I THOUGHT I bought this Stratoliner

[AlanC]

Getting negative feedback isn't nearly so bad as it used to be, now that one can add a note under said feedback explaining the situation. (am i seeing things, or can yu do this? I seem to recall seeing this)

Yes, you can do this.

By the way, ebay is adding a more extensive feedback system that buyers can leave for sellers. It breaks the transaction down into several aspects, which you can rate. I don't know when it actually kicks in, though.

 

[carouselvic]

I was second bidder in that auction, glad now I did not win. Sorry for the run around you are getting now. I saw the second listing right away and informed the seller thinking he made a mistake. He has never resonded. Carouselvic

 

[Feraud]

The question is, is the hat worth the level of stress and strong-arming to get the seller to play fair?

 

[Tango Yankee]

I saw the second listing right away and informed the seller thinking he made a mistake. He has never resonded. Carouselvic

Well, that certainly changes things a bit. Amazing. It really boggles the mind that he might have knowingly run the two listings simultaneously--where is the advantage? Or is he really someone who doesn't bother checking up on things? No matter how you look at it the whole thing doesn't make sense. Why cancel an active auction to relist with an opening bid higher than what most Strats have gone for recently? Why ignore an e-mail pointing out his error? Why, if he's telling the truth, would a seller with multiple items up for auction not check his email for days?

In the end one thing is clear: he holds the very people he hopes to earn money from in contempt.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Tango Yankee]

The question is, is the hat worth the level of stress and strong-arming to get the seller to play fair?

I really don't know. Certainly no one would bid on something knowing in advance it would be a major hassle but once you've won you're commited to seeing it through. I certainly didn't expect it would go as far as it did but it's certainly not something I could just ignore. I was sitting here with a reminder that I need to pay for an item and would have had to get eBay involved in any case, otherwise I look like I'm refusing to honor my end. eBay would have pushed the seller to complete the deal so more than likely the end would have been the same.

Sometimes experienced sellers make errors in judgement. A friend of mine told me of a problem he had when he bid on a car bumper. The auction stated free shipping. Larry won the bumper for $5.25. The (experienced) seller tried to back out of the deal, then tried to claim he meant free LOCAL shipping. Larry got eBay involved, at which point the seller tried to get Larry to pay at least half the $25 packing and shipping costs. Larry agreed to $5, but he didn't have to go any at all.

Still, this is the only major issue I've had in over 100 deals, including the purchase of two old motorcycles. Even in the brick and mortar world you sometimes find yourself in similar battles with sellers.

Regards,
Tom

 

[mingoslim]

Count me in as well . . .

 

[Feraud]

I really don't know. Certainly no one would bid on something knowing in advance it would be a major hassle but once you've won you're commited to seeing it through. I certainly didn't expect it would go as far as it did but it's certainly not something I could just ignore. I was sitting here with a reminder that I need to pay for an item and would have had to get eBay involved in any case, otherwise I look like I'm refusing to honor my end. eBay would have pushed the seller to complete the deal so more than likely the end would have been the same.

Sometimes experienced sellers make errors in judgement. A friend of mine told me of a problem he had when he bid on a car bumper. The auction stated free shipping. Larry won the bumper for $5.25. The (experienced) seller tried to back out of the deal, then tried to claim he meant free LOCAL shipping. Larry got eBay involved, at which point the seller tried to get Larry to pay at least half the $25 packing and shipping costs. Larry agreed to $5, but he didn't have to go any at all.

Still, this is the only major issue I've had in over 100 deals, including the purchase of two old motorcycles. Even in the brick and mortar world you sometimes find yourself in similar battles with sellers.

Regards,
Tom

I see your point. I would judge this situation like a hand of poker: when do you choose to fold a bad hand?
It is not an easy decision. Good luck in whatever choice you make!

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Remember that you are also, in a sense, acting for future victims of fraud who aren't privy to this forum discussion. I honestly feel that not filing a complaint and actively pursuing it with Ebay would be the wrong thing to do, regardless of whether you get your item or not.

What do you think he would have done if someone HAD bid on or bought the hat on the third auction? You think he would have cancelled that transaction and given your your (rightly won) item? I doubt it. He only did it because of the implied threat of Ebay getting involved (when you make on on-line complaint or entry, the seller is informed of it and contact information is exchanged, so he knew that you were starting the process...and only then did he change the last auction. ALSO a very sneaky thing to do...rather than cancelling it, which would leave a trail, he changed it to try to cover his tracks should Ebay get involved).

This is a little like the crime victim who should file charges, even though they may not want to go through the hassle, to keep the perpetrator from victimizing someone else.

Just my opinion, of course.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I've dealt with a few eBay sellers that didn't even blink at the prospect of negative feedback. Parcel post when I charged you for Priority? My listing was completely misleading? I'll parcel post you a quarter, then you can call someone who cares. :rage:

The entire problem with eBay's feedback system is the "99.1% positive", etc, tag under the seller's name. Honestly, nobody is going to not bid on your auction because of those odds. Sellers know this. Once you get positive feedback into the high hundreds or thousands, you're untouchable.

I think another problem with it is that the negative feedbacks are hard to find, since the only way you can view the feedback list is chronologically. I'd rather pull up all the negatives at one time to see if there's a continuing problem with a seller (like misleading ads, late shipping, difficult to contact, etc.).

The other MAJOR issue is that people generally leave positive feedback in all but the worst cases (like this one). That may be because it needs to have finer gradations, like Excellent/Good/Fair/Poor/Bad, rather than just Positive/Neutral/Negative. And people need to USE them.

One other aspect to this...new buyers are intimidated by sellers who threaten negative feedback if the buyer leaves THEM negative feedback, so they don't, and that starts a cycle. Further, some sellers won't take bids from buyers with "too many" negative feedbacks, and new buyers don't want to get any negatives, so they're too generous (perhaps) with bad sellers.

That said, I'd say all but one or two of my Ebay transactions have gone smooth as glass. This is a very strange, and really, illegal, case with this guy...

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I was second bidder in that auction, glad now I did not win. Sorry for the run around you are getting now. I saw the second listing right away and informed the seller thinking he made a mistake. He has never resonded. Carouselvic

Did you have a copy of the email sent to you? If so, Tom might want that as additional info, should he proceed with a complaint to Ebay.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Remember that you are also, in a sense, acting for future victims of fraud who aren't privy to this forum discussion. I honestly feel that not filing a complaint and actively pursuing it with Ebay would be the wrong thing to do, regardless of whether you get your item or not.

This is a little like the crime victim who should file charges, even though they may not want to go through the hassle, to keep the perpetrator from victimizing someone else.

Just my opinion, of course.

And I do not disagree with it!

Cheers,
Tom

 

[J.B.]

I was second bidder in that auction... Carouselvic

fftopic: Good Morning! I've seen you now and then on eBay. Glad you (finally) made a post. Best Wishes!

 

[J.B.]

I think another problem with it is that the negative feedbacks are hard to find, since the only way you can view the feedback list is chronologically. I'd rather pull up all the negatives at one time to see if there's a continuing problem with a seller (like misleading ads, late shipping, difficult to contact, etc.)...

For years I have used a terrific "engine" at Toolhaus.org to do exactly what you are talking about -- but just recently however, eBay has seemingly disabled "outside" access to eBay feedback (?!) and the site is only working intermittently at this time.

 

[jamespowers]

Jamespowers, it seems you owe me $50. Money order or cashier's check is fine.

.

Too bad you didn't take me up on that offer and decided to remain silent. However the deal isn't complete until he has hat in hand---the right hat.
I guess you were remembering all those previous bad experiences you had on OFAS as well.

Regards,

J

 

[Pilgrim]

I agree that continuing the complaint process with Ebay is the right thing to do. This guy really tried to pull a fast one.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Yes, you can do this.

By the way, ebay is adding a more extensive feedback system that buyers can leave for sellers. It breaks the transaction down into several aspects, which you can rate. I don't know when it actually kicks in, though.

It looks like they've implemented it, but perhaps not fully. This statement appears:

Rate the seller on the details of the transaction. Sellers will not see your detailed ratings below.

After I finished the feedback I went to the seller's feedback page to check it out. What is shown hasn't changed yet-still just the basic feedback.

I'll post more details in the Observation Lounge since it may be a topic of more general interest.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Warlock]

I am sorry you had all this grief over what should have been a straightforward and pleasant transaction. Thanks for warning us about this seller. It will not be of any interest to me to do business with him, no matter what he offers.

 

[carouselvic]

Tango Yankee If I or my emails can help in anyway at all contact me anytime

 

[feltfan]

carouselvic, I recommend you take your email address
down as soon as possible. If you leave it up on a public
web site, you will get a lot more SPAM than you want.
There are definitely people out there harvesting email
addresses.

You can edit the post and remove the address. Yankee
Tango probably has it by now (or perhaps a bartender can
send it to him). In any event, he can contact you through
the message service on eBay.

Edit: Now that the coffee is working, I realized I could send
on carouselvic's email address to Tango Yankee over PM myself.
So you can remove your email address from this public forum any
time, carouselvic.

 

[mikepara]

The new feedback system has been implimented this side of the pond, however there needs to be 10 extensive feedbacks left before an average can show up.