[Closed] Recently, there have been some Esval models of American cars on Ebay...

Not sure what you mean by "proven unreliability". I have ordered...

many models from this seller and never an issue. The 1928 Cadillac arrived 6 days after the order. We may not be referring to the same seller.

I ordered thousands of dollars of models from him and everything was fine...

...until it wasn't.

The slapdash packing. The broken models. The missing piece. The missing model (ordered 5, got 4!) The foot-dragging on replacements. The difficulty of communications: the bad english and the broken english. Having to gently "remind" him of his obligations. The promised models that never came. The substitution of one model for another.

This is not the behavior of a proper model source.

Why did I keep going with this guy? He was cheap! And he had everything before everyone else! What could go wrong? As it turned out, quite a lot. But you know the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me six times...wait a minute, what the heck am I doing using this guy?!!"

It hasn't happened to you yet? Just wait. You'll find out...as unfortunately so many others have.

My experience with this seller too; after several thou spent. Never again.

There are two issues here, right?

The first is the availability of Esval models and the other is this particular eBay seller, who is it?

Esval seems to be text book case of how not to run a company, the announcements, the delays, the lack of communication (I sent an e mail which was ignored). Why bother?

Then there are unscrupulous sellers. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but with an item available from multiple sellers I prefer buying from folks I have some relationship with and trust will have my back should there be a problem.

I think as a collector community, we have an obligation to each other not only to share our passions, but also, our experiences with dealers and sellers. Not only is this a good way to look out for each other, but also, try to make some impact on those sellers who seem to disregard the basic rules that should govern business transactions, if not simple decency.

Who was the eBay seller?

Check ebay for the only person selling the 56 Esval Chey.

Well, I don't want to be the one to name and shame him, but I think I know who it is.

And just for the sake of balance I'd have to say I bought from him quite regularly in the past, and apart from the fact that he was sometimes a little too eager to please by saying a model was ready to ship when in fact he was still waiting for deliveries, I always got what I wanted in the end.

On one occasion when the wait for delivery seemed excessive he refunded the payment and offered to alert me when the delayed model was actually available, which was decent enough of him. And one model that came loose in its plastic case and got broken in transit was replaced without question.

From my experience, "proven unreliability" sounds a bit harsh, but maybe I was just lucky, or maybe his service has gone downhill.

p.s. Maybe his English communication was less than perfect but it's a damn sight better than my Chinese (or yours) so we can't really hold that against him. He does at least try.

Esval models? A little help.

Just today I received the quarterly publication from a fine Brooklin dealer, Dominion. He has been enlarging his stock, and I noticed on the back he has a category of "Others." In this section he lists ESV 50 Mercury, 55 Willys Aero hardtop in 2 versions (available MAR), 33 Ford in 2 versions (Mar), 28 Cadillac in 2 versions (Mar), 56 Chevy wagon in 4 versions (Mar), 51 GMC pickup in red. The GMC and the 50 Mercury are now available.

Without saying anything further about a specific seller, a few comments on suppliers in general...

Model collecting is supposed to be a hobby. The last thing you want it to do is to stress you out.

But let's face it, sometimes things do go wrong...maybe through an honest mistake, the wrong model is sent. Maybe a model is forgotten when packing. Maybe a model is delayed, for many reasons, some of which are not the fault of the seller. Sometimes a part comes loose or detached, or what's worse, a lot of damage occurs to your model in transit. Maybe the model wasn't packed very thoroughly, but sometimes the seller did a great job of packing, and still you're looking at a mess of pieces inside a cracked display case. We've all been there.

When you have a lot of such problems from one seller, well, that may tell you something.

But the true measure of a model seller can be taken when such things go wrong. It's stressful, looking at those little pieces...but knowing you've got a seller you can rely on will really ease your stress level.

Is your seller friendly? Is your seller immediately answering your correspondence, and showing he understands the problem? Is he immediately taking action, either a refund or dispatching a replacement part or replacement model? Or on the other hand is he delaying or is he making you pay for return postage for a ruined model, which he'll have to dispose of anyway? Does he have to be cajoled or pushed to make good on his obligations, or is he taking charge and getting the problem solved? Is he acting like he wants your future business?

It's when things go wrong that you can really tell who your best supplier is.

Just an observation.

The name of the ebay seller is photo no longer available
There. Now I said it.

And I have many successful purchases from them.

Thanks David!

Multiple identities

I, too, have dealt with this seller in the past.

I gave up on him after I was given the runaround on a defective model he'd sent. This was a good number of years ago, so things may have improved since then .

At the time, I discovered he was selling under at least three different eBay identities.

I had ordered different models from what I thought were different sellers...and they all came from the same return address!

The feedback on those three different identities was much worse than Lloyd notes presently.

Perhaps as this seller learned how to properly do business internationally, he dropped the identities with the worst feedback, and stuck with the one he's still using now.

Personally, I have learned to be patient, since the models I want will 99% of the time become available from trusted retailers here in the States.

.

Yes, let's leave it at that, Lloyd. This is a thread that definitely needs to cool down.