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

[deltone]

Monique, I was going to report her to ebay for these emails, but when I checked out their guidelines about what they will do something about, it doesn't fall under their guidelines. I reported her first email for feedback extortion and I got the usual canned response of thank you for your report, blah blah blah, but of course they can't/won't tell you what action they took.

This person is just a total idiot and is obviously not dealing with a full deck because sensible reasonable people don't say the things she says.

Some might say, send her the refund and be done with her, and MAYBE that would have been the wise thing to do, but truthfully, from her first email accusing me of criminal behaviour just got my back up. I know it's not smart to let any of this get personal, but being accused of such disgusting things is pretty hard to overlook. Then throw into the mix, the horrible things she is saying about my father's death!! No way I'll send this creep a dime.

My guess is she'll do some sort of chargeback with her credit card or something and then at that point I can't do a thing about it but for now, I refuse to play her sick little game.

I just don't understand where these people are coming from all of a sudden, and they seem to go in waves.

As far as feedback goes, I personally don't care if someone leaves me a feedback or not, as long as it's not smearing me and accusing me of things I didn't do. I still say it's wrong for ebay to allow things like that to remain, the same as it would be wrong for your landlord to refuse to allow you to remove the filthy graffiti some weirdo painted on your front door. I know the whole drill that ebay gives about why they don't get involved, but still....it's just not right.

[decobulova]

I can appreciate everyone's comment's about idiot buyers. We've had 3 people in the last month say they've made a mistake in their bid at the last minute. This means waiting 7 days to file a NPB and wasting our time. Not to mention when you do a second chance offer and explain what really happened the second place bidder never wants to buy because the price was artificially inflated.

As for the shipping, we've chosen to ship everything express post. We charge $17 and we only sell watches (small boxes) so I know this wouldn't work for everyone.

Here's a tale from my eBay memoirs... we sold a watch to a guy in England. When the man received the watch he emailed us and complained we sold him a women's watch. Clearly this was a mans watch, but most vintage watches are smaller than today's watches. We clearly state the dimensions of the watch in our auctions, but this still didn't satisfy him. We also state we don't give refunds. Anyways, this guy goes on to tell us that he's 6'7" and the watch won't fit around his wrist... come on!!! If you're that size wouldn't you be conscious of the sizes of things you were buying??? Long story short... he shipped it back to us without our consent and reclaimed through his credit card... the Paypal ripped it from our account. I'm sure not a new story... just my story.

Ritchie

[auctiondropnship]

This is What I would do , file for mutual feedback removal, put nothing in the comment box. If the person doe not reply to the mutual feedback removal ..............................., in say 3 days.........File with Squaretrade . I can almost 100% guarantee , if they will not reply to mutual feedback removal , they will not reply to squaretrade . If they do not reply to squaretrade , the feedback is removed

Just a thought , generally the people who never read the terms in the auction . Never read that they must reply to squaretrade , or the feedback is removed


This is what I would do ....

But in the comment box leave nothing

[shooger]

1) Sorry to hear about your dad.
2) You could have had her neg removed for offering to give more info if people email her. That's against feedback rules. But then you gave some response that also offered to give info about her in an email... so you probably can't get it removed that way now. 😞
3) Canada Post was open on Saturday for me - it wasn't Easter, so they were open. They're part of a 7-11 that's why. Also, the post offices that are part of london drugs are also open on Saturdays.
4) The mutual feedback removal DOES remove the neg from your total number. All it leaves is the comment, which quicky is buried and never read.

[deltone]

Thanks Shooger.
OUCH, I hadn't realized that about the feedback (the email part). I definitely should not have allowed it to get personal. I'll know better next time. (I hope).

Our PO in a small town is open on Saturday for 1/2 a day, BUT, they don't get any new mail, and they don't process any mail. It sits there until Monday (or in this case, Tuesday) so for all intents and purpose, it may as well be closed because it's useless. I'm not even sure why it's open.

I seriously doubt this person is going to be someone I even want to try and deal with. She's a total nutbar. She has now gotten my contact information through ebay so I suspect she'll be calling me soon. I have no intention of discussing anything with some who is so evil as to say the things she has......"lifetime enemy", "glad your father died" and "your dad probably died because of your criminal behaviour". This is one sick cookie and I am going to do my best to ignore her.

I am just going to have to stop taking negatives personally but it's so so difficult to do when your integrity and character is called into question but I just have to keep reminding myself that it shouldn't matter what some nutjob in CA or wherever says, as long as I know it's not true.

Deco, sorry to hear what happened with that buyer. It takes all kinds, doesn't it. :o(

[deltone]

Thanks Gloria! You're right!! I think I'm just in a bit of a "funk" as I keep going up, and down in my thoughts on this. I truly do know that feedback is really meaningless in the big scheme of things and usually I remember that, and then for whatever reason I start to fret over it.

There are so many real bad things going on in this world and it's so silly getting upset about feedback. I think it was just the whole idea of being accused of something so serious and horrible. I can't believe how stupid some people are. I know for a fact if I get an email from someone saying "the dvd is defective", or "the cream smells tainted", I'd be the first to replace the product. Why someone would be so rude and stupid as to make wild accusations and think you'll be open to working with them is beyond me.

Why not punch me in the nose, and then expect me to hold the door open for you? Aint gonna happen. As far as the slinging mud back and forth, you are so correct. The one thing worse than getting a negative is to get into a feedback war with someone as you come off looking unprofessional and nuts. Even knowing that I have been sucked into it a few times. I have no idea why I allowed myself to do that other than having a bit of a hot head when my integrity is questioned. LOL

Thanks for your kind words about my dad. I still have trouble getting into conversations about him as it makes me all weepy but I'm sure it will get better with time. I sure do miss him.

[gloriaguides]

Hey, I almost quit last year when I had a "Buyer from hell". But, I got over it, moved on and I can actually laugh about him now. But, i lost alot of sleep over him at the time. Now, if I'm not having fun, I take a break. BUT.......for me, watching my auctions is the most fun in the world. I've learned that there are idiots and I don't take it personally and sometimes I just tell them like it is when they are annoying or harrassing me. I may get that neg, but sometimes its better than taking it from an unreasonable person. Just as long as I keep it pretty much balanced. And, truthfully, sometimes I have to walk away from an email for awhile before I feel I can respond appropriately. But, I never let anyone walk on me either. Life's too short, I "play" at ebay very hard and I'm as honest as I can be. As long as I can live with myself, I'm happy with that. What others say has long since ceased to bother me (believe it or not, some people find me a bit aloof!). Gloria

[muminlaw]

Deb, I've been busy getting the taxes done after being away all month ... April is a bad month to be away! Anyhow, I just want to add my condolences about your dad. I know exactly where you're coming from -- my dad died in '76 and I can still get all weepy at some things that remind me of him (not many anymore, though -- mostly it's memories that I can talk about quite happily).

About your nutcase buyer, I haven't had one of those (touch wood!) so I don't know how I'd react but I suspect the worst -- I'm really good at putting my mouth (or typing fingers) in motion before my brain's in gear! As long as EBay isn't your main source of income, don't worry about the nutcases - most of them have problems we'll never have to deal with, thank God!

Gloria, me too on the aloof bit -- are you a tad shy in person?

Glenda

[deltone]

Gloria and Glenda.......thanks!! Funny thing is, we 3 sound similar. I have been considered a bit aloof myself, although I don't feel I am. I used to be VERY shy.....I mean painfully shy. I'm not shy anymore, although I do still have a few shy tendencies.

I'm very lucky that ebay is really just a source of entertainment for me......a hobby if you will. I make a few spare bucks so that when I go to the US I don't have to convert my Canuck bucks.

I must admit though that the paperwork involved, for the taxman was a lot more than I had bargained on. There are so many records to keep, and receipts etc. Also, when you figure how much you pay in fees and then taxes, it sometimes makes me wonder how much longer I want to do this. It was GREAT when our dollar sucked but with higher fees, slower shipping, the taxman etc. it's not as lucrative. I did hear our dollar took a bit of a dive today although I've not looked to see what it's at.

[gloriaguides]

I was desperately shy as a child, yes, and picked on because of it (and my funny clothes!). Now, I'm not at all shy (and wear fashionable clothes) but don't allow casual acquaintances (read people I don't particularly like or may actively dislike) to waste my time by blabbing on about irrelevant things. Thanks God I'm now a fully grown totally mature woman who can do as she pleases! I'm actually involved in alot of community things (e.g. library at elementary school, Chair of School Advisory Council at Jr High; used to do Cub Scouts and Girl Guides) so I have little time to waste on fools and jerks. Ebaying has made me conscious of just how precious time can be, since I am perpetually short of it raising 3 kids and keeping hubby happy as well. That's why I don't have alot of time for the boards that i would love to visit more. Fortunately I'm gearing down now for my summer break, so will have more time soon....might even pull out my keyboard and play it for awhile! Gloria

[muminlaw]

Congrats to both of you for overcoming your shyness! I wish I could say the same -- they tell me I hide it pretty well but I'm still shy with strangers and have never been able to initiate a conversation although I can carry one on once someone else has it started. I still clam up if it appears that my comments don't agree with the majority and, while I belong to a few clubs (I'm editor for one), I don't speak to a crowd, no matter how well I know them. Oh well, I've gotten by this long and now I'm reaching the age where people will put it down to "getting to that funny age"! 🙂

Glenda

[gloriaguides]

I'm getting closer to that age too, Glenda-uncomfortably close to 50 when i think of it, and i have noticed alot more people open doors for me! I don't feel any different than i did 20 years ago, though, so I don't let it worry me. We've finally started with some nice weather and I've been out doing yard work...my body IS reminding me that time is moving on. I decided that this year, unlike the last 3, I was going to get an early start on the lawn and flower beds. I don't think I'll be back out there for another week or so until I recover. I have a few more quiet minutes until the kids start getting home and I'm proud to say I've done no listings today, which was my original plan for the day.

[cello10]

While I haven't got a single negative yet, I know I will at some point and I don't lose a second of sleep over it. I know I am honest, I give top notch customer service and I stand behind everything I sell. There is nothing more you can do. Idiots are unavoidable, but if you do your best to be top notch seller, you'll make money...and that's what it is all about isn't it? Retail stores get jerks coming into their store daily, it is part of the territory, you can't take it personally. Just deal with it as best you can, then move on immediately. Anyone with 2000+ positives and only 7 negatives to me is doing exceptionally well and should be making some good money. I am no math genius but according to my calculations you have 286 positive experiences for every single negative exeprience. Focus on the positive!!