I ship via the US Postal Service unless other arrangements are made with me and requested in advance of bidding. Shipping can be done internationally with buyer paying the actual shipping charges via the US Postal Service. For multiple lots, the bidder may request combined shipping at the time of notification of award. Shipment will be made within 2 USPS business days of receipt of payment.

Shipment will be made by Priority Mail with Delivery or Signature  Confirmation and Insurance or Overnight Express Mail, no exceptions. For my protection, and YOURS, I demand these mailing features to insure that you receive what you pay for. I will NOT waive any of these requirements for any reasons so, please, do not ask.

International Buyers – Please Note:

• Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility.
• Please check with your country’s customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying.
• These charges are normally collected by the delivering freight (shipping) company or when you pick the item up – do not confuse them for additional shipping charges.
• We do not mark merchandise values below value or mark items as ‘gifts’ - US and International government regulations prohibit such behavior.

Payment Information

Because of Ebay rule changes, I will accept PayPal ONLY for this auction.  Any other payment method must be agreed upon PRIOR TO placing any bid on my auctions. 

Payment made by Paypal is expected within 24 hours, unless other arrangements have been made PRIOR TO placing a bid on items.  If you are going to place a bid and are planning on paying via Paypal then please be prepared to pay immediately, or at least within 24 hours.  It is simply unfair to make the seller wait for payment, especially when he is going to be paying a fee for the privilege of allowing you to pay via this method.

Terms and Conditions

All bids must be received through normal online trading processes established by eBay. I do not and will not reveal reserve auction prices, so please do not ask. Attempts to discover my reserve by placing a high bid and then retracting it, claiming you made an error, will be immediately reported to eBay and will result in your ID being permanently blocked from bidding on all of our auctions.  I do not entertain off eBay attempts to purchase an item during my auctions and will report any such solicitations to eBay.

Every effort will be made to accurately describe all property offered for bid, including sizes where necessary, however, all items are offered for sale on a "AS-IS" basis with no warranty or guarantee except as described herein. I am not Wal-Mart and do not offer returns because an item does not fit or because the color looks slightly different in person than it did on your computer monitor. Everyone uses a different monitor and video card so it is necessary that you read the item description carefully. Please email in advance of bidding with ALL questions. Please note all sales are final!

I reserve the right to refuse to sell to bidders with significant negative ratings, new members, or any other member, at my sole discretion. Bidders with significant negative ratings, feedback under 25, or other undesirable bidders may have their bids canceled without prior notice, unless they have contacted me first.  Zero(0) feedeback members or new members(less than 60 days)  MUST contact me frist PRIOR TO bidding.  Bids from these individuals at the last minute or utilizing Buy It Now will be cancelled and your account added to our blocked bidders list.

Bidders will be barred from participating in future a_distinguished_gentleman online auctions for any of the following:

1. Failure to observe ALL of the terms and conditions of sale.

2. Failure to complete transaction.

3. Leaving negative feedback.

As my feedback rating suggests, I want you to be happy with this transaction in every way. Unfortunately, as the news suggests, eBay fraud is becoming quite prevalent on both the Selling and Buying ends. I do not want to be a victim and I want my customers to be happy with the transaction. For this reason, the terms and conditions of this sale are laid out up front, for my protection and YOURS.

If you are unhappy with any of the terms and conditions listed herein, do NOT bid on this auction. In fact, if you do not agree with ALL of the terms of this auction, you are prohibited from bidding on this auction.

Failure to complete this auction and abide by all of its terms will result in a non-paying bidder alert being filed with eBay and possible civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction.

Thank you for your interest. Please be sure to look at my other auctions as I post new items often.  Proud father of a United States Marine.  Semper Fi! 

It has become clear to me that the departure of Meg Whitman from Ebay was the beginning of the end of Ebay as we all came to love it.  For my current purposes, I will limit myself to detailed ratings.  This is supposed to be a means to measure what type of seller you are so that buyers will have a better experience.  If you are a good seller you will get high ratings and then Ebay will reward you with discounts.  Sure.

 

I have maintained a 100% positive feedback rating because I sell what I say I do and at fair prices.  I provide dozens of high quality photos of every item I sell, a lot of work, but I do this so that the buyer knows exactly what they are getting.  As soon as I am paid the item it goes out, period.  My items are always well packed and arrive in the condition I say they will.  On the couple of occassions it was claimed that was not the case, I have provided or offered full refunds, including shipping both ways, something few sellers do.  What has it gotten me?

 

To date, I have NEVER gotten a Powerseller discount!  Why?  Each and every month one of those buyers who has no business buying items on Ebay buys an item and then leaves a low detailed rating, usually on shipping, and then I am screwed.  You can have thirty 5 star ratings in a month, but then one pinhead can come along and ruin it all.  Is that fair?

 

Recently, I mailed an item to a guy that I actually lost close to $400 on by selling it to him as I did.  He loved the item, according to his public positive feedback.  In spite of getting an item for $400 less than I had into it, and for about $1000 less than I would have gotten a year ago (pre-economic downturn), he gave me a low rating on postage/handling.  Why?  Because he was from England and postage overseas now is horribly expensive, plus, he obviously had to pay duty/taxes to get the item (Ebay says you cannot be penalized for this, but that does not prevent buyers from giving you 1 star on your detailed ratings).  Even so, in this case, the postage I actually paid was $11 more than I charged him!

 

The new rules have made buyers into vultures and that is exactly what Ebay wanted.  Why?  They never wanted people like me to get discounts because that would mean less money for them.  They made the program the way it is exactly because they wanted pinheads to come along and ruin your seller ratings each month so they could charge sellers a premium.  Now they supposedly offer you a discount if you give free shipping.  Why?  Because they know sellers will incorporate the cost of shipping into their asking price and Ebay gets a piece of that, but they don't get a piece of shipping charges currently.  Sadly, far too many sellers are buying into this currently voluntary plan, but just wait, it is coming.  Soon, Ebay will anounce that sellers MUST offer free shipping, just like they MUST offer Paypal, and then they will permanently have another piece of the pie.  They will claim that this is because research has shown that this is what buyers want and that sellers who do it are more successful.  Don't believe it.  It is all about money, money for them!

 

Buyers pretty much want you to give the item to them now or even pay them to take it!  I was listening to the radio yesterday and I heard a tape of this woman screaming at the repo guy who was taking back her car because she had not made the payments.  This is paraphrasing, of course, but essentially she screamed that the guy could go ahead and take her car.  She said she was poor now, but thanks to recent US elections, she would soon be rich when everything is taken from the rich and given to the poor, making the poor rich.  I am not kidding!  This is the mentality now on Ebay, too.

 

So, while it pains me to limit my auctions to the US, Canada, and Japan only, I am forced to do so.  As long as buyers are going to whine about the cost of shipping overseas, then I cannot ship overseas.  I believe those who are too cheap to pay for shipping on an item they just got at 90% off retail, in some cases, ought not buy on Ebay.  They should go into the store and pay retail or wait until the government will confiscate everything from the stores and redistribute it to them, as they seem to believe is going to happen.  It is a sad day in America and an even sadder day on Ebay.

 

 

Payment made by Paypal is expected within 24 hours, unless other arrangements have been made PRIOR TO placing a bid on items.  Other forms of payment are expected within 5 days.  As most experienced Ebayers know, sellers pay up front listing fees for all items at auction.  Sellers also pay a final value fee at the end of the auction.  In addition to all of that, sellers also have to pay a fee for accepting payment through Paypal.  While I cannot speak to all sellers, I accept Paypal payment as a courtesy to my customers, the vast majority of which prefer Paypal because of its convenience.  Their really is no advantage to the seller in accepting Paypal other than getting payment more quickly.  As such, I require that payment be made within 24 hours when paying with Paypal, but in truth payment should be made immediately, which is what I do.  If you are going to place a bid and are planning on paying via Paypal then please be prepared to pay immediately or at least within 24 hours.  It is simply unfair to make the seller wait for payment, especially when he is going to be paying a fee for the privilege of allowing you to pay via this method.  Makes sense?  Thank you.

 

 

"Every effort will be made to accurately describe all property offered for bid, including sizes where necessary, however, all items are offered for sale on a "AS-IS" basis with no warranty or guarantee except as described herein."  Okay, that is the necessary legal jargon.  In truth, I will accept a return when I have made a mistake, not when you experience buyers remorse.  When a refund is given in any circumstance it is done despite the "as is" policy.

NEVER return an item without first obtaining my specific authorization to do so, as no refund will be given in such a circumstance. If negative feedback is given, no refund will be given.  What does this mean?  If I authorize a refund after discussion with you then you need to, first, return the item to me.  Once I determine it has be returned in the condition I sent it I will notify you that I am ready to make the refund, however, having lived up to my end of the bargain in every way, having provided you with good customer service, I have earned psotive feedback and should not have to worry that I am going to get negative feedback.  My reputation is worth far more to me than any single item and its cost.  You MUST leave positive feedback if you expect to get a refund, period.  If you intend to leave me negative feedback out of some sort of spite then you are certainly not going to get a refund on top of that.  This is only fair.  If I make you whole, give you a full refund, especially when you really are not entitled to one, then I am certainly entitled to positive feedback PRIOR TO making the refund.  If you disagree, please don't bid on my auctions.  Thank you.

 

 

Many times I provide overwhelming provenance for an item and other times I have none.  I only sell authentic items and my 100% positive feedback rating over a very long period of time supports that.  I do not need to state that the item is 100% guaranteed authentic because I ONLY sell authentic items, period.  Please, do not insult me and embarass yourself by asking if an item is authentic.  In addition, if you have to ask if an item is authentic then you probably do not know enough about it to be bidding in the first place.  Common sense should prevail.

 

 

We have received inquiries regarding our willingness, or not, to accept items on consignment.  We do on occassion accept items to sell for others, but those items must meet the same high standards that our own items meet.  We will not list just anything for the sake of getting an item to list.  We will only take those items that we believe best represents the level of quality that we want to convey to our customers.  If your items are not of the highest quality then we will refuse the item, even if we feel we could turn a profit for you and for us. 

 

We put many hours into preparing an item, researching the item, taking many pictures, writing appropriate ad copy, all of which is very tedious and time intensive.  Because I am personally retired and do this, for the most part, for the great personal satisfaction it brings me, it is vital that the experience is enjoyable for me.  I do not enjoy selling other peoples junk.  I do enjoy taking high quality items that might need a little work to restore them, returning them to pristine condition, and then listing them for auction.  Those are the items we look for and will accept.

 

We are extremely discreet, having never revealed the name(s) of any of our clients.  More important, our auctions consistently have high traffic and bring in top dollar.  If you have items that meet this criteria, do not have the time required to properly prepare them for auction, do not have the expertise to persuasively list your items, and do not have the established, long-term reputation required to effectively list items at auction, then contact us through the Ebay mail system or directly, at a_distinguished_gentleman@hotmail.com, and we would be glad to talk to you.