Disputing with PayPal

It's started. I have opened my first dispute with PayPal, thanks to never getting a response from the seller of Mega Man 2. Here's what I wrote:

"I have tried to contact you on several occasions to try to resolve this issue, and most of my attempts to contact you have gotten no response. I first wrote to you June 5th to inform you I had received the item but it was not in working condition, and that I would test it further to make sure it wasn't a problem on my end. You had said to take my time and to not worry about the 7 day exchange you had mentioned in your auction. You had also stated that you would change it out if I didn't get it to work. I replied to that response saying that it was un-fixable. You had replied to that message stating you would check to see if you had another copy of the game and that you'd get back to me. That was June 10th. I had sent you messages after that and none of them since have been responded to. I'm disappointed that it had to come to filing a claim with PayPal, but this is my last resort. As I had mentioned in a message I had sent to you prior to this, all I'm asking for at this point is a refund. If you provide me with an address to ship the game back to I would be fine with doing that as well. I would appreciate if this could be resolved."

According to PayPal policy, the seller and I can attempt to resolve the issue, or I can escalate it and have PayPal resolve the issue. I don't know how long I should wait to get a response from the seller, but I have 20 days to escalate or it will automatically be closed by PayPal. I don't plan on waiting very long for the seller to respond because I doubt they will. That seller already has feedback saying that they did not respond to PayPal, so why start now? We'll see.

Other than that, no games in the mail yet, but I did aquire a copy of Ren & Stimpy: Buckaroos and had also won a lot on ebay that included Milon's Secret Castle, NES Action Play Football, and Big Bird's Hide and Speak. Not super awesome games in that lot, but I won it for $1.00 plus $4.00 shippping. So hey, adding to the collection!

Wish me luck on the dispute..

Fun Stuff

I found this today at the Mall, and I was pretty stoked! I (think) they're pretty hard to find nowadays, but I do remember back in the day they used to be plentiful! It advertises having 76,000 games in it, but I'm sure most of them are just repeats of the same game. But it will have some games on there that I can't get here in the us, like Nuts & Milk and (or Milk & Nuts) and possible Circus Charlie. You can read up about it here on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Player_Super_Joy_III. It's not supposed to be mine, but I will be able to get another one at the store I got it at (hopefully, they said they would get more) when they get more in stock.

I also won an auction on eBay, FINALLY. I've been bidding on stuff, making offers on stuff, but have had no luck until now. I won Yoshi's cookie for $4.00 plus free shipping. Not that awesome of a deal, but not too bad either. I'm bidding a lot of three games that's going pretty cheap, so we'll see how that goes. Still no word from the Mega Man person, but I did happen to run across some of that persons auctions. Rawr. I should just file the fraud report now. Forget waiting the few more days...

I tried looking for games at the local indoor swap meet, but they were freakin' EXPENSIVE and terrible quality. I mean, who is going to pay $7.00 for Golf? C'mon now. I tried at least.

whatzhotdist = FAIL

Like the title says, whatzhotdist = FAIL. That's the seller currently not responding emails since the 10th of this month (and now it's the 24th). Let me share with you some of the negative feedback this person has gotten in the last MONTH:

- "Won over a month ago and still not received items" X 2, dated June 3rd
- "Game did not work seller claim 7 day guarantee but it is not true.", dated June 3rd
- "item doesn't work.. e-mailed the seller a week ago.. no response.. disapointing", dated June 3rd
- "I never heard back after game was found to be non-working.", dated June 3rd
- "Nearly 1 Month No Item, Didnt Respond To Paypal, Wont Buy From Again", dated May 30th
- "A truly terrible seller. Never got item, filed dispute with paypal, no response.", dated May 29th
- "contacted seller for 3 weeks with no response, never received.Don't Buy here." dated May 29th
- "Seller never sent item and never responded to message.", dated May 27th
- "did not recive item wouldnt recommed 2 other ebayers very dissastionted", dated May 26th
- "Never responds to emails. I never received item. Horrible seller !!!!!!!!", dated May 24th.

I can't believe this garbage! This seller has, in 1 month, 464 feedbacks, 2 of which are neutral and 13 of which are negative! I am NEVER purchasing another game without checking out the feedback again. This is absolutely ridiculus! Sellers like that should just not be allowed to sell. There isn't some sort of limit on how many disputes are open with the same seller before they are removed or something? If not, they should really implement it. Looks like I might be wasting my time waiting for a response. I'm still going to wait until July 1st like I originally planned, then I'll file one. I think 30 days is way too long to not get something settled. This person is currently listing stuff as I type, and has sold at least one other copy of Mega Man 2 that I could see. Sigh, I just wanted a damn game..

New games and new system

I know I haven't been updating a lot, but I just had a very busy weekend. I went to convention with my Mom and my Sister, so I wasn't around very much. But I did end up getting a few games donated to me today:

I also did get a new game system a few days ago, but it's in need of some serious cleaning:

It's a bit intimidating, but I'm sure it will clean up nicely. I'm going to probably have to open it and clean it inside-out. Also, having it apart will make it easier to "scrub" the dirt off. Gotta be careful, and hopefully it is still in working condition. If not, oh well, I got it for free. But this is my next system I want to collect on, so I'll keep my fingers crossed!
Other than that, I haven't heard back from the seller of Mega Man 2, but I did end up writing again last night. Here's what I wrote:
"Dear whatzhotdist,
I wrote to you about a week ago asking what the next step in our transaction was and I received no response from you. At this point I would prefer a refund. If you provide me with your shipping address I will ship the game back to you at my expense.
-(My eBay ID)"
I don't understand it. They started off really nice and willing to help, and now nothing. I won this auction June 1st, and now it's June 22nd with no resolution. I guess if July 1st comes around I'll file a claim or whatever it's called to get this taken care of. I don't want to have to do that, but I've gone about two weeks without hearing anything from this seller. After just dealing with that stupid Galaga incident too... Stupid sellers that suck.

Interesting weekend so far

So that is what I found at the outdoor swap meet this morning. Each game was $2.00 and in pretty good shape. A bit dusty, but all around good shape. I did find other games, but they were in TERRIBLE shape. I was pretty excited to find the ones I got considering purchasing them on eBay would have been more (cause of shipping of course). According to the price guide I got good price on all of them! It was hot and the swap meet didn't go as planned, but at least I left with a few games. I will definitely have to go again.

There isn't much to share other than that. Still haven't heard from the Mega Man 2 person, so I'm going to write one more message and hopefully get a response. If not, guess I'll have to open a case or whatever the heck it's called to attempt to get it resolved. Sheesh...

Track n field

So I played some Track N Field at the pinball museum. Here's a couple videos. It's split up because my Mom started laughing when she was recording cause of what my sister said at the end of the first video. Enjoy.

Not much to talk about lately

I know I haven't been posting much, but my gaming life has been pretty slow. I have absolutely no games in the mail, have no bids out there, and no money yet to buy stuff. I'm possibly getting a game from other sources, but I'm not sure what will happen with that so I'll let you know if I get it.

I get paid on Friday, and I'm planning on going to an outdoor swap meet. I'm hoping I may get lucky and find some good treasures there, whether it be Nintendo games, other games, other systems, or whatever type of gaming goodies I can find! I'm really excited and my family that will be out better be willing to go early, early, early!

Sorry about the lack of posts, but here's a picture of my computer monitor at work, though it would be fun to share..

Pac-Man and ghosts made from pipe cleaners. Oh yeah..

Guitar Hero 5? Eww.

So I just read in my Game Informer magazine that they are now coming out with a Guitar Hero 5. The first thing that came to my head was "Really?! Another Guitar Hero?!" Now don't get me wrong, I love Guitar Hero. I have world records in the game, and I own all of them that are out for the PS2 right now except for Rock The 80's. But enough is enough already. They're beating a dead horse at this point! (You can read out the game at Wikipedia here if you're interested.

Once I got World Tour, I figured the franchise was reaching it's end. I was highly disappointed by World Tour. Thank goodness I got the game for free, because if I shelled out the $180-ish for the game I would have been pissed. The game is very easy (except for getting used to the drums), and the song list is crap. I know my taste in music is different, but the gameplay itself was just so boring. I mean, playing on Hard was easy. Playing Guitar Hero 3 on hard was a pain the butt. I doubt my skill improved so much that I'd notice a difference like that.

Another game I was disappointed about was Rock Band Unplugged for the PSP. This game is very similar to Amplitude or Frequency for the PS2. You basically have to change what instruments you are playing at any given moment to keep your game going. Anyone who has played these other games are sure to see the correlation between the two. But then again, those PS2 games are pretty darn old (I believe Amplitude was released around the same time the console was released). I was excited to hear about Rock Band on PSP and was thinking about investing in one since they were going to have a bundle pack that came with the game. But no, it fails and I'm not going to spend $200 on that when I really have little interest in the system and any of the games for it.

That's all I had to share for today.

Smash TV is neat!

My last pending game came in the mail today: Smash TV. It's in pretty good shape. Only has a few nicks at the top of the label (you might be able to see it in the photo). Now, I have never played this game for the NES, so when the option for one player one controller and one player two controllers came up, I thought it was a bit weird. I had heard about playing with two controllers like that, but I didn't know what to expect. So I tried it on one controller first and it's pretty difficult. You have to point in the direction you want to shoot and that's not how it is in the arcade version (or PS2 version for that matter). So I tried the two controller option and I had no idea how I was supposed to hold the two controllers. So I fiddled with it a bit and finally found out that you have to hold them like it's pictured to the right here. That was a lot easier and a lot of fun. I've never been very good at this game, but I do enjoy playing it. I used to play it quite a bit when I got my first job.

I got a response from the seller of Mega Man. She said she was going to check to see if she had another copy of the game and that I didn't have to worry about shipping the defective one back to her. I got that message this morning, so we'll see how that goes. Even though I'm totally bummed the game doesn't work, I'm very happy that the seller is being very friendly and helpful. It's funny cause all of her emails start off with "aloha" cause she's from Hawaii. Just unique cause you don't see that very often.

Now I have at least another week until I can start bidding again. It's going to be a long week.. I'll have to record some game play or craft something. Maybe crack down and record some world records..

3 Things

Yup, I got Kirby's Adventure and Metroid in the mail today. As you can see, Kirby is in excellent condition and Metroid is, eh. It's not bad, but it's not perfect either. I'm not complaining, they both work! Metroid is only a little chewed on the label, but I can live with it. I've read on Wikipedia that if I really get into Kirby's Adventure that I may experience "serious slowdown issues" (you can read the article here). I can't guarantee that I'll get "into" the game, but I might. It looks like fun.

Speaking of issues with games, I had a friend check out my Mega Man 2 game. We opened it up and... ewwww. Apparently ANTS were possibly LIVING in the game. It was all types of dirty and messed up. The seller had admitted to it sitting in a box for a good year, so yeah. I'm not sure what's going to happen at this point. I'm going to propose one of two things: Either send me another copy of the same game (without having me ship the non-working game back) or refund half the price of the game and let me keep the broken one. Why, do you ask? Well, I could use the back to replace the back of a game that's in bad shape that I already own and I could use the front for another copy of Mega Man 2 if I happen to receive a copy that's all chewed up. Smart idea, huh? Too bad it wasn't mine... :P

And on a quick (and last) note, my blog was featured on videogamepriceguides.com! It's pretty exciting, hoping to get more traffic here and maybe even put some ads up and attempt to make some money off of this adventure! Who knows, last time I checked I wasn't really getting much of anything. Even though I'm a bit disappointed, I'm just doing this for fun. I just wish more people would be interested in NES collecting, you know? Oh well.

Super C in my mailbox

Lookie what came in the mail today! Yep, Super C. And it is in excellent condition! No flaws in the cosmetic condition whatsoever! Plus, when I was cleaning it, there was hardly any dust on the pins. Ah, I love it when I receive games like that.

So that means all I have waiting in the mail now is Kirby's Adventure, Metroid, and Smash T.V. Smash T.V. should be here on Monday since it left MI yesterday.

This will be a slow two weeks for me because I have ZERO money to play with on eBay. Boo hooo hooo. Guess I might have to do some more video game crafts or maybe some more game play. I hope I can get Mega Man 2 to work cause I don't want to have to try and find it again. Plus if I have to send the game back that's going to be another pain that I don't want to deal with.. We'll see.

Dr. Mario Game Play.. and other news.

Today seemed like a fitting day to play this game. I only play up to level 12 before I got bored, but enjoy anyway (it's in 4 parts, make sure to check all the other parts out).

In other news, I got Mega Man 2 in the mail today, but it's not working. Even though every other game I own works in my system right now, I still don't think it's the game. It's in perfect condition, the contacts in the cart look fine to me, so why would it be the game? I'm going to get a second opinion on it later, but for now I'll just let the seller know I at least got the item.
Nothing else for now. No eBaying for me for awhile.

FINALLY!

So look what came in the mail today! Galaga, at last! But guess when the package is postmarked... June 1st. That seller said that he was "pretty sure" it was mailed on Tuesday. Wrong! You didn't mail it until a week later! And all the seller had to do is tell me that and I wouldn't be so aggravated as I am now. I would have not been nearly as disappointed if I was just told it wasn't mailed and the person was honest with me. But no, they weren't. So here I am going to give them their first negative feedback because they lied to me TWICE about when it was going to be shipped. And since they were sitting on the game for so damn long, they could have at least cleaned it!

I also got The Mutant Virus, which is in PERFECT condition. I'm very happy with that seller. Game came in a reasonable amount of time. No complaints there.

Oo, oo, I just totally "sniped" (or whatever it's called) and won Super C for $7.69 with free shipping! Yeah! I'm so going to make myself broke, ha ha ha.

Steve Wiebe failed to get the world record on Donkey Kong at E3. Billy Mitchell will always be the best.

Regaining my confidence in eBay

No, I didn't get Galaga in the mail today.

But I did get Mega Man 2 for a very decent price! Free shipping... Put in a best offer for $6.00. Got a counter offer of $7.95 and TOOK ADVANTAGE OF IT! That game is easily worth $20.00 NOT including shipping and I basically stole it from that seller! I'm totally going to have to check out more from that seller just in case I can find some other steals.

The Mutant Virus is leaving MO tomorrow, so I could get it by the end of the week easily! I won Smash TV for a whopping $0.01! Well, don't forget the $3.00 shipping, but still! Also, the seller that I won Kirby and Metroid from refunded me shipping for one of the games today, so it basically paid for Smash TV (was short $0.02). If part of the shipping was refunded for that other auction that means the games must be in the mail! I feel a bit better now, at least I still have my luck with eBay.

So I have 6 games pending. Building up that collection nice and quick. Funny how fast this collection has built up in 3 months. I'm pretty sure I only started with about 20 games and here I am with 52! I was talking with a friend about collecting and we were discussing how it may be easy now, but once we get to the end of the collecting it's going to be hard cause (of course) the more expensive games will come at the end. And I'm not one to want to spend a lot of money on anything, so thinking about shelling out more than $10.00 for any game, let alone HUNDREDS of dollars is something I'm not going to do very easily. I may have to try Craigslist or thrift stores or places around town that don't know what they have. I'm sure it will be possible to find, just not as easy as it has been now.