I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but I'm seriously thinking of packing things up and getting out of the ebay biz.

[deltone]

Ok, first let me say that there are no guilty people in prison, and whenever a cop stops a speeder, the speeder was never speeding, and in all accidents, it is ALWAYS the other person's fault.

Having said that, I swear, I have 6 negatives and a couple of neutrals and all of them were 100% undeserved. The latest one today was from some fool whose auction ended 3 April. She didn't bother to pay until late 8 April. As you all know, here in Canada the PO was closed for 4 straight days from 9 April (Good Friday) until the following Tuesday (13 April). I mailed this dvd that day.......the very earliest I possibly could.

I emailed all the buyers that their item was in the mail, and the whole drill about the PO being closed, and the US CUSTOMS, yada yada. She emailed me twice asking for a tracking # (a MAJOR red flag) and I answered her promptly and politely in both cases. In the meantime, my father passed away last Tuesday but I somehow was able to keep on top of my emails although I did not list any more auctions.

Anyhow, tonight I come home to a BS email from some person who claims I sent her a bottle of moisturizer cream that I removed the product from and put some inferior cr*p in to replace. Sigh......like I have time to do that. Anyhow, I then notice a negative. Thinking it was from the moisturizer loser, I go look and it's from the gal who says I'm a bad seller because she sent payment almost 3 weeks ago and still no dvd.

I have had so many loser buyers lately that I really think I'm going to just get rid of whatever product I have and move onto something else (besides ebay). It's so disheartening when you go out of your way to provide good product, good customer service and these scammers can tarnish your good name. I've had 2 people in the recent past say on feedback that I sold them a copy of a dvd. This is a federal offense and I would find my *ss in prison if I tried doing that yet, there the feedback sits. Ebay won't do a darn thing about it. I spend hundreds a month in fees to ebay and paypal and yet nothing is done.

I am just not sure I can take much more of this. Perhaps I take things far too personally but all I can see is that at this rate, I'll have 20 negatives by the end of the year, and I swear that I do not sell bootleg dvd's, I do not use cream out of jars and replace it with inferior product, and I send items immediately upon payment. What more can I do?

I'm just venting here but I do have a question. Are any of you other sellers out there feeling as disillusioned as I am right now? THANKS

[auctiondropnship]

Go to a look at my feedback ~~~~maybe you will smile ..# negs this mounth
Yes I feel your pain

[rd1000]

I have exactly the same situation. Customer paid on Good Friday and I shipped on Tues. I e-mailed that it takes 3 weeks on average from Canada. She actually received her product yesterday and she is complaining that it took to long and is threatening negative feedback.

I would not worry about the negs. I know it is frustrating but I don't think it will affect your sales. You have so much positive I wouldn't hesitate buying from you. Especially when you read them, which most people don't even bother with.

That said, I think sellers should have a little more room to respond to the negative feedback.

Before long your negs will be buried by all those positives. X-)

Rob

[jaymor8]

Deb, I am so sorry to hear about your father. Had he been ill or was it sudden?? Take care of yourself, because this is a rough time.

Having said that Deb, you might not be making a very untimely assessment about ebay right now, because your emotions are involved. Try to take a bit of time off and get your heart back and then make a decision.

Sorry to see you going thru this, I really am!!!

Love,

Jackie..

[deltone]

Thanks guys!!

Auctiondrop...........YIKES!!! Seems you have had way more than your share of problem bidders.

rd....I have had so many items that I shipped on 13 April either not show up yet, or JUST showed up. I think if I'm doing this next year, I'll stop selling the week before Easter as it's just not worth it. I think it's a disgrace that the postal service is closed for 4 straight days. I mean for crying out loud!!!

Jackie, my dad has been ill for quite some time. He had a lot of smoking related ailments....his circulation was next to zero as all of his arteries were clogged. In addition he had diabetes. In the end his kidneys failed as what happens is if your organs aren't getting what they need from your heart not pumping the blood properly, then they start to shut down so that is what finally took him.

He was only 74 which really isn't that old in this day and age. He lived with us for 14 years so we are going to miss him like crazy but as they say, life goes on and we will get through this.

Yes, I agree about taking a break from ebay for the time being. I just might do that, but on the other hand it gives me something to do as that is why I started it in the first place........kind of like a hobby. I enjoy doing it and it doesn't take a lot of my time and it gives me spending money for the many trips I take to the US. We shall see.

I just get so frustrated because it just seems that no matter what you do, these fools find you. I'm a total idiot magnet lately. LOL I'm not saying I'm perfect and truthfully I've scr*wed up a couple of transactions over the years, which I of course made good on, but had these people negged me, I'd have been ok with it, but in ALL of these cases, I didn't do a darn thing wrong and I get these filthy lies on my feedback profile. Oh well, truth is, I need to put it all in perspective and remember it's really NOTHING in the big scheme of things. Not everyone is going to like you, right!! ;o)

Thanks for the kind words though!!

[auctiondropnship]

Yeah I get them
Let's run this month down
1) I have a customer that states the size is deceiving . When I email him after he leaves the neg . He says the picture looks bigger then the product . I commented that the auction states the size. I ask if he would like to discuss this with a third party Squaretrade, he agrees . I pay and open a case , he then declined to talk to the mediator . Costing me an addtional$10.00 . All and all I think he new what he was doing when i reviewed the feedback he left others
2) Neg two ,this ducky asked why she could no longer bid on my items. Stated that this was vary rude. Took an older auction that she comment in an emil that she loved . Used that auction from March to Neg me.
3) Neg 3. This person got the wrong item . However emailed and stated she was happy with it and would not Neg me . Yes that's exactly how the email came . I offered her a discount on future order ~~the email back to me seemed upset?? I then emailed really fast back that I was sorry and did not mean to upset her . That I would mail the correct item Monday . Monday morning I woke up too the Neg, I emaield her . She says she never got the email stating I would reship . I forwarded her the email that is timed and dated . I am waiting for her reply

The life and times of Todd on Ebay

[deltone]

Todd, I feel your pain. I truly do. Sounds like you've been getting the same nimrods as I have. I seriously sometimes wonder if someone is messing with me. I have a "competitor" who sells the very same dvd's I sell. A fellow Canuck. Anyhow, every so often I check on the competition to see what they're doing as far as shipping costs, bonuses etc as you should keep on top of these things. I then saw that she was basically "using" my auctions although not mentioning my id or anything but saying things like "not like others" and it was obvious she was referring to me. So I started doing the same thing.........you know, lowering the shipping amount etc. Then she would hit back.......and her last one was.....I ACCEPT PAYPAL unlike others (me......as I didn't at the time) and so I thought okie dokie.....I bit the bullet and although I didn't want to accept Paypal, I started to. I've always wanted to email her to thank her for pushing me into using Paypal as I'm so glad I did. Anyhow, she has well over 1000 feedback and NO negs. I have no idea what she is doing differently than I am but it puzzles the heck out of me. Oh well, life goes on, "eh".

[auctiondropnship]

Well i got a Neg feedback removed

[deltone]

How did you do it auctiondrop? Please share.

[ospreylinks]

I saw the email removed Todd..... it looks odd though that you have the comment, but no symbol....

So someone assasinates you verbally, even if you mutually agree to have the feedback removed, the comments remain? What is the sense of that?

Personally I think it should be Ebay's policy to remove the comment as well because someone could leave a very spiteful comment and mutual removal of the feedback only removes the negative and the count in your total, but a character assassination could remain.

My thoughs only...

Jeff

[deltone]

Oh, the new mutually withdrawn thing. I'm not sure I like that as it keeps the counter thing going and almost brings more attention to it.

[momosworld]

Deltone,

Honestly, don't worry about the negs, just concentrate on doing more business. You are a good seller and you have to realize you have done over 2000 ++ and im sure you have sold much more than that so for the amount of negs you have, don't pack it in..just keep strong.

When we were at 2000 feedbacks, we had around (5-10 negs) but look at our negs now, If we were really bad sellers then we wouldn't be in the game now.

So take it easy, relax and smile 🙂

momo.

[amberwoodottawa]

I have been selling on eBay for 1 1/2 years and didnt think once of getting out last year HOWEVER I have thought about it at least 10 times in 2004.

I went 6 weeks without listing anything but started getting inquiries directly and I have a supplier to consider who order products for me.

From what I have read on the US PS board, there does seem to be an increase in volume of negs being given unfairly and that calls for a need for further changes by eBay however it also appears that eBay is seen less and less.

It also take an incredible amount of time to have a neg removed. The most recent one that I have was sgreed for removal a couple of weeks ago by by the Buyer however it still sits on my record for prospective buyers to see while eBay and ST go through their process.

All I can do is remind you of why you started are selling on eBay, not for the positive FB but for the $$$$. Somewhere along the way, people get confused and spend their hard earned $ to get rid of an undeserved neg FB as their new priority seems to be achieving 100% positive FB.

I'm only in this for the profit. If I cant make a profit then I am out of here. eBay's support has proven to be deplorable and I would never build my future on any business that depended only on my eBay sales.

As far as being a PS, it had been the social aspect of this that has been a perk for me although I have a couple of looser PSers that seem to follow me around the boards looking for reasosn to report me, so the Boards are becoming less of a thrill for me.

Deltone, I cant offer you any word of wisdom about getting negs except to remind you of why you sell on eBay. If you sell to make money, then dont waste any time on your negs, with your sales volume it doesnt have any affect on your PS status. I assure you no Buyer cares whether you have a 98.5% or 99.2%.

If you have the product they want, they will bid.

Malcolm

[deltone]

Thanks Momo and Malcolm. I had been feeling particularly vulnerable the other night when I wrote this OP as it just seemed that things were piling up but I'm much better now. I have pulled myself out of the pity pot. LOL

One thing though, to add to this whole mess. Remember Malcolm, you had a thread pulled? Well, it happened to me too, but not on here. I had posted on the Feedback thread under a different id and I pasted an email on there but changed a few identifying things. It wasn't up an hour and it got pulled. There was nothing nasty or wrong in it but apparently it's against ebay's rules to paste private emails, EVEN if you change a few things. I don't know who reported it but I had found the Pink Slap in my other email addy which I rarely use. Some people have too much time on their hands I suppose.

Also, this idiot who claims I sent her a jar of fake cream......I mean geez.....why would I do such a thing? I'm sure there are whackos out there who would but as I explained to the fool, I wouldn't ever consider such a thing because beyond all the obvious reasons to not do such a thing (illegal, immoral, disgusting etc) it would be dangerous. If I put cream in there and it had ingredients that weren't listed on the jar and the person was allergic, it could do great harm to that person. Why would I even do such a thing? I could be charged with assault or something equally bad. Good grief.

Anyhow, this loser sent me a horrible email......just horrible. Here are a few of the lines in it.......(HOPING THIS DOESN'T GET THIS PULLED.....ebay, it's only a few words and I changed the order!!!)

"Justice, truth, and God is on my side. Maybe someday you'll wake up and change your terrible ways but right now, just remember that you've made yourself a life enemy" AND THEN she wrote "P.S. I'm glad that your dad died."

Now, believe this or not, around 2 hours later she wrote me another email, not mentioning any of her horrible words, but suggesting we try to work things out and asking if she can phone me, or better yet, would I phone her. Can you believe this? Some people are just sick.

[amberwoodottawa]

I would ignore her aside from suggesting she have her FB and remarks about you retracked by filing with ST.

Aside from that, move on, no sooner than she will try to get on your good side and she will do an about turn and slap you when and where you least expected it.

Chalk her up to a looser and move on.

It also seems that you may have told a buyer too much of your personal life. Avoid that like the plague! They are strangers and for all you know they could be a mass murderer or a rapist.

Treat them politely but always as a stranger. Show them respect but keep your personal life (the ups and downs)outside of your dealings with Buyers.

Malcolm

[deltone]

Malcolm, generally I would never tell them as much as I did, but I was concerned that some of the auctions I had that ended the day my dad passed away, would be emailing me and I didn't want to upset anyone if I didn't answer their emails. I was able to get all items out (I don't know how I did it but I did) and sent my YOUR ITEM IS IN THE MAIL email, then I set my ISP thing with sympatico to have an auto message advising that if I don't get back to you right away, to not worry, but that my father had passed on.....yada yada.

You would not believe the number of great emails I got from people as the truth is, MOST people are good. I even wanted to be very clear with them that I wasn't using my dad's death as an excuse for anything, other than if I wasn't going to be reading emails for a few days, I didn't want anyone fretting. Odd that I would even think about ebay when I was so upset about my dad. I guess it was a way to distract myself for awhile.

I'm not even sure if I even mentioned it, but in addition to these whackos, I got a nasty email from some OTHER gal yesterday saying that she never got the dvd from the auction that ended 4 December (a few days short of 5 months ago) and that unless I send her the dvd, or the money back, she is going to report me to ebay. I checked the auction and it's still "live" and hasn't been purged, so I guess I'm going to get another neg as I have NO intention of sending her another dvd or her money back, 5 months later. I mean sheesh!!!!!

I'm going to change my id to IdiotMagnet2004. LOL

[amberwoodottawa]

My last neg was from someone I sold something to 5 months earlier. I threatened legal action for slander and a couple of other things and told him the name of my legal counsel and that I expected a retraction through ST.

He verified with the law firm that I was serious and paid hi $20 to ST and I am just waiting for that to be cleared.

For me it has come to the point of taking action myself as eBay consistently lets me down and fails to provide the support they advertise.

No teeth to the tiger except to pink slap the good guys.

Malcolm

[deltone]

I actually have another id that I've sold a few things on. I think I'm going to switch over to it and give this id a rest for awhile. It's been slammed so badly lately with all these crazy undeserved negs and I can't help but feel people WILL believe the negs. I mean they don't know me so when 3 different people have accused me of fraudulent activity, and 3 or 4 others for shoddy shipping policies, then why shouldn't people start to question whether or not I'm a cr*ppy seller.

Doesn't matter that I always ship the day of or the next day of payment. Doesn't matter that ALL my products I sell are legit, not copies, and not "fake" cream. People can write whatever garbage they choose, libelous or not, and we're stuck with it. I am in the process of finalizing my taxes (I know, I'm a procrastinator) and I will see how much income tax I have to pay on all this ebay stuff, and I'm going to see if it's all worth it or not.

At one time ebay was fun, but I'm finding that less and less. All the fees, and all the scammers on ebay (I've reported a seller several times for selling bootleg dvd's....ya, that's right.......I have a couple of negs for selling bootleg dvd's........which I'm not doing yet there is a seller who IS selling a copy of a dvd and it's beyond obvious and I report him and nothing happens......amazing eh). I'm finding this less fun as time passes. Maybe I just need a break for awhile. Time will tell. I will probably put the powersellers thing on hold until I rethink this whole thing.

It's not even that I'm letting people get to me, it's just that I'm finding it seems that as a seller, we're so open to this fraud........people trying to extort product, and people saying they don't get the parcel. In my first few years on ebay, not one parcel was lost. Now I'm averaging 3 or 4 a month which means either the Postal Service is getting worse and worse, or more and more scammers are on ebay. Whatever it is, something is drastically wrong.

It was fun while it lasted but it isn't fun anymore. I know, nobody said everything has to be fun, but it's becoming sick.

This crazy buyer I'm dealing with now is sending the most disgusting emails and although I know you have to ignore certain things, I don't like the fact that by dealing on here, we leave ourselves wide open for sickos and crazies.

This person sent me ANOTHER email. She is totally crazy. This is some of what she wrote to me:

"You not only deserve to be called names but worse. The saying "what goes around comes around" is a great philosophy. Maybe that's why your dad died. Life's trying to show you that being a criminal is not worth it. Also, God IS on my side because I'm honest and I don't scam people for a profit."

I just cannot imagine anyone saying such sick stuff to someone, and at the same time uses God's name. Boggles the mind. Another reason for "retiring" this id is that I am sure this loser will try to mess with me seeing that she has promised I have made a lifetime enemy.

[whoscloset]

deltone,

Have you reported this buyer for the e-mail's she is sending you. They are totally inappropriate and have nothing to do with the transaction or resolving any situation. It has to be against the rules.

Monique

[hdwrench1]

Hi All,
In Feb we had our fill with idiots leaving negative feedback. SOOOO in our terms and conditions in all our auctions we have this as item #11.. Feedback: We leave positive feedback for every E-Bay purchase that we receive positive feedback for. If we missed yours please e-mail us and let us know. By bidding you agree to accept these terms..

Futher , at the end of the auction when the bidder pays we send this......Payment has been received for the following:

eBay Listing No.: 2461709989
Description: PARTS 4 HARLEY® FLH SPOTLAMP VISORS

PLEASE READ COMPLETELY AND CAREFULLY
This will be shipped today via Canada Post / US Postal Service.Thanks , we appreciate your business. Please bear in mind that your item will be coming from Canada and will take a little longer than items mailed within the US. The Yellow Alert at Customs can slow down a package if Customs or Immigration decides to check the contents but we feel this delay is acceptable for security. We make every effort to get your item to you as quickly as I can, though Customs and the Postal system can slow your package down, We would appreciate if you leave us positive feedback when you receive your part to ensure our E-Bay Power Seller status and we will return the favor.. General delivery times from Canada to most US destinations is 10 to 14 working days.
Thank you again,YADA YADA YADA

Ebay is a revenue builder for us.
Positive feedback is great but who really cares about it??
A feedback rating and $1.50 gets you a large Double double at Timmers.

My take on it anyway. I'm sure that some will disagree but negs are way down.
Our experience has been that negs come from idiots that are not welcome in most local businesses anyway.


Cheers
Wayne
Heritage Cycle Works