Sorry another ebay thread.
Hi
I have been buying off ebay now for years without a problem until now.
My son asked me to buy a pre-owned Football manager 2013 which I did.
When the game arrived on Monday it wouldn't work. He did some research online and found that this game has a streaming activation code which will only work once, so he won't be able to play it.
I emailed the seller who was aggressive from the start telling me that his uncle had a 'pen' which put a tiny dot on the disc and to send a faulty one back is a serious offence!!
I know games are a bit dodgy when someone claims that they don't work and maybe he has been scammed before, but a simple google search would tell him that no-one else can play the game once he has used the activation code.
He is completely refusing to do anything and has accused me of hassling him and getting really aggressive now.
He says that the item is as described and he does not accept returns.
So I need to know, does he have a point and do I just accept it or do I have a case to open a dispute.
Like I say I have never done this before.
I have been buying off ebay now for years without a problem until now.
My son asked me to buy a pre-owned Football manager 2013 which I did.
When the game arrived on Monday it wouldn't work. He did some research online and found that this game has a streaming activation code which will only work once, so he won't be able to play it.
I emailed the seller who was aggressive from the start telling me that his uncle had a 'pen' which put a tiny dot on the disc and to send a faulty one back is a serious offence!!
I know games are a bit dodgy when someone claims that they don't work and maybe he has been scammed before, but a simple google search would tell him that no-one else can play the game once he has used the activation code.
He is completely refusing to do anything and has accused me of hassling him and getting really aggressive now.
He says that the item is as described and he does not accept returns.
So I need to know, does he have a point and do I just accept it or do I have a case to open a dispute.
Like I say I have never done this before.
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Comments
Do it now. Don't leave it.
the PC version, i take it?
edit PC and MAC only..
why do people buy second hand PC games on fleabay??
this title is £20 brand new in ASDA
all you can do is open a case
he dosent sound like a very nice seller, if he knew it didnt work, why bother selling it??
OP, if you get no where, the game is £17 on Amazon
i hope you didnt pay much for it
I have bought PC games before from ebay and never had a problem, this is the first time I have had a problem that cannot be resolved.
Its also his attitude, if he calls me "mate" one more time I am going to lose it.
Right I am off the ebay to figure out how to open a dispute.
It was £15 on Steam all last weekend...
Anyway, I agree with the above and it looks like you'll have to open a case against him, not sure if it would class as "significantly not as described", though, so I dunno how you should approach it.
Did the seller make it clear it was second hand and had been played? Did his description say it would be able to be used by the buyer or did he say something like "buyer may have to re-activate to play"?
good luck OP
sounds vile
Used once, I personally prefer the older ones, this is to complicated for me! in great condition. The case cover has a slice in it but nothing major. CD itself is in near perfect condition. Great game if you have the time, will post 1st class!
happy bidding!
So how do I answer the question because it is as he described.
I would imagine this would be a case where the item is not as described. Surely a preowned game is expected to be able to be used and played by the new buyer unless otherwise stated in the listing.
The way the seller has reacted when the OP tried to contact him suggests to me that he is not surprised by the problem and thinks his bullying tactics will scare her off and mean he can get away from refunding.
Might also be worth having a shout out on the actual ebay buyers forum to see what they say, as well as us... http://community.ebay.co.uk/category/Discussion-Boards/3
He can either de-activate his steam account and then the code will work.
Or he can send his steam details but that would involve revealing his password.
He has emailed the seller but I have heard nothing since. He is probably trying to figure out how to turn his computer on.
I will give him a few minutes to get back to me and if not open a dispute. His attitude is really bad. Its a case of tough luck as far as he's concerned.
Use the term " not fit for purpose " and you should be fine. You will be given time to resolve the problem with the seller, but he will have to refund you in the long run.
I doubt the seller would want to do either of those. He might be able to de-activate the game from his Steam account, though... Never had to do that, though, so I dunno if that's an option...
He was probably hoping to get away with having installed the game on his system, activated it and then sold it on so he could still play it on his system and make some cash off it...
I will wait now to see what happens.
Thanks for all your advice, it is much appreciated.
The seller sent me another message telling me he was going to report me to ebay as the item was working and they would side with him and he wanted me to stop hassling him.
He even told me he was just trying to make a living and he couldn't believe I was causing him so much trouble over £10.50!!
I opened a dispute and wrote back telling him that I had done it and wouldn't be hassling him anymore and would let ebay do it.
Almost immediately he sent me his steam username and password saying he never used it anyway.
My son is now happily playing the game so I have closed the dispute. I can't be bothered to let him know though, no doubt he will get a message from ebay.
Thanks to everyone for the advice. I really didn't know whether I had a case or not as the game was technically as described but it seems he thought I might have hence sending me the details.
You live and learn.
I am not going to leave feedback yet as I need to think about it and not do anything rash:D
This is nothing to do with the Football Manager game, this is for the overall access to the Steam account that is needed to play Football Manager.
So, it's not over yet.
If you actually get access to his Steam account you might want to change the Steam password and access email so the seller can't change his mind and do it instead, thus locking you out of the game.
Also, you shouldn't have closed the dispute as things may not be over with and, once closed, you can't re-open a case. He will have been notified that the case has been closed so, if he really is a git, he could still withhold access to his Steam account.
but im glad its sorted.ish
That's not a foregone conclusion. It's probably right in 'most' cases. Just spending some time reading the eBay forum shows that it doesn't always work out like that, though.