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

[Ringlets]

I find this kind of thing happens a lot on ebay which is why its best to ask questions, even if the pics look good. Pen does not require "light cleaning". They probably dont know much about ponies though, and even if you dont want to return the ponies/a refund /whatever, its definitely best contacting the seller and letting them know about the pen. This will give the seller chance to make things right (which should effect the feedback you give - if they are are genuine, apologise/want to do something to sort out the issue,  then I wouldnt give bad feedback etc ), it will also give them chance to learn what to look for and how better to describe their auctions for the future.
Its always disappointing when ponies arent as expected  

[Sunshine]

Thanks all, I honestly still haven't done it, I'm working on Misty and I figure I'll deal with messaging the seller today, but, I always am nice when bringing things like this up, I realize most people don't collect ponies, - but I also know that me myself, even if it was something I didn't collect, like... GI Joe's, if it had pen all over it, I would definitely mention it. I don't believe they intentionally did this, but I hope to have Misty fixed up soon. Let me tell you - for sunfading, she sure does look like a zebra now!!

Again I don't think I want any money back, maybe just... educate the seller for the next time they have ponies, alert them to "pen and ink" being something that collectors would like to see if possible.

But, again, I also let my guard down, getting lucky for the past years buying lots on eBay and not really running into too many unexpected surprises. A couple of marks on Misty wouldn't have had me making a fuss at all, it just so happened that she was covered on all legs and over her whole back. I too can see them in the photo NOW, but I really did look hard at all the ponies when I was buying it, I believe you're right - it's becaues I know they're there now I can see them - but I'm also improving myself by being a more discerning buyer

[Dewprincess]

The problem with the star system is that if you were to leave anything less than 5 stars, the seller gets severely punished (holds on funds, unable to ship overseas, etc.).  I agree that it's not fair to feel like you have to leave either 5's or nothing, but until eBay fixes that system, it's an extremely harsh penalty on a seller that may simply have not known enough about ponies to realize they were doing anything wrong.  Definitely do talk to your seller though and let them know the issue!  Hopefully they can do a partial refund for you to make it right

[LadyBird]

I'd contact them before you leave feedback. Give the seller a chance to make it right. If they can't then I agree you should mark their stars down.

[Sunshine]

I want to mention I've dealt with star dingers before that never contact me about anything and I've had that "punishment" from eBay... I wouldn't ever do it out of spite because of that, but, I'm just saying, it's not the end of the world...

[Libelle]

but I also know that me myself, even if it was something I didn't collect, like... GI Joe's, if it had pen all over it, I would definitely mention it

If an item is covered in pen marks - no matter what the item is - it should always be expressly referred to in the item's description. There are no excuses for failing to mention such a flaw. "Good used condition" does not equal "covered in pen marks".

I didn't know that dinging stars could have these effects, Dewprincess, as I'm not selling on ebay. (Are you sure, this is the case on all ebay platforms in all countries? I will have to check ...) I would always contact the seller first anyway, and give them an opportunity to solve the problem. If, however, they refuse to do anything about it, I would either ding stars or leave neutral/negative feedback or open a claim - depending on the issue. (Having said that, I'd never had to do any of these things, but I have contacted a number of sellers before, because the item wasn't as described.)

[Dewprincess]

I didn't know that dinging stars could have these effects, Dewprincess, as I'm not selling on ebay. (Are you sure, this is the case on all ebay platforms in all countries? I will have to check ...) I would always contact the seller first anyway, and give them an opportunity to solve the problem. If, however, they refuse to do anything about it, I would either ding stars or leave neutral/negative feedback or open a claim - depending on the issue. (Having said that, I'd never had to do any of these things, but I have contacted a number of sellers before, because the item wasn't as described.)

I can't speak for other countries, but I know that in the US it is definitely that way.  There are very high expectations of sellers to get perfect scores (they also seem to want all sellers to offer free shipping and send every package with tracking within one day) and big penalties if they don't.  The only grace period or leeway is given if you're already a "top rated seller" which takes a long time to get.

[Stormy31685]

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.

I definitely did not mean to say that you were at fault for anything, so please don't feel that way. 

I just think that this particular seller put them in a lot, snapped a pic, and listed them to get them out of her house.  I don't think there was any intent either way, is what I was trying to convey.

As a buyer of lots, the best deals are the ones where a lot of ponies are listed by a non-collector.  When this happens, there is a 50/50 chance you may or may not hit the pony lotto with them condition-wise.  When I get a less-than-perfect lot, personally, I figure out what to do with it.  If it was horrible and I felt that it was not worth the money, then I would ask the seller for a refund/return.

As for the star ratings, you have every right to leave whatever you feel is proper.  I would not let anyone anywhere tell me what to leave or not leave feedback-wise for a transaction.  But I personally will always live by the rule of "do unto others as you would have them do to you."  That is only a personal opinion though, and you should not take it to heart or make you feel any certain way about what you choose to do.

[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.

I definitely did not mean to say that you were at fault for anything, so please don't feel that way. 

I just think that this particular seller put them in a lot, snapped a pic, and listed them to get them out of her house.  I don't think there was any intent either way, is what I was trying to convey.

As a buyer of lots, the best deals are the ones where a lot of ponies are listed by a non-collector.  When this happens, there is a 50/50 chance you may or may not hit the pony lotto with them condition-wise.  When I get a less-than-perfect lot, personally, I figure out what to do with it.  If it was horrible and I felt that it was not worth the money, then I would ask the seller for a refund/return.

As for the star ratings, you have every right to leave whatever you feel is proper.  I would not let anyone anywhere tell me what to leave or not leave feedback-wise for a transaction.  But I personally will always live by the rule of "do unto others as you would have them do to you."  That is only a personal opinion though, and you should not take it to heart or make you feel any certain way about what you choose to do.

Sorry Stormy hun I didn't mean to take it that way, but like mentioned, - I probably had let my guard down a bit from buying lots on eBay and not having anything like this happen frequently. So, I totally agree 100%, the seller found those ponies, put them in a group, threw them on eBay... which is fine, I know that happens all the time but... *gets on soapbox* I think it's sad that we live in a world where people can't try to sell things to the best of their ability to other people, vintage items, used items, collectors items, they know they're worth something, so... take 2 minutes to look over it and give an accurate description!

I sell on eBay, I sell random stuff... clothing, trading cards, figurines... and I don't collect any of those things. But, I take the time with each one to do my absolute best to sell it and describe it. I spent hours under a bright light looking for scratches on my foil trading cards because I'm not an idiot and I know that to a card collector, a damaged foil is just like a pony that has ink or cancer is to us (basically "bait" or whatever)... People buying ponies that stink of smoke smell that aren't described is another perfect example of this, and I've seen plenty of threads about those... you can't smell through the computer and I think it /SHOULD/ be safe to assume that if it's NOT listed as coming from a smoking household or listed as having a smokey smell, that you /SHOULD/ be safe to assume that they do NOT Smell of smoke... Ahhh but we don't live in Shouldland... Ah Shouldland, where clean cut kids cruise Shouldland Boulevard, and their football team gets their optimistic butts kicked by their cross-town rivals, Reality Check Tech...

And the star dinging - the punishment is harsh because sellers obviously were taking advange of buyers, at least in eBays eyes. Before I started re-collecting MLP again in like 2010, I hadn't really used eBay for selling or buying since the early early 2000s. At that time, there was no "Buyer PRotection", Heck, there wasn't even Paypal for most of that time... but there were no stars either. Buyers could easily leave negative feedback for something like this situation... it wouldn't even have been "a thing" back then. It was sort of "expected" - you aren't satisfied, you leave negative, you're happy, you leave positive, something in the middle, then neutral.

But eBay tried to help sellers out as they've put all their eggs in the buyers basket and sellers were ticked. So the stars- I'm sorry if your poor money gets held from Paypal... but obviously buyers don't think you're top notch and if you get your money held or whatever other "harsh" (not really harsh at all) punishment eBay gives you, maybe sellers will WAKE UP and stop selling like that... I think the star rating is perfectly fair. And I'm not ashamed to say I use it...

And just speaking from personal star-dinging experience, I dealt with it. Sure it's annoying but, what could I do? International buyers were mad that my shipping time was so long (even though my actual ship date was right on time, the post transit was long) and I got dinged. Now - I've changed the way I sell, I ship always within 24 hours and I haven't had a complaint since. So in my eyes, the stars work, they either improve sellers, or sellers get mad and leave, and if "bad" sellers are leaving eBay, I can't complain...