Something I bought on eBay is not as described.

I'm currently in dispute with an ebay seller over three kites.  The seller had said that all kites were in good condition - but when they arrived, one had a series of holes in it.  I requested a £45 refund from the seller who responded by saying that the kite with holes was a 'Bonus' (why not say that on the ad?).  Further, it was suggested that I had not " ... done my research".  Me!  Not done research?  Oh dear.  This is my reply:

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I’ll accept £25 – + £2.50 towards postage.  You are fortunate that my original claim for the full amount has been mitigated following a trip to the beach with the 2m trainer and my kids.  They seemed to have had fun with it.  It flies, with out ripping to shreds – which I find surprising, so I’m going to repair it myself with some flexifoil repair tape – note that the tape alone costs £9!  My claim for the full amount has been mitigated by my kids adopting the kite – hence £27.50 will keep me happy.

One thing I’m not happy about is your allegation that I had not “ … done your research on the kite” – let me assure you that I go over the top a little on this stuff.  Your suggestion that the kite is only worth £20 is wrong.  It currently retails at £120:

http://www.kiteboardinguk.com/acatalog/Airush_Training_Kites.html

… and typical ebay prices for used kites in good condition is around half their retail value.  My policy is to bid 1/3^rd of what a kite retails for – hence the £40 I had allocated to the trainer.  Note I will ONLY bid on kites in good condition.  Rips and tears make a kite worthless.

To continue to address your accusation that I don’t “ … done your research on the kite”, let me point out my recent Blade 2 3m purchase from ebay.  The 3m version retailed in 2003 for £260 – see:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030224072751/powerkiteshop.com/kites/flexifoilblade.htm

To allow for inflation I rounded this up to £300, and then bid just over 1/3 or the price - £105, getting it for a little cheaper than that, see:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250689458702&ru=http://shop.ebay.co.uk:80/i.html%3F_nkw%3D250689458702%26_sacat%3D0%26_odkw%3D250689458702%2526%26_osacat%3D0%26_trksid%3Dp3286.c0.m270.l1313%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#ht_597wt_1139

So I do do my research, you see :-)

The £27.50 would keep me happy (though still a little miffed with the research allegation!?)

Kindest regards

David

Ps – here’s my research on the flexifoil kite repair tape I mentioned above:

http://shop.flexifoil.com/products/rec-kite/recreational_accessories/repair_tape

Yes, you can find it cheaper, but those suppliers don’t have stock – similar to my PC World experience: http://dbcallaghan.blogspot.com/2009/10/pc-world-and-more-sharp-practice.html (I do have more interesting things to do on a Saturday night).