Ever been banned from buying from a pedal component seller?

[steveyraff]

Hey all,

Strange one this. I've been on the look out for a batch of Toshiba 1S1588 diodes. I found a UK seller on eBay, so I decided to buy from him. He is selling strips of 10, or reels of 100. I thought I'd just go ahead and buy in 100 of them.

Firstly, I need to emphasis that the seller is listing them, in the title itself, as parts specifically for making KOT clones. In fact, he is also selling bundles of both diodes needed to build them. So they are quite specific that these parts are being listed specifically for building the clone in question.

When I clicked buy, I got an error message saying "This seller isn't accepting bids or offers from you".

Being curious, I messaged the guy to explain that since he is in the business of selling parts of pedals, I am a customer here to buy as many of them as I can. Sounds like good business, right?

Well, no. He wrote back to explain that he had blocked me from before I ever attempted to buy from him. He had the foresight to look me up, and block me just incase I ever tried to buy from him. He sited that he didn't think my pedals were worthy of his parts - and that he didn't want to be part of my business in any way. I'm not sure why, really. I explained to him that he is already advertising by naming another brand, and specifically saying he is selling parts to make clones of them. I am not sure why I'd be portrayed as less trustworthy or ethical than his own standards. Quite frustrating really. Anyone else ever suffer this?

Also, anyone else know where I can get these diodes at a reasonable price to the UK vicinity?

Thanks all.

[Ice-9]

Hi Steve, Name and shame the seller. I will look to see if he has pre banned me as well. lol.  I'm in the UK, if I'm not banned from buying and you are willing to give this man your money I could get them for you. There seems to be quite a few sellers of these diodes on UK ebay though.

[steveyraff]

Hi Steve, Name and shame the seller. I will look to see if he has pre banned me as well. lol.  I'm in the UK, if I'm not banned from buying and you are willing to give this man your money I could get them for you. There seems to be quite a few sellers of these diodes on UK ebay though.

I can name the seller, but I honestly have no desire to shame them. I have no animosity towards the seller and don't wish to create any, but it would seem they have some sort of gripe with me personally. I had already thought about adding the sellers username on here, incase perhaps they actually use this forum and could shed some more light on my ban. I don't think there is any issue naming a public seller, seeing as they are indeed doing that - publicly selling. The diodes are listed by the seller "sevencomeeleven". Perhaps others are banned, perhaps its just me - no idea. If this breaks any forum policies/rules, please feel free to delete or edit this reply.

Thanks,
Steve

[Kevin Mitchell]

I'll reserve voicing my judgment on that situation for now. That's definitely not appropriate behavior.
Please share the seller so we can make sure their precious parts don't end up in our builds.

[steveyraff]

I'll reserve voicing my judgment on that situation for now. That's definitely not appropriate behavior.
Please share the seller so we can make sure their precious parts don't end up in our builds.

Did so above. Cheers.

[Ice-9]

Haha, yeah, When I said 'Name and Shame' I really just meant name him. It is one of those saying and I went into automatic typing.


I had looked on ebay and did think that was the seller in question before you confirmed.  I will have a look and see if I am banned by making an offer on some diodes.

[steveyraff]

Haha, yeah, When I said 'Name and Shame' I really just meant name him. It is one of those saying and I went into automatic typing.


I had looked on ebay and did think that was the seller in question before you confirmed.  I will have a look and see if I am banned by making an offer on some diodes.

No worries  Thanks.

[Ice-9]

I can add them to my basket but there was no button for 'make offer' I didn't go any further than adding to basket as I don't want any diodes myself, when were you told you were banned?

By the way, I tried your website link and it doesn't work

[GGBB]

Have a friend or family member order them for you.

[steveyraff]

I can add them to my basket but there was no button for 'make offer' I didn't go any further than adding to basket as I don't want any diodes myself, when were you told you were banned?

By the way, I tried your website link and it doesn't work

Just as soon as I click "Buy It Now", it takes me to a page with the message in red "The seller isn't accepting bids or offers from you". And then obviously he then also confirmed that he intentionally did this to me before I ever tried to buy anything from them.

Yes, apologies about that broken link. My recording studio has been in hibernation since lockdown anyway, so I don't have it fully back up and running, hence no longer paying for my domain holding etc.

Cheers all.

[steveyraff]

Have a friend or family member order them for you.

May very well do so. I am just still indecisive if I even want to give the seller the money now 

[Kevin Mitchell]

He sited that he didn't think my pedals were worthy of his parts - and that he didn't want to be part of my business in any way.

It's a public listing. How these low-dollar items are used is absolutely none of their business.
The ego of this person is grossly exacerbated.

And you seem relatively cool about it, which speaks in high volume about your character. Which also makes me want to be mad for you 

[GGBB]

Have a friend or family member order them for you.

May very well do so. I am just still indecisive if I even want to give the seller the money now 

Actually putting his diodes in your pedals would be a bit of sweet revenge I think.

[steveyraff]

He sited that he didn't think my pedals were worthy of his parts - and that he didn't want to be part of my business in any way.

It's a public listing. How these low-dollar items are used is absolutely none of their business.
The ego of this person is grossly exacerbated.

And you seem relatively cool about it, which speaks in high volume about your character. Which also makes me want to be mad for you 

I think I'd have been more irritated if I wasn't just so confused and baffled by both the sellers logic (or lack thereof), and why specifically he banned me before I even first noticed the listings. I mean, taking this logic to the extremes; it'd be like the person who sold the Unibomber some piping having to do time in prison for aiding terrorism. Or, like me refusing payment from someone who wants to buy a pedal I built, because I don't think they are a good enough musician to use it hah! Just bizarre.

I guess we can only presume the guy does a full background check on every person he sells diodes to, to make sure whatever they are making with them is up to his standards. For some reason...

[GGBB]

I think I'd have been more irritated if I wasn't just so confused and baffled by both the sellers logic (or lack thereof), and why specifically he banned me before I even first noticed the listings.

Any chance that he could be someone who knows you from a past interaction (maybe you knew him by a different name/identifier) and that he's disgruntled for some reason?

[steveyraff]

I think I'd have been more irritated if I wasn't just so confused and baffled by both the sellers logic (or lack thereof), and why specifically he banned me before I even first noticed the listings.

Any chance that he could be someone who knows you from a past interaction (maybe you knew him by a different name/identifier) and that he's disgruntled for some reason?

Well, if that is true, I am hoping you can tell by my demeanour so far, that I am not the kind of person who seeks out heated interactions of any kind. I can't think of anything from the past where I have upset anyone online in this regard really. All I could think was some remote possibility that this guy was at a time maybe building the same kind of clone and spotted one of mine along the way, and decided compared to his version mine was rubbish. I'm still not sure why that would make him not want to accept my money for parts he is selling though.

[mozz]

Just make another account and then buy them.

[Fancy Lime]

Another possibility: the parts are fake and the seller knows it and therefore does not want to sell to anyone who he knows builds pedals on a professional enough level that they would likely spot the fakery. We are talking about ebay, right? My practical solution to not having the "original" diodes for something is usually to just use whatever I do have and claim that it sounds better than the original because nobody can actually tell the difference anyway. Or use MOSFET body diodes for extra mojo points. KoT with "MOSFET clipping" and some vague and mysterious marketing BS is sure to be an instant boutique classic. Just make sure to make people wait for their orders for 6-12 months.

[mark2]

This is absolutely incredible behavior on the sellers part. I've never heard of somebody preemptively banning a buyer with no previous history.

Do you make potentially offensively themed pedals? (e.g. anti-religious, political, rude words) If not do you have ideas what they didn't like about you? And how did they even find you? Are you an alternate parts seller on ebay?

Another possibility: the parts are fake and the seller knows it

Absent any other context, this is the only thing I can wrap my head around.

[Fancy Lime]

The more I think about it, the more the seller's "reason" for banning the OP sounds like an excuse. It could be that the request for 100 diodes was enough to trigger the ban because he may not even have 100 that look the same, which makes fraud a bit impossible not to spot. Trying to buy 10 through a friend just to see what you get may be interesting. Do you have a scope and a genuine 1S1588 for comparing the I/V curves? I admit, I'm intrigued by the mystery.