I'd like to thank acowa

purelyPSA · June 2, 2003 9:38AM

There's a certain dealer selling off what appears to be some nice 67s right now on Ebay. I checked his feedback, and it didn't look too good. However, I was willing to maybe buy one or two cards for a few bucks just to see what I got; I do that sometimes to check out the service of some of the raw dealers, just to gauge their grading.

To make a long story short, one of the negatives was from acowa; he very helpfully added "very misleading description of card condition". Whoa. Any chance of bidding on that guy's stuff went right out the window right there. Thanks for saving me a few bucks.

Steve

acowa · June 2, 2003 10:05AM

PurelyPSA,

I made every attempt to get things settled with that guy in a mutually acceptable fashion (including a telephone call). I was told in no uncertain terms that he was right and I was wrong (several times both on the phone and by email) and that if I didn't like it that I was free to do whatever I thought needed to be done. I took this to mean that I could take legal action...but maybe I interpreted it wrong.

What was interesting was that I had met this seller at one of the National's and he was very nice. In fact, I checked my feedback and we had even done a transaction successfully a few years back. I think I got a 5 star rating on that transaction! I guess I went from 5 star to scam artist status in record time. What's funny is that on EBAY it's the buyers responsibility to pay quickly and have unconditional satisfaction with the deal or risk getting negged. I always get nervous when sellers wait to leave positive feedback until after the buyer leaves theirs...it's a BAD omen!

Anyways, to top it all off...after I negged him (and got my obligatory retaliatory neg in return), I got threatened with a lawsuit. It's hard to take getting ripped off, a negative in your EBAY profile, and threatened with a lawsuit all in one week...but that's EBAY I guess.

Regards,

Alan

gaspipe26 · June 2, 2003 11:03AM

Acowa,
All my negs are from buyers who didnt pay and hit me with a neg after I gave them one for non-payment.

gemint · June 2, 2003 11:18AM

Is the feedback window reliable? I mean, if you have 30 or 60 days to leave feedback, maybe you can "snipe" a negative at the last minute which wouldn't allow them enough time to retaliate.

purelyPSA · June 2, 2003 11:37AM

Making something right is so easy...I punched up your auction and while it's for a rather large amount, what's the harm in taking it back? There's the difference between an average seller (or below average) and a great one.

I bought a card recently from Bobbysimon on Ebay. It was advertised as "mint" and I bought it, but it had sustained a small amount of water damage. I contacted him, and even though there was no mention in the auction of any sort of guarantee, he told me to send it right back and he'd issue me a refund, which I thought was great and totally professional. Even the fact that I got incredibly bogged down at work and at home and forgot to send it back

doesn't bother me much; it was only twenty bucks, which I wound up eating, but because of the way it was handled I'll buy from him again.

And to answer gemint's question, there is a 90 day feedback window. I have a buddy who's a professional ticket broker who deals on Ebay. He has a listing of each offending bidder that he keeps in his day planner, along with the time he needs to put the negative feedback into the system. He's missed a few, but for all the ones he's made, no retaliation has occured.

acowa · June 2, 2003 11:42AM

Bob,

You can certainly learn a lot by looking at the tale of the negative tape. There's nothing you can do about retaliation negs unless you want to sneak in a last minute neg at 90 days. I'm not much for waiting in attempts to "sneak one in".

Unfortunately, I gave up on trying to have perfect feedback long ago. However, I try to reserve negs for those who go above and beyond the call of customer disservice.

Regards,

Alan

mcastaldi · June 2, 2003 12:27PM

I also think negs themselves aren't all that big a deal. The nature of those negative comments is much more important. For example, I just picked up some low-pop 72s from a dealer with about 10 negs. But the negs all seemed to be from complete morons - people complaining about not receiving their cards in a week when the auction clearly described the items as pre-sell and also provided an approximate ship date. It was sad - one guy negged this poor dealer over ONE DOLLAR.

Alan's case is just another example of why to be cautious when buying raw cards on eBay.

Mike

gaspipe26 · June 2, 2003 9:59PM

I dont have the time to think about sniping in a neg. If someone doesnt pay they get a negative, whether I'm going to get a retaliatory neg or not. Sometimes I do sometimes I dont. As to returns all my auctions clearly state No returns on GRADED cards. I've always given the return option on ungraded.

FB · June 2, 2003 10:06PM

And how hard is it really to make the customer happy???

A few months ago, I sold off a bunch of 72 PSA 9's for $22 - $28 apiece. One of the cards, described as a 9, was actually an 8. The photo was an 8, the cert was an 8 - but I described it as a 9 and both I and the buyer didn't notice until after he received the card. When he contacted me - it was easy enough to see the problem. I sent him a full refund and told him to keep the 8 because I screwed up.

And he continues to buy from me. I've made back that $25 just on auctions where he has bid and raised the final closing price.

OhioTaz · June 3, 2003 8:59AM

I pay a lot of attention to feedback. I always go back a few negatives and read the comments but especially pay attention to the feedback of the people who negged a dealer. My feeling is that buyers ought to have perfect or very nearly perfect feedback. Sellers cannot please everyone but ought to make a serious attempt. A small (very small) percentage is acceptable in my opinion.

acowa · June 8, 2003 5:11AM

As a follow up...SquareTrade reviewed my case and got rid of my retaliation negative feedback from brunellfan. Luckily, he ignored them just like he ignored my request to make things right. It costs $20 to get Square Trade to look into matters ... but when your integrity is called into question (even in retaliation) ... it's good to get things resolved.

Regards,

Alan

Stump · June 8, 2003 6:14AM

Ohio Taz

I disagree with your thought that buyers should have close to perfect feedback. My negs came from sellers. My payments were made on time but when they would not take the product back that was not AS ADVERTISED the retaliated my negs. One dealer gave me 6 negs after I overnighted 1200.00 the day after the auction ended. This is wrong. I met my end of the bargain and paid in a very fast fashion. Negs are not always as they seem.

Dave

acowa · June 8, 2003 9:18AM

Dave,

Amen! How a buyer that pays for cards immediately...then gets screwed over because the seller delivers junk...gets a neg to complete the trifecta ... is beyond me.

Regards,

Alan

OhioTaz · June 8, 2003 2:17PM

Dave

Even with those negs your feedback is close to spotless because of the sheer volume of positives. That is why I qualified my comment to near perfect feedback. Your point is well taken though.

Sandy

Stump · June 8, 2003 8:06PM

Sandy

Gotcha. I should of looked closer at the near. I guess I am still ticked about the neg after fulfilling my end quickly.

Dave

OhioTaz · June 9, 2003 9:15AM

Dave

I would be seriously ticked as well. As I see it though, you have 2 negs and 1009 positives.
Very good in my book!

Sandy

PS. You sure seem to be making a nice run at 1965 lately!

I'd like to thank acowa

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