From the start I've been wary of eBay. I readily recognized the faults of the system, despite all the advantages: it's essentially an international flea market, where the quality of the goods you're receiving isn't apparent until you get whatever it is home and test it. And at least at a flea market you can handle, and possibly even try out, the object in question before you make the buy. With eBay you're left to rely on a picture and the seller's word that it's working.
Naturally eBay has ways to counter problems. Sellers receive feedback from their buyers, thus warding off problems for later buyers. But it doesn't always work - and such was the nature of my problem.
I'm a video game nut, and especially so when it comes to older games. I love older SNES games, and I kept my SNES in good working condition for many, many years (it only recently died on me, rest its soul). Unfortunately SNES games aren't exactly easy to track down these days, nor were they even a few years ago: normally you have to rely on flea markets or second-hand electronics stores to get what you want, and even then you're more likely to come across a horde of useless sports games than what you're actually looking for. (Unless you're actually looking for said sports games, I suppose, in which case - jackpot!)
When I was younger I was fool enough to sell my copy of Donkey Kong Country to save up cash for some other game that I don't recall enjoying nearly as much. Such was the nature of early life: if you had no job you had to rely on the bartering system to get new gear, unless your birthday was near. Mine wasn't, however, and so off went Donkey Kong.
Naturally I regretted the move later in life and, with some prompting from my then-girlfriend, decided to order it online. I couldn't find it in any store, and loathe though I might be to purchase the thing on eBay, what choice did I have? So I tracked down a suitable buyer, checked out his selling history - and it was good - and ordered not just Donkey Kong but three other games as well: Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong Country 3 and I THINK Yoshi's Island. My mind is hazy on the last one.
After purchase the guy thanked me and assured me that they would arrive within a week. I was content with that. Unfortunately I was no longer content a month later when they still hadn't arrived, though I couldn't blame that on the seller. The mail system, especially between countries, is unreliable.
The games did come eventually, and foregoing all other entries I went straight for Donkey Kong Country. My girlfriend, also being a fan, sat and played with me for hours - probably four or five - and we made quite a bit of headway into the game. It played like a dream. Eventually we saved, shut it off and went to get some dinner.
Deciding we'd not had enough of the Kong, however, we soon came back and started the SNES up again.
Only to discover that our saved game was gone. And it's not as it we'd forgotten to save - I'd SEEN the save file - it was just gone.
Suspicious, we started up a new game, saved immediately, and shut it off. Then back on. Save was gone. The game's internal battery had run dry.
Alarmed, we tested the other games. Two of the three were in a similar state - working fine, but lacking in battery power. We'd been screwed.
I dashed for the computer and shot off an email to the seller. I soon received a reply: the games were all working fine when he sent them. It must be my fault. No refund.
Infuriated, I gave him an extremely negative review - what else could I do, really? - and despite his vehement protests to the contrary, demanding I retract the review, it still sits there today.
Or so I imagine, anyway. I don't use eBay anymore. I'm just glad I was hit hard on something as trivial as video games, as something more major would really have teed me off.