What if any feedback would you leave?

[higgswtop12]

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?

[momcqueen]

I would not show him the thread. He or she may assume this was some kind collaborative effort as opposed to the honest advice given. 

The choice of what feedback to leave is yours. However, you might also expect to be asked to revise it by the seller. 

Good luck as you carry forward.

[higgswtop12]

In the end I left 2 negatives.

Thanks for all the advice.

[rose-dee]

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@higgswtop12 wrote:

In the end I left 2 negatives. 

---

I think for all the reasons pointed out by 'recped'  and 'Pierre' this seller deserved the negs.  To my mind, they were well earned, because: 

1) The seller apparently didn't have on hand the stuff he sold you (bad enough, but he could have dealt with that problem honestly from the outset); 

2) The seller compounded the problem by refunding without any communication.  This is a far worse transgression.  

His rather curt message that you finally received tells me he didn't think this whole thing was all that much of an issue.  These kinds of seller practices ultimately hurt all of us sellers and erode buyer confidence in eBay. 

Don't feel at all badly about leaving 2 negatives.  I'd probably have given him a "1" for communication too, while I was at it.  

[momcqueen]

You're welcome.

As has been said in the past by others here, please don't let this kind of thing discourage you from shopping on ebay. I sell toys mostly but I do want you to know that when I list an item for auction at a low, low opening bid, I fully expect it to sell for less than cost. Smart sellers use this kind of tactic as a loss-leader (common to retail) and future-customer-generator. Less-brilliant sellers of all sizes might try to finagle their way out of an auction that ends lower than they had hoped but that only serves to alienate their customers and ebay has recognized it sours buyers for the whole of ebay not just the seller. The consequences are pretty stiff.

Most sellers here were buyers first and stung like you long ago. As such, they have vowed to provide better customer service. 

[higgswtop12]

I don't feel bad about leaving the negatives as they were considered.

This was not as case of not in stock...it was a case of both the items sold much lower than expected as did the Jubilee in one of his neutrals so he did not mail it. I think he tried to head off the negative by refunding before I ever reported not receiving the item, the problem is he could only know it did not arrive if he never sent it because I had not yet reported not receiving it.

It is not a big deal and I know a big majority of sellers here are honest.

[mr.elmwood]

This has been a fascinating read. I have zero capacity to plan any sort of evil on any level. It has been done to me and baffles me. The ex used to scheme endlessly and they carry out her plans. I could never do that.

To see an eBay seller doing essentially the same thing, with an end-game of avoidance, is baffling to me. They had plans in place right from the start.

My Aspergers prevents me from understanding how people can plan to do things like this. The guilt would kill me. Never mind that I cannot form the requisite steps required to carry out this nefarious deed.

In the words of Sheldon Cooper: "I don't get it".