Darn eBay

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Darn eBay

Thanks, everyone.

I'm working the channels, but the worse part is the guy is actually flaunting it a bit, i think. He claims the trailer is "his friend's trailer" and he won't let it go for that much. So he told me, I know eBay doesn't allow me to not sell, leave me negative feedback, eBay doesn't enforce it anyway.

What irks me the most is he is right, eBay won't do anything.

I will lose a very good deal on a trailer.

He'll go out and sell the trailer later when supposedly there is this eBay contract that says it is mine.

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Darn eBay

Thanks, everyone.

I'm working the channels, but the worse part is the guy is actually flaunting it a bit, i think. He claims the trailer is "his friend's trailer" and he won't let it go for that much. So he told me, I know eBay doesn't allow me to not sell, leave me negative feedback, eBay doesn't enforce it anyway.

What irks me the most is he is right, eBay won't do anything.

I will lose a very good deal on a trailer.

He'll go out and sell the trailer later when supposedly there is this eBay contract that says it is mine.

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Darn eBay

eBay has become so lax in the last year or two that I don't think anyone gets kicked off anymore.

This guy actually says "leave me negative feedback".

And what I have noticed is this:

1. Some rack up so many feeback through power sellign that the negatives seem meaningless.

2. When they rack up several hundred or even thousand feedback, eBay ignores the dozens of negative feedback, even when they seem to lump together indicating a change of the seller to becoming a cheat.

3. A lot of negative feedback is retaliatory. So the good guys are getting as much as the bad guys. And the comments are making you wonder which are which.

4. With the large number of ISPs providing mulitple email accounts, users are adding IDs and moving from one to another with incredible speed and ease. So someone that looks good with 20 or 50 positve may have an ID that had a dozen negative.

5. Large positve guarantees nothing. I had a guy with 40 positive and one negative over a sour deal on a part flat reneg on a deal. Long sob story and the whole time is was dealing like crazy. His feedback over the next two months went up to 80 some positive and of course, eBay did nothing. I ended up selling the item later, but at nearly $100 less.

6. The retaliatory negatives seem to hurt the good guys only. The bad guys don't care, and if the negatives get too high, they change IDs and start over.

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Darn eBay

eBay has become so lax in the last year or two that I don't think anyone gets kicked off anymore.

This guy actually says "leave me negative feedback".

And what I have noticed is this:

1. Some rack up so many feeback through power sellign that the negatives seem meaningless.

2. When they rack up several hundred or even thousand feedback, eBay ignores the dozens of negative feedback, even when they seem to lump together indicating a change of the seller to becoming a cheat.

3. A lot of negative feedback is retaliatory. So the good guys are getting as much as the bad guys. And the comments are making you wonder which are which.

4. With the large number of ISPs providing mulitple email accounts, users are adding IDs and moving from one to another with incredible speed and ease. So someone that looks good with 20 or 50 positve may have an ID that had a dozen negative.

5. Large positve guarantees nothing. I had a guy with 40 positive and one negative over a sour deal on a part flat reneg on a deal. Long sob story and the whole time is was dealing like crazy. His feedback over the next two months went up to 80 some positive and of course, eBay did nothing. I ended up selling the item later, but at nearly $100 less.

6. The retaliatory negatives seem to hurt the good guys only. The bad guys don't care, and if the negatives get too high, they change IDs and start over.

[A L.]

Re: Darn eBay

Sorry Mike, I didn'n mean to diminish what you were saying. Most of us who deal on eBay honor our contracts, but there are some who don't. From what I've read and heard from others, it is very lengthy and cumbersome, if not next to impossible to bring these individuals to task. The little recourse available is to whack this individual with a negative feedback and getting to state the reason for doing so. In return he will probably whack you with a negative and distort the story. At the end of the day one can be an honest eBayer and still get a negative and get no recourse. That probably would make most of us say "Darn eBay". Having dealt there somewhat, that seems to be the nature of the playing field and why I say make smart decisions to protect yourself, step over these kinds of incidents and go on to the next good one.
A.G.

[A L.]

Re: Darn eBay

Sorry Mike, I didn'n mean to diminish what you were saying. Most of us who deal on eBay honor our contracts, but there are some who don't. From what I've read and heard from others, it is very lengthy and cumbersome, if not next to impossible to bring these individuals to task. The little recourse available is to whack this individual with a negative feedback and getting to state the reason for doing so. In return he will probably whack you with a negative and distort the story. At the end of the day one can be an honest eBayer and still get a negative and get no recourse. That probably would make most of us say "Darn eBay". Having dealt there somewhat, that seems to be the nature of the playing field and why I say make smart decisions to protect yourself, step over these kinds of incidents and go on to the next good one.
A.G.

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Darn eBay

Oh no, I didn't think that. Between our selling account and our buying account, we have close to 300 feedback (we keep the buying and selling separate).

Out of that, we have had a few bad deals. We have had about a half dozen deadbeat bidders, of which most we did ok on the eBay relist free and move on. A couple did sell for less, so we either lost money because we sold it for less or we did ok because we finally sold it, depending on your view.

We have left a few negatives, but have to be careful to keep our 100% positive. I've found the neutral is about as effective, since everyone leaves glowing positives, a neutral is really a negative. And you can leave a scorching comment. Yet the other guy isn't likely to leave a negative if you leave a neutral.

We have had a couple of disgruntled buyers, which can be worked out. The trick is communications, and sometimes they don't communicate. We spell out flaws in detail. We use a lot of good pictures, not the one Polaroid at dusk from 75 feet. Many times they just forget that a $10 item isn't a deal with $25 in shipping across the country.

We have bought a few things that were not what we thought. Some have to be honest mistakes, but some you know they knew, else they wouldn't have hidden it in the picture.

I sold a few parts with the $1 start and unfortunately, they went for a dollar. That's life. A couple of guys were good sports, giving me more money because they couldn't with good conscience buy a $50 or so item for a buck, regardless of how much that sounds good. They didn't give me $50, but enough to ease their mind and make the $1 sting not so bad. Heck, we all know that $1 doesn't cover the eBay fees, so it was good of them.

The darn eBay is the lack of recourse. Soemone can hit you with undeserved negative feedback and you can't do a thing about it. Someone can sell you junk, and the eBay recourse may cost more to make happen than you get, if it ever happens.

And deadbeats cost you money you never get back. And there is no recourse, only the shallow threat "you have entered a legal contract and I'll prosecute to the full extent" which means absolutely nothing.

eBay is the darn eBay. They allow it all to happen. Real auctions don't allow deadbeats.

eBay could solve it easily. Since it is easy to require credit cards for registration (they do for selling), the deadbeat could simply be given XX days to fulfill the contract and then his account charged. He may win with his credit card company at getting the charges off, but the hassle would make it rough on him and the credit card company wouldn't do that often before they dumped him.

Try getting a credit card if one dumps you.

Try living today without one.

Rant off.

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Darn eBay

Oh no, I didn't think that. Between our selling account and our buying account, we have close to 300 feedback (we keep the buying and selling separate).

Out of that, we have had a few bad deals. We have had about a half dozen deadbeat bidders, of which most we did ok on the eBay relist free and move on. A couple did sell for less, so we either lost money because we sold it for less or we did ok because we finally sold it, depending on your view.

We have left a few negatives, but have to be careful to keep our 100% positive. I've found the neutral is about as effective, since everyone leaves glowing positives, a neutral is really a negative. And you can leave a scorching comment. Yet the other guy isn't likely to leave a negative if you leave a neutral.

We have had a couple of disgruntled buyers, which can be worked out. The trick is communications, and sometimes they don't communicate. We spell out flaws in detail. We use a lot of good pictures, not the one Polaroid at dusk from 75 feet. Many times they just forget that a $10 item isn't a deal with $25 in shipping across the country.

We have bought a few things that were not what we thought. Some have to be honest mistakes, but some you know they knew, else they wouldn't have hidden it in the picture.

I sold a few parts with the $1 start and unfortunately, they went for a dollar. That's life. A couple of guys were good sports, giving me more money because they couldn't with good conscience buy a $50 or so item for a buck, regardless of how much that sounds good. They didn't give me $50, but enough to ease their mind and make the $1 sting not so bad. Heck, we all know that $1 doesn't cover the eBay fees, so it was good of them.

The darn eBay is the lack of recourse. Soemone can hit you with undeserved negative feedback and you can't do a thing about it. Someone can sell you junk, and the eBay recourse may cost more to make happen than you get, if it ever happens.

And deadbeats cost you money you never get back. And there is no recourse, only the shallow threat "you have entered a legal contract and I'll prosecute to the full extent" which means absolutely nothing.

eBay is the darn eBay. They allow it all to happen. Real auctions don't allow deadbeats.

eBay could solve it easily. Since it is easy to require credit cards for registration (they do for selling), the deadbeat could simply be given XX days to fulfill the contract and then his account charged. He may win with his credit card company at getting the charges off, but the hassle would make it rough on him and the credit card company wouldn't do that often before they dumped him.

Try getting a credit card if one dumps you.

Try living today without one.

Rant off.

[A L.]

Re: Darn eBay

Thanks Mike, you're right on in describing the troubling aspects of eBay. I wish they would hear your comments.
A.G.

[A L.]

Re: Darn eBay

Thanks Mike, you're right on in describing the troubling aspects of eBay. I wish they would hear your comments.
A.G.

[Steve G.]

Re: Darn eBay

Ive been on ebay since 1997 and its incredibly difficult to stay at 100% positive, especially when you buy and sell. Ive been very lucky to stay there (+455) but I had to go to arbitration once (it cost me) over an inappropriate negative left by an idiot. This does happen, there's plenty of idiots to go around. Read the feedbacks and bid according to that as opposed to only 100%. However, any more than a couple understandable negatives is probably too much.

[Steve G.]

Re: Darn eBay

Ive been on ebay since 1997 and its incredibly difficult to stay at 100% positive, especially when you buy and sell. Ive been very lucky to stay there (+455) but I had to go to arbitration once (it cost me) over an inappropriate negative left by an idiot. This does happen, there's plenty of idiots to go around. Read the feedbacks and bid according to that as opposed to only 100%. However, any more than a couple understandable negatives is probably too much.