Bought a $450 Astro paperweight on ebay - advice?

Yosh · Post by **Yosh** » Thu Nov 14, 2002 7:20 pm

Well, I guess my ebay luck has been good up til now. I bought an Astro Saber I VHF with IMBE for $450. It arrived and looks fine externally but the radio must have been sitting in saltwater or something similar for a long time, and the internals are complete corroded from top to bottom.

The seller is like, "well, I stated it was no guarantees and no refunds." I believe that he knew that the radio was junk. Bottom line is he has my $450 and I have his worthless piece of junk. Getting my money back will take an act of God.

A couple related questions:
1. Does the depot accept water damaged radios for flat rate?
2. Anyone want to buy it? I'd consider just about anything to recover some of my investment
3. Can anyone fix it for me?

Thanks in advance,
Yosh

spectragod · Post by **spectragod** » Thu Nov 14, 2002 8:06 pm

I have cleaned up some water damaged radios in the past, mostly Jedi series and have had pretty good luck with them, if you wnat me to look at it, I would be more than glad to, I only charge for parts if needed..... it is a hobby to repair what can't be repaired, and although I do it full time, I enjoy a challenge. You can email me at ncic@core.com.

Darren

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sat Nov 16, 2002 11:19 am

I would be interested in seeing the auction, can you give us the link.

No the depot doesn't do flat rate repair on water damaged radios. I have heard stories of people cleaning up water damaged radios, replacing shields that are rusted and such and sending the radio in and getting it covered on flat repair. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Jason

Yosh · Post by **Yosh** » Sun Nov 17, 2002 2:43 pm

Here is the link to the auction for those who expressed some interest. As you can see, it is clearly identified as "untested - no guarantees," but I truly believe that this guy knew that the radio was junk, and had the intention of playing dumb once a sucker (me) realized that the radio was dead from the beginning. When I told him that it was totally worthless, and that I was giving him the opportunity to refund my money, he replied with an email basically telling me to go jump in a lake. I believe that an honest person would be willing to at least work out some type of partial reimbursement or refund, even thought they stated that it was an AS-IS type of auction, and refusing to do so indicates that they were just hoping to rip someone off and get away with it from the start.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 63150&rd=1

-Yosh

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sun Nov 17, 2002 3:12 pm

Yosh wrote:Here is the link to the auction for those who expressed some interest. As you can see, it is clearly identified as "untested - no guarantees," but I truly believe that this guy knew that the radio was junk, and had the intention of playing dumb once a sucker (me) realized that the radio was dead from the beginning. When I told him that it was totally worthless, and that I was giving him the opportunity to refund my money, he replied with an email basically telling me to go jump in a lake. I believe that an honest person would be willing to at least work out some type of partial reimbursement or refund, even thought they stated that it was an AS-IS type of auction, and refusing to do so indicates that they were just hoping to rip someone off and get away with it from the start.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 63150&rd=1

-Yosh

It seems apparent that this seller uses the same lines to close out all of his auctions. Those lines basically stating "as is, no refunds" etc. Being as such, it is probably not likely that he was out to get you. It should be noted, however, that his other auction is related to boating....

-Josh

Yosh · Post by **Yosh** » Sun Nov 17, 2002 10:00 pm

Whether or not this guy was intentionally or unintentionally selling a worthless radio as "unknown condition," it really doesn't make much difference in the end -- I'm out $450 and this guy isn't out anything. I'm not trying to make myself out to be a whiner -- I bought the radio AS-IS, NO REFUNDS, and I am OK with that. However, if you were the seller, and you truly didn't know what you had in your hands (Astro Saber in this case), and you chose to sell it on ebay -- wouldn't you at least feel as if you ripped someone off if they came back to you and respectfully told you that you just sold them a worthless item? Or, would you be the one laughing all the way to the bank? I mean, does writing AS-IS in your auction really make your item (legally) worth whatever someone pays for it?

No disrespect, but those AS-IS NO REFUND statements are really just there (yea, I use them too) so that you might have something to back you up if the buyer wants to back out of the deal for whatever reason. I don't think it gives you the right to sell bad equipment.

-Yosh

Twisted_Pear · Post by **Twisted_Pear** » Sun Nov 17, 2002 11:49 pm

I've bought three different ASTRO Spectras for 300-400 that didn't work on arrival. He stated in the auction they were as-is. I don't like it but that's eBay life.

Like they say, caveat emptor. If you don't see a photo of the radio lit up and the seller knows nothing about it or states as-is no way to power it up, it could be only worth the parts.

-Wayne

Yosh · Post by **Yosh** » Wed Nov 20, 2002 12:00 pm

Thanks to some expert opinions from members of this board, we have determined that this radio is basically unsalvageable. If anyone is interested in purchasing it, I would consider ANY offer.

-Yosh

USPSS · Post by **USPSS** » Wed Nov 20, 2002 3:57 pm

If he knew nothing about the radio how did he have the FlashCode???????????????????????

Yosh · Post by **Yosh** » Wed Nov 20, 2002 5:17 pm

Labels are on the back of the radio.

I just posted it on ebay - Sold AS-IS - Clearly identified as DEAD and WATER DAMAGED.

-Yosh

Aragorn · Post by **Aragorn** » Mon Nov 25, 2002 5:47 am

What this comes down to is simple: ASK QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU BID and look at the seller's feedback. On every one of the lots I've bid on on Ebay I make sure the item is what I want and works the way I would expect it to. The only way to do that is by asking the seller questions. Sure, some sellers may not reply in time, or at all, or may outright lie about their items, but if I get no reply I don't bid. Regarding lying sellers, all you can do it leave negative feedback and email Ebay about it. But if there's that famous line in there, "Sold AS-IS", then you really have no recourse.

CHEFA2001 · Post by **CHEFA2001** » Mon Nov 25, 2002 11:34 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1920890340

I just got a good laugh, Last few saber 1's I purchased were for $100 each, Maybe I can get rich selling them on ebay??

<smirk>

Yosh · Post by **Yosh** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 9:03 am

You see...... I told you guys this A-HOLE knows a bit about radios. This only confirms my suspicion. This guy basically stuck his worthless DOA radio up my &**, knowing full well that it didn't work. This guy is a crook and should be avoided.

-Yosh

CHEFA2001 · Post by **CHEFA2001** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 6:34 pm

Are you referring to me Sir????

Yosh · Post by **Yosh** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 11:04 pm

CHEFA2001,
Unless you are (salmerin) on ebay, I'm not referring to you, and appologize if my last post was misleading in anyway. I was just commenting on the link that you posted. That guy selling the Saber that you posted was able to tell that it was working, but he couldn't disclose that the Astro Saber that I bought from him was dead as a doornail.

SALMERIN should be avoided, not CHEFA2001. Sorry again.

-Yosh

rlgoodin · Post by **rlgoodin** » Tue Dec 31, 2002 7:39 pm

IF YOU Dont gig him with bad feed back, someone like me may buy something from him.

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!

gig him right now!!!!!

HOWARD · Post by **HOWARD** » Thu Jan 02, 2003 5:57 pm

With all do respect, what did you expect for $450.00? You thought the guy didn't know what he was selling and thought you were going to pull one over on him and instead you got what you paid for. If I saw an add in the paper that said old Chevy for sale $500.00, I wouldn't expect to get a mint 53 Corvette. If you really think you got raped leave him negative feedback and contact Ebay, maybe with a little help you'll recover some of you're damages. You got the guys information out on this board and that helps all of us. You're not going to find a really nice Astro for less than $800.00
Good luck

mancow · Post by **mancow** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 8:54 pm

I disagree with the last post, you plain got F*****!!! all the way.

This happened to me with a vertex FTH-2070. It's like selling a car and saying, I can't drive so I don't know if it runs or has an engine. I mean how hard is it to figure out how to pull the case off just to see if the guts are even there?

I've accidentally sold stuff that didn't work the way I thought it should and have always offered to make good on it. It's not like he had a pallet of goods to go through, just one item.

Kind of like selling a diamond ring and the buyer finds out it's cubic zirconia. Sure the buyer may not be smart for taking the chance but the seller should have some bit of responsibility.

that's my opinion,

The thing that scares me as a seller is the possibility of people swapping parts or damaging things after they get it then saying it was bad from the get go.

mancow

Bought a $450 Astro paperweight on ebay - advice?

Bought a $450 Astro paperweight on ebay - advice?

your astro

gets better

YOSH

I just checked your listing

$450.00 Astro!