Expired Cypres being sold on Ebay

[Gravitymaster 0]

Just thought I'd alert everyone. How do these people sleep at night knowing they are taking advantage of a newbie?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Airtec-Expert-Cypres-AAD-skydive-skydiving-parachute_W0QQitemZ7193955044QQcategoryZ106980QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[NWFlyer 2]

See this thread for some, uh, creative ideas on uses for expired Cypreses. (The ebay auction is mentioned, way down in the post).

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1905883

I would say caveat emptor when it comes to buying skydiving gear on Ebay. At least buying here on dropzone.com, I know that I'm more likely to be buying from skydivers or reputable dealers. Ebay? Who knows.

Learning that a Cypres has a 12-year life is not a difficult thing to do. Yeah, it sucks that someone's going to make a buck selling something that no rigger will install, but if someone's dumb enough to bid without doing their homework, well...

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Gravitymaster 0]

Problem I have is it isn't listed as expired. I agree that if someone purchases it without doing research, but thought I'd bring it up anyway. I can see a newbie purchasing it without realizing what he bought until later. Heck, I bought a 2 pin cypres for my first rig (Vector) without thinking to ask whether it was a one pin or two pin.

[kelpdiver 2]

I sent a message to the seller decrying him for it, and to the current top bidder.

He does list the DOM, but claims it cycles on like new. Not sure if Ebay should be brought into it.

[Dumpster 0]

I also sent him a message. The most this unit is worth is what ever trade-in value it has. ($80.00 I think?)

Easy Does It

[Dumpster 0]

Did you get a reply from this guy?

I'll PM the reply I got to you -

Easy Does It

[popsjumper 2]

Probably intended for use in some country not particular about the 12-yr "expiration."

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Gravitymaster 0]

Quote

I sent a message to the seller decrying him for it, and to the current top bidder.

He does list the DOM, but claims it cycles on like new. Not sure if Ebay should be brought into it.

I did too. The response I got was that the unit could be used by someone for another pupose or purchased by a rigger who didn't care about the expiration date. I pointed out it could also be purchased by someone who was new to the sport and didn't realize the expiration date was 12 years. I also asked him why he didn't disclose the fact that it was unuseable as an AAD on a skydiving rig. Not disclosing this info is, IMO deceptive, and he made a conscience choice not to disclose this fact.

I sent an email to Ebay. Will post their response.

[ccowden 0]

edited to remove my opinion on this because it was being viewed as me not caring if this fell into the hands of a newbie. That wasn't my point.

[narcimund 0]

I wrote to some of the bidders. I got a reply back from one. She was trying to buy it for her husband's birthday. Now she realizes it would not have been appreciated the way she hoped.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[nicknitro71 0]

That disturbed me quite a bit so I contacted the seller and this is his/her response. By the way, I do not care if I piss somebody off by posting it in a public forum:

Quote

still useable as a $60 trade in on the purchase of a cypres2. maby the buyer is a rigger and doesent care about the legality of the unit's age? i odviously dont, the listing is accurate

Sure I can see every rigger in the US rushing to buy an expired Cypres for over 100 bucks!

Memento Audere Semper

903

[Gravitymaster 0]

Quote

That disturbed me quite a bit so I contacted the seller and this is his/her response. By the way, I do not care if I piss somebody off by posting it in a public forum:

Quote

still useable as a $60 trade in on the purchase of a cypres2. maby the buyer is a rigger and doesent care about the legality of the unit's age? i odviously dont, the listing is accurate

Sure I can see every rigger in the US rushing to buy an expired Cypres for over 100 bucks!

Thats the exact response I got the first time I emailed him. The email I just got states "Aitec didn't tell me it was only good for 12 years when I bought it in 1993 either".

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

Problem I have is it isn't listed as expired.

Technically, there's nothing inaccurate in his listing. Incomplete, yes. Deliberately deceptive? Certainly. I'm not defending this guy, and he's going to have a pissed-off customer once someone tries to actually get it installed.

[kelel01 1]

I'd rather just watch the listing and send a message to every person who bids on it. If they come back and say, "I know", then great! If they didn't know, they can try to retract their bids.

[justinb138 0]

Wow, what an asshole.

[Gravitymaster 0]

Quote

Wow, what an asshole.

Now he's changed his story from Airtec not telling him it expired in 12 years when he bought it in 1993 to "I removed it from a newbies rig because it was out of date. He states he is going to give the money from the auction to the newbie so he can buy a Vigil and he said "fuck airtec" thier (sic) crooks. Ah, such a noble cause.

[Gravitymaster 0]

Quote

I wrote to some of the bidders. I got a reply back from one. She was trying to buy it for her husband's birthday. Now she realizes it would not have been appreciated the way she hoped.

Thanks for doing that. I'm sure her husband appreciates it too.

[FrogNog 1]

I skipped emailing the seller and went to eBay's customer support, calling it a "fraudulent listing." I made the point that this is a life-saving device that the seller does or should know is beyond the mfgr-indicated lifetime and is therefore illegal to use in the U.S., but that he didn't list that explicitly. Instead, he said it looks and cycles like new.

I finished with a note that I respect "caveat emptor" but since the purpose of this thing is to save the life of someone who is about to die, maybe this listing is different.

I expect eBay to do nothing about it. I expect someone making minimum wage will read two sentences of my email, find no caps or exclamation points, realize the rest of the mail goes on for too long to read and understand while maintaining a good speed ratio on cleared cases, and send me some canned email response for an unrelated issue.

However, if someone does take a shine to my email, then it's fairly likely the listing will be pulled because he's not a power seller. Little guys on eBay have no rights, as I understand; only big guys who pay eBay lots of money every week.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[kelel01 1]

Problem is, the listing expires in 20 minutes.

[Skykat108 0]

Well someone bought it.... not sure who it is. I don't really know how to look for that stuff on E-bay I don't really use it.

[kelel01 1]

I sent him a message. He's going to contact Ebay to see if he can retract his bid, I believe.

[rbanfield 0]

I also sent him a message. I had sent ebay a message 3 days ago, however it appears they have done nothing about it.

[kelel01 1]

Well, and his bid's been retracted now. The offer to buy went to the next highest bidder, and he, too, declined based on messages received.

Fucker. And since I'm unemployed, I really have nothing better to do than see that assholes like this don't succeed at their little games.

[rbanfield 0]

I'm not unemployed... I'm just an asshole, so its funny to make sure this fucktard doesn't peddle his expired wares to those who know-no-better.

[uponone 0]

I know this is going to piss off some of you but I don't see anything wrong with that listing. He stated the DOM and that it still went through cycles, not once was it stated that it should or even could still be used for skydiving. He wasn't scamming anyone.

Streetbike helmet manufacturers state that helmets are unsafe after 5 years of use or 7 years on the shelf so you should all contact the buyers for those and tell them that they're expired.