A problem with a substantial purchase! What's a Knifer to do.

[RobesonsRme.com]

I assume there was no physical damage whatsoever to the package when it arrived at your location.

If I was you, I'd keep the good knife and box and use the other as trade material or sell it outright.

You're going to end up with more money in the good items than you'd like, but where in the world will you ever find another knife and box like that?

And never buy from him again.

Charlie

[espn77]

I agree, I'd keep it. Just me.

[gsmith7158]

Greg I do believe I'd get back with the seller and explain that your work situation keeps you away from home for long periods of time and that you can't check your shipments until you get back home to do so. Get that on record so that if the time lapse between his shipping the knives and your registering your dissatisfaction becomes an issue you'll have already explained the reason for the delay.

Phil I sent him an email after I received that message explaining my schedule and offered to take a partial refund, but haven't heard from him since.

[just bob]

It sure looks like the seller knew about the damaged knife or else he would have had them both unwrapped and showcasing them to get the max bids. Funny the one still wrapped was bad and the one opened was good. Too convenient to be likely. Looks like a staged situation.

[RalphAlsip]

This seller is a person lacking in integrity.

I tend to have the same intuition about the seller's integrity as others have mentioned. There will be no doubt about it, however, if the knives get returned and relisted without disclosing the damage.

[americanedgetech]

Listing a knife for sale without EVER opening it is similar to buying an item from a street vendor at Christmas time, and giving it as a gift without verifying it is not a brick in a box.

That makes zero sense to me but your seller could be sincere so I wouldn't light the torches until you see how he handles the refund (partial)./

You all know the drill. If you go to the well once a year, what are the chances that you will be taken advantage of but when you deal with dozens/hundreds of transactions a year... The chances of disappointment go way up.
You received two out of three great items so I'd be patient, and chalk up the loss as part of doing business. It happens...

[peanut740]

Send them back and move on.There are more knives to be had.

[Railsplitter]

It sure looks like the seller knew about the damaged knife or else he would have had them both unwrapped and showcasing them to get the max bids. Funny the one still wrapped was bad and the one opened was good. Too convenient to be likely. Looks like a staged situation.

I think you hit the nail on the head, Bob.

[knifeaholic]

Wow Greg I certainly FEEL you pain, this is one of the worst types of Ebay experiences. I recently had the same thing happen buying a mint CASE XX green bone muskrat on Ebay. The seller's description did not mention cracks. I emailed and asked him just to be certain. So I paid almost 500 and then when I get the knife...rivet crack.

Seller was a real #$%hole...dug his heels in and insisted that there was no crack when he shipped the knife. On and on and back and forth.

I learned two very stunning things....

Number one is that Ebay in some cases WILL side with the seller and refuse a return/refund.

Number two is that Ebay will also REMOVE negative feedback in some instances, as they did with this seller and the (richly deserved) negative feedback that I left him.

I was surprised about both of the above.

On these two knives, I bid pretty high on them the first time they were out, but the reserve was not met. The seller has rocks in his head to not unwrap the second knife but still guarantee no cracks. But I bid on that basis myself, because what else can you do, if you want the knives?

[americanedgetech]

Greg, I just googled "Mother of Pearl crack restoration", and several companies came up.
I know it does not fix the issue but if you do keep the knife there may be options to make it esthetically "whole" again.

https://www.google.com/search?client=op ... CizoL2t5B0

My sister had some ivory repair work done several years ago, and you can not tell where the repairs were.
Perhaps MOP restoration is similar?

[btrwtr]

As far as I know there is no way to repair pearl cracks to the point they can't be recognized.

I too find it highly suspicious that the cracked knife was never unwrapped. Especially given the value of the knives.

Steve, I have had a similar bad buying experience with eBay. I dug my heels in and eventually received a partial refund from eBay, not the low life seller. With your eBay buying and selling history I would think you could get some amount of satisfaction.

[jerryd6818]

Phil I sent him an email after I received that message explaining my schedule and offered to take a partial refund, but haven't heard from him since.

Just a hint: Always use the eBay message system when communicating with another eBayer. The reason? It leaves tracks in eBay's system which are proof positive that you said/he said and the dates of the conversation.

My apologies if you already do this and I misunderstood your post when you said "email".

[Kulrich]

I read all the above comments and don't disagree. The seller has good feedback ratings so purchasing you probably felt confident. Having sold MANY knives on Ebay and well as buying a few I have a few observations. (I also owned a retail Cutlery store of 17 years) I would not buy any knife, especially pearl w/o seeing clear pictures of both sides of the handles (not casting blame on either party just my opinion). The listing pictures are less than desirable so it made it tough to get a good view of the unwrapped one, let alone seeing the wrapped one. Just a word of caution about "wrapped" knives, I can, and I am sure others can as well, wrap a Case knife with factory appearance (never re-wrapped to deceive just lots of practice as I was a Case authorized dealer). As far as wanting to keep one knife and the box and send back the damaged knife I think is a fair compromise as long as the dollars are fair to BOTH parties and both agree. The knife could be re-handled although it would not be factory mint, it would still be a collectable with value. At one time I know Case would do that for a fee but I am not sure any more. Best of luck on a tough situation.

[supratentorial]

That's a shame. I was one of the fellows who said the knife was authentic and I stand by that claim but I would not have advised the purchase without seeing both knives.

Regarding the 9 days from delivery to return, it would be best to communicate with the seller and let him know that you won't be in town to receive the package for over a week. It works both ways with buying and selling. If the seller hadn't shipped for 9 days, it would likely not be appreciated. Communicating before the purchase would put everyone on the same page.

It does look really bad that the unwrapped knife just so happened to be cracked. Hard to believe that seller was unaware.

[terryl308]

Just a side note about ebay----I sold a western westmark model 603 on ebay a while back and got $137.50 for it which was about what it was worth. Only problem was I photographed it laying on my copy of Knifemakers who Went West (my mistake), BUT the description was of the knife alone, nothing mentioned about a book as being part of the for sale item. He got my knife, I got paid by pay pal, but them he filed a "non-shipped" claim against me. I sent him the tracking number but he said he didn't get that either. Like Jerry said always use the ebay message system for a record of messages Good idea! We wemt baclk amd forth and he turned into a real ass.! Anyway , Ebay refunded him his money but he didn't send the knife back (btw, I offered to refund his money as soon as I got the knife back) So I got in touch with a lady at ebay and explained the whole deal to her and she reversed their decision and refunded me my money/ no knife though ( he said he couldn't because he threw it away. Which we all know is BS. Anyway it wouldn't hurt to call ebay and explain the deal. The lady I talked to was real nice and understanding, So ebay came out $137.50 short. Terry Edit, Ebay will remove any negative feedbacks by the way, so I don't even read feedbacks any more! They are trying to keep everyone happy,

[just bob]

How do you communicate with an ebay seller/buyer unless it is through the ebay message system? Is there another way? They have done away with the direct communication to prevent buying/selling outside of ebay. I tried to get a buyer's email address and ebay kept blocking the message saying it was a violation of policy to exchange email addresses? How do you get that? Once you open a claim are you given the other parties phone number or something? I'm lost here.

[jerryd6818]

How do you communicate with an ebay seller/buyer unless it is through the ebay message system? Is there another way? They have done away with the direct communication to prevent buying/selling outside of ebay. I tried to get a buyer's email address and ebay kept blocking the message saying it was a violation of policy to exchange email addresses? How do you get that? Once you open a claim are you given the other parties phone number or something? I'm lost here.

Nothing stopping you from sending an image with your email address in it (or phone number). Although I will say, the only time I ever completed a transaction outside of eBay, I ended up losing my money and didn't get the knife.

[gsmith7158]

Just a little update on this thread. My ordeal is over. A settlement has been reached after some of the most ridiculous accusations and and outlandish claims I have ever heard from an eBay seller. I am in possession of all the items ,I received A partial refund and I am ecstatic that this guy is not my next door nieghbor!

[bighomer]

Good deal Snuffy, glad that it work out and you got to keep that beautiful knife, now go on and get the other one rehandled in some knice ?.

[steve99f]

Pleased that worked out for you Greg. After reading knifaholics experience with ebay it gives me pause to even think about buying there again.

[Mumbleypeg]

Good deal Snuffy, glad that it work out and you got to keep that beautiful knife, now go on and get the other one rehandled in some knice ?.

What Homer said! If it was mine I'd replace the pearl with.........pearl.

Ken

[gsmith7158]

Pleased that worked out for you Greg. After reading knifaholics experience with ebay it gives me pause to even think about buying there again.

Steve it has certainly taught me a lesson! Require crisp in focus pictures of all items in the deal and do not buy from seller's that do not provide no questions asked returns. I have been skittish about bidding on anything since this incident occurred but I can feel my addiction screaming to buy a knife.

[kootenay joe]

Good to hear this has been favorably resolved. Really there is no reason to be skittish of ebay. The vast majority of sellers are honest & straight forward. There always are a few dishonest people in all areas of life, including ebay, but they are not the norm.
kj

[bighomer]

I agree Roland, I've got a couple of dogs off the bay but I had a sneaking suspicion that they were dogs and very little money was involved . I did purchase a Queen all metal utility knife that the back springs were broke, but I got my money back and got to keep the knife, not that I need a broken knife.

[americanedgetech]

Glad to know it worked out in a manner that you can at least tolerate.

I also agree that there is no reason to be wary of FleaBay.
For an on-line system it is about the safest venue to purchase from but there is a caveat to this... I would NEVER buy anything of high value without seeing it first person. This means EVERYTHING from diapers to a house.

To Me 500.00 is the limit I can bear to have tied up on something that I have not inspected myself so I do not ever spend more than 500.00 on a FleaBay item.
Knock on wood that in 8 years, and 421 purchases I have not been cheated once. I have had three items that I returned, and they were corrected very quickly, and I had one seller that I had to leave poor feedback (3 stars rather than 5) due to very slow shipping (three weeks before a tracking number was posted), and no answers to my questions after purchase.

That's a pretty good track record in my opinion.