An ebay seller to avoid

Your assumption is unmerited and unfair. I've sold hundreds of items, at prices that the buyers decided was fair. Some are buy-it-now and they decide the price is fair by, you know, buying it, and some are auctions and they decide the price is fair by seeing who bids last.

But, what? Are you claiming all eBay sellers lie? If anything, that's an interesting projection of what may be your own failings, if that's where you're going with your "but......"

Do some eBay sellers lie or distort in their listings? Yeah. Do they deserve negative feedback for that? Of course. Do all of 'em do it, or even most of 'em?

In hundreds of transactions, buying and selling, I've had to leave exactly one negative feedback. So, 99%+ of the people I've dealt with on eBay have been honorable for the transactions we've conducted. You may have had a bad experience, I dunno, but blaming all other sellers on eBay for it, is like blaming anyone with a telephone because some sales guy ripped you off during a phone call.

96% is a horrible feedback score. Check the negs, check the feedback of the people who neg'd him, and see if _they_ are decent folks. If so, avoid the seller. It's pretty easy, really.

This is not how I see my ebaying.

My ebay activity centers around finding resellable stuff for an extremely low price. At least 30% of what it could sell for.

The rest is icing on the cake and all I do usually, is clean the item, test it as much as I can and describe it fairly.

As we can well understand, ebay feedback system places a strong incentive to at least not lie.

i

My apologies for posting what appears in hindsight to have been skewed as chastising sellers in general.

My intention was to point out that people understand and are willing to do the footwork for a similarly priced item like a used auto..even to the point of assuming that the seller is not fully disclosing the problems and is likely to be guilding the lily in the descriptions. However, when it comes to EBAY, buyers appear a little more forgiving..often to the point of skipping what would normally be basic protections like inspection of expensive items.

The point of the comparison was simply to remind people that they already know how and why to do such protectionist behaviors when buying items like this and should take that lesson and apply it to EBAY purchases.

Koz

Fair enough. Takes a good man to make a statement like you just did.

Well, it's the nature of the medium. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a car from someone who has hundreds or thousands of positive feedback, with

100% positive or nearly so, but of course I'd read the negative feedback and the feedback of those folks to give that neg a context. If the guy's business is to sell, say, cars over eBay, then he's probably not screwing people if everyone gives him a positive. Same thing with machinery or tools or photo equipment or coins or stamps or whatever.

To me, a shorter "terms and conditions" is a good sign. Mine is something to the effect of "If I have made an error in describing the item, I will make it right." I've had exactly one person who contacted me with a problem with an item I sold (a stamp with a flaw that wasn't visible to me, because I didn't know to look for that flaw). He contacted me, asked what I wanted to do about it, and I gave him a full refund and paid for him to ship it (insured, priority) back to me. Got a positive feedback from that one too. Seems to me that that positive (something went wrong, seller took care of it completely) is even more of a positive than the generic "got item, thank you" type positives.

And likewise, if a person is a shmuck in real life, they'll be a shmuck on eBay. And if they're fundamentally honest in real life, there is no reason not to trust them just because eBay is helping you find them.

I can't disagree with you at all..especially with your comments that long terms and conditions tend to mean the seller needs a closer look.

I am not a big fan, however, of the e-bay feedback system. Unfortunately, it is mostly a mutual "you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours" set-up. It would be nice if buyers and sellers had the time to make more complete comments or possibly if there was a more graduated or broken scale system that discouraged the butt-kissing kind of feedback. Maybe separating it into 3 categories such as 1) Item as stated, 2) communication and 3) delivery as stated would provide more useful information.

When 96 to 98 % positive means you better be looking closer, it tells me that 50% of the people leave positive no matter how bad the transaction was (up to the point of being screwed) in hopes that they don't get a corresponding negative feedback.

What changes would you make to the ebay system if you were king of the company?

Koz

The ones with pages of T&C's, I won't even bid from.

Sounds like you've been reading the feedback I leave ;) Stuff like: "Instant payment, your coins will ship this morning, thanks! dave_n_sue" or "Item exactly as described, well packaged, shipped fast. Thanks!"

I mean, everyone has seen the useless feedback of "Best eBayer ever!?!!!1!1!!1!eleven!11! More honest than God!" or whatever. OK, yay that you actually left feedback, but give other buyers an idea of what to expect.

That may depend on the type of thing being sold. If you were one of the

27,000 people selling an iPod Mini right now (that's a guess, but you get my point), then you're indistinguishable by anything other than feedback, to the buyer. If you're one of 3 people selling a Rockwell knee-mill, that's an entirely different thing. The stuff I sell in my eBay store tends to be low-traffic items, maybe 5 or 6 looks before someone does the buy-it-now. Doesn't matter, it goes (or not), doesn't cost much to list, so the risk to me is near zero.

Thing is, on the "grading curve" which is eBay feedback, a 96% is a D- and needs to be treated as such. Anything less than 99.5%, if it means more than one neg, I want to see what's up before bidding. As a buyer, my options based on feedback are limited.

I'd be a LOT more aggressive about shutting down people who spam Usenet with eBay auctions in groups where that's not allowed, and I'd have an address-verification which was cross-referenced to previous eBay (banned) accounts. Shill bidding and nym-shifting are a problem. I'd also offer sellers the option to auto-extend auctions when bids are coming in at the last minute, to give sellers the choice of if they want to encourage sniping or not. Other than that, they're doing a reasonably good job.

Dave Hinz

Will do!

Jon

I've opened a claim with ebay, going to wait until that runs it's course. I can't imagine anything happening that will tone down my feedback, but I might want to hone a sharper edge if he harasses me.

Jon

The one time I had a bad experience with a dishonest ebay seller it was too late to leave feedback by the time it got to the claim state.

You only have so many days to post feedback and the clock on that is running whether you've filed a claim or not.

John E.

Figure out a way to not let folks who have bad feedback posted against them have the last word.

As it stands, if I get ripped off and I post honest negative feedback, the seller can simply call me a liar and I end up with negative feedback, doesn't seem fair to me.

I understand letting everyone have their say but there should be a way to stop someone I've complained about simply respond with negative feedback about me.

I know it's more complicated than that, but I think you can see where I'm going.

I've had one bad experience with a seller who kept my money for over a month before shipping me the inaccurately described iems I purchased, I filed a claim which he refuted and which he lied blatantly about. I waited too long to post negative feedback so I missed that chance to warn others about him. eBay's position was that we should try and work things out...a great idea if both parties are amenable but if one party is lying and being an asshole, it's kinda hard to find common ground. All I could do in the end was to post personal warnings about the guy in some other forums, for which I was thanked. He ended up threatening me over the whole deal, still hasn't shown up at my doorstep...kinda hoping he does someday...

John E.

I've never understood this. I got caught the same way by a seller (the first person who screwed me on eBay) who kept saying they'd send a partial refund. After the 90 days were up I never heard from them again. I am still tempted to buy a cheap item from them just so I can warn others about their bad attitude, but so far I've resisted the temptation. I recently discovered that eBay allow you to follow up feedback after 90 days, so why have the 90 day limit at all? eBay really got this wrong.

And the other thing eBay and PayPal need is decent customer service. If I have any kind of problem, I can't get a sensible response out of them.

Chris

I believe Ive mentioned that I probably have a Shizouka knee mill with fully functional Dynapath 10 control, didnt I? Probably less than a grand. Needs spindle bearings to the best of my knowlege, based on the pattern left on a chunk of plate I made a pass on.

About the same size and weight as a BP series 3 or 4. Proabably 3500 lbs.

Located in Monrovia, Califonia.

I of course would expect a gratuity from the buyer. Mt. Dew is good.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Regarding the negative feedback situation -

The seller is done with the process when he receives the money and ships the merchandise - that should be the sole basis for seller leaving feedback - So the seller should be required to give feedback on the transaction based on that criteria as soon as they're paid and the merchandise is shipped.

To implement this, just prohibit sellers from leaving feedback after the buyer has done so. Simple software lockout. If the buyer leaves negative feedback, the seller could still do a 'followup'.

To avoid the problem of the impatient buyer who expects merchandise to be on his doorstep the day after he mails a check to the seller, prohibit negative buyer feedback until 30-60 days after the close of the auction. Shipping delays and things like that are common complaints - but really not worthy of negative feedback.

I shy away from sellers who imply that they will leave feedback after the buyer does - yeah, right - I want to be both cheated on the transaction _and_ blackmailed into giving good feedback.

Carla

This is a pretty sound idea. I think it would be a significant improvement on the present feedback system. Why eBay don't do something like this when they employ so many people to make "eye candy" I don't know. I suspect it has a lot to do with the structure and philosophy of the company.

Chris

I am primarily a buyer, but this is pure BS. So you sell to a complete moron whacko freak, who after receiving your widget, says they expected a much larger more expensive widget, and proceeeds to call you every

12.5 minutes and threaten your family and neighbors, drives to your house and starts stalking your teenage daughter, and you should be forced to have given a positive feedback because they did you the favor of paying for the item?

NO!

the transaction is not complete until both parties are satisfied with it. If the buyer uses feedback as their primary complaint mechanism[happens ALL the time] then they deserve negative feedback.

The ebay feedback system is limited, accept its limitations or buy at walmart.

I take it you dont have access to a backhoe?

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

\I wish I had reliable access to a backhoe or a good drum of nitric acid

I could sure solve a few problems

\

I understand that quicklime and mattress bags (heavy plastic bags mattresses are shipped in), are also handy for problem resolution

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner