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08-27-2014, 10:20 PM   #1
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Handling a seller on eBay --

So I bought this ring flash on eBay not too long ago for a little over sixty bucks. It's an old SunPak from the 70's or 80's. Fair enough. Here was the description:

QuoteOriginally posted by seller:
Sunpak DX 8R Ring light Flash unit for Macro and Portrait photography. Auto and Manual mode. No TTL, has only one electrical contact. Will work with most film and digital cameras. Has a 52mm thread for attching onto the front of a lens. Also comes with a 49mm step down adapter. Will easilymount to most Pentax lenses and Nikon lenses. Other lens sizes can also be used with a step up or down adapter that matches your filter thread size, easily found here on eBay for a few $$. Ring lights are used for a shadowless effect.

Condition:

USED - Tested, works great, see pictures.
So I got it in the mail today and I was pretty excited and went and bought batteries for it on my way to work. I couldn't seem to get the flash to pop though, and I took out the batteries and saw some pretty bad corrosion damage on the electrical contacts. After a little bit of jostling the, I seemed to have made contact and it's popping now. Still, I think that battery corrosion is a pretty serious defect, and should have been in the description. Especially since it seemed to be affecting the performance of the flash.

So I emailed the guy, and he asked if I wanted a partial refund. I told him that if the corrosion had been in the description, I wouldn't have even looked at the listing twice and that he'd have to go down pretty far for that to be acceptable and I'd rather just get my money back.

So I ask you, what do you think would be a fair price for a flash with corrosion damage?

08-27-2014, 11:26 PM   #2
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If I were in your shoes, I'd open up a dispute with ebay, declare the item was not as described, and ask for a refund. If you paid with Paypal, they will most likely side with you. From there you can negotiate with the seller a more fair price if you wish to keep it.
08-28-2014, 12:54 AM   #3
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Full refund. Why are you even thinking twice? Corrosion on the battery terminals is the immediately obvious problem; acid could have leaked further into the body onto the mobo and you wouldn't know unless you stripped the unit down. I had this issue with a National flash via eBay and went straight for full refund whilst the unit went straight in the rubbish.

Besides, on Amazon.com there's one of these for $200 new, and another $99 used.
08-28-2014, 01:31 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by JohnX Quote
Full refund. Why are you even thinking twice? Corrosion on the battery terminals is the immediately obvious problem; acid could have leaked further into the body onto the mobo and you wouldn't know unless you stripped the unit down. I had this issue with a National flash via eBay and went straight for full refund whilst the unit went straight in the rubbish.

Besides, on Amazon.com there's one of these for $200 new, and another $99 used.
It is as I thought. Good to have the reassurance, though.

I don't think it's even worth the money to return it. Five whole bucks to send it back to Rancho Cucamunga. I don't know why somebody would have thought this was acceptable to sell.

08-28-2014, 01:36 AM   #5
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Let me just temper this by saying the seller may not have known. If it was working for him he may have had no reason to ever look closely in the battery compartment so could be an honest mistake (e.g. does he have otherwise good feedback as a seller). Having said that, my experience with eBay is that they will almost always side with the buyer.

Therefore if you want a full refund you could ask him for it and if you don't get it then open a dispute, add some photos etc and you stand a good chance of getting it. There are time limits though but can't recall what they are.

If however you would be happy to keep it at a certain price then negotiate it. Let's face it, he's going to struggle to sell it to someone else now.

In other words give him the benefit of doubt and try to negotiate what you want out of this (big discount or full refund) but if he doesn't play ball then know that you have the dispute system to fall back on (but check out the time limits).
08-28-2014, 02:31 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by thechumpen Quote
Let me just temper this by saying the seller may not have known. If it was working for him he may have had no reason to ever look closely in the battery compartment so could be an honest mistake (e.g. does he have otherwise good feedback as a seller). Having said that, my experience with eBay is that they will almost always side with the buyer.

...

In other words give him the benefit of doubt and try to negotiate what you want out of this (big discount or full refund) but if he doesn't play ball then know that you have the dispute system to fall back on (but check out the time limits).
I suppose this is true. I took a look at his feedback history, and he does have 99.9% good feedback, although he does have a few neutral ratings about how items weren't as described. So perhaps he's a bit careless sometimes.

I'd be willing to take a steep discount, if only to use it until the acid finally ruins it.
08-28-2014, 03:00 AM   #7
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Open a dispute (the seller then has 7 days to resolve the issue). If you don't open a dispute, any communication with the seller is meaningless. The very worst sellers will make promises they will not keep (and can only be kicked into action by eBay)

08-28-2014, 06:12 AM   #8
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i would try to work with the seller first...if he has that good of a rating he will do anything to ensure it stays good...if he isn't responsive then open a dispute but ebay and paypal want to feel you have tried to work it out with the seller first...it will be faster in the long run because otherwise i think they have 30 days to finalize the dispute
08-28-2014, 10:22 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by jadedrakerider Quote
So I got it in the mail today and I was pretty excited and went and bought batteries for it on my way to work. I couldn't seem to get the flash to pop though, and I took out the batteries and saw some pretty bad corrosion damage on the electrical contacts. After a little bit of jostling the, I seemed to have made contact and it's popping now.
Leaving aside the eBay dispute, just use a Q-tip dipped in white vinegar, and you should be able to fully clean the contacts.
08-28-2014, 12:28 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by thechumpen Quote
Let me just temper this by saying the seller may not have known. If it was working for him he may have had no reason to ever look closely in the battery compartment so could be an honest mistake (e.g. does he have otherwise good feedback as a seller). Having said that, my experience with eBay is that they will almost always side with the buyer.

Therefore if you want a full refund you could ask him for it and if you don't get it then open a dispute, add some photos etc and you stand a good chance of getting it. There are time limits though but can't recall what they are.

If however you would be happy to keep it at a certain price then negotiate it. Let's face it, he's going to struggle to sell it to someone else now.

In other words give him the benefit of doubt and try to negotiate what you want out of this (big discount or full refund) but if he doesn't play ball then know that you have the dispute system to fall back on (but check out the time limits).
+1 -- this is probably the best way to get a resolution that produces less hassle for the buyer. If the guy doesn't want to play nice, then you go through dispute resolution, and make them do the work.

I'm ultra conservative about everything I sell on eBay, and include that kind of stuff in the listing -- but that's because I'm really familiar with the stuff I sell. Your average Joe may not have even looked in the compartment. It turned on -- bingo, good to go. Then it gets jostled in shipping...no go.
08-28-2014, 12:41 PM   #11
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Battery contacts aside, if it's that old it likely isn't safe to use on a DSLR due to high trigger voltage. If that is the case, his statement that "Will work with most film and digital cameras." is not true. It could very well fry something in your camera.
08-28-2014, 01:22 PM - 1 Like   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Parallax Quote
Battery contacts aside, if it's that old it likely isn't safe to use on a DSLR due to high trigger voltage.
Sunpak DX-8R and DX-12R have low voltage, safe for DSLRs.

I speak from own experience. At one point or another, I've owned about 20 copies of DX-8R, DX-12R, 433D, 422D, 36-DX, 30-DX. I mention 433/422/36DX/30DX because they use the same power unit as the DX-8R.

I currently have 1 copy of DX-8R and 1 copy of DX-12R, used with my Pentaxes. I gave a copy of DX-8R to a friend of mine, who is using it with his Canons.
08-28-2014, 01:26 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by robthebloke Quote
Open a dispute (the seller then has 7 days to resolve the issue). If you don't open a dispute, any communication with the seller is meaningless. The very worst sellers will make promises they will not keep (and can only be kicked into action by eBay)
PayPal has a 30 day limit from when the transaction was initiated. After that you're out of luck.
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