[Mccoypottery-talk] OT: ebay auction help

[ACP]

This is off topic, but you guys are the only people I thought
might be able to answer this question for me.

I have an ebay problem.  Here's the story:

My mother has a lot of old glassware and pottery, etc. (yep,
even some McCoy)  that I thought I'd like to try to sell on ebay.
I tried taking pics with my cheap digital camera and they turned
out so poor that you can't see the detail.  So, I need (and want)
a much better digital camera.  I've researched them and decided
I'd try to buy an Olympus C-4000 online.   I could get a new
one for $311+shipping, but was hoping to do a bit better.
So, STUPIDLY, I went to ebay.  I"m not a past ebay customer.
I've bid a few times, but never won an auction and never really
paid much attention to ebay.

So, recently I've been searching for and bidding on new
Olympus C-4000 cameras.   My search criteria is
        "+Olympus +C-4000 -refurbished".
To my knowledge, I've ONLY bid on new items.

Today, I received an email saying I'd won an auction.
I used the included link to view the description of the
item I'd "won".   I'm not sure what happened, but when
I looked at the more complete (post bidding) camera
description, I didn't see a word about "new" or "nib" or
anything similar.   It is as if the item description has changed.
Of course, I can't PROVE that, cause I didn't save the one I
found when bidding.

Ordinarily, I would not question the description of this item,
but the item "ratings" puzzled me.  I have not seen that section
before (certainly not before bidding) and this camera is not even
rated the highest in functionality,  parts, etc.  It's rated a 3,
out of 5. That seems rather odd for a new camera.
I don't really care about the condition of the box, which is
rated a 3.  If it is roughed up, that's not an issue.

I DO care about the condition of the camera and enclosures.
The camera must look and function perfectly.   I don't
want to have to send it off to be repaired before I can
use it.  And it must include everything the typical new
C-4000 includes.

So, do you guys think the description was switched (I think it
was)?  Have you heard of this happening?  And how do I get
out of this deal??  I want a perfectly functioning camera, with
a new US warrantee.

I suppose I could just refuse to buy it if it's not a new one, but
then it sounds like I'd be blacklisted.  :-(

I've contacted the seller (realcrazymo) and asked him to
confirm that the item is new, but I suspect this is going to
be a huge problem, in that he's not going to admit to a
change of description and will expect me to honor the bid,
regardless of the circumstances.

BTW -- the winning bid for this item was $260.  If it needs to be
fixed right now, it would cost at least $100 to send it off to Olympus
for repair.

Also BTW -- My search criteria specifically omitted refurbished items.

Also BTW -- I'm a computer professional, and have worked a great
deal with ebusiness software, so I do know how all this works,
software wise and what can be done and what types of bugs can
exist.

acp