Warning about eBay seller 16-bit/Mad-Gear LLC

[Black Tiger]

Is Dream Stars really a guy? I always get my stuff wrapped in pink packaging with a cute little letter thanking me for my order with lots of cute cartoon stickers all over everything.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

So maybe he's gay? Nothing wrong with that...

But I will add another testimony to the fact that he (Dream Stars) is far and away the BEST of the big Japanese e-stores on eBay. I've bought tons of games from him over the past few years, though his prices can get a little high, the service and communication he provides are exceptional. The items are always better than described, too. More often than not I'm willing to throw down a few extra bucks so I can rest easier knowing my merchandise is in good hands and will arrive promptly. Highly recommended!

I saw someone here mention Bullseye back a few. This guy is a COMPLETE and total f*ckhead. I bought "Gate of Thunder" from him a couple years ago and he never sent it. I waited a month and a half. I sent countless e-mails. He never replied to a single one. Finally I filed a claim and the next day I got my money back. He left me negative feedback with the comment "PAYPAL LABEL MAKER SAYS NOT A VALID USA ADDRESS". WTF?!?! So write the damn label yourself! How can "Paypal label maker" know whether or not my address is valid, anyway? And it took you a month and a half to figure this out? To this day, that transaction remains my ONLY negative feedback on eBay since I joined in 2001. What a f*cking jackass.

Bullseye is well known around here and is even way worse than you think. It sounds like he only actually sends out one of every 10 items he's paid for and 9 times out of 10 what he sends is garbage and not as advertised.

I e-mailed 16-bit about the shipping and mentioned the condition, but haven't heard back from him.

Tonight I noticed that there's dirt going all the way up inside the Shuttle's HuCard port. I'm going to have to open it up and clean it inside & out.

[vestcoat]

Anyone know what Bullseye calls himself these days?

Black-Tiger you really need to let this guy know how he screwed up.  If not, he'll just assume that it is OK to keep doing it to everyone else.  Point him to this thread discussing his auctions and he'll see that many people are being warned about doing business with him.

Yeah, it's too bad.  I was impressed with his service a couple years ago but i'd think twice about buying anything from him now.

Yea Toshi's Dreamstars never let me down,nor has The West Exit,Hit-Japan,and Japan-Games.
Asemasters was pretty good too,but Im not sure if he still sales.

16-Bit I feel is a hack with money,not as bad as Bullseye,but not that great either.

Asemasters is OK and has decent prices once in a while, but he sniped a cheap item I was bidding on once (probably so he could re-sell it) so I avoid him too.

[16-bit]

I e-mailed 16-bit about the shipping and mentioned the condition, but haven't heard back from him.

Tonight I noticed that there's dirt going all the way up inside the Shuttle's HuCard port. I'm going to have to open it up and clean it inside & out.

Justin, to date I have not received any email from you about the disparity in the shipping price or the condition of the system itself.  The only emails I received were about air mail shipping and the request for the tracking number.  However, I was pointed to the forum by another member via eBay's messaging service about this thread today.  If there are any additional concerns that are not addressed in this forum post, please try contacting me again thru eBay's messaging service.

Regarding the disparity in the shipping price, I do negotiate lower on Canada shipping since EMS for Canada is often lower than Europe, and I believe I have done so in the past for other PCE Hardware that I have sent you such as the wireless pad set.  Clearly, a more practical solution would be to have set shipping prices for Canada. I will be doing that for all new auctions that I list effective today.  

On the issue of the condition of the system, I regret your dissatisfaction with the system that resulted from the lack of clarity in the auction and/or my error in grading.  If you would like to return it for a full refund plus reimbursement of the return shipping as stated in my return policy, please let me know this week.  A refund for the shipping cost via paypal has been issued just prior to this posting.

Carlson
Mad-Gear LLC (ebay id:16-bit)
  

[vestcoat]

16-bit,
Nice, professional reply.  I'd glad to see you post on here.  I hope you two can work things out.
 

[nat]

Anyone know what Bullseye calls himself these days?

Last I knew he changed his name to "2_many_collectibles" or something like that.

That user id is now listed as "no longer a registered user". Maybe enough people complained to eBay and they finally threw him out.

[Michael Helgeson]

I was the one who messaged 16-Bit via ebay. I felt it was pretty shitty to send a "DIRTY" shuttle grafx to someone,without making any cleaning effort,then screw the buyer over on about 20 bucks almost. Just wasnt right.
People tend to do the right thing once they get talked about on forums and are made aware of it,lol.

[Black Tiger]

I sent another message through eBay.

He might not have received my original post-auction message about shipping options either, since I didn't get a response until my second message days later. But that'd already be at least two missing messages. I don't know if eBay's starting to screw up messaging like PayPal sometimes does or what.

I still want to keep the system as I said before, since the base price is still a good deal to me for a loose Shuttle.

However, the other night I noticed that the AC Adaptor is actually for a Duo and is a different model number than the two compatible numbers listed on the bottom of the system. Hopefully it's safe to use or I can find an alternative, since I wouldn't want to try using a Turbo Duo AC on a TG-16.

[cavein2000]

Yep, I bought my SCD2 Unit from Dream Stars!!  Works perfectly still, I bought it off ebay and got a pretty jawsome deal!!!!  The pink bubble wrap and arrigato slip were sweet!!

[Black Tiger]

I was pretty busy with the holiday season when the rest of this played out, so I never got to post what happened.

16-bit e-mailed me shortly after offering a full refund. I said that I'd be fine with the difference in shipping refunded, since I still considered the Shuttle a decent deal for what it was, even if it wasn't what I was bidding on.

He sent me a refund for the entire shipping, so I sent back the difference.

Just to show that I wasn't exaggerating, here are a few pics that at least give a an idea of the condition of the Shuttle-

http://www.superpcenginegrafx.com/shuttle.html

[Digi.k]

I bought something from that guy too in the past but some of the more pricier stuff the guy won't help sending overseas so I don't bother with him anymore.. well its his loss.

[FM-77]

That's repulsive. What did you do with it? I wouldn't even touch that thing!

[Black Tiger]

That's repulsive. What did you do with it? I wouldn't even touch that thing!

Well, I'm hoping to be able to clean it well enough(inside and out). 

It'll get displayed more than played anyways, since I have so many PC Engine systems. 

[vestcoat]

Goo Gone works pretty well for cleaning up the outside of crusty old systems, games and controllers.  Too bad there's nothing you can do about the scratches

[FM-77]

It'll get displayed more than played anyways, since I have so many PC Engine systems. 

Please replace that smiley with something like this: 

You can never have enough PC Engine systems.

[esteban]

I was pretty busy with the holiday season when the rest of this played out, so I never got to post what happened.

16-bit e-mailed me shortly after offering a full refund. I said that I'd be fine with the difference in shipping refunded, since I still considered the Shuttle a decent deal for what it was, even if it wasn't what I was bidding on.

He sent me a refund for the entire shipping, so I sent back the difference.

Just to show that I wasn't exaggerating, here are a few pics that at least give a an idea of the condition of the Shuttle-

http://www.superpcenginegrafx.com/shuttle.html

Yeah, that's not simply dust. That's dirt, and you certainly weren't exaggerating. I noticed the scratches, which you can't do anything about, but I think your shuttle+pad will look pretty nice once you clean it up.