Last night I won this lot on ebay. Basically it is a group of the 1st 21 figures from Star Wars that were released from 1978-79. I was surprised that I picked it up for $50 since if they are in the condition described it would be roughly $150-$200. My plan was to keep the first twelve to go with an original display stand that I recently picked up and then sell the rest to recover my money.
I promptly sent payment and noticed all throughout the day that it was pending. I figured that the seller probably hadn’t upgraded his paypal account to a business account so he wasn’t able to accept my credit card payment. I emailed him and told him that he could decline my payment and I could send him the funds through paypal from my bank account which a personal paypal account allows.
This was the reply I received “Yes it is my first time selling , and i thought by putting a buy it now for $950 that it meant it was my reserve payment and i wouldn’t get any less this item is worth a hell of a lot more than $50 and i cant ley it go for that cheap , i had it appraised and its worth $950, I am very confused about this whole selling thing and i am very sorry for this inconvience.”
I decided to let the whole thing slide. If I really wanted to I could file a dispute with ebay, but I figured it wasn’t worth it. I will probably leave him a neutral feedback and explain the situation. Technically a bid puts the buyer and seller into a contract. I held up my part by promptly sending payment. I emailed him and did explain that to him since with a future buyer he might not be so lucky. I also told him whoever appraised the figures was way off. I found a similar set of figures on ebay that sold for $160 which I sent him the auction link to. Also, I sent him a link to brianstoys.com where you can buy a set of the first 79 figures for $799.
I’m bummed I didn’t get the good deal, but that’s how it goes I guess. Overall my ebay experience has been good. In the 8 years I have bought and sold I have only had about 3 problems with people that i can think of. Below is the picture from the auction and a pic of the display stand I recently picked up. It the first mailaway promotion item that displayed the first 12 figures.
