Disappointed eBay Flion- advice? UPDATE

I dont know if it was anyone here that sold this Flion, but because of the honesty Ive seen here, Im highly doubting it. For those of you bidding against my sister in law Nicole for this piece (several of us in the family use my eBay account and have for yrs with no problem; it remains at 100%), you can be happy you didnt get the piece for that price.

Maybe you all can give me some advice if youre willing to read here. First, here is the link to the closed auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=200132682231&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=010

As you can see, the seller says the item is MINT. She says it in description and then something just as similar to a buyer who had a question. She did not post Nicole’s question asking if it was from a smoker’s home (it was), but did answer privately. In that same message, she also said that there were NO FLAWS she could see.

How could you miss them?! 😯 Well, maybe 😯 to me, a collector. While there’s no chips, theres missing bits of paint on the toes, under ALL the toes, on the tail and BOTH haunches. The felt is a smooshed peeling mess. Not to mention, for being “curio kept”, it’s dusty which as you guys know from my sales here, I always mention mine may be dusty. This seller didnt.

She also had poor communication after auctions end, according to my sister in law who was asking for shipping insurance to be added. After a couple of days, she went ahead and paid right away so that this would arrive for my birthday this weekend. Seller’s answer (to consider) was that her mom was in the hospital having recently had a stroke and thats why she didnt get back to Nicole right away. She did add shipping insurance for free. She said she would double box the Flion, but it’s was not as we here understand double boxing. But again, it didnt break so Im fine with that.

Now it comes time to be leaving feedback for seller (she left my feedback as positive). Nicole has contacted her through eBay and through email to give her a chance to explain why she said it was MINT with no flaws on more than one occasion when it’s easily seen in person that there is missing paint. All things considered, what kind of feedback would you leave her? Nicole is, at BEST, going to leave her Neutral feedback. And, shes giving her time to respond to her queries about why the item was misrepresented, or, all facts not disclosed or listed properly both in description, when she asked and when another buyer asked.

He displays well from a far, but it’s very easy to see the missing paint when you come up to admire him (I doubt my camera would catch it though I could try). The bottom would be EASY to see but even if that were the only places it was messed up, Id be fine since he sits on his rump. But missing scraped paint else where is not MINT in my opinion. And to full out say that there were no flaws to be seen both to me and other buyers, that’s plain wrong.

I dont think Nicole would care if it werent a present and it was a different kind of statue (Non Windstone). But she paid $207 plus shipping for this and is a bit miffed. I dont profess to know how to touch up the missing bits of paint as Im scared Id mess it up further. If I knew how to do this, Id not care as much- neither of us would. But my point is, the item, the way I understood it, was misrepresented in part. You dont call something MINT when it’s missing paint, or say that it has no flaws when it’s obvious that it does.

Any advice? Thanks for reading and letting me vent. Nicole is over my shoulder reading this and feels better for my having written it as it will help her out too.

Big hugs, from this bittersweet Leo 🙁 😡 😮 🙄 🙂 … I dont know how I feel.

Im trying to upload photos of the damage which youll clearly see because I circled them in royal blue in Photoshop and made the photos big (so I will link them here to open in a different page instead of have this site host such large photos).

I wasnt thinking of leaving her negative feedback, nor was Nicole. We are debating about neutral. Ive found more flaws on top of the head as well, which photos will show. Ive been after this piece since it came out, so I wont return it. However, I never thought of a partial refund and Nicole will definitely look into that option (and she thanks you for that input as it didnt occur to either of us.

We dont know how much to ask back from the $207 (forget about the shipping; that number is item price). We’d like to hear more input from you guys once you are able to view the flaws and tell us what you think. I do not see whatsoever how anyone could miss these paint flaws. Again, not chips but missing paint. Youll see once the photos are loaded and then you can figure out what you would ask back as a refund if you were in this situation yourself. Either way, it is not MINT. I’ll give her good condition… but I wont give her MINT or excellent condition. And she had stated such in auction, in my email to her during auction AND in the buyer’s question that she posted during auction too.

I dont want to be naive either. I do feel badly that her mom is recovering from a stroke and I dont want to add to that stress. But everyone that knows me has always said, “you never stand up for yourself when youre in the right your whole life!” Im non-confrontational as well and prefer to have positive energy around me whenever possible. Nicole, while very protective of me now, is also like me. Neither of us like to back anyone into corners and put them on the defensive. This is why she emailed the seller before even considering leaving any kind of feedback.

But, with what problems we’re asking about, what can the seller really say? Either the piece is mint even with those “little” flaws; sorry I didnt see the flaws so it’s not my fault; or, I lied and said it was mint because that is my opinion and Id accept the statue as such in this condition.”

Photos are uploading slowly cause theyre large. I’ll post them here as soon as I can and hopefully then when you guys see what Im talking about, you might be able to figure on what the partial refund should be. I think that’s a good idea. If the seller goes for a partial refund, then positive feedback will be left. How the seller responds (her tone), will be the only thing that would lead me to negative FB. If she flips out and is rude and spins it around on me, then we’ll go negative because she became negative. But we hope not.

But, if we hear nothing from her at all, we are still debating on neutral, negative or nothing. Nicole is going to email her photos of the flaws too, just to remind her how many of them there were.

Still uploading… stand by for links to photos. Thanks for the advice so far and Im also sorry to hear about others disappointments when it comes to eBay winnings. You have my support.