What do I do? Re: ebay feedback...retaliation...all that good stuff...

MXracer · February 8, 2004 12:31AM

I purchased an auction from ebay seller cardlinkhalf - the auction ended December 18. I waited three weeks and never received the item. I noticed on my bank statement that the check had been cashed so I e-mailed cardlinkhalf and asked them if my item had been shipped. I got a response saying something to the effect of "who are you? your name does not ring a bell. we have tried to match your name up to an auction but we can't make a match. are you sure you purchased something from us?" the funny part is in the e-mail asking if my item had been shipped I gave the auction title, auction number, the amount of the check, and my full name and they still couldn't "match my name up to an auction"???

over the next few weeks we exchanged numerous e-mails and they finally figured out what auction I had purchased from them. they then tell me that they have sold the cards to someone else but they will get me a list of cards of that player to pick from. I tell them that is not acceptable, I wanted those particular cards so can they please send my money back and leave feedback (they still haven't left feedback even though they cashed my check weeks ago). they reply saying that the check is in the mail finally (it is now been almost TWO MONTHS and I still have nothing) but about my request for them to leave feedback they reply with this "Feedback is automatically reciprocated same in kind within 60 seconds automatically."

so basically, they are holding my feedback hostage and will give me whatever feedback I gave them??? of course I want to give them a neg - they sold my item to someone elese AFTER they had sold it to me, then took TWO MONTHS to send my payment back. but I don't want a neg, so what do I do???

BigKidAtHeart · February 8, 2004 1:09AM

Yes, you will get a neg if you neg him.

and no you will not likely ever get your
refund (and there is little you can do)

If you do not care about getting a Neg
then you should hit him with one,
but if you do not want a neg on your account
then walk away and use this as a learning
experience.

The Lesson to be learned here is to NOT
buy from someone with 50 Negatives
in the past year, and expect good service.

jaybyrd · February 8, 2004 1:16AM

My feeling is you can' t worry about someone else's retaliation. If someone cheats or completly screws up an order as this seller seemed to do. I feel I owe it to other people on e-bay that try to conduct their transactions honestly to let them know about a bad transaction. If no one ever gives a negative in fear of getting one themselves, how will people find out about the dishonest e-bayers?

When people check your feedback they should be able to see that you did nothing wrong, even though you received a negative. I know it sucks when someone holds their feedback 'hostage' till you give them one. That just tells me they don't have total confidence in the way they conduct business.

slvnumber2 · February 8, 2004 3:48AM

MXracer:

I started a thread just like yours about 10 days ago and received some interesting comments like "$2 - let it go" and other negative responses. What you have done by posting on this board is the correct thing to do, and people do pay attention to the names people say to stay away from. My advice would be to evaluate whether or not the negative is worth the money. Also, I say the principle of the matter makes money irrelevant since feedback is supposed to let other buyers and sellers know if this is the type of person they would want to deal with.

I always check the feedback for the people I buy from, and if it is below 99% I check their feedback and the responses from the negatives. Legally I am not sure if Ebay or the BBB can help put it does not hurt to inquire. If the deal was for $300+ and they did not send the card and I could prove they got the payment they would get several e-mails and a certified letter. If I still got no response I would find the address and I would go talk to them face to face - and I would not care about how far they were as long as they were on this continent. Nothing like a Sportscard Terminator showing up on your door step huh?

When all else fails - caveat emptor!

BigKidAtHeart · February 8, 2004 5:24AM

<< <i>I feel I owe it to other people on e-bay that try to conduct their transactions honestly to let them know about a bad transaction. If no one ever gives a negative in fear of getting one themselves, how will people find out about the dishonest e-bayers? >>

I agree,
BUT
MXracer IGNORED 50 other negatives
and chose to deal with this guy anyway...

so the idea that I am helping others by
showing this guy for what he really is,
is moot because of the fact that too many
ebayer (myself included a time or too)
simply ignore all the warning signs!!

bowlking · February 8, 2004 6:30AM

Neg Him, he deserves it!

Estil · February 8, 2004 7:23AM

While we're on this subject, am I the only one who wonders why Ebay doesn't let you click on a link or something where you can have only their negatives listed, so you can see if the negatives they have are worth being concerned about? That'd be a very handy feature; I dunno why Ebay doesn't have it...

MXracer · February 8, 2004 7:30AM

I usually don't pay attention to negatives if the person has thousands more positives than negatives

there are some people on ebay who will leave a negative at the drop of a hat...I have seen some negatives that said, "item received, well packed, would do business with again" (I don't know if that was a mistake or what???)

DeutscherGeist · February 8, 2004 11:25AM

If someone does have 50 negatives, it is worth taking a look at what they were about. If you see they were just retaliatory or petty, then trust the seller. Honest and reliable dealers like krukcards have numerous negatives, but they were all petty. Read them and you will see what I mean.

Sometimes items arrived damged or not at all. That is not grounds for a negative. You need to contact the seller at least once and give him an opportunity to make good on it. If he responds immediately and gives you a refund or replacement, that seller does not deserve a negative at all. If he just delays and is not responsive until you threaten, one really has to wonder what this seller is thinking and just describe that in the comments with a neg.

If I see negs like the following, I stay away from the seller:

paid via paypal, Item not recieved, emailed 4 times, no response

paid via paypal, item not as described, emailed seller 5 times, no response

paid insured, item arrived broken, no insurance stamp, seller won't respond

If a seller is not good at responding, you will never get any service when something goes wrong. Sellers have to make sure their email is working or should stop being a jerk. Even if a seller is decent, but their email is not working all that great (too many emails get filtered, it is better to stay away--not worth the touble).

DeutscherGeist · February 8, 2004 11:33AM

If we look at every seller with the same type of scrutiny as we should regarding the type of negs they have, there would be few sellers we can deal with.

DSL, jtcards, krukcards, jay from quality cards, robebass, maxina, etc. almost always do the right thing.

I have a bone to pick with jtcards though. The transaction went well--no problems, but feedback was never posted and this is the first time I dealt with them, so I really needed it for my modest ebay rating count. I gave them a positve praise, but they left me nothing. That is really stupid on their part. They should have left feedback when they received the money. Now even when I left them positive feedback, they still did not respond. I know its a minor detail, but its still stupid for a seller to treat their customers this way. Gives the impression they don't care for my business or respect me. I know it happened to a few others on this board as well.

Virtualizard · February 8, 2004 12:11PM

DG,

Although I'm not obsessed with feedback, it is disappointing to not receive it when a transaction has been completed successfully. I have enough feedback that I really never look at it anymore, but I did check it out to see how my last few transactions with jtcards went. Here are the results of 4 that I found:

Auction ended 12/6/03 - Positive Feedback posted on 12/8/03
Auction ended 12/14/03 - Positive Feedback posted on 12/16/03
Auction ended 1/14/04 - Positive Feedback posted on 1/16/04
Auction ended 2/1/04 - Positive Feedback posted on 2/2/04

I don't know if they have an automated feedback program, but it seems that I get feedback shortly after I send payment every time. It could be a glitch in their system or a minor oversight. Don't look too much into it.

I leave feedback for almost every transaction I complete on ebay, both as a buyer and seller - I believe I have not left feedback for someone 3 times in my ebay existence. If you look at the number of feedbacks that I've left vs. the number of feedbacks that I've received, you will see that some people just don't leave feedback:

As of right now, I have received 2818 positive feedbacks with no neutral or negative. I have left a total of 3167 feedbacks, including some negatives and neutrals. Based on my experience, I only receive feedback on 88.98% of the auctions that I complete on ebay. That's more than 1 out of 10 ebayers who don't leave feedback.

Hope that sheds some light on the matter.

JEB.

spacktrack · February 8, 2004 12:35PM

I, too, have received feedback from jtcards immediately after paying thru Paypal for items I have won on two different occassions. I am sure that Joe Tuttle would have no problem dropping you a positive if you sent him an e-mail to the effect of "I received my card and was very pleased with it. I have left you a positive and would appreciate the same in return."

He's a good guy to deal with and it may just be a glitch.

DeutscherGeist · February 8, 2004 8:57PM

SpackTrack and virtualizard,

What you guys described, I don't doubt. I wouldn't be this picky about feedback, but I have only 52 positives, no negatives, no neutrals. I need to get bigger because I do want to be able to sell soon.
I will just send a friendly email to jt cards and tell them that I left them postive feedback.

MXracer · February 8, 2004 9:35PM

you don't need a ton of positives to be able to sell

the first thing when I got my account when I had (0) feedback was sell, and I got higher prices my cards then the same cards were selling for at the same time from other sellers

just make your auction look legit, tell them if they have any questions you would be happy to answer them, and stay away from phrases like "found these in grandpa's attic," "I know I could get more if this was graded but I have to sell right now," "my loss is your gain," etc.

BigKidAtHeart · February 9, 2004 2:19AM

<< <i>While we're on this subject, am I the only one who wonders why Ebay doesn't let you click on a link or something where you can have only their negatives listed, so you can see if the negatives they have are worth being concerned about? That'd be a very handy feature; I dunno why Ebay doesn't have it... >>

Your answer can be found here" Feedback FAQ

but in a nutshell;
"eBay believes that it is important for a member to look
at the person's reputation as a whole,
not just a single component of their reputation."

TheCARDKid · February 12, 2004 12:52PM

Ebays answer is self serving in my opinion. If users were able to look at positives, negatives and neutrals seperately, users might.....oh my goodness.....actually discover a guy is a crook and not bid (and Ebay loses their selling fees).

If Ebays core philosophy is to let buyers and sellers trade safely and effectively, why not let buyers see all the relevant information about a seller? There have been many auctions that I've wanted to bid on where a guy has several negatives, yet they are buried in the dozens of past pages. If the negatives were simple mistakes or mis communication, that's one thing. But if its something like "never sent item" or "re sealed wax pack", etc. then thats something more serious. Or imagine if you're an autograph collector or if you buy other collectibles in which authenticity is of the upmost importance. It would be tremendously valuable to see his reputation.

The BBB doesn't try to hide any negatives like Ebay does.

What do I do? Re: ebay feedback...retaliation...all that good stuff...

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