When you wake up from a dream...

Racetech

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For decades, I've been wanting to add one more arcade game to my collection. It's the last one I've really wanted to make my collection complete. It's a crane game, made either by Chicago Coin (Steam Shovel) in the 1950's or the very similar one made by Williams (Crane). I found this one on ebay:

crane1.jpg

crane2.jpg


Ok, it's been bastardized a little... it has push buttons meaning it's the Williams Crane but the marquee says "Chicago Coin Steam Shovel". It's also been repainted but was said in the description to be in "excellent condition" and complete working order. I can fix that--this one is close enough.

There were some bright red flags however. The listing was from a new member with zero feedback. They listed 3 other items too. The shipping for the crane was shown at $15. I messaged them and got an immediate reply "So sorry, I meant $150.00." Ok... I was going to pick it up in person anyway. I can live with that.

I watched the bidding carefully--15 minutes from the end, the highest bid was $510.00. I put in a bid in the last 5 seconds and won the machine at $1,009.99. YAY! I WON IT!!! But when I asked about picking it up and gave my contact information, no reply. Then this seller pulled all their items off ebay.

What I learned from an ebay rep is that you can, as the winner of an item, obtain the name and phone number of the seller. I called. She answered. She said "I'm selling it for someone else and I didn't understand how ebay works. I thought you could look at all the bids and reject them if you want." I said "not if you don't put a reserve price on it." She said "the owner of that machine wants $2800.00 for it." Good thing I hadn't already paid. The real owner of that machine won't let it go for anything near that price.

So there you go. I won, but I didn't win. Body slam. When something seems too good to be true it usually is.
 
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what a rat! Most people should know that Ebay is like a normal live auction and has some of the same rules. I'd be reporting her to ebay for backing out of the deal...if you can...
 
I rember those crane machines, but the ones with a crank handle. I rember seeing them at the carnival and they had a hole bunch of then lined up on a trailer. I allways thought they were pretty cool, my mom played them a lot.

If I were you I would still file something with ebay to make sure that the person does not do it again.
 
Thanks for the responses here. It does suck.

I just found out from ebay that in order to have that item removed so that it doesn't sit there forever as an unpaid item, that I have to contact the seller and get her to cancel the sale. Whatever.

So I called her. She said the owner of that machine will part with it for $1500.00. Of course, I don't feel great about that--it's as if I picked up a TV at WalMart that says $1000.00 only to have the cashier tell me it's actually $1500.00. Besides, it's totally against ebay rules to bargain a price outside of ebay.

Ah well. Move on I guess.
 
If it was me I'd make a really big stink about it and tell that woman she had a binding contract and you'll be picking the game up for what you won it for. And show up at her door with the cash and be a dick about it. That's just me though. This kind of shit pisses me off.
 
If it was me I'd make a really big stink about it and tell that woman she had a binding contract and you'll be picking the game up for what you won it for. And show up at her door with the cash and be a dick about it. That's just me though. This kind of shit pisses me off.

I agree. When you put something on ebay and people bid, its a legal binding contract between the bidder and seller. She is breaking the law. I would take it as far as I could.

If she does not learn her lesson, she's probably going to do it again to someone else.
 
I agree. When you put something on ebay and people bid, its a legal binding contract between the bidder and seller. She is breaking the law. I would take it as far as I could.

If she does not learn her lesson, she's probably going to do it again to someone else.

I'm in this train of thought too. What's the worst that can happen? You pursue it and end up just where you are now. Best that could happen? You end up with your crane game for the agreed upon price on eBay.
 
Part of the problem is that I live 1100 miles away from where she is in CT. I had talked the wife into making a vacation out of it and pick it up on the way back, but I really would need to have some confidence that I'd be taking it home. This gal doesn't even own the crane and I don't know who the guy is that really owns it. It's not in her possession. So he'd just hide or whatever. Something's up with that machine anyway--it's been dicked with so I might do all that and realize it's not worth it.
 
There were some bright red flags however. The listing was from a new member with zero feedback.

On an item like this, that particular red flag meant you had around a 30% chance of a successful transaction. It's automatic "don't get your hopes up" territory.

That being said, I'm very sorry it happened. Depending on how much time & effort you want to spend, I wouldn't let it go. Make sure she's miserable by the end of the experience, and maybe she'll never use eBay again to dick around with people.
 
Contact her one more time and let her know you will be leaving negative feedback. Then contact Ebay and report her.

1. she is backing out of the deal
2. it is against ebay policy to sell items not in your pocession. (at least it use to be against policy)
 
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