I sold an item on ebay about three months ago for a grand total of one cent plus 50 cents shipping. According to my records, I shipped it the next day. The other day I'm on ebay looking at my feedback. All my feedback points are positive-in the green. Now I've got one neutral--this guy claims he never received the item. I had to leave a remark on my feedback page explaining that I was never contacted, and if I was, I would have been happy to replace it. I then e-mailed him. I told him I would replace it or just send him a dollar, twice what he paid. I also said to him, very politely, how important feedback scores are for a seller. He was also a seller, with a perfect record. I told him that, and being a seller and a buyer, he should follow ebay procedure and try to contact me before leaving a feedback. I then put a dollar in an envelope and waited for him to answer, which he never did. Should I go ahead and send him the dollar, or forget about it. After all, he did tarnish my feedback score for no good cause. I'm wondering, with him being a seller, did he deliberately tarnish my record to make his look better?:kewl:
Part of why feebay can really, really suck. It's not even worth the bother to sell low priced items there IMO. I'd open a resolution ticket to have the feedback removed since he never contacted you even though you tried to resolve the issue.
Interesting, I really can't say what his intent was but it's up to you if you want to send him the dollar. Sure you'll feel better about yourself for doing it but you'll still have to look at that neutral dot staring you in the face every time you go on ebay. Maybe you can even post back that you sent the dollar and let everyone make their own dession about you.
On the other hand, this guy may be doing this intentionally and making a small living off people like you. As a seller, he should know the procedures. If I were you, I would try to resolve this through SleazeBay, but if he wants a refund I'd find 51 of the dirtiest, crustiest, most rusted, road-damaged pennies that I could find and for good measure, let them sit in a ripe pile of manure for about a week before sending them to him. Note: When packaging them for shipping, I'd make sure to seal them in an air tight baggie so that the Post Office doesn't get wind of it, if you catch my drift. Chris
I would not worry about it. You can try opening a dispute with Ebay to get the neutral removed. I would not send the dollar. Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person. I just can't see jumping the gun without the facts. I would either forget it or try an ebay dispute.
I get the impression Ebay is not very highly regarded around here! Personally, I have never bought or sold on Ebay so I really don't have an opinion one way or another. Mike
I havea couple of my own personal horror stories, but over the last 6 years, I have heard thousands of them from others. Chris
I have not bought any coins on ebay either. I have enough issues trying to look at coins in person, much less thru photos.
I have heard all of the horror stories too, but the fact remains that tons of people do buy their coins through the Ebay avenue! I know I could grow my coin business a great deal by selling on Ebay, but I resist the temptation due to the poor reputation Ebay has among knowledgeable collectors as well as the huge fees that would force me to raise my prices a great deal above the levels that I can sell at on my own website. Also, it is a personal preference of mine to know the price of an item I wish to purchase, rather than having to go through the whole bidding process. I know Ebay has the buy it now option, but again I am stuck with the high fees. Pictures can work fairly well, especially when any defects are noted in the description. I scan my smaller coins at 600 dpi, down to about 450 dpi on the larger coins. My goal is to provide about a 4 to 5 inch diameter image on a typical monitor. Mike
My advice is...it is a neutral, thus not negative. It is not, to me, a bad mark. If he is not willing to resolve it properly, make a note of him, do no business with him, and count it a washout. I do business on eBay weekly and have only ever had one problem with a seller. He claimed he shipped, the tracking said it never left the post office. EBay arbitration brought it to a fast and happy ending and that was that. There are always going to be little problems and the guy in your situation had the presence of mind to not give you a negative over 51 cents. I currently prefer eBay for building my collection over coin shows and even the dealer that I've been with for 20 years. For me, it is a gift to coin collectors.
Out of curiosity, do you mostly buy from auctions, buy it now sales, eBay Stores, etc.? Thanks, ACE Mike
It just really depends on what the item is. The uncircs I need for folders (since I can't get "P" mints) are usually from BIN and EBay Stores and the others (currently Modern and Classic Commems) I tend to watch late night auctions or underbid auctions and I have always paid under book value including shipping. I do rely very heavily on good photos for any item, though.
Thanks for the reply, blsmothermn. I am trying to get a handle on how people buy from eBay, what they buy, and if acutions are prefered over the buy it now or store options. Someday I may start selling through that venue, though for the immediate future I will only be selling through my own website. Again, thanks for your insight! ACE Mike
I buy coins off of eBay maybe once or twice a month. I've never sold things though. I have heard that now eBay is much better at resolving things that depict what you are currently going through Pilkenton.
Maybe he is the person you left the neutral or negative when you bought somethings from this person before.
did you go to his account and search the feedback he has left for others? Alot of people look for small time coins with free shipping because they know a bubble mailer and DC are worth more than the coin. I had about 3 people do this to me. as soon as they complained i refunded and blocked them
If you sell on ebay, that's going to be a fact of life. Recently, I was hit with two neutrals. Both liked the coin but felt the mint issued box was too frayed. (Were they buying the box not the coin?) Some people do it just as buyers remorse. Others, you're just never going to make happy. If it was a neg, I'd go full press on it, as for a neutral, eh, doesn't really hurt. If somebody has a score of 99.7% because they got a neg or two I'm not going to worry about getting burnt buying from them. I used to leave postive feedback on people right after they paid me. They paid, they kept up their end of the deal, why shouldn't they get a postive feedback up front? Well, these jokers brunt me on that feeling.
Anything can happen with fleecebay FB. you reduce getting a neg or neutral by doing 2 things. Charge actual shipping costs, and disclose, disclose, disclose.
