Bidiots getting smart?

Sounds like a guy who will be working himself into a position where he will have no vendors willing to sell to him. If I were a seller, the first time he did that to me he would make my ignore list, and the next time he needed one of my parts he would be SOL.

I have heard similar, though, with people bidding crazy values for a coin and then getting buyers remorse if someone else did the same thing.

 

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you cant make buyers unhappy on ebay. a few negs and the whole business will close down. the moment a buyer pays they can neg you and affect your dsr on their whims and fancies

 

you are doing the right thing. only additional thing i would do is block them. and you are right all small sellers are doing on ebay is dodging negative feedback

 

u want to know what they do if they get blocked they create a new user ID

 

re. 2nd chance offerings - I don't like any method for sellers to see my bid, regardless of hypothetical bidding activity around my bid. It is just way too easy to cheat that system in mass with a set of dummy buyers bidding an auction or mass auctions up to moon, winning it, and then sending out a bunch of 2nd chance offerings to squeeze out the full potential of max bids. Stupid system imo, and should be done away with.

 

it happens a lot and certain dealers have become experts in shrill bidding

 

They won't have a neg for doing it because the sellers CAN'T LEAVE THEM A NEG!.

Yep, shill your own auction and then if the shill wins (or deliberately shill real high to force the underbidder to his max.) then do a second chance offer to the underbidder for his max bid.

Cancel the auction, or file a NPB claim and then block them. If they get enough NPB strike MAYBE someday eBay will follow their rules and penalize them.

If people are correct about the buyer not being able to leave a negative if they have a NPB filed then that would be the way to go. I think that is supposed to be the way the rules are but I also think I have heard cases where buyers received NPB strikes and were able to leave negs anyway. So I don't know if it is true or not.

 

Doug may be right in principle, but in reality, this advice is terrible, if you want to keep a good E-Bay business running, the customer is always right. You can't eat principle.....

 

It's "turpitude".

 

I am not sure this is relevant to Ebay. The online marketplace is completely different from real life. For one thing, I am guessing many of the spoiled customers you kept happy were repeat customers, whereas the majority on ebay are not.

More importantly, the nature of negative reviews is extremely powerful. While they may be wholly in the wrong, the truth of the matter is that even when wrong Ebay will allow them to post negs which will greatly hurt your sales. If one of those customers could say "Well forget you then" when you drew the line and that response of theirs eliminated 5 of your other customers, would you still be so quick to draw the line? When that customer knows that they can so easily hurt your business, that only makes things worse.

While I agree in principle of course with what you are saying, I am not sure that it is good advice at all for those selling on Ebay, at least as it is configured now. Negs are a real and powerful thing.

 

GDJMSP (and others),
I appreciate the advice and thoughts. One thing in particular that I will always do is to block them once they've wronged me. I agree that a line needs to be drawn somewhere, but I suppose I must figure out where that needs to be done. In reality one negative may actually only turn away 1-2 bidders from my coins, because anyone with 99.5% positive feedback still gets bids from me. And if I DO get an unwarrented neg from a buyer abusing the system, I may be able to make a case to eBay and have it removed.

BUT THEN THERE ARE THE CRAZIES. Years ago in a "How-to" book about eBay, I read the story of a man who bought a $5,000 video camera on eBay and the seller never shipped (back in the early days of eBay). So the buyer and 2 of his friends took a handgun and drove to the seller's home and there was a confrontation which eventually involved the police and courts. In the end, no one got shot, but these people do exist. I once called out a guy on eBay for selling expensive fakes once, and he obtained my phone number from eBay (because I was the buyer of one of these fakes) and called me with threats. After I Googled his name, turns out he had been in federal prison twice and had multiple convictions of fraud, AND had ties to the L.A. mafia (or so the prosecuters claimed in the online court article I read). Like I said, there are a few nut-jobs out there that I want no part of. I've already run into one of them, and I'd just assume never do it again. So while I'd like to draw the line somewhere, I will most likely pacify the cheaters and just keep plowing away.

 

The feedback system on FeeBay has become so perverted. Think about it, buyers hold individual sellers to a higher standard on their feedback than they do online retailers like Newegg or Amazon. If a seller on FeeBay has more than a 1% negative feedback rating, people avoid them like the plague. I visited Reseller Ratings and looked up Newegg and Amazon:

Newegg: 9.25/10

Amazon: 5.60/10

Of course I realize that Amazon isn't your typical online retailer, but still, 5.60 out of 10?

Should we check out what kind of rating FeeBay has?











Wait for it...











eBay: 1.82/10

Most of the negative ratings for FeeBay are not problems with individual buyers or sellers as many would suspect, but rather complaints related to FeeBay's lousy customer support, heavy handed tactics towards sellers, and borderline criminal activity like freezing sellers' funds for as long as six months.

 

Doug, this was targeted specifically for this situation with E-Bay, not a general philosophy. Like I said, I totally agree with you in principle, but in the EBAY world, a few negs can do serious harm to your bottom line. My assessment stands....

Mike

 

Doug, I surely respect your moral compass

 

I haven't sold much on eBay, maybe 30-50 coins and that was about two years ago or so. But even in that relatively low amount of transactions, I had two buyers back out after they won the auction. I filed no pay claims with eBay, blocked them from bidding again, and since I couldn't leave negative feedback, I left positive feedback that said: "NO PAY, STAY AWAY" in the comment section of the feedback.

One of the two bidders had a feedback of one as in "1"...I should've seen his backing out coming.

But I agree that it's simply part of the eBay experience. Most transactions went fairly smoothly. I also had a no questions asked 14 day return policy as long as the coin was in the 2x2 I mailed it in. I found 95% of buyers to be honest and reasonable. It's the 5% you spend all your time worrying about.

 

I recently started selling on ebay and lo and behold my very first package received by my customer a dispute was opened. He paid $39.00 for 4 half dollars. 2-1964 Kennedys, a 1965, and a 1969. He emails me today saying he wants a full refund that I wrote a misleading description.

Here is my description:

"Up for bid is a small lot of mixed 90% and 40% silver Kennedy Half Dollars. Check photos for actual coins you will receive. Bidding will start at $19.99 with no reserve.

Free Shipping!

Check out my other listings.

If unhappy with a purchase contact me first and we can discuss our options for solving any issues that may arise. I've been around eBay for at least 10 years and have never had any major issues as either a buyer or more recently as a seller.

Thanks for looking at my items and good luck!"

Not only was i completely forthcoming in my description I CLEARLY stated to look at the pictures for actual coins to be received, showing both the fronts and the backs and clear dates. The only thing that could be misconstrued is my TITLE
(heres the title:Silver Kennedy Half Dollars 90% Junk Silver),
and not the DESCRIPTION. I understand that people rely on the title to get a general idea of what they are bidding on, but come on man you cant expect the description to be in a place that only holds 192 characters? I also clearly state in the designated area that i DO NOT accept refunds or returns (kind of a just for now thing until the selling gets on its feet and I have funds to play with for issues like that), so to me it is clearly this buyers fault and I took a stand on my principle. I honestly dont care about the feedback game as I am only selling to further my hobby interests and can abandon ebay at my slightest whim, it is not how I feed my family, so I wont get all bent out of shape over an eventual negative feedback.


This was my message back to the buyer:

[TABLE="width: 100%"]

[TD="class: qn"]Your message to the buyer:
"I am very sorry to inform you that I do not offer returns or refunds. My listing was VERY clear about what was involved in the sale and my return policy.
Here is a quote of the description itself
"Up for bid is a small lot of mixed 90% and 40% silver Kennedy Half Dollars. Check photos for actual coins you will receive. Bidding will start at $19.99 with no reserve"
So it is false to imply that I made a mistake or tried to play any games. As you will note if the description would have been read thoroughly then you would have seen that this was a mixed lot of both 40% and 90%, not to mention the fact that I explicitly said to check the pictures for EXACTLY what you would be purchasing. This is exactly why it is important to be thorough in your reading and double check what you are bidding on.
It is very clear that the description was not read if your dispute is based on the description. I stand on principle and you made the bids on a well listed item. I am sorry for your inconvenience."
[/TD]
[/TABLE]

Of course I didnt have much space to say anything else, but I think that covered the gist of the matter. I am with doug on this one, the customer is NOT always right when they are CLEARLY in the wrong. Maybe I am being to harsh and shouldve given the refund, but I also dont feel like being walked all over by these bidiots.

I now await the inevitable ebay case to escalate and to receive my *neg*

 

How do you block bidders? anyone?

 

If he opens a dispute he will win.