HP Forum Archive 15

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SOS - eBay claim. HP appraiser / independent authenticator needed. Message #1 Posted by Andreas Terzis on 9 Mar 2006, 6:57 p.m. Hi fellows, I have just filed a claim against a wonderful seller on eBay that took me for a ride selling an HP-97 in really bad condition, by misrepresenting it in their description and making sound better that it really was. I am looking for an independent authenticator to appraise the machine so that I go on with the claim. Does anyone have any ideas as to who I could use or where, so that I at least collect something back? I live in Los Angeles. Once I am done with all the details and the administrative rif-raf (!?@*), I will post details for saving a bidder or too from bumping onto the same smartie-pants. Thanks, Andreas Edited: 9 Mar 2006, 7:08 p.m.

Re: SOS - eBay claim. HP appraiser / independent authenticator needed. Message #2 Posted by Paul Marin on 9 Mar 2006, 7:54 p.m., in response to message #1 by Andreas Terzis Boy, am I glad I pulled out of ebay when I did. If I can't see it second hand, I dont buy second hand. I fully understand how you feel. Hope you get what you can back Paul

Re: SOS - eBay claim. HP appraiser / independent authenticator needed. Message #3 Posted by Andreas Terzis on 9 Mar 2006, 10:10 p.m., in response to message #2 by Paul Marin Thanks buddy; I appreciate it. I think I'll take your advise. I'll explain what happened after I'm done with all the red tape.

Re: SOS - eBay claim. HP appraiser / independent authenticator needed. Message #4 Posted by Frank Boehm on 10 Mar 2006, 2:28 a.m., in response to message #1 by Andreas Terzis Since you will have to send some documents to the ebay buyer protection dept. anyway, I'd take a couple of closeup-pictures of the parts in bad condition. Together with the printout of the auction text, this should be sufficient. If you send the close-ups to the seller as well, he might offer a refund too, since ebay will a) forward the claim to him and b) probably close his account. (this might only help with high-rated sellers..) An authenticator costs money - at least in Germany it would probably cost more than you paid for the machine - and should be the very last option. (useful only when filing a lawsuit).

Re: SOS - eBay claim. HP appraiser / independent authenticator needed. Message #5 Posted by Andreas Terzis on 10 Mar 2006, 4:26 a.m., in response to message #4 by Frank Boehm Frank, That's a good idea about the pictures. Unfortunately they require that I take it to an appraiser as a mandatory requirement. This makes it difficult since those machines are not being produced anymore. We'll see... Regards, Andreas

Re: SOS - eBay claim. HP appraiser / independent authenticator needed. Message #6 Posted by Gonzalo Fernandez (Spain) on 10 Mar 2006, 3:22 p.m., in response to message #5 by Andreas Terzis Ebay can be risky, this is why is not advisable to spend high sums of money in calculators, for example, is wise not to spend more than $300 in a new 41CX. All vintage electronics can fail, and calculators advertised in "good condition" are subjected to different things of view between the sellers and the buyers.

Vntage Electronics CAN Fail Message #7 Posted by Namir on 10 Mar 2006, 5:39 p.m., in response to message #6 by Gonzalo Fernandez (Spain) Very interesting point that you mentioned about vintage electronics that fail. I have experienced that! For example, selling top notch vintage HP calculators only to arrive with problems. Another example is selling a working HP-41C card reader that develops a problem when it gets to the buyer!! Namir

Re: Vintage Electronics CAN Fail Message #8 Posted by Karl Schneider on 11 Mar 2006, 3:12 a.m., in response to message #7 by Namir Quote: Very interesting point that you mentioned about vintage electronics that fail. I have experienced that! For example, selling top notch vintage HP calculators only to arrive with problems. I've had three HP calculators I bought on eBay that exhibited some malfunction when I got them via USPS Priority Mail. Two were Fullnut HP-41's, and one was an early-1990's HP-32SII. The 41's worked sporadically, but sometimes displayed garbage and shut themselves off. These were restored to perfect working order by cleaning and soldering from www.fixthatcalc.com. The 32SII had a dead column of pixels in one display character. The seller bought it back for full refund, then fixed it and re-listed on eBay. I wonder if the flight in the unpressurized, unheated cargo hold of a commercial jetliner might have caused old, weakened connections to fail. After repair, the 41's returned across the continent via Priority Mail without a flaw. -- KS Edited: 11 Mar 2006, 3:13 a.m.

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