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Post by stickem on May 27, 2012 8:23:24 GMT
So I am looking for some silver seppa to fix a loose tsuba, and this is the only listing I found currently on eBay: www.ebay.com/itm/270794760882?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649So I ask the seller of said seppa a simple question, namely, "What are your silver seppa made of?" And so the guy replies by going gonzo-green-gorrilla-gonads-eat-puple-twinkies'n'then-fling-yer-poo-through-the-bars-of-yer-cage-at-the-zoo craaaaazy on me :shock: I won't post the seller's email here, because it's probably against forum rules to share private emails in a public forum. Not that I've actually read the rules about such things (but I should have), so am erring on the side of caution here :lol: On the other hand, it seems pretty OK to relate your side of an email conversation, after all, it is yours... Anyway, dunno if this guy is off his meds or his cheese slid of his cracker or something, but does anyone else find it offensive to be asked, "I am trying to match some silver furniture on a sword I have recently acquired. So I am wondering whether your seppa are sterling silver, coin silver, nickel silver, silver plating over some other unspecified metal, or made of silver-colored brass?"
. Because this is exactly what I asked him, & it certainly wasn't intended to be offensive. There's nothing on his description that makes it clear to me, anyway, exactly what these seppa are made of. I figured since silver is both a color and an element found on the periodic table, it makes sense to ask the guy to see which one it is before giving 'em any $. There's a big difference between Ag the element, and some Rustoleum paint that's colored silver, natch. So I followed up a little and found this same seller's listing for his $800 katana here: www.ebay.com/itm/AERIAL-ASSASSIN-Clay-Tempered-DEEP-SORI-Japanese-Samurai-Katana-Sword-PROMO-/270983303376?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f17dd10d0THE Aerial Assassin (guess this means the sword flies... or at least levitates on its own) and realized the fittings are basically the same as my Hanwei Raptor, but look like that multicolored hercules stuff instead of iron... In the end I decided against buying the seppa from him, because, well, an all green version of the Hanwei Raptor is... ummm... gives me the strong impression that the designer is probably bi-polar... maybe even tri-polar, as in he'd try to bugger anything, including a polar bear, if only the bear would just hold still for 'em... And I figure the seppa probably aren't really silver, which is what got the guy to go all defensive when I asked 'em about their content in the 1st place. I also usually find it is a deal breaker when the seller says, "No returns or exchanges." since often this is just a pre-emptive strike as the seller knows his product is crummy & likely to be returned. Custom work I understand no returns, but stock stuff...why? Sorry for the long-winded rant, my friends. You don't really need to reply, I just had to get that off my chest :twisted: Am going to wash my eyes out with Comet to try to get that Jolly-Green-Giant vs. Gumby nightmare katana out of my vision... think my retinas may be scarred...
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Post by Vue on May 27, 2012 9:10:52 GMT
Dude thank your lucky stars, do a search here for Hazama Yakiba and you know what I mean....the dude is nuts!!!
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Post by ineffableone on May 27, 2012 9:26:34 GMT
I came across those silver pieces while searching for silver fittings, thankfully I knew Haz's reputation and passed by on them. I did however notice the description.
So they are electro plated, and the seppa only on one side.
Vue is very correct, that Haz has a rep for being unstable, and seems like you saw a bit of that yourself. Just be glad you didn't mention SBG to him he has a serious grudge against SBG, and has been known for sending viruses in emails to SBG members. I would suggest you block his email though, the guy is wacko.
There is a nice video on youtube about Haz that you might want to look up it is rather informative.
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Post by chuckinohio on May 27, 2012 12:17:07 GMT
I'm gonna play Devils advocate here, and in defense of Haz I will say that the description does say that they are Silver plated on one side only.
Now, on Stickems end, he did not deserve to be berated by an unstable personality for merely asking a question about an item offered for sale.
Haz is still a nozzle.........................................................
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Post by Kumdoalan on May 27, 2012 12:49:40 GMT
I try not to judge emails too harshly as im not in on the full context of the conversation you guys were having.....HOWEVER, if I was interested in finding out how much something was, and what the thing was made of and I got an answer like that!!! ?? I would close my checkbook and go back to looking for a different seller. There is to be expected a problem with dealing with a sword vender from China and the language difference. There is also to be expected that from time to time all our computers are subject to errors and sending out things we never meant to send out. But that sure does not seem to be the case here. I think the guy was attempting to be funny.....and really only made it to freaky.
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Post by stickem on May 27, 2012 12:51:09 GMT
Yes, perhaps even the devil needs an advocate, Chuck Ahhh... I saw the part where he accuses other sellers of having " worn & dirty fittings," which seemed sort of an odd thing to say as a blanket statement about other vendors. It sounds like the old strategy of " instead of carrying a great product myself, I'll just make my product look great by berating everyone else's product. Such that even though my product is crummy, it will look great by comparison to these others." :roll: In addition, to say the fittings are silver-plated still leaves open the question, " What are they made of?" As in, electroplating leaves a coating which is very thin (measured in nanometers), so the underlying metal is very relevant to the discussion because the seppa will mainly be composed of whatever this base metal is. I don't see any mention of this in the description and the seller refused to answer when asked a simple question, which leads me to believe he simply doesn't know. I can guess the base metal is brass, but this is just a guess, not an answer. Copper is a guess. Zinc could be a guess. Nickel could be a guess... you get the point. One thing is for sure, his listing makes it obvious he doesn't know what he's taking about. The part about " only plating one side of the seppa" makes no sense. I have an undergrad degree in chemistry, but you don't need one to understand why it makes no sense. Here's why: The term electro[/b]-plating means by definition it is done by passing an electric current through a medium (usually liquid) containing the two metals. For instance, the silver on the seppa and the iron/copper/brass etc. of a tsuba in a container of saltwater. Typically it is an aqueous solution because the silver has to dissolve in something to move from one metal to the other. Unlike THE Aerial Assault Katana, silver doesn't usually just fly through the air by itself. Does he mean to say, if you put your katana in the bathtub full of aqueous solution (e.g., saltwater) and drop a live electric cord in there with it, you are safe from the silver jumping from the seppa to the tsuba because the seppa are only plated on one side? The side not facing the tsuba? This is supposed to be a serious concern? Ummm... :? Who cares? You are much more likely to rub the silver plate coating off a seppa by friction from rubbing it repeatedly with your hand & whatnot than you are to send some juice through your sword while it is underwater. I should hope so anyway... unless you are the kind of adventurer guy who likes to go scuba diving in the ocean with his sword drawn, hunting electric eels down and slaying them at every turn :lol: Don't take my word for it. Read it for yourself: electrochem.cwru.edu/encycl/art-e01-electroplat.htmIn my specific case the tsuba is also silver. So it makes no difference if the silver moves by electrolysis from seppa to tsuba. They are both silver plated to start with, which I told this vendor, Hazmat or whatever his name is. Definitely not buying materials from someone who doesn't understand what he is selling. It is a bad sign when the guy finds it more fulfilling to go douchebag on you than to give a simple one-word answer (e.g., 'brass')
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Post by Vue on May 27, 2012 13:01:41 GMT
Here are some silver plated Seppa's and they look exactly like the stuff Haz is selling, I rather get these from this seller than Haz any day. www.ebay.com/itm/2-X-SEPPA-Surfa ... 836wt_1396
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Post by Kumdoalan on May 27, 2012 13:17:13 GMT
www.ebay.com/itm/AERIAL-ASSASSIN ... 3f17dd10d0 I will be in the market for a sword in this price range next year at about this time.. But I sure hope I can find a sword vender that has way better photos than the ones in this link! If and when Im going to drop about $1000 on a sword from China Im going to need some very sharp photos of what im getting before I place an order for it...
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Post by stickem on May 27, 2012 13:18:08 GMT
Thanks Vue. A much better looking alternative indeed. Exactly. The seller says this in the description: So we know not only the base metal is brass, we also kow exactly how big the seppa are from his description. This may be a handy thing when you are actually trying to something silly like put them on a blade, right? Maybe if Hazmat took the time to learn how to use some calipers or wrote clearly on his listing, he wouldn't have to field the same ?s from potential buyers over and over. So what does Hazmat do instead of having a simple description such as this? He puts a non-metric tape in the picture positioned in such a way that you can't use it to measure the seppa unless you close one eye, stand on your head, and do some real math. Like so: Thanks Hazmat. We now realize you do not know how to read a tape measure.
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Post by ineffableone on May 27, 2012 13:27:25 GMT
FYI Haz is not a Chinese ebayer, he is in Florida. It is not an issue of language difference, it is Haz is that mentally unstable.
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Post by chuckinohio on May 27, 2012 13:53:46 GMT
Believe me Stickem, I am on your side.
Hazmat (good turn of phrase by the way) is a complete and utter buffoon.
Usually when one advertises something for sale, no matter how thorough the description and detailed the photos, you always get inquiries wanting details that are clearly covered, not that such was the case here mind you, but that circumstance can lead to the seller being short with people inquiring. It is not an excuse for abusive Emails, yet such verbal diarrhea is common place when dealing with Uncle Hazmat, so it is accepted as par for the course by the membership here. That is the reason why the largest percentage of members here refuse to do business with him in any way, shape, or form.
Well that and the whole grossly inflated prices for run of the mill products thing...............................................
You did good by passing on anything to do with His Excremental Emminence.
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Post by Kumdoalan on May 27, 2012 13:56:38 GMT
well he does seem to sure have an odd humor about him...
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Post by stickem on May 27, 2012 14:24:52 GMT
Chuck ~ No worries. I got that originally, hence the in my comment. I also get that I asked him a ? that was partially answered by his description. I asked him if it was sterling silver on purpose, to see if he would try to take advantage of someone who is "ignorant" about the difference between sterling silver and silver plate, and nickel silver, and so on... Sometimes I ask a ? I already know the answer to on purpose when a seller seems a little sketchy, to see what kind of response I get. Anyway, in a nutshell, as one of my teachers is fond of saying, "You can polish a turd all day long, but no matter how long you polish it, it won't turn into a diamond. A turd is a turd."My impression is this Hazmat guy can neither accurately describe nor measure what he is selling. Therefore, as far as I'm concerned, this product is a turd, and a silver-plated turd is still a turd.
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Post by chuckinohio on May 27, 2012 15:16:08 GMT
Exactly right my friend, exactly right.
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Post by stickem on May 27, 2012 17:33:31 GMT
Ineffable ~ I appreciate the head's up Thing is, I could see 'em comin' a mile away & have no desire to send 'em any follow up emails or call up Hazmat on the phone, believe me. Walkin' away from this one...
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Post by Kumdoalan on May 28, 2012 13:27:50 GMT
Interesting...
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Post by William Swiger on May 28, 2012 13:37:21 GMT
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Post by stickem on May 28, 2012 16:54:04 GMT
Gotcha.The commentary from the peanut galley has been removed voluntarily. I work in the mental health field so it is "normal" to me to talk about this subject as I have a sincere motivation to help folks. Sure don't do it for the pay, believe me :lol: This forum is concerned with the quality of the gear offered and whether it comes at a good price from a good seller, which was this thread's original intent. So we now return you to the regularly scheduled program... Everyone have a great Memorial Day! Hope I can remember where I parked my car...
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