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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,425 |
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New Member
Italy
15 Posts |
Looking for some US coins on ebay (I'm a beginning collector of these coins), I've seen that some ebay sellers put terrible images of the coins or put only obverse. Have I to distrust these sellers although are "Power Sellers" and their 99,98% positive feedback? Thanks |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
The only answer I have for you is what I do in the situation, I never bid on a coin without seeing the reverse along with the Obverse (of course I collect Morgan VAM's) and if their picture isn blurry and out of focus I either email them and ask for a better photo or just skip the auction all together no matter how many positives they have |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1454 Posts |
I would e-mail them for better pictures, given enough time, I want to be fair to them also. I can't expect to get pics if there is only an hour left in an auction, but you know what I mean. If they never return my e-mail then I never bid. I want to see good descriptions also and I try to stay away from auctions where they say they know nothing about coins and you grade it yourself. If I sell something I grade it with the stipulation that it is only my opinion. If they aren't happy, I refund their money with no strings attached as long as the coin is returned first. Basically, take your time, know what you are getting before you spend your hard earned money. Throw a link up here, we can look at it, there are plenty of experienced and long time collectors here that will be more than glad to help. Do this until you feel more comfortable doing it all on your own. If it is vague and too good to be true then it probably is exactly that. Powerseller doesn't mean anything to me and 99% rating doesn't either, especially if they have 10,000 feedback. That is still 100 negatives. I know that seems ok but do you really want to be number 101? I try to see what the context of the negative feedback is if possible. Was it shipping? Was it a bad coin or was it just an outright lie on the sellers part. Best advice is to take your time, don't get in a hurry, check things out.
Edited by Irishraider
09/21/2006 11:25 pm
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New Member
 Italy
15 Posts |
Irishraider, thanks for your precious suggestions.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1360 Posts |
Whenever I see terms such as: "sold as is & no returns" or "what you see is what you get with no returns" then I start to worry. Especially when the photos are of poor quality or too blurry. It may well be a great bargain, but I just become very wary when I read that and I wouldn't bid on them.
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
First, maxentius (neat username!), welcome to the forum! You'll find us a friendly group and the collective knowledge and experience is incredible. Next, your instincts seem correct: be very skeptical of sellers with fuzzy images and don't go by the fact they are Power Sellers and have a "high" feedback score. Feedback can be and usually is manipulated to make it seem that a 99.98% is "good" when in fact it is very bad. Always, always, CHECK THE SELLERS' FEEDBACK. A useful tool to check only his/her negative and neutral feedback without scrolling through all the feedback is ToolHaus http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs . Of course, if a seller's feedback is "private", stay away, stay far far away. Same with sellers who have their bidders "private". Other red flags warning one away from a seller: no return policy; "estate" sales; comments such as "I don't know anything about coins" but s/he has given a grade and has sold 150 other coins; and outrageous or unlisted shipping costs, to name a few red flags. Look at the whole auction: why would a seller not list at least his state (if not his town) where the coin is located rather than just "United States" or "Italy"? Why would he accept only personal checks and money orders instead of PayPal and/or credit cards? Be suspicious, be very suspicious. ebay is a great place to shop, but it's also a great place to be defrauded, especially in the world of coins. Fred |
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Valued Member
United States
287 Posts |
Some things I just don't understand; Why when I email an ebay seller with over a 1000 psitive feedbacks, they don't even send a reply. How did they get so many postives? Doesn't communication count as being a good seller? And why do some coin sellers on ebay with hundreds of positive feedbacks do not have any kind of return policy? |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
First, Silver Dollar, welcome to the forum! We're a friendly group with lots of expertise and experience. You've asked a very good question. It seems the art of communication has become passe, at least on ebay but also on a much larger scale. In the past five auctions, I've received only one email from my buyers despite my request in the description that I would like to hear from them to ensure they even know they have won the auctions. I would guess I receive a response from only about 50% of the questions I ask on other auctions. I can't state if there is a correlation between numbers of feedbacks, but the ones with more than a few negative feedbacks seem to respond less than those with 100% or very few negs. This lack of messages sends me a message by itself. In no small number of auctions, the general illiteracy of the description tells me I probably would not receive a coherent response, even if I did ask a question. I bought a coin several years ago from one of these barely-literate sellers and had terrible problems understanding his responses when I wanted to return the coin since it had been cleaned. This apparently growing lack of ability to communicate by the written word is indicative of a much larger problem nationwide, i.e., "why Johnnie can't read". No return policy = no bid from me unless there's a compelling reason to bid under those terms. If I'm interested in a coin and there's no return policy stated, I'll email the seller to determine if he does, in fact have a return policy. In a few instances, the sellers overlooked the return policy by accident and then instituted one. In others, the seller had a return policy, but just didn't advertise it. Usually, however, a no return policy, especially on a raw coin is a sign of trouble. Fred |
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Valued Member
United States
287 Posts |
Thanks Fred, I totally agree with your feelings and I believe that a seller that does not respond to my questions, does not deserve my bid. I sell on ebay too and we answer every question and try to the best of our ability to help the potential buyer understand what he is buying, condition and all policies as to returns, payment, shipping and customer satisfaction. Those people deserve that after all they have taken the time to view your item, consider the purchase and then graciously bid. After all they very well could have selected someone else's item instead of yours. I am always thankful for every bid. |
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
I have been a quality auditor of all kind of enterprises for 8 years n( ISO 9001 certification ) I assume for myself that a complaint rate before settlement that is acceptable is 99.7% non complaining clients I start digging for reasons if I see lower figures Of the 0.3 % complaining clients the rejected complaints should be very well described and documented or I will not accept them (Like somebody complaining about the quality of a paint and the paint turns out to be sold by a competitor company and poured in another can ) Buying on ebay I analyse the negatives very carefully Anything under 99.7 % is suspect because here we are in principal talking about complaints left after a complaint procedure 1) Very long delivery delays are a no buy ( the person may not be holding and may have to procure what he is selling first ; happened with the american seller e-temptations who defaulted .Never again ) 2) Repeated complaints about damaged during transport no buy Who says what was damaged before or during transport 3) No reply to questions no buy 4) If a vendor has many objects for sale look weather the same pic technique and background are used If not no buy ( he may be using borrowed pics ) 5)Since here in Europe only 5% sellers offer a take back guarantuee I cannot eliminate anybody on that criteria Also high postage is normal ; I just deduct it from the bidding price I was intrested in following coin but decided it was despeckled into atomic glow by a good photoprogram and a bad user I asked for a natural pic and got no answer whatsoever If it looks to good to be true it probably is not true http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAP...MEWA:IT&rd=1 |
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
As to feedback I do not want to be negged as revenge for a few euro I start asking all personal details after 5 days of non response and if there is a thelepone number I start phoning I start problem procedures with ebay after 10 days So far I have been swindled once and reimbursed a pittance of 180 euro for a 550 euro loss When somebody takes me for a small amount I will leave a positive that is very short Like the word 'ok' I was bidding on a coin and asked for insured mail cost and got answerd 5 euro As happens often the coin I bid on sold below melt value and suddenly the guy wants 7.5 euro saying 5 euro is uninsured mail He got an 'ok' because I do not want a return negative for 2.5 euro So if a positive feedback is not glowingly positive it may be a message In total quality control for enterprises there is a maxim Clients do not complain they just go and buy somewhere else because that is less of an hassle |
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Valued Member
United States
287 Posts |
ageka,
Five excellent guidelines in your posting, the points you have made should be considered carefully and followed religiously.
When I am buying I will consider a little less than 99.7 positive feedback as a good seller, especially if the seller has thousands of feedbacks. It seems like the more people you deal with you are bound to find some that are never happy whatever you do. Alot of negative or neutral feedback come from new or nearly new buyers. Sometimes they do not understand transit time even if item was mailed the same day the items was sold or they forget to ask all the questions before bidding or fail to communicate when they receive the item if they are not satisfied. They just leave a negative and sometimes I think they the only reason they do it is because they have the power to do it and hide behind the fact that they think no one knows who they are.
We try our hardest to make sure the customer is satisfied 100% and I hope all the buyers give us a chance to do that.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,425 |
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Posted 09/21/2006 11:21 pm
