[morzh]

The aftermath:

I tried to reason with seller, having been very polite and non-insulting. Eventually had to file a case with eBay.
He offered me some little money back, I refused - I cannot use the whole batch.

So he started insulting me, suggesting I am trying to return him some other tubes (to which I asked him if he would not recognize his own) and today he started directly calling me name.

here are some fine examples:

1. "now u get 0 from me for being a a-hole! u are lying about the hole thing because u tried to scam about your equipment getting blown up and now u are trying to turn it around on my tubes being bad. don't contact me any more. shove em!!!"

2. "STOP HARASSING ME!"
3. This one is in response of me telling him that he is being insulting:
""U ARE INSULTING ME! B.S. ARTIST!""

So, the guy's name is "jamesl708".

the very first response of his was very crass, and then he in fact apologized (I simply inquired about his tubes as to what "RCA 12AT7'S LOT OF 7 BLACK PLATES TEST STONG TO NOS TESTED IN AN AMP CIRCUIT" meant, and he just got pretty rude replying that I could be less paranoid as I should look at his feedback). So it should've alerted me but heck, I saw tubes that test close to NOS for a decent price and went for it.

I guess buying tubes on eBay for HiFi equipment like a Mac might not be a good idea after all.

Right now i am talking to Jim McShane, a reputable guy recommended on Audiokarma who is on the Tubeasylum site.
Hopefully this time it will be good, though his tubes are not cheap. 12AT7 / 4024 Mullard NOS is about $40 apiece.