Hanabatake

I recently bought Quicken on eBay by a seller with over 300 positive. That’s right, user moe.always had over 300 positive feedback (please note that the feedback is now behind eBay’s “Private feedback” cloak).

When I got the package this morning, I noticed that the print was…a little off. The “Seal” was a clear sticker.

Let’s go back to the fact that I worked with anime and manga for almost a freaking decade. I can spot a boot when I see one.  To confirm, I went to Intuit’s website to look up information about how they mark their items as authentic. Hologram around the dics’s inner ring? Nope. Bootleg? Confirmed!

The user claimed he has been using a drop-ship person to send out his stuff. In fact, to cover his butt, he attaches a note to the shipment. *laugh* It’s like a printed out half page note that he includes IN the shipment! You know, so I know he didn’t really do it. Some one else did! It’s not HIS fault!

I, of course, asked for my money back (via Paypal), reported the user to both eBay and Intuit and left him negative feedback. I think perhaps that some buyers do not look past the surface. They don’t really know what to look for and may have accepted their items at face value.

But seriously, if it looks off, it probably is.

And if I wanted to cheat a company out of paying fees for licenses, I would have done it through cheaper (read: free) ways. That’s the way the internet works. If I wanted it free, I could probably find it.

But I want to make sure that the company who produces it gets paid. If I paid a bootlegger, not only would the producers NOT get paid, but some jerk who DIDN’T do the work is getting paid and cheating two groups.

I’ve been a member since the late 90′s. Usually eBay powersellers are people who are resellers and small stores who want to make some extra money by using the auction system to sell their goods at a discount. That’s a fine system. I’ve bought lots of things from eBay — from books and furinture to used CD’s and flat irons. They’ve all worked out fine.

What pisses me off is the fact that this person is trying to hide the fact that he’s gotten caught as a bootlegger behind a PRIVATE FEEDBACK screen and passes the buck for his deed by saying he’s using a drop shipper.

I only hope that my reports to both eBay and Intuit get taken notice of. If they want the packaging so they can go all CSI on it, I’ll be glad to send it to them in the mail. 

*sigh* I should go calm down. It’s just that this whole cheating-people-on-eBay thing really pisses me off. Especially since so many people probably were ignorant of the cheat.