A real eBay horror story

So, I was being rebellious and I snuck out my birthday presents from my boyfriends wardrobe, just for a peek. He was at work. The events that followed are literally made me cry. Please note, this was sold as a brand new item that was mint in package.



I instantly noticed the Tama Profy's packaging was very poorly handled. I let them off and thought "maybe they were checking the Profy was working? The packaging still looks fairly new, it isn't that bad". Oh how wrong I was.



I thought I'd open the box to see if anything else was damaged and I noticed how discoloured the larger heart was underneath the screen, so I decided to just open the bubble wrap (which, as far as I'm aware, isn't part of the real packaging either), and look at the heart again. The following sight made me cry.



The paint had literally been scratched from the wood. A few scuffs doesn't bother me, that happens to the best of us right? But nearly half of the hearts paint had been scratched/peeled away. I then instantly noticed similar treatment in far left the corner of the profy. The same treatment again. And it was dirty.

I'm open to admit it, I cried. I'm a collector as well as a player of Tamagotchis and I like keeping my Tamas in as near to pristine condition as I can. This is permanently ruined. I will never blend the right shade of purple paint to cover up those scuff marks, and even if I did, the plastic coating is gone anyway and it won't look right.

This was a 99% positive rated seller. I thoroughly looked over the pictures provided. They must have been faked. So please, please, please guys, be careful buying things on eBay. I took all the precautions I could and I still received a poor item.

I will only be able to tell my boyfriend about this on my birthday, which is still nearly 3 weeks away. God knows how this will be sorted out.

I saw that in another sale to be honest. I was going to buy it because flaws like that tend not to bug me... I didn't because another member offered one up.

I would get some air dry clay, paint and some sealer. Look up how you can fix it.

Clay for the missing part. Sealer for the wood/plastic. Paint for covering. Then a finish for paint and likely another coat of the sealer once stuff is dry.

What a horrible situation - especially when it's for your birthday too

I suppose you need to decide if you can live with the damaged items and repair them in some way (as per SRs suggestions) or if you will want to take it up with the ebay arbitration service to see if you can get a refund or replacement.

If you plan to keep it for yourself and play with the Profy then the opened packaging is not so much of an issue and even tho' you like your tamas in tip top condition, you know that it was not you who caused the damage and that you will try to keep the tama from any more wear and tear whilst you play.

If you planned to keep it "mint in pack" and not play with it then it is probably worth trying for a refund. Of course, that does mean you will have to 'fess up about looking at the presents - but you can explain honestly that you just wanted a quick peek - just to drool over them before your birthday and suddenly noticed the damage and began to investigate further. If you want to go for the refund it is better to open a file on your ebay account sooner rather than later.

I hope it sorts itself out - try not to let it spoil your birthday

I'm always so terrified when it comes to buying things from eBay - so far, I've gotten good items each and every time, but I generally try to go for the pricier ones, as those that are more expensive tend to be real more of the time than those that are cheap. When I was looking for a copy of "Harvest Moon: More Friends In Mineral Town" (which is a GBA game), I ended up purchasing a $30 copy. My mom asked me why I couldn't just buy one of the 1 cent ones. I don't know, when I look for a new phone, hopefully later this year, I think I'll buy off of Amazon. I don't want to make a cool purchase and get all excited, only to get it home and realize that it's a fake or something.

Being a collector would mean that it would suck if something if yours got damaged... I collect porcelain cat figurines. If one of them ever broke, I would be very unhappy!

I bought a virtual pet on ebay, and when it came, it kept resetting itself after a few minutes playing it Yeah, you can never be too careful on ebay.

honestly that's why i leave presents alone. not to be rude, i'm just saying to wait 3 weeks to open a ruined present..then to see your boyfriend's reaction when you open it, and then tell him that you went to look for it in the first place?? bad combo.

i am sorry for what happened though, ebay can be pretty sketch. this dude sent me a v2 that had feathers (yes, feathers), what looked like dried coffee in the battery port(how idk), and the name of the tama in the 'download' (i always check the downloads) had a peverted name i'm sure. . and the screen is badly scratched(no deep ones, just dozens of light scratches). all i did was give the feedback as deserved, but got over it since it still works fine, i cleaned it, and now it means i have a crappy v2 to keep in my pocket everywhere i go..that can be scratched without me caring. So my newer v2's can be kept safe at home.

i hope everything works out well

I would contact the seller and ask if it is possible to return the item to get a refund. Either way, if you choose to keep the Profy, tell your boyfriend to leave a negative rating on the seller's account. This keeps future buyers informed; the seller shouldn't be listing something like this as new and mint.

As for buying on eBay, always check the seller's negative ratings. Look at what others have said negatively about the seller (the is a filter option for this). And 99% may seem like a good rating, but it actually isn't. If you want to be safe, only buy from sellers who have a rating of 99.8% or above. I have bought from sellers who have 99.6% and above too, and have not had any problems. But buy only from those with 99.8% and above to be safe. I've also bought from 99% and lower and have gotten away with it, but those were cheap items (around 3 USD).

I'm so sorry I'm so angry at that jerk > I cant believe someone would do that

Ebay is cheaper than Amazon, but I feel Amazon is safer and besides you always get your packages earlier

I rarely get a bad item from Amazon.

Amazon doesn't really have that great a selection in regards to older Tamas though. It's a great way to get current Tamas. That's where I got my P's. But for older P1/P2s and Connections eBay usually has a better selection.

I bought 5 games on eBay, and when they got here, it turns out they were fake

When something is damaged like that, it never tends to bug me. Everything I have has some bad damaging done to it

That's terrible.

Most of the stuff I get from Ebay are usually good, some of them are okay, but this...

I would suggest trying to get a refund. If you can't, at least make sure to give the guy who sold you this a really bad rating so others know not to buy from him/her.

I really hope you will get your money back for this item!

Is Mamapatchi still active? I'm actually curious to see how this turned out. Hopefully he was able to contact the seller and got it replaced.

TamaGuyJayy said:

honestly that's why i leave presents alone. not to be rude, i'm just saying to wait 3 weeks to open a ruined present..then to see your boyfriend's reaction when you open it, and then tell him that you went to look for it in the first place?? bad combo.

i am sorry for what happened though, ebay can be pretty sketch. this dude sent me a v2 that had feathers (yes, feathers), what looked like dried coffee in the battery port(how idk), and the name of the tama in the 'download' (i always check the downloads) had a peverted name i'm sure. . and the screen is badly scratched(no deep ones, just dozens of light scratches). all i did was give the feedback as deserved, but got over it since it still works fine, i cleaned it, and now it means i have a crappy v2 to keep in my pocket everywhere i go..that can be scratched without me caring. So my newer v2's can be kept safe at home.

i hope everything works out well

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THIS IS WHY I BUY FROM AMAZON ONLY!

Yeah Mamapatchi comes into chat every now and then; I'll ask him next time I see him. I always know what my birthday and Christmas presents are because Mama either tells me or "hides" them in plain sight XD

I got bad items from both Amazon and Ebay; Ebay's not much safer you know. Humans are humains and will always be - scamming someone online by selling high a fake item is just so easy.

I'm surprised that her boyfriend didn't just return it when he bought it after seeing the damage...

Jhud said:

I'm surprised that her boyfriend didn't just return it when he bought it after seeing the damage...

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True... but maybe he got a really sweet deal, or didn't really look at it really because he was busy?

I'd ask for a refund and keep it. They're the ones that sent you crap, when I get scammed and complain they always give me the choice to send back or not, like it's going to cost me shipping, hello!!

I asked Mamapatchi about this and he said that his boyfriend painted it for him so that it doesn't look as bad as it did before.

Omg I thought you were making typos but he indeed is a guy, sorry for misgenderinig. I feel bad now. (No stereotyping here, just "Mama" part of the nickname confused me.)

Anyway I would love to see the photos of how it came out after fixing.