Originally posted by mayonaise
ok, i'm putting myself in his shoes. i'm from the UK, i live in japan. the japanese and UK accords are the same - but i want to sell these JDM headlights to americans.. but i don't know whether or not they will fit in a USDM accord. so i just make it up? thats BS, man. if he was from the UK and thought that the JDM headlights would fit in a UK accord, he would have said they would fit a UK accord, not a USDM accord. if he didn't know to begin with, he shouldn't have advertised it that way, and it's his fault for doing so - not the buyer's.
he is running a business.
business
function: noun
3a: a usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood
if you look at the number of items he sells and the regularity with which he sells, he's obviously selling car parts to make money. as such, he is engaging in a mercantile activity as a means of livelihood.. doesn't have to be a legally registered company, incorporation, organization, etc, in order to be a business.
your example for light bulbs is correct, but (a) that's not a $700+ fix, and (b) he didn't lie in the advertisement, he just didn't mention that the 9006 bulbs wouldn't fit.. in this case, you could attribute the misunderstanding to the buyer for not doing his homework. the headlight housings themselves will fit the car with no bodywork in your example, sure - but the same is not true for the 6th gen JDM accord headlights going into a 6th or 5th gen USDM accord. in this case he clearly stated something that was not true about a product - he lied.
if you think that any seller, store or business can just lie about their products to sell them and still remain in business, you're unbelievably mistaken.. i garauntee you, if any legitimate store, seller or business sells you something under false pretense, you are entitled to your money back.
furthermore, since we're talking about an ebay auction, this situation directly violates an ebay policy:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/...rformance.html
Under the Seller Non-performance policy, the following practices are not permitted:
1. Not delivering an item for which payment was accepted.
2. Significantly misrepresenting an item by not meeting the terms and item description that are outlined in the listing
- the headlights were represented as being able to fit a 5th or 6th gen USDM honda accord with no bodywork. completely untrue - a complete misrepresentation of the item, because it does not meet the item description
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html
6.2 Restricted Activities.
Your Information (or any items listed) and your activities on the Site shall not: (a) be false, inaccurate or misleading; (b) be fraudulent or involve the sale of counterfeit or stolen items;....
- "false, inaccurate or misleading" just about sums it up. what you are suggesting, lying about an item to sell it, is fraud - illegal in most countries, and blatantly violates ebay's user/seller policies.
i'm not trying to decredit the guy, once again. the volume of his sales and his feedback rating mean that he's perfectly credible and legitimate. but your ethics are extremely misguided.
Isnt ebay a worldwide site? Meaning he is technically only lieing to some?