So just bought a stick from ebay and had a pretty terrible experience.
Here’s my story:
As someone who has been lurking the forums for a couple of years now, I feel a responsibility to stop my friends who are just getting into Street Fighter and other fighting games from going out and buying a brand new 200 dollar TE2, while I think the TE2 is a nice stick, I don't think it's the first stick people should buy if they aren't too sure about their future playing fighting games and stuff. So because of this, I'm constantly on the lookout for good deals on used sticks to send to my friends or get for them.
Well, I was browsing ebay one night and saw the PS3 Soul Edition TE for a pretty good price and figured I'd go for it. Why not? The guys seller rate was 100% positive feedback, It's a PS3 that will work on both PC and PS4 legacy mode for SFV, it seemed like a nice find. So I bought it around the end of March with the estimated shipping date being April 6th. About a day after my purchase I was curious as to why it hadn't been shipped and why the seller didn't contact me, I figured he was busy and would send it when he got around to it. However, three days later he contacts me and tells me there's "been a shipping delay with the order" and that he has "taken the precise actions to have [my] item delivered in a safe and timely manner". So that's cool, I'm glad he's taking such a proactive role in communicating with me. Then I wait for a few more days and on April 1st he tells me that he will ship it in 2-3 days and he "will take drastic responsibility for [his] delay" by shipping it via 1 day shipping. I was pretty impressed and excited to see someone on ebay go so far to make sure I had a great buying experience. So, I waited some more days and on April 4th he informed me that I'd be getting my tracking number tomorrow, which I did, the night of April 5th I got my shipping number. So when I got around to it, I checked the tracking number and saw it was sent through economy shipping. Hopeful, I figured it was some error in the FedEx tracking system and that for sure he'd deliver what he promised. NOOOPE. By, April 6th that stick was still in Louisiana and when I messaged him about the inconsistency with what he promised and how he shipped it, he claimed it was in "LA". I had accepted my fate and let the FedEx run it's process. About a week later, the estimated delivery posted on the FedEx tracking number comes by and I had yet to be given the package. Worried that the package had become lost in the abyss of mail I called FedEx about why the tracking number said it had been stuck in the same place for so long. FedEx informed me that they their warehouse in Visalia,CA had been backed up and my package missed the truck to Merced,CA and wouldn't be coming until the 12th at the earliest. They informed me that because it didn't make it by the estimated date that the seller on Ebay could call and get a refund. I let him know and got no response. I continued to try and communicate with him after he shipped it on the 5th, but the only response I got was the one about LA. Fast forward to today, the day I got my package, the day that dealing with this guy would be over. Or so I thought.
The guy listed the stick as used but in the description said it “[looked] like new” and “[ran] like new” but because of “moral standards” he had to “put the condition as used”. Wow, if I only knew how far from the truth that description was. The stick I got was for xbox 360(missing screws too) and not only that, it was like something out of some TT horror thread, borderline clear button finger gunk level. It was covered in some grease or dust that was most likely a cheeto/dorito dust and sweat hybrid. I felt so bad letting my brother hit the buttons to try it out straight from the box that I wiped it off with a Clorox wipe only to find mid wiping session that the back button was covered in what convincing looked like poo-poo I wiped off what I could get off with out having to put much elbow grease into it. I was pretty upset, so I stopped cleaning it and took some pictures of the stick to send to the seller and let him know what he sent me.
I don't like to think people are purposely bad, maybe he had some rough condition 360 version of the stick he was selling as well and got them mixed up. I Asked for a partial refund after my girlfriend suggested it. I don't mind too much that it's an x360 stick because the stick can still play on PC and I'm only losing out on the functionality of PS4 Legacy. I don't want to send it back and have to deal with this guy all over again.
Pictures of the stick and listing:
Anyone else have any advice on where to go from here?
