Should I leave neutral feedback for this?

[firefly11]

I bought a second hand Asus EEEPC for my daughter off Ebay. It was poorly packaged. Although it shipped in the original box, the part of the original box that secures the netbook so it doesn't slip and slide around the box during transit is missing. So when it arrived the netbook was just bumping around all over the place when the box was carried by the postman and us. I was half expecting it not to work but I opened the packaging and charged up the netbook and tried reinstalling Windows on it to see what happened.

Luckily it worked fine. The seller didn't forget to include anything listed in the auction. But the entire package stank heavily of ciggie smoke. The soft foamy fabric protective ASUS pouch that comes with it was so smelly I gagged. I think I might try to wash it in the machine to see if its salvageable. The seller didn't mention anything about this of course but I sort of don't expect him to, as I've never seen Ebay sellers mention their items smell of ciggies.

The item luckily sold at quite a low price compared to other simipar models. The photo on the auction wasn't great and the seller mentioned putting this up for sale on other sites so auction "may end early"... All factors which I think may have affected the final auction price.

So I don't feel like leaving a neg. But I feel I should leave a neutral. What do you think? I have just emailed the seller about this although I wasn't angry or rude, just said the item stank of ciggie smoke and the item was poirly packaged. I don't know if the seller is going to reply. I didn't ask for a refund or return and have no intention of doing so because it still works and if the pouch isn't salvageable I will consider buying a new one.

[firefly11]

calypso I think because its an electronics good, and quite a sophisticated one - it's not just a simple calculator for instance - fergoose is right... It might be damaged internally somehow during transit in ways I wouldn't know how to check for as I'm not a computer engineer. It's a matter of... Do I want to chance it and lose all my money if it breaks down due to that, or just play safe and send it back for a refund? I don't really want to chance it.

[firefly11]

trueblood have a biscuit :)

[calypso2008]

Ah, I see your point.

In that case, I would probably send it back. I would also still just leave very low star for packaging. But I am softie and maybe he/she is new to this? Depends also if they have sold loads of things or just a few... did they just not know what they were doing... I don't know. I am currently in a quandry as have not received an item sent 2 weeks ago. Have emailed seller and no reply - yet.

SIGH.

[SushiPaws]

I will also say don't buy anything from me. Feedback is important and what did you honestly expect?

You got what you wanted for a reduced price. It works and no damage done by transit. Okay it smells but if it doesn't say smoke and let free home then expect that.

Leave positive feedback for item but mention the smell if you must.

Would you rather have paid the full price? You get what you pay for.

[calypso2008]

Problem is - don't you have to pay yourself to send it back?

[firefly11]

calypso He has sold quite a bit of stuff. Over a hundred. Some of his reviews said their air gun or whatever was "very well packaged" so I don't know why he wrapped mine up in just a layer of bin liner. Maybe he wasn't pleased at the sale price but it wasn't my fault it went for a low price. My highest bid was £80 and it only went for £52. Still no reason to send me stuff in that condition.

In your case, I would wait a few days (maybe a week) for seller to reply. If you get no reply still, you could open a dispute for item not received. Did you check the dispatch time listed on the auction? How many days late is it? I'd say 2 weeks after dispatch time plus a few days for delivery should be enough?? I have so far not encountered any items getting lost in post with Ebay but with Amazon sellers... Different thing altogether.

[firefly11]

sushi I was prepared to pay £80 for this junk. That is the going price for this item on Ebay. I didn't expect it to go for much lower and to be honest I wish I'd never bidded on it now. You think I should be "grateful" for this price? Err.. Okay. If it came in the condition I would expect for the typical going price. If it was not up to scratch he should have said so. Here's another thing. I bought an exact second hand machine from Ebay 2 years ago for my other daughter and back then it typically went for around £130. But I received it in pristine condition. Nothing like this

[fergoose]

well - I dropped a laptop and the hard drive broke, and it only dropped less than a foot onto carpet - so I would not accept the item with insufficient packaging as I would be wary that internal damage may have happened in transit. I think the stinking of smoke just adds insult to injury.

I think the attacks to the op are really quite nasty tbh - why such vitriol and hate. I wouldn't want my daughter to have a laptop which stank of fags - it is really grim.

[SoupDragon]

How has it gone from being fine, working and you don't want a refund to being junk??

The only valid complaint you have is the packaging TBH. If a listing doesn't state smoke free, I always assume it may smell of smoke.

[firefly11]

Yeah well its junk to me now. May not be junk to you. You can have it for the sale price I paid. Want it?

[fergoose]

Firefly - did you open the ebay case? If not get it done.

[firefly11]

Its funny how aggrieved some posters have been here without knowing me or the seller personally. So eager to take sides and have a go at their perceived enemy. I used the word "junk" for something I've decided to return back to seller now, based on advice from someone sensible here, and now you want to have my head over my use of the word "junk"? Get a grip.

[SoupDragon]

So in 24 hours it's gone from being fine to junk? I am not aggrieved at all.

You appear to be mistaking people disagreeing with you as being hate and vitriol.

[firefly11]

fergoose. I have done so.

soupdragon Still at it about my use of the word "junk"? Like I said. Get a grip. It's only a word.

[firefly11]

soupdragon Some of the posters above were hateful and vitriolic. You can't see that? Okay

[SoupDragon]

And you are being extremely rude with your "get a grip" comments.

[firefly11]

And you (and some other posters above) have not been very rude to me at all?? Really? I disagree. We will just have to agree to disagree then.

[SoupDragon]

Please point out where I was rude.

[firefly11]

soupdragon you were siding with the posters who were rude, and that's what seemed rude to me. I see now some of the comments I reported have been deleted, so it's not just me who thought they were hateful and vitriolic. I don't even know why you are jumping into this. You seem to be fixated on my use of the word "junk" for an item that I am returning back to the seller because I initially didn't think it was junk. But now I think it is, after a poster raised a valid point about it possibly being damaged goods now that it's been so badly packaged during transit. It is now junk to me because it is damaged goods. Or possibly so. I will never know unless I get a computer engineer to take it apart and examine it (I don't have a friend who's an engineer so I don't know any who would do it for me for free) so I will just have to take the safe option and assume it is damaged goods (i.e. junk) possibly, and return it to seller for a full refund. I am not interested in an English lesson from you about whether I should or shouldn't be referring to it as junk now.

[SoupDragon]

No, I wasn't siding with anyone. I was expressing my opinion which differed from yours. I was perfectly polite. You, on the other hand, were not.

Please point out where I was either rude to you or offered you an English lesson.

[firefly11]

I already pointed out to you the fact that you were siding with the other posters who were rude, made you seem rude to me. And your fixation over my usage of the word "junk" and questioning my usage of the word. What word do you think I should have used then? Are you not correcting my language??

[SoupDragon]

I would also like to know how expressing an opinion on a current thread is "jumping in" on it.

[firefly11]

You enter the thread and sided with the nasty posters from the get go. What opinion have you expressed that was unique from what they were saying? In other words, were you not just jumping on the bandwagon?