Due to the nature of the hobby...

[fastang]

We've all read these words that seem to be in every ebay listing these days. We all kind of joke around about it, myself included, but I recently had a sale that made me think about actually using those 7 words in my listings. I recently sold a used 450 size heli on ebay and I knew right from the start I was going to have problems. A guy messaged me about the heli and it was quite apparent he was totally green when it comes to RC helis. I answered all his questions and even offered up that this might not be a good purchase for him due to the fact that the heli needed work (mostly programming/settings) but he pulled the trigger on it anyway. I knew it was coming and sure enough, 5 days later I got a message from him saying he wanted a full refund because the heli wouldnt fly. I contacted him back and first explained that the auction clearly stated no returns but I also asked what the problem was. He said that every time he tried to take off the heli tipped over. I thought this was strange because it flew before I shipped it although it definitely needed some adjusting. I again explained I dont accept returns but I offered to help with what I believed to be a setup problem. I asked him if he made any adjustments and this is where the real truth came out. He confessed he took the heli and radio to a local HS to look over before the first flight and they set everything back to "factory specs". He told me some of the things they did and I could tell neither him nor the HS had any idea when it comes to helis. I asked if there was anyone at his flying field that was experienced at setting these up that could help him and he agreed he would try that before filing a claim with ebay for his money back. Well, 2 days later I got another message from him saying his friend at the field got it all sorted and it was flying fine. Go figure!

The moral of the story is once the item is shipped, we as a seller have no idea what has been done to the item. I got really lucky that the buyer took my advice before getting ebay involved. I have no doubt I would have won the case but it would have been a PITA!! Those words we read in all the sale ads have never made more sense to me especially when it comes to something as complex as a heli!

[GoMachV]

I received this reply on a Facebook group. Its a simple strap that takes the place of a stock RC10 strap. I must have typed 20 different replies before settling on this one. It just goes to show that we are not dealing with people at our level (or even a kindergarteners level in my case lol)

[tamiyadan]

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[NomadRacer]

I had a recent "Due to the nature of the hobby" experience myself on eBay.

A "person", well... they might be something else, was selling some really grubby looking RC10 transmission parts. They were listed as used.
I send the seller a message, asking about "how used" are certain parts, further asking, "if I clean them up, will they be usable?". It's been a couple of weeks now and no answer to my question.

I don't understand why sellers list dirty parts

[tamiyadan]

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[Lowgear]

All my auctions contain a lengthy disclaimer at the bottom specifying in a nice way that if you buy it, there's little recourse.

[duckhead]

I received this reply on a Facebook group. Its a simple strap that takes the place of a stock RC10 strap. I must have typed 20 different replies before settling on this one. It just goes to show that we are not dealing with people at our level (or even a kindergarteners level in my case lol)

Jeff, please tell me this is a belated April Fools' joke

It is funny though, I always translated "Due to the nature of the hobby" comments on eBay auctions as more of a no guarantee or warranty kind of thing, not "Due to the nature of society containing 99% mental and mechanical invalids..." but seems to be more the norm these days.

Fortunately, I have not had the pleasure of dealing with such individuals yet during a sale.

At any rate, thanks for the laugh

->Mark

[Phin]

Just saw this on eBay and felt the instructions fit in this thread.

Hot Trick....calling out the nature of the hobby way before it was cool.

[ChisaiKuso]

..... I have no doubt I would have won the case but it would have been a PITA!!

I am not so sure about this. More and more it seems that eBay and PayPal always side with the buyer anytime there is a dispute. As a buyer I love the added protection. As a seller I am increasingly hesitant to list anything on eBay anymore.

[RCveteran]

or photos beyond not caring blurry.

Can work to your advantage too if you roll the dice. My brand new JRX2 and RC10 A Stamp had like two blurry pics and both said basically put in closet 30 years ago never run. The RC10 literally was inside a plastic bag in the pic. The JRX2 had one blurry pic, said built in 1989 never run. Imagine my surprise when they showed up with original sales invoice, box, manuals etc etc and were clearly brand new. I think I paid $170 for both. Listed properly each one would have been closer to $400 cars.

[tamiyadan]

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[Dadio]

I think most of us have an eBay story , mine was with someone selling a set of 4 front suspension arms for a Yokomo yz834-b dogfighter for a very reasonable price , I'd bought parts from him before and was surprised when I saw the listing said may not deliver to UK so I contacted him asking if he would and what the price might be , he agreed and gave me a price but he could not change the pricing on the listing so asked for me to PayPal the money for the difference and pay normally for the eBay listing .
3 weeks later still no parts so I contacted him and he had no memory of ever having these message conversations , so I said just look at your messages on eBay but I never heard back , eventually I got a refund from ebay and PayPal after giving them copy's of the messages , I was just confused by the whole thing as it was all there to read but he just refused to accnoledg we had ever made a deal , he's still selling on eBay , I saw the suspension arms on sale later split into two pairs and much more expensive !