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Caveat emptor: ebay seller nitr-o

LA Guy

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Originally Posted by rnoldh
I don't worry about inflated MSRP's in listings. I think it's just puffery(if that's a word)...

There is a seller called parisvegas. He sometimes sells very desirable items cheaply(at least with a very low start price). He runs his operation like a bargain basement. With very low start prices and very spare ad designs. I've Emailed him questions repeatedly, and he's never answered once. Is he a bad seller? For what he offers, and for the prices, I think he's not a bad seller...

...And for those that are put off by puffed MSRP's, I have a question. What if a seller, let's say Nitro aquires a lot of very desirable suits. Let's say Kiton 180 suits. And the genuine MSRP at Neiman's or Korshak is $8,000. If Nitro says the suits have an MSRP of $15,000, does that make them worth less or make them not worthy of purchase?

I really think that almost all of Nitro...


It's not "puffery". It's a deliberate misrepresentation. Retail markups are typically 60 points, with some specialty stores going as high as 80 points. I believe that he has written on one of the forums that a 4-5x markup from wholesale is typical. It is not, and to contend otherwise is just incorrect. This type of dishonesty reminds me of the case the Jos A. Banks lost. And even if it is not illegal, it is sketchy behavior.

As for your case:
What if a seller, let's say Nitro aquires a lot of very desirable suits. Let's say Kiton 180 suits. And the genuine MSRP at Neiman's or Korshak is $8,000. If Nitro says the suits have an MSRP of $15,000, does that make them worth less or make them not worthy of purchase?
It makes them less worthy of the final purchase price, yes. The final value is determined by a buyer's judgement re. the bargain he or she is getting. In this case, the buyer is has been given deliberately inaccurate information which causes the buyer to overvalue the merchandise. I'm not a lawyer, but for me, this deliberate misrepresentation of MSRP constitutes a type of fraud (if not in the legal, then in the vernacular sense.)

Parisvegas is different. He makes no misrepresentations. That he never answers emails is a customer service issue. It does not bring his honesty and integrity into question.
 

lawyerdad

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Originally Posted by tsherry
My Isaia tux from nitr-o arrived today. It is fully canvassed, 1 button, peak lapel super 150's. Somebody here posted and tipped me off to these a little over a week ago.
This is indeed from the high line Isaia and not the Gianluca lower line (I have suits and sport coats from both). Fabulous dinner suit. I am 100 % satisfied with the product, communication, and description.
My guess is that it won't hold up as well over the years as my old "considerably lower than super 150's" dinner suit, but for the fit and feel (and amazing price) of the Isaia, I'm one happy camper!
smile.gif

Yeah, my sense is he accurately describes which of the several lines a garment comes from. I generally don't pay that much attention to claimed MSRP's, so I don't have a view on that.
And yes, his e-store is highly annoying in its interface and graphics.
 

NoVaguy

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Nitr-o's MSRP's are total bullshit, but everything else is legitimate. Since he's not real auctions, but rather high starting price auctions with minimal/no bidding, it's not really that big of a deal in reality.

i bought two paul stuarts off of him, both very nice. he accurately described them as substantially similar to the fused isaia diffusion line, but puffed the price. Since I knew paul stuart, it didn't really matter to me.
 

nitr-o

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Hello everyone,

It's been a while since I have visited this forum. I have read some comments here. Some of which baffle me. I will try to address them as concisely as possible. Some my not pertain to this particular thread. I'll address the original post at the bottom.

1)Gianluca vs. Isaia: The Gianluca line (distributed through Isaia) is made by Michel Angelo Spa. Which is owned, and operated by Gianluca Isaia's uncle. Their garments are (as Isaia informed me) 1/2 canvassed. I still don't know exactly what that means.. From what I can tell, they are fused. Many times the fabrics are the same as used on Isaia. Either way, they're nice pieces for the money.

2)MSRP: According to Isaia, retail price is 3 times dealer cost. I am the ONLY Ebay seller that obtains Isaia (and Gianluca) directly from Isaia. That being said, I know what dealer cost is.

3)Gianluca/Paul Stuart: I have had people basically call me a liar, saying "Paul Stuart would never use items made from Gianluca". Fact is, they do. Since I'm not familiar with P. Stuart, I can't say where these fit in their lines. FYI: Isaia makes garments for more designers than you would think i.e.: Loro Piana, Zanella, Sids, Brooks Brothers (their new Hand tailored line), Donna Karan (& many more).

4)There are people here that said I don't reply to emails. My main email account is through Hotmail. So it's more likely your ISP has blocked, or placed my reply in your junk mail folder. There are certain ISP's (i.e. AOL) that I know do this. When I recognize it/them I send my replies through another email account. I suppose I shouldn't have used Hotmail. But it's been used for so long now, that I'm stuck with it. That being said, sometimes I get a lot of emails, & I have missed replying to one here, & there. It certainly is/was not intentional.

5)My interface/graphics: There are people here that say they wouldn't buy from me because they don't like, or are annoyed by the way my pages look. Are you hurting me? Yes. But you are potentially hurting yourself as well. You're saying you would pass up on great offering, simply because you don't like the graphics on a page? You may not like this, but don't you think that's a bit petty? If you're having trouble getting the Nitr-Ometer to hide, it's because you're NOT clicking in the right spot. Look at this image http://www.datazap.net/sites/1498/labels/Clickhere.jpg . You may not like my page lay out, but how many other sellers invest the time to take good photos like I do?

6)Cash refunds: I am NOT a retail store. And you can tell by the prices that I don't make the profit that a retail store does. I always offer exchanges, or a credit to be used for anything you like at any time.. If you want retail like services, you should go to Neiman's and pay for that service.

7)Seeing merchandise: Someone here said they don't trust me because they couldn't come by and see it... I work out of my home.. How many here would want people in their home? Actually, that's not the real reason. My inventory is NOT organized like a store, and it's all bagged in plastic (not easy to look through). In addition, I have so much inventory, that the few times I have allowed people to come by, they are so over whelmed that they consume HOURS of my time. Again, I simply do not make that much of a profit to allow this any more.

My opinion on different designers:
When it comes to the actual construction quality: Kiton, Isaia, Borrelli, Brioni, Barbera etc. Are all the same. I know I am inviting a barrage of controversy with that statement.

Where the differences come in, is with personal tastes. I personally don't like Kiton, because their fabric choices tend to look "OLD MAN-ISH". I own 5 Brioni suits, but their fabrics are not as durable as they should be for the price. I love Barbera, Isaia (obviously), hi-end Zegna, & Borrelli. But all of this is just my opinion. And we all know what the clichÃ
00a9.png
is about opinions..

In conclusion: I describe every item as I see them. I try to take care of every customer as quickly, & as professionally as I can. Am I perfect? No. But my errors are few. And when I do make an error, I fix it. 3400+ (2200+ unique) positive feedback is certainly not an Ebay record, but it ain't bad either.

Thanks for your time (if you read this far).
Pete
nitr-o

Mr Cheez:
I don't know what more you wanted from me. You were sent an email when the listing ended, that supplied you with all necessary info. You were also sent an email when your scarf was shipped. Which included the delivery confirmation number. You received your scarf within 4 days of the listing end.
You then leave neutral feed back. I emailed you and said to you what I said above. You then reply that you should have left me negative feedback. Yes,, I did take exception to that. For some reason you don't seem to think that 2 emails, and 4 day service is satisfactory..
 

ezboy1000

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Whatever opinion one might have on the issues nitr-o responded to, it is clear this man is a gentleman. Instead of coming here and talking smack, the guy stands up and politely gives his side of the story. I hope those who disagree with some of his points will be as cordial in reply.
 

foto010101

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Originally Posted by ezboy1000
Whatever opinion one might have on the issues nitr-o responded to, it is clear this man is a gentleman. Instead of coming here and talking smack, the guy stands up and politely gives his side of the story. I hope those who disagree with some of his points will be as cordial in reply.
I fully agree.
 

A Harris

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I have had people basically call me a liar, saying "Paul Stuart would never use items made from Gianluca". Fact is, they do.
I can confirm this, as I have personally examined the Paul Stuart/Gianluca Napoli suits in the NY Paul Stuart store. They are/were the made in Italy Paul Stuart suits that retail or $1095 or so.
 

rssmsvc

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Originally Posted by zjpj83
The buyer has completed his side of the deal once he has paid me, and feedback should be submitted then, not once I see whether I need to retaliate against him.

Ah, but one issue is that since the buyer can do any number of things to stop payment or a chargeback they may not of completed their transaction. Since Paypal is also messy their a lot of weird things buyers can do to screw with sellers after the sale and even the delivery. I love the idea that when the buyer has paid they should be left feedback, but in practice I have seen buyers try and black mail a buyer AFTER the sale for free items in order to get a positive feedback.
 

Naturlaut II

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Inflated MSRPs are pretty much the same as "worn-once-only" phrases on used items on eBay. Most of us here have gotten so used to these clauses that our eyes kinda skip through them anyway. We all know the MSRP for the items we queried, and we all know what "worn-once-only" actually means. This is basically the eBay dialect; not that I support it, but I've got to get real sometimes and realize the real world we live in and the real people we deal with.
 

Roger

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I saw this thread only today, although it was started in December. I can say that the one eBay purchase I made through Nitr-o was completely satisfactory in every way. I purchased a Gianluca overcoat about a year ago for a very reasonable price, and I'm very happy with it. Pete Testa handled the transaction very professionally and stayed in e-mail contact until the coat arrived safely. I'd definitely buy again from Nitr-o if they had something I was interested in.
smile.gif
 

foto010101

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I never bought any items from him, but I can say he always responded to my emails. I won't hesitate to order from him.
 

aportnoy

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I'm a repeat customer of nitr-o and here's my take.

The retail prices quoted are ridiculously high and nowhere close to being accurate (except for maybe Scott Hill and Korshak) who seem to charge 40% more for the same stuff than anyone else.

The quality of the merchandise is excellent and the service is basically good, not exceptional, but fine.
 

Jared

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Thank you for making this a dialog, nitr-o, it has certainly increased your reputation in my eyes. However, I've still got to take you to task on the interface:
smile.gif
Originally Posted by nitr-o
My interface/graphics: There are people here that say they wouldn't buy from me because they don't like, or are annoyed by the way my pages look. Are you hurting me? Yes. But you are potentially hurting yourself as well. You're saying you would pass up on great offering, simply because you don't like the graphics on a page? You may not like this, but don't you think that's a bit petty? If you're having trouble getting the Nitr-Ometer to hide, it's because you're NOT clicking in the right spot. Look at this image http://www.datazap.net/sites/1498/labels/Clickhere.jpg . You may not like my page lay out, but how many other sellers invest the time to take good photos like I do?
You cannot argue with user-interface feedback. If people find it unintuitive, it doesn't work to respond with more instruction. People are busy, they just skim auctions. Gaving excess text and graphics that slows down skimming is bad enough. Requiring them to click is fatal. I guarantee you are losing sales. If you design your auctions yourself, please read some of the ecommerce articles at http://www.useit.com/. If you pay someone else, find someone with a real understanding of usability issues. And BTW, your popups don't work in my Firefox, so I have no idea how good your photos work...
 

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