eBay

higgswtop12 · ‎06-07-2015

I purchased items:

381251787425

381251787394

at auction and although I bid more got them at very low prices.

After about 2 weeks seller sent me an email asking if I got them. I replied that I had been away and had not checked my mail (it comes in a locked box). I got home opened several other auctions that arrived but they had not. I am patient and did not bother to contact the seller yet as items almost always arrive.

Suddenly without me ever contacting him again I get full refunds and a note saying:

"My apologies,
These must have been lost in the mail. I will refund the now, sorry for the problem."

I am pretty certain they were never sent as sellers do not usually refund without a buyer complaint that it has not arrived. I just wrote the following.

"Hmm...I have not complained about this and the other lot not arriving. A while back you sent me a note asking if I received them. I replied I had been away and not checked my mail yet. They had not arrived but I am quite patient and had not even contacted you yet...and suddenly a refund for both appears. Could it be that you did not ship because the selling price at auction was too low? If so in the future just start auctions at the minimum you will be happy with. I actually bid a fair bid more but it goes at one increment over the next highest bidder. I will contemplate appropriate feedback."

What feedback would you leave or would you leave any?

mr.elmwood · ‎06-07-2015

Well, ahem, as a buyer, you are "whole". you have not lost anything except the possibility of a purchase.

Neg? You really did not lose anything.

Pos? You did not gain anything.

Neut? ALL sellers hate those.

Nothing as nothing happened. Kinda like going to the store and the shelf is empty.

Your call.

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mr.elmwood · ‎06-07-2015

Upon further reflection, this is a seller Pierre or NiceStamps may be familiar with. Their feedback is way above the indicated performance you received. I am perplexed.

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higgswtop12 · ‎06-07-2015

I am still contemplating, thanks for your input. No need to be hasty. I notice he has other feedback for not received and at least a couple of these were for low price realizations ie items :

361235684804

381190370529

The NH jubilee was away under value.

A pattern? Or too little data to decide?

recped · ‎06-08-2015

What feedback would you leave or would you leave any?

I'm not sure I would leave any feedback, if the seller gave you a 100% refund without an official cancellation they already earned a defect. If they had tried to slime through a "buyer requested" cancellation I'd have refused it and probably negged them (something I've never actually had to do for any seller).

This seller has a long history of mysterious "I know it's been two weeks so it must be lost, here's your money back".

Next to shill bidding not shipping because you didn't get your price is about the worst thing a seller can do (not including outright theft of course).

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

pierrelebel · ‎06-08-2015

I usually do not like to leave negative or even neutral feedback.

However, in these two specific instances, based on previous neutral or negative feedback received by seller for similar reasons and - more importantly - the 33 revised feedback!!!, I would definitely leave negative feedback for a seller who did not complete his responsibility to ship the goods purchased and paid for.

All of us make mistakes. It is part of doing business. The more activities you have, the more mistakes will be made. However, when a seller runs out of stock or cannot find the items sold, the first thing to do is be honest and tell the buyer and then refund.

This seller was not candid. He has "earned" a couple of negative feedback.

pierrelebel · ‎06-08-2015

I should add that one of the reasons I would leave negative feedback is that the seller is offering the same items, repeatedly, at fixed price, at prices much higher than the auction price.

Check out "Canada 157" You will find several listings by that seller at higher fixed price.

Negative, well earned.

pierrelebel · ‎06-08-2015

"this is a seller Pierre or NiceStamps may be familiar with."

I do not know that seller nor did I ever have any dealings with him. "nicestamps" on the other hand may know him since she lived and did business in the same town until her recent move to the West Coast.

triber · ‎06-08-2015

I think that a red flag here is the fact that he wrote and asked the buyer if he had received the items. When I first started selling, and it was one or two items at a time, I would do that, but now there is no way. This seller has 459 feedbacks in a month, does he write and ask them all if they received the item? Plus, without even getting a reply from the buyer, he refunded.

I agree with Pierre, he deserves a neg for sure. I have never given one, but then I have not purchased much, and never had a bad experience.

mr.elmwood · ‎06-08-2015

Well now, I was not entirely expecting the above responses. The "big" guys are on board to neg. obviously I do not entirely understand the stamp world.

I, too, have never contacted a customer with a "Did ya get it", why would I? Why would I randomly refund.

I will go with the above and presume it was a pre-emptive refund to prevent a defect that they suddenly seem to deserve.

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ricarmic · ‎06-08-2015

Hi MrE! As far as I understand things the seller already got the defects by doing the refund. I'm thinking they just want to avoid the visible neutral/negative???

pierrelebel · ‎06-08-2015

"obviously I do not entirely understand the stamp world."

It is not a category problem. The guy could be selling car parts or patterns and I would feel the same way after checking his feedback record and the number of revised feedback.

"The "big" guys...."

I am sadly aware of my overweight. No need to remind me publicly. Mary does it privately ... daily!

mr.elmwood · ‎06-08-2015

Not entirely what I meant, but, we can go with it.

sigh

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momcqueen · ‎06-08-2015

When I was very, very new to selling, I made the HUGE mistake of shipping the first overseas items by untraced surface service, so once I realized exactly what I had done, there were a few buyers for whom I initiated a friendly, "I know this shipment was due to take four weeks to get to you and it's been six weeks now: will you let me know if there has been any issues with your order, please?" kind of thing. While the orders took eight weeks to arrive, I kept friendly communication lines open and my buyers were very kind to me. None left poor feedback for it.

But the issue for me was really NOT that an item sold for less than I had hoped; it was that I was too naive to understand shipping times for overseas items and thought I was doing my buyers a favour by giving them the cheapest option possible for postage.

Anyway, I lost a lot of sleep over these mistakes. The parcels did arrive, sure enough, all but one that was supposed to go to Australia but for all I know, it came after I refunded the buyer and I did so willingly because I felt so poorly about my judgement error.

But here's the thing: I could understand a squeaky new seller being so agitated by their mistakes that they tried to refund you without cause but an experienced one would not because it is a quick trip to Defect Land to refund an order in its entirety without also cancelling it.

What, if anything, did the seller say to your message? If they did not reply, I'd probably leave them a neutral or negative alone for communication skills. To not reply to a buyer is a cardinal sin in my books.

higgswtop12 · ‎06-08-2015

So far no reply. I will wait a bit and see..

I thank all for the input. I had not checked the number of feedback revisions so really appreciated Pierre pointing that out.

Had he waited for me to contact him I would have accepted the refund and a transaction cancellation and felt badly for his loss. As it stands I will think a bit more taking comments here into account, wait to see if I get a response to my message and then make a decision on my feedback.

Not getting the items is not a big deal. It just peeves me that he was not forthright, that he tied up my money for a few weeks (not a big deal but in principle it bothers me), and that I wasted time deciding how much to bid which was a few times larger than the winning bids.

I also feel that doing this sort of thing gives the venue a bad reputation and I don't like to see the efforts of the many (and mostly) good sellers here negated.

Thanks for the input. I have never left a negative or neutral and did not want to do so without careful consideration

momcqueen · ‎06-08-2015

I think you are exactly the sort of thoughtful and considerate buyer that every seller wishes he or she had.

recped · ‎06-08-2015

@higgswtop12 wrote:
So far no reply. I will wait a bit and see..

I thank all for the input. I had not checked the number of feedback revisions so really appreciated Pierre pointing that out.

Had he waited for me to contact him I would have accepted the refund and a transaction cancellation and felt badly for his loss. As it stands I will think a bit more taking comments here into account, wait to see if I get a response to my message and then make a decision on my feedback.

Not getting the items is not a big deal. It just peeves me that he was not forthright, that he tied up my money for a few weeks (not a big deal but in principle it bothers me), and that I wasted time deciding how much to bid which was a few times larger than the winning bids.

I also feel that doing this sort of thing gives the venue a bad reputation and I don't like to see the efforts of the many (and mostly) good sellers here negated.

Thanks for the input. I have never left a negative or neutral and did not want to do so without careful consideration

It's not just the revisions, the more than 50 negs/neuts with the bulk of them being exactly the same situation, now multiply that by 2,3,4, or more from buyers who just accept a refund and say nothing (as you may/might do).

Like you, an experience like this wouldn't change my buying habits one bit but casual buyers according to research done by eBay are seriously affected by this type of situation. On the US buyer boards this type of scenario is one that absolutely chases buyers from the site.

Not only is it bad for the site and for all sellers it's the type of thing that prompts eBay to bring in even more draconian seller performance rating systems with the inevitable collateral damage to sellers who have an "honest" issue finding something. they have sold (it happens to everyone from time to time).

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

momcqueen · ‎06-08-2015

@recped wrote:

It's not just the revisions, the more than 50 negs/neuts with the bulk of them being exactly the same situation, now multiply that by 2,3,4, or more from buyers who just accept a refund and say nothing (as you may/might do).

Like you, an experience like this wouldn't change my buying habits one bit but casual buyers according to research done by eBay are seriously affected by this type of situation. On the US buyer boards this type of scenario is one that absolutely chases buyers from the site.
Not only is it bad for the site and for all sellers it's the type of thing that prompts eBay to bring in even more draconian seller performance rating systems with the inevitable collateral damage to sellers who have an "honest" issue finding something. they have sold (it happens to everyone from time to time).

That is a very good point. This kind of shenanigan undermines all of us.