Ebay Experience

Last week I bought a used NES system on Ebay for Girlfriend's birthday. Ever since one of her friends got a Nintendo, she has wanted one very badly. So, I thought that I'd snag one off Ebay and surprise her with it for her birthday.

Well, it arrived Wednesday, and of course I was excited to plug it in and try it out. Luckily, Girlfriend was on a vacation to Gulf Shores, so I could test out all the games I wanted, and get everything set up.

I put the first game in and turned the system on... and all I got was a blinking grey screen. I did the trick that I learned as a kid playing nintendo, blow in the cartridge, push the game back in the NES up and down a few times, and try it again. I tried the pushing up and down repeatedly, and even the last resort trick of pulling the cartridge out just a hair to see if it would make a better connection. I even used the cleaning kit that came with the system and cleaned both the game and the system thoroughly. Nothing I tried worked. CRAP. I just paid a lot of money for a Nintendo that doesn't even stinkin' work.

I contacted the seller, and she said that it worked when she shipped it, and that I had used shipping insurance, so it shouldn't be a problem. I wrote her back saying that though I paid for shipping insurance, the insured stamp was not on the box. She said she'd talk to the people at the post office to find out what happened. It turns out that the item was not shipped with insurance, she said because someone there messed up.

She was very helpful throughout the whole ordeal, but I ended up only getting a $16.00 refund. This didn't work out too badly though. I got to keep all the items, including system, games and controllers and got a little money back. I think I can fix the problem with a new part off of Ebay. It's just another 11 bucks. That'll cut the discount down to 5 dollars.

In the meantime, I'll have to get a replacement for it. I'm waiting on my money from Amazon.com to come in. I sold a book. It should pay for another system to be here by the time Girlfriend's birthday rolls around the 1st of July. If the new system works, and I can get the old one to work too, I'll just sell one back I think. Make a little profit, or maybe just keep one to myself. I loved the NES. There hasn't been a better system in the last 20 years (excluding of course PC's).