Harold & Susan Vordos wrote:
Susan has had a recent very unhappy experience with a seller on eBay. She
received an art glass item that was represented as being in good condition,
with no repairs, but is has, indeed, been repaired, and it is VERY
noticeable.
She even sent an email asking specifically if the piece had any issues with
which we should be concerned. The wife sent an email stating "There are no
chips, cracks, repairs or damage whatsoever."

Several photographs of the item were shown in the listing, each carefully
composed so as to not show the repaired area. The seller maintains that
it is not a repair, but an inclusion, but a certified and accredited
appraiser doesn't seem to agree with the seller, nor do we. It is more than
obvious that the area around the glass has been altered from the original
acid etched finish. This is not a two bit item, she paid almost $1,200 for
it, and we are not wealthy people. She affords such a purchase only on rare
occasion.

The seller has been most uncooperative, so much so that eBay has awarded
Susan $175 for the screw up by the seller and failure to make good on the
non-disclosure. All we ever asked of the seller was to return 100% of
our money and pay for the return of the item, but they (husband and wife
running a business) refused. We now assume they intentionally mislead us
in the hopes of fetching a premium price for the item, for anyone aware of
the area in question would not pay what the item might be worth if it was in
pristine condition. Art glass is profoundly effected by condition. Small
chips or scratches have a serious effect on value, often a 90% reduction.

At this point we intend to take them to court. Our big problem is they are
on the right hand side of the country, and we are on the left hand side.

Is there anyone that would consider giving us a little guidance in making a
decision in how to pursue this matter? We would be forever in your debt.

You're nuts. Forget lawyers! The only satifaction you could possibly
get is to know that they went through more pain than you would, and that
would only be true if you were rich. You'll never get a penny back, in
most cases like this, if you involve lawyers. The fees would add up to
many thousands of $ to prosecute a case like this.

Did you send payment through the mails? If so, get on the USPS web site
(www.usps.gov), go to the inspectors web page and download and print the
mail fraud complaint form. Fill it out explaining as clearly as possible
what the fraudulent acts were, when you sent payment, etc., and send it in.
You will get some response fairly quickly telling you that an investigation
is in progress, and then you may actually have a pleasant surprise in the
mail. The inspectors have one great big atom bomb at their disposal, which
is a denial of mail service! (Well, in really egregious cases of multiple
fraud, they can also arrest and prosecute the perps, but that won't apply
unless these guys do it on a massive scale.) But, any seller who lives by
checks coming in the mail absolutely goes white when they talk about shutting
down their ability to receive mail! Scum like this often will only accept
money orders, and if a USPS MO was used, then the post office has their
signature on record somewhere, which also helps the investigation. Give
the MO serial # in the complaint.

If you sent payment through a credit card, you can make a complaint, and may
be able to get the charge reversed.

Be sure to download and print out any auction pages from eBay before they
disappear, to document what they represented the item as.

Jon