eBay description fell short... should I talk to the seller?

[Sunshine]

Okay I bought a decent lot of ponies with accessories off ebay for a good price and decent (reasonable) shipping.

The description was, (and I quote): "Up for your consideration is a lot of vintage 1980's My Little ponies in good used condition.  There are a few that need a light cleaning. The pony outfits are original & 1 shoe is missing. Cute lot.  Feel free to check out my other auctions to combine shipping. Happy Bidding"

So, fine. There is one picture with the auction, which has good size, good lighting, good color, whatever... I /thought/ I could see what I was getting.

But when I get them, Princess Misty is covered on all legs with ink likes and all across her back! - Like black pen lines, trying to make her look like a zebra or something...

This is going to take a massive amount of careful sunfading to get it off her darker purple body, and I'm a little ticked. The rest of the ponies, I completely agree with their description, except SS Sundance who also needs a heavy cleaning but - that's fine, she's a white SS pony, I get it, she looked dingy in the photo, but Misty was hidden in a perfect way to not show all of that.
Here's the auction link:

VINTAGE LOT OF MY LITTLE PONY/PONIES W/CLOTHES (1980'S

Soooo... I dunno, just eat it and deal with trying to fix her myself? Star ding them for description? Message them and tell them I'm going to star ding them? I dunno what to do... meh.
Advice?

[ponylady]

First do not message them that you are going to ding their stars  It is against Ebay policy to make any mention of feedback, they can report you and Ebay will remove it.

I do not mean to sound harsh here with what I am going to say to you. But that is why it's important to ask questions when they have a loose description and one picture. Ebay lots are always a gamble and always will be, that is why it is important to be a conscious buyer. If I was you I would pack them back up, message your seller and tell her you are going to return them. There is no use keeping them if you are not going to be happy. 

[Teddy]

I would contact the seller first and tell them about the pen marks. You can ask for a partial refund and see what they say. It's true the pen marks appear to have been skillfully hidden in the auction pic, so it seems pretty intentional. If they don't offer a refund, THEN maybe consider star dinging. Honestly, you got a GREAT deal on these ponies and having just one with pen marks from all of those nice girls is pretty lucky! You know how risky lots can be.

[Sunshine]

There's a bit of a difference though in my eyes... just simply because I'm not a noob pony buyer, and I check out all the pictures and see if I feel I need to ask about anything. I suppose that means every single auction that has a group shot and doesn't show all angles of every single pony I need to be asking, "Does it have ink marks, brown spots, pink marks?" and maybe I should but, if that's always the case... then I'm pretty sure I won't be buying much from ebay anymore.

I mean I sell on eBay. They tell you, "Give a clear description of your item", I don't honestly believe it should always be 100% on the buyer to have to ask 100 questions. I wasn't looking for perfect ponies, I was looking for what was shown in the photo... and it was obvious those marks are not factory in any way, so, why not show that pony in front? That's all I'm saying.

I'm not sending them back, I can fix Misty, but I'm going to leave what I feel is completely appropriate feedback... I mean, I don't want any refund, I need some items for swaps and such and I have lots of tricks up my sleeve which are far far beyond "light cleaning" in any respect (as mentioned, months of sunfading, etc) - but I just think it was like... a bit convenient that Misty was "hidden" in that way...

And I'm not trying to be snotty back to you, I get it - we need to ask questions and such, but I /DO/ ask questions to sellers when I feel there is something that is not being shown. From that large, nice picture, there's absolutely no sign that I would need to ask if they had ink on their bodies, at least not in my eyes...

Oh and I completely agree about getting a good deal on them - that's fine, but, a good deal doesn't mean I should necessarily have to be buying ponies that are all junked up, and she was the only one like that... so, I don't want any refund from the seller, it's not about that, just... about being... "honest" in an auction I guess...
-Also I'm not trying to say the seller did this 100% intentionally... who knows who listed it, maybe a grandmother who has poor vision or someone who only looked at the picture that was taken to describe the item... I don't want to attack the seller, I would not give them Neutral or Negative feedback for this, I'd give them 5 stars on everything except description, honestly - but I still haven't left my feedback yet...

[Whippycorn]

Sorry you didn't get what you expected, but I wouldn't give bad feedback or ding stars without giving the seller the opportunity to make it better first.

[ponylady]

Sunshine I am not sure why you are taking offense. My point is that with only picture, showing only one side of the pony and a vague description, that it is not safe to assume they do not have any issues. I am sorry. This is Ebay and almost 90% of pony lot auctions are this way. I don't agree with it but that is the way it is when someone with no knowledge lists ponies. All they do is see $$$ signs. So they throw them on with out much care to what they are listing. If they did then they would have had more pictures and a full description. Thus me saying it is important to ask questions.

I just feel if you have issues then you need to contact your seller and return them if your not happy.

[Sunshine]

I'm not offended ponylady!

I mean, I buy lots continuously, and even with worse pictures and no description, I tend to be able to avoid buying ponies with such issues, so perhaps I have let my guard down on asking sellers questions.

Regardless, I suppose I'll mention her to the seller, but I'm honestly not seeking any money back... I just think it's appropriate for a buyer to be able to leave feedback such as 3/5 stars for description. It's still a positive, but it shouldn't be so... "touchy" for a buyer to be able to do that and that gives other people a chance to see and say, "Okay I should ask this person questions about their items" or something...

[tulagirl]

Maybe talking to her at least is more fair before leaving feedback.  Give your seller a chance to explain.  A lot of people make mistakes and they are not intentional, then we find later they were in fact intentional which takes it to another level.  See what the seller says. You don't have to say anything about keeping the ponies or feedback.  Just mention you got them and you noticed one covered in ink that was not shown in the photo or mentioned.  See what they say.

[nhal039]

I maybe wrong here as I don't sell on ebay, but I believe even thou you leave a positive but ding the stars a little.. the seller can still get servery punished with paypal holding on to there funds for x amount of time or even to the point of getting banned from selling overseas. I don't know exactly how much star dinging it takes but I know it very little : /

I think that's why most are suggesting to message the seller first so she can make it right

[Sunshine]

Well I suppose I will message them about it, I don't want them to feel like I'm all... super angry, lol I'm really not I just, thought it was "interesting" that Misty was presented in such a way and she was the only one with major issues, and that personally the description fell a bit short in my eyes... but I know ponylady is right - people don't give a crap anymore, they just see $$ and all they want to do is put money in their pocket... so... eh.

I'll be a more discerning buyer in the future I suppose even though I have very rarely had issues that I was totally unable to notice between a really quite decent photo and description.

[Rosette]

Yeah--that doesn't count as just needing light cleaning.  I'd message the seller and let them know the issues you had with the lot/their description of the lot. 

[Stormy31685]

I know as pony sellers, we are very careful to note flaws that we know are problematic within the community, but many of these sellers who sell lots like this don't know anything like that.  If this was a seller who was a pony collector, then you might be able to assume they "hid" certain sides of the pony, or intentionally provided a vague description.

In this case though, they likely were not, and therefore there was no intent to defraud any potential buyer.

Given that information, if you have planned to keep the lot, then do so and be happy with it - it was not bad for $19.70 with shipping.  I would not assume fault with the seller.

If you wanted to let him or her know about your feelings for future reference or as a courtesy, that would be fine, but I would not ding their stars.  You can choose not to leave them any star ratings if you like. 

This is probably someone who just cleaned out their closet.  And when that happens, it is a 50/50 chance you will get better or worse than what you expected. 

[Sunshine]

Given that information, if you have planned to keep the lot, then do so and be happy with it - it was not bad for $19.70 with shipping.  I would not assume fault with the seller.

So, the fault falls on me entirely? I never really thought like, seriously that the seller was trying to deceive intentionally, but, I think that it's pretty normal to want to take the "best photo" you can and not always put the worst of the bunch right out front... that's what I meant more than, they "hid it", I just found it interesting the way it played out as far as the way they were set in the photo and the one pony that had issues... not like, they were intentionally trying to be like... "haha I'll screw this buyer by hiding it", if that makes any sense... in my mind there's a difference there, lol one more harmless than the other. And I feel this probably was harmless, which is why I don't even... want to make a fuss about it... really. I was hoping most people would just tell me to stop being such a whiny baby, lol

 I just wanted to get some perspective... but look... people can ding stars, that's why it's available. That's all I'm saying. Unsatisfied buyers are given an option by eBay to leave positive feedbacks and rate on stars based on what they think... I've got stupid star dings before for things that weren't even my fault (like a delay in postage from the post, not from my shipping date...) and I've had to deal with it... not everyone messages sellers and says, "Something irked me, I expect you to fix it" and let a seller do something before star dings...

^ Also, this is not supposed to sound anything in a snippy tone, I'm just sayin'... ya know, stars were put in by eBay, they didn't always exist, so why do I always feel like "buyers can't give anything but 5 stars"??

 But that is not the topic. So... whatevs. I've already started working on Misty and I plan on continuing... I've pretty much put it out of my mind at this point ... ya know? Moving on, lol onto more ponies.

[Libelle]

I didn't read all of the comments, so forgive me, if I'm repeating anything ... I believe, you could contact them and ask for a partial (minor) refund. "Full of pen marks" does not equal "good used condition" which some "light cleaning" could remedy. However, I wouldn't leave them bad feedback over this, just ding a few stars as you said.

I always ask whether there are any spots/discolourations/pen marks before I place a bid. I've "learned my lesson", so to speak. Yesterday once again confirmed how important it is to do so: I had asked about a pony which looked absolutely gorgeous in the picture provided, and the seller confirmed it didn't have any faults of the kind I've just mentioned. When the pony arrived yesterday, it was full of big dark spots. I've contacted the seller about a refund - after all he had exppressly declared that there weren't any spots on the pony - now, I'll have to wait and see what happens.

[minamarie]

hmmm in the picture you notice the marks on the back but i think you can just see them now that you know it (had that happen to me!!)
maybe the seller really thought some light cleaning and everythings removed- had ponys i thought where unrestorable but then it was nailpolish , crayon, cola and stuff and it got quite easily off...
i would say forget about it- if you contact the seller in the nicest way possible it might turn out as *jerk* making you feel even worse then now

{Edited for language~ PonyLady}