To LUGNET HomepageTo LUGNET News HomepageTo LUGNET Guide Homepage
 Help on Searching
 
Post new message to lugnet.market.theoryOpen lugnet.market.theory in your NNTP NewsreaderTo LUGNET News Traffic PageSign In (Members)
 Marketplace / Theory / 2017
2016  |  2018
Subject: 
Re: The meaning of "Complete"
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.market.theory
Date: 
Wed, 18 Apr 2001 18:37:52 GMT
Viewed: 
2222 times
  
In lugnet.market.auction, Kyle D. Jackson writes:
> [FUT lugnet.market.theory]
> 
> G'day folks,
> 
> I've been thinking about this for quite a while so I figure
> it's probably a good discussion topic.
> 
> I've bought many LEGO sets over the past little while, mostly
> from eBay.  Probably somewhere handy to $2500-worth.  The mix
> of sellers has been wide: some high-volume, some first-timers,
> some exclusively sell LEGO, others are more general.
> 
> In all of these transactions I am noticing the same thing:  I
> very rarely receive a set stated to be "Complete" that actually
> is 100% complete and unsubstituted.  To put some rough numbers
> to it, about 50-75% of the "Complete" sets I buy are missing
> pieces and/or have pieces substituted (ignoring sealed sets).
> 
> Sometimes the pieces are obscure in the instructions such
> as accessory-type pieces that don't strictly attach to the main
> model, or pieces that are just hard to see in the instructions
> and don't have a structural impact.  But sometimes I am missing
> major structural pieces that make it impossible to build the
> model.  And substitutions are predominantly only for colour, but
> colour is very important to "Completeness".  As an extreme example
> I once bought a set that was supposed to contain 2 pieces in
> black, which was *extremely* rare and long out-of-production.
> Instead I got 2 grey pieces substituted.  (I didn't know about the
> rarity of the black pieces until after I'd bought the set.)
> 
> In all of these cases I find 95% of the sellers to be very helpful
> and they almost always send the missing pieces (but I do wonder
> then where they get them from).  In some cases where the pieces
> are very basic and seller is overseas, I usually find my own
> replacements and just let the seller know about it---sometimes
> we work out a small discount for the next time.  I guess
> overall that it's not a huge deal to have pieces missing, but
> after dozens of transactions it does get a bit tiresome knowing
> that there's only a 1-in-3 chance that something I bought will
> be complete when it arrives.
> 
> I'd just like to hear others' thoughts on this.  Are missing
> pieces this frequent of an occurrence for you?  How do you
> deal with it?  How do you think it happens in the first place?
> It'd be cool if both buyers and sellers replied.

You've raised an important issue.  I try to be absolutely concientious in my
dealings, and I frankly don't know why there is so much laziness among some
sellers.  If a person doesn't care about his/her good name and reputation for
honorable practices, then maybe its time to reevalute a few personal issues.
I've had the same experience that you describe, and I basically deal with it by
letting my money speak for me: said people permanently lose my business.

james



Message is in Reply To:
  The meaning of "Complete"
 
[FUT lugnet.market.theory] G'day folks, I've been thinking about this for quite a while so I figure it's probably a good discussion topic. I've bought many LEGO sets over the past little while, mostly from eBay. Probably somewhere handy to (...) (25 years ago, 15-Apr-01, to lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade, lugnet.market.theory)

13 Messages in This Thread:





Entire Thread on One Page:
Nested:  All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:  All | Brief | Compact
    

©2005 LUGNET. All rights reserved. - hosted by steinbruch.info GbR