SHOCK! All is not as it seems on EBAY

[forsooth]

Hi, brothers --

Thought I relay this experience. I "won" a nice used Peterson on EBAY from a seller with 100% positive feedback. Nice stem, nice rusticated briar. Lots of bidders, and my bid was the highest at $51.00.

Right, so today I get the box in the mail. Nicely padded with newspaper, and wrapped in bubble wrap. I opened everything carefully. As the Peterson lay there in front of me, it looked very nice, just what I had bid for, and I felt a little relief.

Then I picked up the pipe by the stem. The briar fell off onto the table top. I tried to re-insert the stem, and could not get a even a moderate tightness with the military bit connection. I looked inside the briar to see that "someone" had used white plumber's tape in an attempt to gain some friction between the briar and the stem.

Of course, this had not been mentioned in the seller's glowing description of the pipe.

Bottom line: a pipe that looked just like what I had "won," but at the same time a totally unsmokable combination of pipe parts.

I have contacted the seller about the issue, but haven't yet heard back.

This was my 3rd purchase on EBAY, and the way I feel now, it will be my last. It really doesn't seem worth the trouble and disappointment.

 

[MisterE]

Hi, brothers --

Thought I relay this experience. I "won" a nice used Peterson on EBAY from a seller with 100% positive feedback. Nice stem, nice rusticated briar. Lots of bidders, and my bid was the highest at $51.00.

Right, so today I get the box in the mail. Nicely padded with newspaper, and wrapped in bubble wrap. I opened everything carefully. As the Peterson lay there in front of me, it looked very nice, just what I had bid for, and I felt a little relief.

Then I picked up the pipe by the stem. The briar fell off onto the table top. I tried to re-insert the stem, and could not get a even a moderate tightness with the military bit connection. I looked inside the briar to see that "someone" had used white plumber's tape in an attempt to gain some friction between the briar and the stem.

Of course, this had not been mentioned in the seller's glowing description of the pipe.

Bottom line: a pipe that looked just like what I had "won," but at the same time a totally unsmokable combination of pipe parts.

I have contacted the seller about the issue, but haven't yet heard back.

This was my 3rd purchase on EBAY, and the way I feel now, it will be my last. It really doesn't seem worth the trouble and disappointment.

Naw, don´t worry, if the guy has a huge rating, he´ll make good- especially if he DIDN¨T mention the tape on the stem. That´s fraud...

 

[Cuervo25_1]

well you can give him the option of fixing it, then report to EBAY if he don't do something about it preferably send you enough money back to have it shipped to the factory and fitted with a new stem and leave a feedback stateing that he sold something without fully describing the piece.

another thing, could you post the page, I think I actually bid on it as well

 

[Obelus]

...

 

[Anonymous]

This is probably not what you're talking about, but it can happen that whenever a system pipe hasn't been smoked in a while, the stummel can drop off the stem pretty easily. After it's been smoked a few times the problem goes away (probably briar expansion in the stummel).

Evidence of the infamous "Peterson Drop" on older system pipes (dinged endcaps) is pretty widespread.

:face:

 

[forsooth]

Here is the EBAY page image. I left off the name of the seller, giving him/her every benefit of the doubt.


https://i.servimg.com/u/f73/16/13/05/04/ebay_p12.jpg

 

[Harlock999]

I fear this kind experience is probably rather common with ebay estate pipes, even from some well known sellers with impeccable feedback. I've fallen for some over the top hyperbole on a couple estate pipe purchases in the past, as well as some misleading photography. Your example sounds worse than an over hyped pipe however. My worst experience was a pipe that had apparently gotten lost in the mail. I reported it as not received and got a full refund. Miraculously, the pipe showed up over a month later. I felt really bad at first, until I tried to remove the stem from the pipe and found that the tenon was completely broken off, and the stem had actually been glued to the shank! Needless to say, I did not give the seller his money back. GLUED to the shank!!

 

[MisterE]

From the looks of it as advertised I would´ve bid on this one too...

 

[LL]

Easy to see the problem in the pics if you know what you're looking for.

The stem and shank aren't co-axially aligned. Always a red flag with any pipe, push fit or regular.

 

[Cuervo25_1]

Not the one I bid on, But I see what LL is talking about. However isn't peterson the company that makes each stem to fit the shank individualy? So is it possible that this one just has the wrong stem for it?

 

[forsooth]

Yep, that is the problem, I believe.

 

[Zeno Marx]

There's no reason this has to be a bitter experience. You ask the seller for a refund. If they refuse (or ignore you), you file a claim with PayPal for "item not as described" or one of the other obvious options. In the meantime, if you paid with a credit card (ALWAYS pay with a credit card, because your credit card company is going to stand behind you if PayPal doesn't, and you have 60-90 days to file a claim rather than only 45 days with PayPal's process), you notify your credit card company and ask them to make a note of it while you work through remedying the problem. There's no way you can lose your money on such an occurrence, and there's no reason you should just accept it happening to you.

 

[LL]

...isn't peterson the company that makes each stem to fit the shank individualy?

It's the other way around, actually. The "tapered cone" type of junction that most Petes have isn't sensitive to size, only angle. Meaning the stems are interchangeable within their group. (Small, medium, large, x-large, etc.)

The type of stem joins that have to be tuned/fitted individually are the more common parallel-sided tenon/mortise combination.

 

[Cuervo25_1]

...isn't peterson the company that makes each stem to fit the shank individualy?

It's the other way around, actually. The "tapered cone" type of junction that most Petes have isn't sensitive to size, only angle. Meaning the stems are interchangeable within their group. (Small, medium, large, x-large, etc.)

The type of stem joins that have to be tuned/fitted individually are the more common parallel-sided tenon/mortise combination.

so could it mean he has the wrong sized stem?

 

[LL]

so could it mean he has the wrong sized stem?

Possible but unlikely. Usually the face of the conical mortise has been enlarged in some way. The wood has split, for example, or someone attempted to enlarge it with a knife. You'd have to have it in hand to know.