Swindled
Ooowee do we have a tale for you. This is quite a crazy one. A few weeks ago, my mom won some old light fixtures for really cheap at the secret auction. She put a few of them up on eBay, and a few days later, was contacted by a woman who lived close to her who was very interested in one of them:
My mom said that once they agreed to let her come take a look in person, the woman got to their house in record time–like she was hiding in the f*cking bushes or something. On her way there, she called my mom and told her it would probably be a good idea to take the chandelier off eBay, since she was surely going to make a fair offer. So my mom went ahead and did so. She figured she’d make a decent profit and not have to bother with shipping something so fragile. Worth noting: My mom also made a point to tell me that she kept hearing me in the back of her head saying, “Don’t be greedy, don’t be greedy” so apparently I am partially responsible for this as well.
The woman offered her $80 for the fixture, and my mom accepted. She told my mom she was THRILLED to have it because it would fit in beautifully with her dining room decor. She told my mom she was recently divorced and was fixing up her new place. She also expressed interest in another light fixture my mom had, but my mom got a weird vibe and told her she wanted to leave that one up on eBay.
Two weeks later, my mom received a message from another eBay user who had been watching that same light fixture, noticed it was taken down, and then noticed that a very similar fixture was posted by another user that was geographically close to my mom. He sent her the listing number:
There is no question that this is the chandelier that my mom sold to the “poor divorced woman.” She cleaned it up, rewired it, and stuck it back up online. Yes, this increases the value of the piece. But by 800+ dollars? That b*tch! At the very least, she could have told my mom what it was and offered a fair price. If it’s really worth $950… fair to me would have been $200-400. People are often very kind on eBay. We have all had experiences where people contact us and share information about an item to help us get more views.
I know all is fair in the world of flipping… but to me this was just such an amoral move. And a stupid one at that! The eBay user who messaged my dad is different from thomaslights (current seller), but the cell phone number the woman gave to my parents is the same number on the Thomas Lights Facebook page! My mom says she will never do something like this again.
My mom is pretty over it, but Erin and I are OUTRAGED. I did message thomaslights and ask where they found such a rare chandelier. But no response yet. I also thought about doing a best offer of $80 and putting a note in that says, “Isn’t this what you paid for it?” It is also really entertaining to me how outraged Erin is by this injustice.
We’re not really sure how to handle this whole thing, but it would be great for this woman to know how totally awful it is that she did this. Seriously, so immoral.
-Sarah
Update from Erin: This situation has my blood boiling so badly. I understand that sometimes you get a crazy deal on something because an ignorant seller didn’t take the time to do their homework. But Sarah’s mom specifically put this on ebay as an AUCTION so that the item’s true value would be realized as people bid it up. To ask someone to take down an auction because you will give them a “fair price” and then do the EXACT OPPOSITE is outrageous. Like Sarah said, a fair price would have been a couple hundred dollars. This lady would have a clean conscience and still make a profit.
Anyway, what do you guys think? Maybe we are being too sensitive, but I think not, especially since the lady came up with a crazy lie about the whole thing. She knows she was wrong. Also, to have TWO EBAY ACCOUNTS so you can swindle people is a sign of the devil’s work.
Pardon me, but what a true ho.