I got these grips off of eBay. Seller said I am scamming him.

[castile]

I bought a set of fake ivory plastic grips from a seller on eBay. Seller has over 2k 100 percent pos. feed back. The blue back ground is the picture he advertised, and the ones I received is the other photo. One grip is much darker than the other. I sent him an email though eBay and said this was not acceptable. He said post them back and he would refund me but I was scamming him. That these were not the grips he sent. He would never send such grips. LOL. Really? How on earth did this guy get over 2k positive feed back and have this kind of business attitude. Good up front sellers will take a hit most times rather than have a unhappy customer. I refused to send them back. He would most likely say he never got them. Very strange. The grips look like they were setting in the sun for years to yellow that bad. I may be able to slowly polish them to see if I can get past the yellowing. Could be they are from two different lots. I can paint them but that would worry me it would come off. But I do have bull dog plastic adhesive that you spray on plastic and it eats into the plastic so the paint will adhere very well. I use it on inside plastic body parts for my vintage Firebird. BTW the grips are for my High Standard double nine I bought. The wood ones are nice but I though I will look for some HS buttons to put on the plastic ones and should make the gun pop.

 

[trackskippy]

I can see why you're mad. The "yellowed" panel does appear to be the one in his pic. You can see the same marks up in the radius above the screw hole in both. Cant really see anything in the other one to tell. The light in those pics can often be deceiving too. Im always leery of the ones with just one or two pics in the listing.

No doubt his response is BS and not good. I sold a ton of stuff on eBay a while back and usually never had too much trouble on the buying end, but some of the crap Id get from people buying from me was just brutal. I usually just said send it back and refunded their money, and reposted it, and the next person who bought it was happy and gave excellent feedback. So go figure.

Id send them back with a tracking number. Youll know if they get there. You can also go through PayPal too if youre having trouble. That seems to work great for the buyer, but not so great for the seller. I got burned there a couple of times too.

 

[Englishmn]

The blue background would throw off the camera white balance making them appear whiter.
Like a tungsten filter for incandescent lights on a old 35mm camera.
It is the same pieces from the marks I can see.
Thats good photo work even shaded the side to balance out the more yellowed one. They knew it wouldn't sell on a white background.

 

[sparkyv]

I stopped doing Fleabay long ago, mainly because of fraud. One rarely has recourse for a refund if the seller refuses to make it right.




You are very observatory!

The blue background would throw off the camera white balance making them appear whiter.
Like a tungsten filter for incandescent lights on a old 35mm camera.
It is the same pieces from the marks I can see.
Thats good photo work even shaded the side to balance out the more yellowed one. They knew it wouldn't sell on a white background.

 

[SunnySlopes]

They're the same grips. The problem is with the lighting. IMO.

 

[.38 Special]

Yeah, Ebay.

The good news is that you can only see one side of the gun at a time, so...

 

[Riomouse911]

Sounds like your seller washed out the color to make them appear the same. I, too would be pissed.

I bought some grips for a birdshead Wrangler that had no hole in the opposite grip for the screw to go through. I let the seller know with a phone call and he made it right in 5 minutes. The seller didn’t even want me to ship them back because it would cost me shipping. (I did send pics.)

Hopefully it works out for you as well as it did for me.

Stay safe.

 

[jmr40]

Looks like the same grips. But one of the photos has been modified.

 

[trackskippy]

I stopped doing Fleabay long ago, mainly because of fraud. One rarely has recourse for a refund if the seller refuses to make it right.




You are very observatory!

Actually, the buyer is pretty well protected. PayPal will freeze the sellers account for the amount until its resolved, which basically means the seller eats it. At least that's what they did to me once. I was out the item, the shipping, and the money.

eBay has its place, although things arent a good as they once were, at least from a sellers standpoint. Ive had good luck buying there, and still find things that dont seem to show up elsewhere. Original S&W revolver grips are one thing that comes to mind, although they have entered the stratosphere as far as what they seem to bring anymore. Once in a while you can still get a deal though.

 

[sparkyv]

Oh, don't get me started on Paypal! I don't use them either.

Actually, the buyer is pretty well protected. PayPal will freeze the sellers account for the amount until its resolved, which basically means the seller eats it. At least that's what they did to me once. I was out the item, the shipping, and the money.

 

[AlexanderA]

Try soaking the more yellowed one in bleach for a few hours and see if that helps.

 

[Seedy Character]

Definitely the blue background and lighting to falsify the colors in the pic.

Report to ebay about shady business practice. They will step in and take of the issue.


I will NOT use PayPal EVER!
ebay has some good deals. I ordered 2 rifle scabbard. CC was charged for 2.
1 was shipped, no explanation. Contacted company and said ordered was delivered.
I reported to ebay. Next day company says OD is out of stock, would I accept black as a substitute?
Why wasn't this done in the first place?
Computer glitch.
Ordered received 2 days later.

 

[daniel craig]

As much as I hate PayPal this is one of the good things about them. They generally are pretty good at protecting buyers from seller fraud. If you open the case and send them these pictures I bet you'd get your money back. Assuming you use PayPal that is.

 

[Brubz]

Definitely leave negative feedback if nothing else that will screw up his 100% positive. serves him right

 

[Beck]

Hopefully the seller has great feedback because he owns up to his mistakes even if he whines and cries about it.

I've been buying and selling on eBay since 2001 with 100% positive feedback as a buyer and a seller. I'm a one man business on eBay, so I know the details of everything I sell. I would never sell junk like those grips in that condition. He may have employees, even just one, maybe a family member or two. In that case he may not know he sent you mismatched grips.

In another of his pics the color difference is apparent, but the pic you shared is the one he should expect potential buyers to go by.



I wouldn't waste time trying to fix them with paint, but that's just me.

Bottom line... eBay and paypal take care of the buyer. I would send them back with tracking. Take photos of the item when it's ready to ship as you're boxing it up.

 

[drk1]

Sorry to hear about your trouble. I'm with Mr. Seedy above on this -- the photo has been "boosted" as one prominent collector/author used to say. Is the yellowed one discolored only on the front or is the back that way too? If it's just the front, the discoloration may only be on the surface and might be removable. Similar discoloration can happen when an item is in contact with another object that can have a negative impact on the surface -- the longer the contact, the deeper the discoloration/damage. Years ago the Metropol. Museum in NY build a storage room for its collection of ancient bronze items. They put the stuff on the new shelves and left the room. Within a few months all of the bronzes were discolored where they came into contact with the new shelves. Anyway, someone else already mentioned trying some bleech on the yellowed one, but don't let it sit too long -- start with a quick wipe and then build up from there if necessary. Another possiblity might be baking soda and vinegar, and then oxilic acid, but again be very careful. Only try these if you're willing to risk it being destroyed. The next step would be to try some very mild abbrassive.

I've had the similar problems with folks on fleabay selling postcards. Sellers scan the front of an old post card and then print it out on new postcard stock. The buyer ends up getting a fake of an old postcard. Interestingly, I've only had this problem with sellers in the US. I have almost eleven hundred feedbacks from sellers, mostly from Europe and have only had a problem with about 12 sellers all of whom were in the US. That makes my fleabay succes rate almost 99%, on the other hand my success rate on GB was (before I swore off) less than 65%. Best of luck -- please keep us posted in case we have a similar problem!

 

[Old Dog]

OP, do you know who made the grips?

That yellow doesn't even look like aged ivory. That's a shame, and like others said, let us know if you get this resolved.

 

[Englishmn]

Don't feel too bad I bought a center channel speaker off ebay that had a dented tweeter dome that you could only see if you zoomed in all the way.
I complained to seller and he refunded like 30$.
It still sounds fine and I can't see if from where I placed the speaker. But now I go CSI on the pictures before I buy.

 

[castile]

I don't know if the grips are from a different lot put together or not. The photos on eBay were in such lighting that it seemed to hide the color well. He took photos of the grips so he knew they were two different colors. What I don't get is how he has 100 percent positive with over 2k feed back. Its not even that he only has one or two neutral, but nothing. He is one of the power sellers as eBay calls them so I can not leave neg feed back for a few days. I have left neg. feed back on eBay for power sellers in the past and eBay has removed it.

eBay is a scam I know but its an easy source for some things. I only buy on eBay I don't sell. Too much scamming on both sides. The Grips pictured above is also from the eBay sale I bought but the way the light is done it just looks like shadowing. The seller should have put it prominently in the description that there is a color difference. I looked in the entire description and title, no where did I find hidden that the grips were different colors. I have seen less than reputable sellers hide the details in places that unless you are going over the info with a fine tooth comb you would not see the information on what is a flaw. I have seen that on post cards or pictures, Its a reprint and in small print on the expanded details at the bottom is reprint. That way they can say it was in the ad but it was done in a deceptive way.

Then you have to also look for weasel words. Like, Type. Leather like, I have one friend who's kid was buying Roman coins off of eBay. I don't know a lot but some, I told him he is getting fakes. Low end fakes or copies have way too good of a strike. Roman coins were most times not struck center on both front and back. Also they were cast. We looked at the ad and it was only one place at the bottom of the page that said repro. It was an obvious deception attempt. The back of the grips look the same so my guess is sun damage. Could have been sitting on a display where the sun hit it for a year or so. UV is not the friend of plastic. Thanks for the help. I don't see this seller doing any partial refund. When a seller out of the gate says you are scamming them when they know darn well they sent what they sent, its not a good sign.

 

[N555]

The only way those are the same grips as in the pics is of one of them got left in the sun for months.

 

[Englishmn]

You might try one of the retro bright methods or products.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrobright

 

[castile]

I spent about 20 min. sanding the one grip with 1500 grit sand paper then McGuires plastic polish. I can get it back closer to the other grip but I may have to use 400 to start then 1500 and polish. But I will have a hour or so in to it.

 

[Seedy Character]

IF you are right handed, the yellowed grip will be on the inside and white grip showing out.

I would leave VERY NEGATIVE FEEDBACK and use them. Probably not very noticeable.

Major hazard of online buying, pics don't always tell you the truth. In my dealings, MOST sellers are honorable. This one is confusing. 100% doesn't fit this with this deal or response.

 

[ericuda]

Should be easy fix, dispute with ebay and be done with it. They are a business and I have never had issues except when I didn't read description. Sellers are sneaky but resolutions are quick.

Did you dispute or just accept them.

 

[castile]

I did a dispute with my credit card. I did a look up online and they said that in a case like this with a high value seller they will side with the seller. I also left neg. feed back. I honestly don't know how this guy has 100 percent positive feed back and 2000 plus feedback posts doing business like this.