Did i get a useless BB crystal press?

[Birbdad]

Found this one for a pretty good price on ebay and i need a press and it's been a disaster. 
I bought the dies from another person and they were supposedly delivered but i never received them.
Today the press came and it appears to be missing a part. here's a picture of it.

In the photos he provided on the listing (Which ebay conveniently won't let you look at once you purchase an item.) the sorta three pronged disc thing on the top was present which you can see below. Is this part an integral part of the press? I'm not sure what it does but I know it's supposed to have it. What does it do and should I return it?

I can't edit or delete my original post but i found better shots of this press and yeah that 3 pronged disc is where the top die attaches so without it the thing is a paper weight. 

Great...i have the worst damn luck with ebay. Mods can delete this thread if you want.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Birbdad

[Klassiker]

You should be able to "view original listing" and see all the photos. If you are unhappy, make your own photos, contact the seller, and if you can't agree on a solution, get Ebay involved. Most problems can be solved amicably, but if not, Ebay will usually side with the buyer.

[Birbdad]

6 hours ago, Klassiker said:

You should be able to "view original listing" and see all the photos. If you are unhappy, make your own photos, contact the seller, and if you can't agree on a solution, get Ebay involved. Most problems can be solved amicably, but if not, Ebay will usually side with the buyer.

Where is the view original listing thing? i keep seeing posts online about how to do that and none of them seem to work. I think they might have disabled that feature stupidly.

[JohnFrum]

In Desktop website view, ‘’purchase history’, more actions’, ‘view order details’ click on the item, ‘see original listing’

[Birbdad]

the option doesn't seem to exist for me unless i'm utterly blind. If i got to more actions view order details isn't listed.

If i go to view order details above that dropdown it takes me to another page without any option to view original listing.
 

Unless i'm utterly blind they have removed this feature for some insane reason.

Also another guy is selling one with 8 dies, appears to be a full set for 140. Returning this useless one and buying that one. I dont' hear a lot of high praise for them but i do hear people here saying they use them. I hope this is a good one and worth the trouble.  

What do people generally think of these? How would it compare to the bergeon lever press?

[watchweasol]

Hi. I use both the lever press and the screw down type(Robur Copy) Indian I believe. Frank (Prazis) mentioned them some time back as I believe he was importing them and gave his valued opinion on them. I have found the screw down type easier to control. May be Frank can enlighten you.  The one you have got without the bits is virtually useless, as said a door stop.

[Klassiker]

4 hours ago, Birbdad said:

the option doesn't seem to exist for me unless i'm utterly blind.

In the list of your orders (first screenshot), click on the photo of the press. This will take you to a page with a green banner and the text "Congratulations...". Under the item description you will see five stars, "Be the first to write a review", and "See original listing".

 

eBay.pdf

[Birbdad]

1 hour ago, Klassiker said:

In the list of your orders (first screenshot), click on the photo of the press. This will take you to a page with a green banner and the text "Congratulations...". Under the item description you will see five stars, "Be the first to write a review", and "See original listing".

 

eBay.pdf 10.57 kB · 2 downloads

Ok i got it. that's weird. Never at any time does "view original listing" show up, nor do those 5 stars. You have to click see order details, then it has the green bar that says congratulation, then you have to scroll down through a page and a half of random other items you didn't bid on or buy and then below those is the original page. 

At least that confirms that this guy in his photos showed it with the top attachment thingy and he didnt' mention in the description that he wasn't including it. 
I found one in better condition with the 8 piece die set for 40 bucks less and put in a return on the paper weight. 

 

2 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi. I use both the lever press and the screw down type(Robur Copy) Indian I believe. Frank (Prazis) mentioned them some time back as I believe he was importing them and gave his valued opinion on them. I have found the screw down type easier to control. May be Frank can enlighten you.  The one you have got without the bits is virtually useless, as said a door stop.

Yeah i wanted a screw down but the ruburs + dies were a bit out of my budget. I keep hearing the BB press is good but i don't see anybody who owns one saying much about it other than it works. i hope it's a quality press. The incomplete one i have feels very very sturdy and very precise.

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Birbdad

[Birbdad]

Whelp, i now have two presses and two sets of dies of different styles but all say japan on them so i assume they're from whatever company made the thing. This second press actually works and i gotta say i'm beyond impressed with the stability and precision of it. It is PERFECTLY square, zero play in the posts. I can see why these things keep coming up on ebay. It seems like a really really high quality tool. How does it compare to the bergeon?

[oldhippy]

If you are not happy with it send it back and get a refund. 

[Birbdad]

8 hours ago, oldhippy said:

If you are not happy with it send it back and get a refund. 

Seller was a scammer and I had to file a case with ebay, but ebay is such a broken site it wouldn't even let me file a case for awhile. 

Teh day my replacement BB press from another seller came in which seems amazing ebay came through and ruled in my favor and i'm getting my money back thank god.

I've been scammed on ebay a couple times and they usually rule in the scammers favor.

[GuyMontag]

I haven't sold anything on ebay in over 15 years as everything I've read is that they will almost always side with the buyer. I recently had a friend who sold a $1,000 phone on ebay and the buyer filed a claim and said the phone wasn't as described and when he sent it back the box had deck of cards in it. ebay sided with the buyer.

[oldhippy]

Nice to know you are getting your money back. 

[Birbdad]

42 minutes ago, GuyMontag said:

I haven't sold anything on ebay in over 15 years as everything I've read is that they will almost always side with the buyer. I recently had a friend who sold a $1,000 phone on ebay and the buyer filed a claim and said the phone wasn't as described and when he sent it back the box had deck of cards in it. ebay sided with the buyer.

Ebay sucks and I avoided it for years and it's a hotbed of scams but sadly it seems now that i'm into this they're something i have to deal with. 

They definitely don't always side with the buyer. I bought a seiko 5 watch in 2021 for 130 bucks. It was marked as delivered and I never received it. I told the seller and I asked for the receipt for the shipping of the watch and he showed me a receipt that didn't have my address on it, just city and zip code and state and waited a long time to get it to me like he was trying to run down the clock on a case. I also mail a lot of stuff and noticed on standard postal receipts the post office does not print the full address you're sending stuff too, just the city/state/zip. After searching what was going on i find this is a very common scam ebay sellers pull where they will mail a brick or rock of similar weight to a random address in your city/state/zip and then submit to ebay a receipt with just that info as proof they mailed it and ebay sides with them.  I contacted the seller and asked for the full shipping invoice which would have my FULL address on it and he sent me a screenshot of an invoice with a different but similar tracking number. When i tracked the number it wasn't even in the postal system. The guy created a fake invoice and mistyped the tracking number. I sent all this to ebay and they STILL ruled in his favor and said the invoice he sent them without my address on it was enough proof.  

I will say theres been another two attempted scams on me since then. This first BB press and when i returned a busted new nh35 movement and the seller only sent me half my money for the return. Ebay stepped in and made both right so maybe they're improving.

 

 

21 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Nice to know you are getting your money back. 

Yeah i'm relieved. the original dies i got that were listed as delivered showed up 5 days later and the new press seems amazing. It all worked out this time.

[watchweasol]

Hi Guy. Had a similar game with Chinese seller. The object in question was a CD. What arrived after a lot of pushing was a crappy iPhone case. Raised a complaint with eBay and sent in all they asked for and they sided with the seller.  Not bought anything from Chinese suppliers since.

[Birbdad]

12 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

Hi Guy. Had a similar game with Chinese seller. The object in question was a CD. What arrived after a lot of pushing was a crappy iPhone case. Raised a complaint with eBay and sent in all they asked for and they sided with the seller.  Not bought anything from Chinese suppliers since.

i had one close call with a chinese seller once but i now buy all my seiko movements from them and they've been great. 
Ordered a grey market seiko 5 sports watch from china and they supplied me with a fake tracking number that was moving...somewhere for a bit but then it just stopped. Googled it and found other people were being given the same number from other sellers or the same seller on ebay and asking about it and it was another common scam. The seller insisted it was real and begged me not to get ebay involved or to file a case and just give it conveniently enough time so that i would not be able to file a case. I filed the case that day and got my money back eventually. Ordered the same watch from a singapore seller and it worked out. Last i looked though that same scam seller is still on ebay, just like all the millions of fake watch sellers i report are still allowed to scam people on there.

I think ebay is just sortof a minefield of scams and people figuring out new ways to game the system and you just need to learn where all those mines are to safely cross the field haha.