need 3rd party view: sale between byuu & assembler gone bad.

[GodofHardcore]

i'm interested in a recent event involving byuu and assembler.

byuu is the creator of the relatively popular super nintendo emulator called bsnes. byuu is the buyer.

assembler is the admin of the assembler forums (http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/). the forum deals in discussions about all sorts of rare game console hardware, development kits, prototypes etc. assember is the seller.

a few days ago, byuu (creator of the super nintendo emulator 'bsnes') attempted to purchase on ebay, a monitor from assembler from the forum above ).

however, this sale did not end successfully. here is byuu's version of the events: http://byuu.org/articles/assembler-is-a-scammer

there is also a forum thread about it on byuu's forums: http://board.byuu.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1620

assembler also offered his perspective of the events on his own forums here: http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... hp?t=33130

as a potential buyer who was planning to buy something relatively expensive from assembler, i would like to ask this community for their 3rd party opinions.

what do you make of this event?

and how were your dealings with assembler? good, bad or somewhere in between?

[gtmtnbiker]

I would be interested in hearing more about assembler's side of the story. byuu's arguments seem pretty well thought out (from reading his web page) so he seems very believeable to me.

I have bought a few things from assembler before and had no issues. byuu's claim that he should be able to get it for $80 seems legit to me considering that the top buyer backed down. If that person wasn't in the bidding, then he would have had the monitor for $80. Also, what's up with the claim that the buyer was in Canada and didn't want to pay shipping? Seems very fishy to me.

[Gnashvar]

If he has something you want and you think the price is fair go ahead. It seems he doesn't have any shipping or delivery problems. Maybe he does like to rack up the price but then it's up to you to decide if you think it's worth it. You should always have a max price you think something is worth and never go over it in an auction.

[da66en]

Assembler seems shady, but Byuu attempted to snipe the auction and still lost. So Byuu was already willing to pay the price, so he should just get over it.

[irixith]

Regardless of who was in the right on this one, it's a shining, beautiful example of why eBay sucks.

[Hobie-wan]

Byuu's information posted is presented in a rational way. Looks pretty shady to me. As noted I find it interesting that the short thread on Assembler only had posts by staff and moderators, then was closed where as Byuu's discussion is still open for people to chime in.

[dedalusdedalus]

Asking too many questions, making me worry about a chargeback
Wants the item for $80, or half the asking price.
Asking for items not in the auction twice (cables)
Asking me to drive two hours each way so he can save $25 on shipping
Offering to pay me cash (Circumventing Ebay fees)

As to reason 1, I don't see what the connection is between asking questions and a chargeback. I was under the impression that a buyer could pretty much initiate a chargeback for any or no reason.

As to reasons 2-4, that's just negotiation on Byuu's part. If one buyer backs out, then the other buyer naturally gets a lot more leverage than he had before, and Byuu seems to just be asking for reasonable concessions to compensate for the fact that the item is "untested."

Additionally, I think it's ridiculous to ask for the buyer's maximum bid on a second chance offer. The max bid is what the buyer is willing to pay to outbid other buyers -- but on a second chance, the winning bidder has withdrawn his bid.

Assember's reasons for not selling sound a bit suspicious. But maybe there's more to this story, so I'm still open to other explanations.

[jeffro11]

Byuu was in the right in every single way, if were to believe his events to be true (which i personally do). The lie about that "canadian" thing. That's just bad...

[o.pwuaioc]

I too side with byuu. Thanks for the heads up on this scam artist.

Assembler seems shady, but Byuu attempted to snipe the auction and still lost. So Byuu was already willing to pay the price, so he should just get over it.

It's not the fact that byuu lost, it's that Assembler is running an eBay scam, which is actually against their terms and conditions anyway.

[aaron]

the part that drives me nuts about it is the fact that the thread on assembler's forum was closed about a day after posting it, the first 3 posts are edited, and the only replies in the thread are from moderators.

i have a lot of respect for those guys on both forums and they do a lot of cool things for retro gaming and the whole scene in general, but when stuff like this shows up it kind of irks me. i don't see why either party would be willing to fully disclose everything, like byuu not posting the whole email conversation, or assembler not addressing pretty much every claim made against him not related to that item in particular. and then shutting down the thread on your own forum so quickly like that? seems silly for someone with nothing to hide to act that way.

i dunno, just be sure to ignore second chance offers from assembler if you ever get one, i guess.