Discouraged Sellers

Wabash Cannonball Engineer wrote:

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In this case beware seller ukraine4u from NJ, USA. Item number 230147671693.
A lesson learnt on my part. Know the postage cost or don't bid!

NB. Just received that negative feedback in return. It amazes me how some folk sink so low with their lies. Folk like this ruin the ebay experience.

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Dontcha just love getting negged because of an idiot seller that you had to neg because they never replied? Gotta love ebay.

I've visited this topic before but not posted to it. Now I feel it necessary to forewarn the members here about a seller who routinely operates "on the edge".

About six months ago I purchased a "Brilliant Uncirculated 1950 Franklin half" from mikescoins1. The auction photo was gorgeous, but the AU coin I received was not. I contacted the seller about this and they claimed "everyone has a different opinion of grade ... and we use STOCK PHOTOS" and I should read the listing more carefully. I did reread the listing and found no reference to "Stock Photos". I read it three and four times to find something that would lead me to believe the coin pictured would not be the one I received ... no luck. I did not return the coin due to the postage both ways and a 10% restock fee.

This seller has nearly 18,000 feedbacks and a 98.4% rating ... it should probably be worse, but they have managed to get many retractions and many positive feedbacks say nothing or contain negative words (fearing retaliation).

My issue as a consumer with this seller is the deceptive practices. Information about the coins that should be up front is buried in the details and he uses this as a defense for negative feedback. I am recommending to all forum readers who are contemplating a purchase from mikescoins1 to carefully read the listing before bidding. If there is a loophole for Mike, he'll probably use it.

Casey Jones said:

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I think sellers should be made to give feedback as soon as payment is received. Otherwise the feedback system cannot accurately reflect a persons record because folk may not wish to have their feedback tarnished by firstly giving negative feedback out.

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I agree. Personally, I won't be "blackmailed" into giving positive feedback by sellers stating "When you receive the item and leave feedback I will return the favor" or something similar. If a seller does not leave me feedback when I pay promptly, I will not leave positive feedback for them regardless of how nice his product is.

I also sell occasionally on ebay and when I receive prompt payment I will leave positive feedback before I ship the item (and hope for feedback after the item is received). When a person pays promptly, they deserve positive feedback at that time, it has nothing to do with the quality of your item or service. Most reputable sellers will do the same.

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it has nothing to do with the quality of your item or service.

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What if, like 95% of buyers, they don't read the entire listing and leave you a neg because the coin was cleaned.... even though you stated it twice in the listing. Did they deserve the positive just for paying? Nope, they deserve a big fat neg for not reading the listing.

The buyer doesn't just have the responsibility to pay. There's much more to it. Feedback is the rating of a transaction. The transaction is far from over when payment is made.

That would work if all the buyers were honest, as well. Unfortunately, there's some rotten apples on both sides of the fence. :(

Bobby has been an ebay seller for many years as have I and I will stand behind his statistics. Most buyers do not read the entire description before bidding. Lotsa stories as examples. Here's one: I list in my descriptions exactly what one gets for shipping fees for an item including padded envelope, packing materials, insurance (mandatory above $50), Delivery Confirmation (Signature Confirmation is at my expense if item value is above $50), and, of course, postage. I have had many complain that it only cost $1.85 for postage, so why was I charging $2.50? If s/he had read the description, s/he wouldn't have asked the question.

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Most reputable sellers will post that a coin has been cleaned up front and not try to hide it in where it won't be read. If you try to hide it in the small print that makes you a dishonest seller doesn't it?

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I said nothing about hiding it in small print. You did. There was a seller of liquidation items that had thousands of negatives stating the item didn't work. It was stated in every listing at least 3 times, not buried in the fine print, that items may or may not work. The even had a huge "buyer beware" graphic at the top of every listing. Duh.

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I also sell occasionally on eBay

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When you have 30,000 plus ebay seller transactions, have been quoted and/or consulted in several top-selling ebay books, and consulted for dozens of ebay websites and software packages, come back and see if you can argue any of my points. In the meantime, keep right on leaving feedback when you get paid. Makes me no never mind.