I'm looking for opinions on wording eBay seller feedback. I'm leaving positive feedback for a purchase, but had some problems and can't say all I want to in the small amount of space. Don't want to mislead future buyers. I purchased a dozen UNC Morgans from a large eBay seller (Dutch auction). After a month, I sent email asking about the shipment. They had been shipped, but were lost. Got a very fast response and more coins were sent out. A week or so later, I got four very circulated coins (G/VG). Contacted the seller again, wrong stuff had been sent out, sent another shipment. I checked his feedback for the same auction and all was positive. A week or so later, I got all of my coins. The seller told me to keep the old coins that were sent by accident. The new UNC coins I got look nice, but a couple look more like AU to me. One even has silver polish still stuck in the crevices. I did find a couple of nice VAMs however. I had paid extra for insurance, but never had to sign anything. There was a piece of paper in the package stating it was "privately insured" and would be covered if lost. Good communication. Some shipping errors. Extra bonus for order mistakes. Most coins UNC, but some AU... but found two nice VAMs and am still looking at the coins. Not clear on the insurance. I'm happy with the deal and the seller quickly worked to resolve the shipping or order issues. I don't want to mislead other buyers into thinking they're all UNC or that the extra insurance means much. I know some of you are sellers (you may be the one I bought from). How would you word the feedback? "Nice coins. Some MAY be AUs. Found 2 VAMs."
If he went out of his way and provided you extra merchandise to compensate for a mistake he made, then I would leave him straight positive feedback, not danced around vague positive feedback
If you are happy wwith the final result and the seller handled your issues promptly and corrected the situation, I'd leave something like, "SHipment was lost seller worked to make me happy" As for the insured by seller bit: What that means is that the seller did not purchase shipping insurance from the USPS, but instead personally guarantees your order to arrive undamaged. He took your insurance money and pocketed it. He did follow through with the insurance though when you reported that the coins had never arrived and sent replacements, so I wouldn't complain about that, since he would have been better off insuring it through the post office. The stamp on the package saying privately insured is a ploy to keep buyers from becoming upset that they paid for insurance and then there wasn't any. This seller went and bought stickers or a rubber stamp to make their personal insurance look more official. Sounds like it worked out ok for you though.
Thanks. I left positive feedback.... something like... Very nice coins, good mix of dates/mints, found nice VAM! It's all true, and I'd buy from him again. I agree he took effort to satisfy me... extra coins, great communication, re-shipping. Just trying to balance out the AU vs UNC and the $3.30 cost for home-grown insurance (which worked because he shipped again). I think I'm lucky to get AUs and UNCs through eBay when it says UNCs. Could have been VF/XF. Sometimes I feel like I'm short-changing the sellers that give you all UNCs when the ad says UNCs.
It definitely could have been insured through a third party. We have not purchased our insurance through the post office for many months. We insure through U-Pic.
Unfortunately, a lot of people don't realize that this is a real option for the seller. Oftentimes, it's cheaper and easier to work with if you prepare all of your shipping without trips to the post office. I can't even remember the last time we had to go to the post office. Our mail carrier will even take overseas shipments from us. Also, for any buyers out there. Any seller that says that they are not responsible for a package making it to your door is absolutely wrong. Insuring a package is actually the responsibility of the seller. No matter how many words a seller puts in his auction stating the he is not responsible, federal law says that the seller is responsible to get the package to you. That's why a smart seller uses delivery confirmation on every package shipped. This is not a tracking number. The only time a delivery confirmation barcode is required to be scanned is at the point of delivery. Sometimes, you can be lucky enough for it to be scanned along the way, but it can't be counted on. Once delivery confirmation has been received, the buyer can't say that he didn't receive the package. Also, if you pay by Paypal, you can get your money refunded from Paypal for a non-receipt even if the seller refuses.
