Posted 10 years ago
Aimathena
(600 items)
Here I have two Madrid Amber Sherbets.
The questionable seller's I have encountered on ebay recently have prompted the long winded post that is about to follow.
Note: I do not have these yet as shipping is taking such a long time on these items, but hopefully they'll arrive soon.
I purchase these from one of those sellers that withholds feedback until they get what they want. So, after recently receiving bad customer service from a few ebay seller's... I'm taking the advice from several of my wonderful cw friends, and speaking out to make others aware of these types of sellers. It had been my experience there is usually something wrong with the piece they've sold me.
I should not have to, but I sent the seller a message asking if they would be kind enough to leave me feedback for the items I purchased from them.
The following is the thanks I received for being a good customer who paid right away...
Message from seller:
"When the transaction is complete (the item is received by you) and you show your complete satisfaction on getting some really nice glasses at a great price in the form of feedback I will post my satisfaction with your quick payment in the form of feedback. Thank you."
-blaksheep1
***Really, why add "thank you"... insult to injury.***
Sorry, but that rubbed me all kinds of wrong.
It's inexcusable behavior. I find it appalling how sellers treat good customers, who not only buy multiple items, but pay right away as well. Ebay, needs major improvements. This is a big buyer beware of sellers with this type of character.
***Feedback extortion has become far more common on eBay.***
Generally seller's leave feedback for the buyer once the payment is cleared. And buyers after recieving the item(s). However, some seller's of questionable character withhold feedback, until they get positive feedback from their buyers.
Some seller's don't want to give a positive feedback to a buyer who may not be happy with their item once it arrives. So, they treat their good customers as if they were bad buyers. This is terrible for business. I for one, make it a rule to never make additional purchases from seller's with this type of character.
Those sellers must not be trying to earn much income from selling on eBay, so they can afford to let their feelings determine what they do in business rather than to do what is best for their business.
Once a seller has shipped, the seller has everything he or she might have wanted from their customer. The seller has no reason to withhold, or leave anything but positive feedback at that point.
If the seller has doubt, than maybe the seller isn't offering the best product, &/or maybe they're even careless about packaging. Because... Hey, it's insured, right. Let the customer, and the shipper deal with it. Again, this is bad for business.
I like to do what is right, and what is fair. I never treat buyers this way. I do not let personal emotions interfere. I do not withhold feedback for positive feedback ransom. When a buyer pays right away, I make note of it. They deserve that. It allows other sellers to read the feedback, and know they're dealing with a good customer.
ebay's system is inherently unfriendly, and unfair to the buyers.
Complete disregard of the customer is not acceptable
I agree with you Aim... That's why I rarely use E bay anymore. I did when I had my store to supplement it's income, but that was video games. Dealing with fragile items like glass and collectibles would terrify me. Too much risk involved and E bay now has become a haven for some really unscrupulous and rude people. I have 100 % positive feedback and I'd cringe every time I'd sell something, knowing it was perfect and someone might knit pick and run my perfect reputation. I recently sold a couple games and never got any feedback from the people even though they did pay promptly. Maybe an oversight. I forget things too but it's become more the norm than the exception for a while now. So things just keep piling up here and I refuse to sell anything for that reason. The risk just isn't worth the reward in my opinion. One day I'll just have a huge garage sale ....lol -Mike-
Good morning Mike, I've been thinking about having an everyday garage sale LoL I'm just the opposite of your last buyer's. I don't knit pick enough, I accept items that were not as described, have imperfections, even damaged without leaving any kind of negative or neutral feedback. One of the main things I've learned about ebay, is to leave sleeping dogs alone. LoL I use to contact buyers to make sure the item arrived, it was still intact, and they were pleased. After dealing with a lady who pulled a bipolar act over an item I included for free. I stopped doing that, I also stopped including the free items. Amazing how people will complain about something they didn't even pay for. Thanks for sharing Mike, you're awesome. I have a 10 yr old, who would love to have a video game supplier. LoL Maybe we can email, and you can let me know which systems you sell games to. :) thanks again, I hope you have a great day!
best not to get too concerned over eBay's feedback system; it is afterall voluntary. Many sellers do adhere to the 'buyer leaves FB first' mantra for various reasons. EBay allows sellers options for automatic FB either at payment or after +FB left by buyer. The FB system is at least a bit better than it used to be when sellers extorted FB cause they could leave -FB for buyers. The FB system is really most useful for sellers at it is currently set up and IMO not so applicable to buyers. It would be sooo easy to make the buyer FB automatic to register payments and shipments. I'm not a really frequent buyer but don't bother to leave FB unless the seller leaves FB first; I then respond with packing and shipping comments. I do check seller's FB for comments on packing and shipment and also use Toolhaus to check FB sometimes.
Remember there are also unscrupulous buyers trying to scam sellers as well.
Always use a credit card for purchases thru PayPal to protect yourself.
Sellers are responsible for making buyer satisfied.
Good morning tc, I guess I should have worded things better.
It's the character of these seller's that's the real issue.
I buy from ebay very frequently, sometimes daily.
It's the seller's that leave feedback after I've paid that send good items.
That's the real issue, weeding out. And I personally do not want to give my money to a seller who cares so little about their customers satisfaction.
But feedback really does help out new customers, especially multiple item buyers. I've had several sellers let me bid on multiple items due to my feedback. Feedback helps sellers as well. Customers can buy with confidence when they can read about "the dependability of the seller's items as well as their service." I always like to include how nice the item, good prices, reasonable shipping price, time and packaging. It really helps out great sellers. No one wants to buy from a business that once they have your money, they take their time giving you what you paid for, then saying get the heck out of here. LoL
Aim...I'd be happy to see if there is something your son might like. I used to have a huge personal collection and a bit of salvage from the store which I closed in 2010 (damn recession). A lot of old classic stuff for just about every system. The new systems not so much. Just add @yahoo.com to my CW user ID and that's my email. -Mike-
agree that FB does let sellers know how much buying one does and therefore some usefulness; just remember that eBay does regard FB as voluntary. An automated FB system with the ability to add comments would be better. An automated system could provide accurate tracking data related to payments and shipments that would let sellers know how buyers process payments and buyers know how fast shipments are made and if any claims were made. One of my peeves is sellers who process the shipping, post the tracking and then wait a week to actually mail. An automated FB system could alert to this; whereas the current system just rewards these sellers for just processing a ship order. I don't have an issue with shipping costs as they are 'advertised' and are taken into account when bidding; but if I agree to a payment for expedited shipment that is what I should get regardless of cost, as it is the seller setting their shipment costs. I've had a very few sellers want to argue about added insurance costs but just remind them of eBay policy and their responsibility.
Agreed Aims... I was so frustrated for a while with ebay that I left it for about a year... Only recently I have been lured back by the pretty things... But am still mad... I also had some nasty incidents with Paypal and Bill Me Later...
Thanks Mike :) he'll love that. He's always asking us to buy him another game.
LoL TC, you should work for ebay/PayPal...
I don't know how many are aware of this but ebay owns PayPal.
Doc, I agree both of them can be a pill. But like I said they are two within one. I don't do it very often, but I did rip into PayPal. Then they finally corrected the issue.
:) Thanks for the comments everyone.
Aim, I believe eBay has recently changed its feedback system and sellers can no longer leave buyers any neutral or negative feedback, only positive ones. I agree with you that if a buyer pays promptly, they should get a good feedback and not have feedback withheld until they give the seller a good feedback (what if the buyer really can't give good feedback because the purchase didn't arrive, arrived very late or broke?). I had a very bad experience with Etsy as well once. I pay promptly upon checkout using PayPal and my items never arrived, I emailed the seller several times and got no response. I finally saw my purchased items relisted for sale! So I lodged a dispute with Etsy and gave negative feedback which under the Etsy system only the recipient can read it (but it impacts the score) and the seller had the audacity to leave me negative feedback. How is it my fault I cannot understand but it impacted my own score and I thought it was very unfair and so unscrupulous for the seller to do so especially they had no integrity and relisted the items for sale after collecting my money and not responding to my various emails.
Hi bobogal, I just had the third ebay strike this week. The two star pitchers arrived today, one is chipped. Guess what, yup the seller would not leave feedback. It's a pattern with those type of characters. I'm going to do what doc did and take an extended leave from secondhand online shopping. I too had a bad experience with etsy. I hope you at least got your money back.
Sorry, Swypo's
I understand many of your issues.
As a seller, I leave feedback as soon as I receive payment-- that is the full extent of the buyers obligation in the transaction and see no reason to not post an immediate positive comment.
If the buyer has an issue with the item, I accept returns-- NO QUESTIONS ASKED. It is good business to have satisfied customers, even if I don't understand or agree with the reason for the return.
As a buyer, I too am annoyed with those sellers who wait for feedback.
I also find the star system useful to reward top performing sellers and to comment on poor performing sellers.
My pet peeve is postage. I know that I agree to the post costs at the time of purchase, but I think it is a poor business practice to overcharge. I have bought photos before that showed $3 shipping charges-- no issues with that, as I assume the person is using a photo mailer or padded envelope and tracking (which runs about $2 first class post). When the photo arrives in a regular envelope with a standard stamp, I usually leave a low postage cost star.
Sorry to spin this in another direction!
scott
Hi Scott,
No, you have not changed the direction. Actually, You're dead on.
I am with you on the overcharge of shipping.
It all boils down to character and quality.
Ebay needs a better system for such things.
So sorry to hear about the latest! I know it can turn you off online shopping, yes you need some time off. Come back when you have recovered from the hurt. *hugs*
Hi Aim. I have grievances with ebay myself. I've found that rarely is feed back given before I've given it, & like you i always pay straight away, occasionally a seller will leave feed back first but not often, and sometimes not at all. There's also bad buyers..sorry here's a bit of a long gripe, i got negative feed back from a buyer, who lived abroad & wanted it sent to a P.O box. They didn't contact me before the end of the auction, which said UK only or contact before the end. He gave me bad feed back i complained to ebay, by the time i called (to actually speak to someone isn't easy) as nothing had happened they said it was too late (theres a time limit) there's nothing they can do, plus i couldn't leave any feedback back. EBays great when everything goes as it should but when something goes wrong its a nightmare! Rant over. Lovely sherberts btw:)
VF xoxo so sorry that happened to you. I agree with you 100%
The best thing for me these days is, I don't lose my temper too quickly.
Non of the recent bad purchases outraged me. LoL Good thing too, as I am finding more and more bad sellers on ebay. Hopefully one day ebay will get their act together where things can run smoothly.
Get this, (I had to laugh) the Sherbets arrived... in a padded envelope. Icing on the cake. LoL