Submission + - I ordered vintage tech. Ebay deliberately destroyed it (ebay.com)
ayjaym writes: The HP65. The world's first hand-held programmable calculator. One flew on the Apollo-Soyuz missions as a backup to the main computer system.
So when I saw one listed on eBay, I immediately purchased it from the US seller. It was to be dispatched via ebay's Global Fulfilment Program. From previous experience I knew this was a tortuous process; items can take a month to travel from the US to the UK.
What I didn't know is that there was a random chance of my item being deliberately destroyed by eBay. One moment it was at the 'inspection' stage, prior to being shipped, and then, just like that — like the 'lifesystems terminated' chilling message in 2001 — it was gone. "Item failed inspection". "Item liquidated".
I contacted eBay support. No, we can't tell you why. No, both parties will be refunded. No, the item won't be returned to the seller. It will be destroyed.
Why?. Well — who knows. There were no batteries, no toxic chemicals. Just a calculator. An irreplaceable piece of vintage tech, deliberately destroyed for reasons utterly unknown.
And this isn't an isolated incident. The opaque 'inspection' step apparently quite often triggers random rejection, usually with the destruction of the item. Antiques, coins, you name it. Nobody knows and few care because both parties get their money back. Except — an irreplaceable piece of tech history has now been destroyed, and I feel responsible. All I wanted to do was restore it, and now I've been the agent of its destruction. It's heartbreaking.
So when I saw one listed on eBay, I immediately purchased it from the US seller. It was to be dispatched via ebay's Global Fulfilment Program. From previous experience I knew this was a tortuous process; items can take a month to travel from the US to the UK.
What I didn't know is that there was a random chance of my item being deliberately destroyed by eBay. One moment it was at the 'inspection' stage, prior to being shipped, and then, just like that — like the 'lifesystems terminated' chilling message in 2001 — it was gone. "Item failed inspection". "Item liquidated".
I contacted eBay support. No, we can't tell you why. No, both parties will be refunded. No, the item won't be returned to the seller. It will be destroyed.
Why?. Well — who knows. There were no batteries, no toxic chemicals. Just a calculator. An irreplaceable piece of vintage tech, deliberately destroyed for reasons utterly unknown.
And this isn't an isolated incident. The opaque 'inspection' step apparently quite often triggers random rejection, usually with the destruction of the item. Antiques, coins, you name it. Nobody knows and few care because both parties get their money back. Except — an irreplaceable piece of tech history has now been destroyed, and I feel responsible. All I wanted to do was restore it, and now I've been the agent of its destruction. It's heartbreaking.
