"Ebay - anyone bought from 'sellthatstuffboy'?" Topic

Anyone bought from this chap – buildings, scenics etc. I bought two buildings and paid via paypal on 16 Mar 08. Nothing has appeared so far, except 2 emails from him asking if the buildings have arrived yet. Worringly he does not reply to the emails I have sent him. His feedback is mixed – I know, but I only looked at the feedback ratings after I had put bids in.
Am I inpatient? Does he hand make them after the auction? Does he use a post office in Antartica?
Any advice welcome.

Does he hand make them after the auction?

Hmm…

Yes a few times, it was a while back now. I think he is still listed as a favorite seller on my e-bay. I never had any problems with him. Having said that all my purchases were corgi diecasts and such like rather than terrain. Mind you he is a big power seller and they usually have less the 100% feedback I suppose because the more stuff you sell the more stuff that gets lost in the Post…………

While I know you want your terain, mind the calendar.

You have 45 days to open a dispute in the Resoloution center on paypal. Then you have 20 days to work something out. paypal.com

Generally opening a dispute gets a response.

Good luck!

"Hmm…"

LOL! Oh, Geoff, Geoff, Geoff…

He hasn't pirated any QRF stuff. That I know of…

Allen

I have ordered from him several different times. I had no issue with them, including one very large order shipped accross the pond. I do like his stuff and am contemplating getting more from him. I do hope your stuff gets in soon.

Chris

I've bought quite a few items from him over the past couple of years and while I would not say his service is quick I have always received the items purchased. Seems to usually take 3-4 weeks longer than other packages sent to Canada from the UK.

I have bought a few items from him without probems (about a year ago).
Regards
Mick

I purchased several buildings from him last year and had problems with the order shipping from England to the States but he made good on the sale and all was well in the end.

Ed

Likewise I have bought from him and have not had any problem.

I have bought a lot of pre-painted terrain pieces from this ebayer. Some parcels come quickly and some may take a little longer. One took best part of a month, but did arrive.

Also, if I remember, emails weren't answered that quickly.

Everything always arrived. Always packed far better than most other ebayers I buy from.

I have no hesitation at all in continuing to buy from sellthatstuffboy.

Cheers
Mark

He hasn't pirated any QRF stuff. That I know of…

I know, but we keep an eye on him :-)

Nice buildings and as said well packaged, they are slow to be sent out. I think the photos on the auctions are stock photos but the product is as good as those shown

I purchased from him once, and questioned his postage and packaging charges. I used the email he lists on his auctions. Which is the one he never checks.

I eventually paid his P&P costs and got my items in a reasonably quick time. The total postage he charged was spent on stamps, but I still think it was way too much.

Phil

I've ordered a few times from this guy. Normally takes a few days to reply to email. My last order took 6 weeks to be delivered, however I blame the Royal Mail. The parcel was posted on 28/02/08 but didn't arrive until the end of March.

The buildings are very good quality for the price.

Hope that helps.

"The total postage he charged was spent on stamps"

how can that then be way too much?, unless this is a comment on UK postal charges. Haven't bought them myself but seen them first hand, great value.

Used them once and they were good for me too.

Hmm. The point is that the buildings ( 16/17C) look really good, and I would probably like to buy some more from him. I will post a reply when/if I get them.

I've had no problems up till now. One order took a long time to get to me, and another larger one is yet to arrive…

Bought some greek/ roman ruind from him. Never again. They were recasts of another manufacturer's product (of which I have an original). I didn't know they were recasts at the time I purchased, but the quality on arrival, when compared to the original, was shocking. Never got a reply about my concerns (about the quality or the fact they were recasts!)….

Does that mean you owe me a beer Allen?

I ordered some 15mm stuff from him… it turned up eventually. I wasn't overly impressed with casts but I suppose you get what you pay for – and it was cheap. On reflection I could of made what I wanted but it was easier ordering.

So the guy does recasts? Of which companies kit?

Of which companies kit?

Well I'm pretty sure the 1/50 corgi tanks I bought of him were legit but you never know………:).He did use to sell a lot of 15mm WW2 stuff don't know which manafacturer but it was in large amounts possible recasts?

Yes, I do, Geoff.

I purchased three Valentine tanks from him. On receipt, I discovered that they were resin casts: *extremely* faithful replicas of Battlefront's Valentine.

I notified Battlefront and offered to send them the models, but they never followed up. The seller continues to offer painted 15mm vehicle lots.

Allen

"The total postage he charged was spent on stamps"

how can that then be way too much?, unless this is a comment on UK postal charges. Haven't bought them myself but seen them first hand, great value.

Because I had friends in this part of the world who had bought similar stuff (not from him) and paid considerably less postage. I had also bought stuff of similar weight and proportions, and paid less postage.

So I was surprised at how much I had to pay, and that it was actually all used on stamps.

I've bought a few times from him. Didn't have any problem.

Bought from him one time it took a very very long time to get the stuff, he kept givig excuses about EBay/PayPal having screwed up his account but I took it to mean that he was out of stock and awaiting a fresh batch.

I almost got to the point of filing for a refund when magically he emailed to say he had now posted them.

The stuff was ok, though closer inspection showed some were poorly cast, looked like they had overused the mould on some items. But as said above its cheap and good value on the whole.

I bought some stuff from him late at night 3/7/07. He shipped on 3/17/07 (according to the post mark). It arrived at my home (western U.S.) 2 weeks later. The stuff I got looks very good. I'll most likely buy from him again, but I'll make sure I won't need the stuff for 6-8 weeks just to be sure.

So the guy does recasts? Of which companies kit?

We've also received some BF recasts. That's why we keep a close eye on him. We suspect that some of the buildings are recasts. Sounds like Demaratos has found something else.

I bought from him in january. I didn't receive the order until the end of february. He never once responded to any emails sent asking when the parcel was sent. I finally opened a dispute and the parcel arrived several days later.I think you will received your goods, but be prepared to sit and wait and don't expect a reply to your emails!

The Roman/ Greek style temples are, I think, the old Gallia resin range, although I may be wrong regarding the manufacturer. I picked up 2 of these from a local distributor many years ago. The quality was great and there was only the odd air bubble to fill.

The ones I ordered from this fellow were identical in the detail except there were a lot of bubbles, miscast columns, a differern type of resin from the one I already had and the bases were uneven. It was like the molds had not been kept level, with the resin allowed to pool in areas and buckle in the middle.

I ended up cutting, filing, filling and patching and although they look better now they are still a poor reflection of the original.

Are the Gallia range OOP now? (not that OOP means they can be copied without permission)

Yep, bought some "20mm" churchills from him. He didn't quote dimensions or manufacturer, though he seemed to have reasonable feedback, didn't really question it further (mistake).
That was fine they turned up reasonably promptly, well packaged. Then I clapped eyes on them. "hey these look a bit small!" particularly when I parked them next to my airfix and matchbox 1/76th scale kits. turns out they were 1/87th scale corgi churchills, and frankly a bit toylike though they've got nice tunisian churchill markings on them.

Well, so I gave him neutral feedback, with the justification that 20 mm is accepted as 1/76th/1/72 scale, by its current definition (i'm aware of the old definition), but saying that the transaction wen't smoothly and they arrived promptly but were incorrect scale (mistake #2).

Which he took issue with, and ranted angrily that I'm wrong etc, and i earnt my first lot of negative feedback (which really isn't an issue but….grr) . So i quoted the dimensions divided into the real things dimensions with the answer of 86 (Ie: a slightly overscale 1/87th scale "model").

No I'll not deal with him again, though he seems to have stopped selling <chough> "20mm" stuff. I used feedback in the spirit it was indended and got burnt by a shyster. I think people are just too afraid to give genuine feeback, as they don't want their rep tarnished.

So anyone want some 1/87th scale churchills? free to a good home! (aus only)

Geoff,

I believe that the buildings are oop, but the miniatures are still available.

D

I suppose I could give him the credit that he's got permission from Gallia to reproduce oop items…

hmmm.

"turns out they were 1/87th scale corgi churchills"

Do Corgi make 1/87 Churchills?

OK, here's my story:

I first started buying PMC unpainted 28mm resin buildings & ships on Ebay. I found out later that STSB sold them painted at a price I couldn't paint'm myself for, so I bought quite a number from him, which were slow in getting here. However, he duly appologised for the delay: since he uses stock pics and – when being succesful in Ebay selling – he is thus faced with a backlog.

However, they finally arrived (after 6 weeks – to Belgium) but he made it good to me, so I can't complain there.

A few more orders (resin buildings) came in promptly, but yet another one stayed behind. It arrived after 5 weeks or so. He claimed it was due to the post office: I checked the date on the stamp and he was correct in his statement (this was outside the PO's strike period).

He has very close links with PMC games, so there is no question about recasting there. All items received lived up to my expectations quality-wise (painting & casting). I now know it may take a while to get the stuff in, but I feel his initial pricing is quite good (level of bidding is up to yourselves…) and it won't stop me from buying.

Once he offered some "28mm jeeps" on Ebay. I needed some for my 25mm WW2 troops, so I asked about the scale and he advised me not to buy'm since they REALLY were 28mm ones, which is a correct enough reaction.

His packing (bubble wrapped) is top quality.

Rudi

Well…….
All the plastic 1:72 figs today are to a standard 23.5mm to eye level which is about 25mm to the top of the head…

they're definitely not 20mm any longer.

1:72>25mm would give 1:87>20mm….

So maybe he is not totally wrong…

The reason I asked about Churchills is I've a feeling the tanks in question are from Corgi's 'combat ready' range- I don't know of any 1/87 range although they may well exist.
That series was 1/76 but I think one or two were slightly smaller so it would have been an understandable mistake to make.

He has very close links with PMC games, so there is no question about recasting there

Unfortunately what we spotted were Hornby…

1:72>25mm would give 1:87>20mm…

1:76 is 4mm to the foot, 1:87 is HO, or 3.5mm to the foot. So a 5'10 foot guy would be approx 23.3mm in 1:72, 20.4mm in 1:87. Yep, that looks about right.

"Ebay – anyone bought from 'sellthatstuffboy'?"

Yes. 28mm Buildings and scenics. They always arrived well packed and I am very happy with the quality of resin casting and painting.

Leaving the maths aside- 20mil is pretty much taken among gamers as 1/72 to 1/76. If he genuinely thought a Churchill was 20mil then, as he's in the hobby and would know the difference, you would naturally take that to mean 1/72 or 1/76.
1/87 is a different ball game- AFVs in that scale are way too small for 20mil figures.

link

link

1/87=20mm is the old definition. The current method involves a foot to eye measurement as it makes the measurement of figures wearing shakos and such much easier. Thats been the case since the mid eighties.

Either that or you should go tell every 20mm company that their kit is way over scale. Hmm, good luck with that.

Well those are definitely not the larger 'Combat Ready' range.
If he just put 20mil and no scale indicators then he was indeed a bit naughty.

"The current method involves a foot to eye measurement as it makes the measurement of figures wearing shakos and such much easier. Thats been the case since the mid eighties."

That's always been my understanding but if you listen to the Perry twins they'll tell you that they use a foot to top of head measurement- and that apparently most manufacturers today do the same…

Just looked at your second link- now these look very much like the old 'Corgi Fighting Machines'. Don't know where I got 'combat ready' from- that's a Cromwell range.

I used to sell these myself and the "approxiamately 1/87 scale" blurb is indeed just that- key word being 'approxiamate'.
Never sold any Churchills so they may be smaller but I did used to sell the Shermans and PanzerIVs. I sized these next to my own 1/76 stuff and they came out the same size- which is why I sold them as 20mil.
I think from memory the T34s also looked a tad smaller.
Maybe he did just make an honest mistake?

If either a manufacturer or dimensions were given, there would be no problem, either a few quick calculations or a google search would've told me what i needed to know. my suspicions lead me to suspect that he was lumbered with a large number of them for whatever reason, and he needed to get rid of them somehow. It was not just that it was his behavior after the auction, negative feedback for neutral? hardly seems reasonable. denial of a problem afterwards. no, he's lost me as a customer.

the call was put out if anyone has had trouble dealing with this seller and i answered. sure i made some nieve mistakes in this transaction, but a lot of the responsibility rests with the seller, they were sold without packets so were easily measured, the makers mark clearly marked under the model, but none of this was provided in the auction, just a gainy poorly exposed photo, and a glib description.

anyone who knows even a little about tanks of the second world war will suspect theres something awry when a churchill, a noted "big tank" is dwarfed by a lot of "not-so big" tanks.

"my suspicions lead me to suspect…" I ment in "post-Mortem" not as I was taking part in the auction.

I have had mixed rsults with Sellthatstuffboy, but to be fair the scenery I have bought has been superb. One lot took 4 weeks to get to me, the next lot took 2 days!
I will buy from him again just becuase hes so cheap, and the scenery such good value. I just wont buy if I need it in a hurry.

Well we will have to echo Geoff's line on this subject, we keep an eye on him.

A few years ago we found him using images of our products to promote his own on eBay. We were not amused.