eBay Fury

I'm beyond furious. My adventures in eBay have just reached a low point.

It's well documented that prices for old Citadel figures have gone up and up. Or at least it's been well documented that aside from increased popularity in retro gaming, particular individuals have inflated the market through quite ridiculous BIN prices or stupidly OTT postage costs, etc. In spite of this, I've still been able to pick up some odds and sods on auction, though I'm quite resigned to having to pay £4-5 for some items I'd have expected to pick up for £2-3 previously. No great shakes there, and I'm not going to throw my toys out of the pram when I'm lucky enough to live in a lovely house with my lovely wife as funded by our thoroughly decent (and seemingly quite secure) jobs, when the vast majority of the world's folk are a damn sight worse off. So against that backdrop, and to show I have at least a modicum of perspective, my complaint is pretty peevish really. However, it's a point of principle that has got me frothing at the chops, and I think I need to vent it.

Before I go any further, I have to admit to the possibility of a certain amount of hypocrisy in naming an eBay seller (ye_alchemist) in this post. I have previously voiced annoyance at the assassination of alexchattaway on another blog (in fact on THE blog for retro gaming, collecting and painting, Realm of Chaos 80's - long may it thrive) as I felt then as I still feel now that people will pay if they want stuff, so if alexchattaway puts high prices on his items and they sell, then kudos to the man. And that's actually where my gripe is a little different and I'm maybe not all that hypocritical in publishing this post after all.

In brief, I have been watching a Citadel female chaos warrior piece on eBay for a short while, with a BIN price of nearly £15 and postage of £2.50. I can't remember if the piece appealed to me as it's from the McDeath scenarios or as it was a very similar one to a piece from said scenarios. Anyway, whatever the situation, and as there was also a Best Offer option, I dipped my toe in with an admittedly cheeky £1.50 bid. Unsurprisingly, it was rejected. No counter offer came, so I stayed with the cheeky bids and offered £2.50. No surprise when that was also rejected. No counter offer again. So I went back in with an offer of £3.50, or £6 overall when you consider the postage. Not completely unreasonable if the guy wanted a quick sale. So I pressed the confirm button to put that final offer to the seller, but was met with something I've never seen before: a message that said I am blocked from bidding on the seller's items!

So message him I did:

And the proof I've purchased from him before (I assume it's a him - sorry if I'm being presumptuous):

Considering the speed with which the seller responded to my offers and then blocked me, I'm surprised that there has been no immediate response to my message. I left a little time for a resolution, but none has come forth as yet. So I'm taking to the blogosphere to vent my frustration. 

I'm in a few circles on Google+ and I follow quite a few blogs, but I'm not hugely involved as I struggle with time and motivation. But I'm an avid fan of oldhammer and I happily pick up stuff that I'll one day paint, though at the speed I do that it'll be years before I get a substantial body of work. What I'm saying is that I care a lot for this stuff, but today has pissed on my chips mightily. I thought the community to be better than what I've experienced today. I'll keep on keeping on, but this seller has shown me a different side to the hobby. I'd go so far as to say that the seller is an absolute cock. 

Anyway, here she is in all her glory, and I hope the seller accidentally damages her and gets fuck all for her:

Edit: Well here we go, she's not a McDeath personality, but she is definitely enough like her to have caught my attention: