions, or measurements, which is one reason a picture helps. As far as the booklet goes, I do not remember a booklet listing the name of the pen on it. Mine just came with the generic blue booklet. If they had a booklet with the name on it, it could be the papers got mixed up with other pens.

I am guessing the auction house is selling FOR someone, and maybe the mysterious "someone" is the clueless person, possibly a non-pen person trying to describe the late relative's belongings.

http://cgi.ebay.com/waterman-fountain-pen_...1QQcmdZViewItem


here is a nice 200, and I am not even bidding on it!

This auction house deals mainly with watches. They don't even wanna hear from you unless the watch is worth at least a grand. Here's the listing, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320275981465

They appear to at least be masquarading as a professional auction house. A professional auction house that lets a pen go for between $50-100 less than they've gone for the past 2 months. (Yeah, I checked before I bid)

Thanks fine. I'll know tomorrow bright and early. Right after I call their main office in Memphis that I've since sniffed
the phone number out for and make some ebay ad posters boss at least as unhappy as I am now.


Bruce in Ocala, FL

Thanks but I kinda had my mind set on a certain black one, in the box with all the paperwork
for $104...

I'm not really a red pen guy.

There is one bright spot, my really neat and clean Gen 1 Expert came in today. Boy is it ever nice for $35 shipped.
It's M nib is Soooooo Smoooooooth. The click detent posting and keyhole nib is spiffilicious and I think I like the lighter weight (compared to the Gen 2) too.

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Deleted accidental duplicate posting

I have this idea that the pleasure you get from something you buy is part how desirable the item is, part how pleasant the shopping experience was. So be glad you didn't get the original black pen after the hassles started: every time you looked at it you would have felt angry, being reminded of the exchange. Maybe I'm strange, but after all that I wouldn't take it from them even if it were free of charge!

HTH, or perhaps I just made you mad, reminding you of it!

Thomas

Bruce,

I don't want to hijack your thread, but a very similar incident happened with me yesterday.I bid and won a pen....sterling silver(love them).I even received intimation that i had won the item.But when I clicked on the Pay now button, I got the message"This listing (320281373704) has been removed, or this item is not available."....this was an auction that was closed/over/finito..and I was the winner!!!!!

The seller is "internationalestatebuyers"..............have sent them and eBay a message.
Waiting for a response.

Behavior by sellers such as these is disgraceful. Thank you for the warning. I'll know not to deal with them.

Sellers can close auctions early and can cancel bids, but the listing cannot- i believe- be removed by them. This might be auction closed by ebay for some violation or another of policy by seller.

regards
david

No Thomas, you didn't make me mad. I don't get mad that often (though the night this auction happened I WAS bordering
on rabid).

All in all, things worked out ok with this situation.

As I'd last left it, being one to not get mad but get even, I'd procured the home office for the auctioning clown's contact
info and was prepared to call them the next day and make his life uncomfortable.

Later the same evening as the auction and my first posts, there were SEVERAL emails from the auction guy. He had gone over all the known info up to that point and was really apologetic for the whole situation. He wanted me to call him and
discuss the matter but I told him that he Really Didn't Want To Talk To Me like I was that night.

I did however call him the next evening after a couple shock therapy sessons and thorazine shots He explained some of
the (non-related to me) extenuating circumstances re; the auction and very apologetically stated that he knew he was in the wrong for black flagging me. Generally, I am a pretty Kharma-ic type person, if all that made him think twice before
flagging someone else in the future, that's fine with me.

And on the Man 200 front, the pen gods smiled on me a couple weeks later and I got a VGC 200 for about $10 less than
I would have paid for his. Mine didn't come with the original box like his did, but since I will be keeping mine and have
no desire to ever sell it, that's not an issue with me.

All's well that ends well.


Bruce in Ocala, FL