# I could just SPIT! (Rant - ipopperwoods)



## mewell (May 12, 2007)

Whilst perusing ebay, I ran across someone that had a great deal on a pack of 70 domestic blanks for about $35 with shipping. Instead of searching here first - where I would have found this conversation - I jumped in and bought from ipopperwoods. Now I've been waiting since the 30th of April for my delivery or even a response to emails. As a "test" to see if this person was even reading their emails I submitted a question to Chris Hoeft using one of my anti-spam temporary ids and got an almost immediate response!  Now I know that email is getting through, I'm just being ignored. I've submitted a claim to PayPal so now more waiting.

Just a warning to the rest of the community...

(sigh)
Mark


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## thewishman (May 12, 2007)

Thanks for the updated warning. Good luck with your order.

Chris


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## Ligget (May 12, 2007)

Sorry to hear of your problem Mark, thanks for the heads up!


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## woodbutcher (May 12, 2007)

Yeah my son in law got me some blanks for Christmas. Cross cut spalted something. Very dry and crumbly and unless stabilized are pretty much worthless. To be fair to ipopper some of the blanks were broken in shipping and they did replace the broken blanks without question. That said I probably will not order from them again. My thoughts are someone with little or no knowledge is cutting and selling pen blanks that would be more appropriate in the wood pile. 
My apologizies


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## woodbutcher (May 12, 2007)

To add to above post. My apologies for not thinking to post here the potential problem. Hopefully they will improve.


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## 74cuda (May 12, 2007)

Mark, I'm in the same boat as you only I've waited much longer that you.
Cashed my money order. No response to any emails.

First time I've had this kind of problem with Ebay so I consider myself a little lucky as I've been bought alot for a long time

I'm doing the dispute routine on Ebay now. But I did leave my nasy feeback for him today, so I feel a little better.

Anyways, stay way from the guy.


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## Mikey (May 12, 2007)

If you sent a money order, there could be mail fraud claims. I would send him an e-mail letting him know that you will pursue the matter with the post office and see what he does.


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## mewell (May 12, 2007)

Mikey - Unfortunately I used PayPal and had a balance in my account so I can't even go through my credit card company. I'm in the process of escalating to a claim. I'm on the fence as to which item to pick - either "I don't think I can reach a settlement" or "I have evidence the seller may be fraudulent"

Mark


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## huntersilver (May 13, 2007)

Thanks for the heads up as I have purchased from them before
too.


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## Ozzy (May 13, 2007)

I bought eight stablized spalted maple blanks from them recently, took forever to get them amd when I did get them they weren't stabilized; very soft and crumbly, I had two blow outs. I won't make that mistake again.


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## mdburn_em (May 13, 2007)

The really good thing about Paypal is they are very buyer friendly.  Unless the seller closes the bank account, you will get your money back.
I'm on the fence as to whether I should use PayPal when I get my website built because it is sooo buyer friendly.  I don't want to have to give the money back and they keep the pen too, which is possible with paypal.


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## gerryr (May 13, 2007)

Yes, PayPal is very buyer friendly.  That's why any sales through my website are shipped insured and I get a return receipt.  That way if they claim they never got it, I have proof they did.  Very cheap insurance.


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## evangogh (Jun 15, 2007)

I wish I had found the info on ipopperwoods also before ordering.  I, too, had to send repeated emails that were never responded to and finally threaten to file a PayPal claim before my pen blanks were shipped.  It took just over 2 weeks to receive them.  Then, to add insult to injury, the blanks were nothing like the samples on his website show.  Over 20% were crosscut, not always bad, but these were coarse-grained, ugly, and I was able to snap them by hand.  (I broke 2 just to see.)

So I returned them on my dime and have filed a claim with PayPal after all.

This is a sample from ipopperwoods.com:




<br />


This is what I got:



<br />


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## Rifleman1776 (Jun 15, 2007)

I certainly hope y'all report fully to eBay. This guy seems to be a genuine fraud and cheat. It does bother me to see criticizms of individuals taking in eBay and Pay Pal with the same broad brush. As big as eBay is, and some of it's policies, it certainly is not without fault. But, for the most part, bad experiences are not the fault of the auction site. Thanks for the warning about Ipopperwoods and sorry for your bad experience. With very few exceptions, dealing with the folks here, and other forums, will produce happy results.


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## gokartergo (Jun 15, 2007)

I just did a search on Ebay and couldn't find the guy.. Is he suspened now??  I think I bought something from him a while back.. I can't remember if I had any problems or not..I did have a problem a while back.. Just not sure if it was him or not.. I ended up fileing a claim againest him..


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## pilot1022 (Jun 15, 2007)

Mike, thanks for spreading the word about this guy and his phony business. [!]Itâ€™s people like this that give all the other honest dealers a bad rep. 
The honest ones will sell only what the photos show and will ship  the next day, and back up their claims if they have a unhappy customer. As the word get out his victims will become fewer and fewer. I hope you get a full and total refund.


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## pentex (Jun 15, 2007)

I also bought 70 pcs. from this guy and had to file a pay pal claim against him. Would not answer my e-mails or anything. After several weeks and me filing the claim, I received the shipment and it was crap. Started to send it back, but the shipping was more than it was worth. Searched on ebay to leave feedback and they reported this person was no longer registered. I sure would not buy from this person again.


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## YoYoSpin (Jun 15, 2007)

At our local AAW chapter meetings, members bring in free wood better than any of this stuff every month for raffles and giveaways. If you have not joined, consider looking into it...here's the link to the AAW's chapter list: http://tinyurl.com/699sg


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## evangogh (Jun 26, 2007)

I just wanted to give a final followup on my ipopperwoods experience.  After returning the blanks and still not receiving any response via email or to my PayPal dispute, I escalated the dispute to a claim before the time ran out.  PayPal then immediately dismissed the claim, telling me they do not deal with "Not as described" claims, even though it is one of the options when you file a dispute/claim!  So I have now filed a chargeback claim with my credit card company, but I will still be out the return shipping charges.

So let this be a warning to everyone: DO NOT BUY FROM THIS GUY!  He is a cheat & fraud.  I wish this had all occurred on eBay so I could leave him scalding feedback, but no such luck.  There needs to be more resources for folks who get scammed like this so they are put out of business.


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## pilot1022 (Jun 26, 2007)

I don't think you have to worry about this guy doing business here anymore the word is out. Shame you will be out some $$. Guys like this give us sellers a bad name. I know honest mistakes can happen to anyone, sellers and buyers. The good ones bend over backwards to set things right. To bad we can't set up a code ethics and a list for reliable venders and then publish that list here. Hummm I thinks me got an idea.


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## Fangar (Jun 26, 2007)

Well... All of that being said, I have placed a few orders with them over the past couple years.  They are SLOW.  However, they bring some of the most spalted, cross cut maples I have ever seen.  Very punky and in need of stabilization, but crazy nonetheless.  I have quite a stock on hand from my last order.  During the last one, I mentioned that a few of the spalts that I had received previously were a little bland.  Chris tossed in some freebies to make up for it and then some.  Anyway.  Here one of them turned...





Just thought I would give credit where do.  Sorry you have had such poor luck.  Sounds like things might have changed with them.

Fangar


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## Trapshooter (Jul 10, 2007)

I bought from them in Feb of 06,Ok then,I see now they are no longer a registered user according to My Ebay Summary.


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## Kalai (Jul 11, 2007)

Hi everyone, there are bad sellers and there are good sellers on ebay, most of the time there feedback will tell you if there might be problems.  I have used ebay and have had good and bad experiences but I have found if you look at there feedback and if you can find the same thing from other sellers you can get some good stuff by taking your time and searching for the best seller and ask questions before you bid like are the blanks in the picture the ones I will get and things like that, you can also use those answers to help get your money back if you ever need to.
You can also ask the people here at IAP if they have dealt with a certain ebay seller or not, you might get some insite that way too.  Thanks and aloha

Kalai


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## MDWine (Jul 11, 2007)

I think I bought from this person some time back.  I read this thread last week, and just this weekend or so received an email from him about ordering wood!!
I didn't pay much attention to it, and deleted it.  Evidently he is still in business somewhere!


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## Fangar (Jul 11, 2007)

I got the same email.  I think they stopped their email sales figuring they had enough customer base.  They obviously collected emails along the way and now consider Ebay too much hassle.

Fangar


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## CSue (Jul 13, 2007)

As with others here, I went and bought from <s>ipoopers</s>, ipoppers website without 'consulting' the sages here.  

I ordered about 6 blanks the first time.  Shipment was quick, products looked good.  But, being the inexperienced person I am, I thought the blanks 'blew' because I was doing something wrong.  There were 2 that turned into gorgeous pens, though!

So then I ordered his ever famous - 70 pen blanks for $25.
That was over a month ago.  After <s>numberous</s> numerous e-mails, I found I had to resort to filing a claim with paypal.  

Today I did the search here with "ipoppers."  

My goodness!  Isn't there a place someone can post warnings about dealers like this?  So others can check to see their "ratings" from dealings with this community.  I have a great respect for all of you here.  

I should have done a "search" first.  But I remembered seeing an "iPoppers" link in the home page a few times.  So I bought . . . another growing experience!


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