How can sellers offer their buyers an avenue to get objective recommendations?
IloiloKano
Posts: 1,051
This post was prompted by a comment that wybrit made in another thread, and since I don't wish to hijack his thread to ask for input on this matter, I thought I'd quote his statement, define a problem for honest sellers of nice coins (as I see it), and then see whether or not others think there may be a way for forum members to address the issue.
Here is wybrit's comment...
<< <i>It's no wonder that the last time I put nice raw coins up for auction that I got very poor money for them. >>
And that comment was prompted by the seeming endless supply of dishonest sellers on ebay, so much so that even when an honest person lists very nice items, often buyers are so jaded to expect the worse that the items go for pennies on the dollar to their true value. Now this can be a boon to a lucky buyer, but as this appears to be happening more and more often recently, I believe it could eventually lead to a dearth of nice coins being listed in the future on ebay, and I for one get most of my raw items through such auctions.
Quoting the winner of several of my items that I myself listed recently, "I am already anticipating excellent quality coins, and at that price I received one smok'in deal." I took a major hit on those auctions, but I am happy my customer recognized that he got an amazingly great deal on several coins. However, those of us who honestly list quality raw coins seem to be suffering from the plethora of dishonest people who list cleaned, whizzed, polished and generally worthless garbage as if such coins stand a chance of getting certified. I have tried every thing I can think of to indicate my honesty and integrity, even to the point of offering full refunds including shipping both ways to anyone for any reason without question, but wybrit's comment seems to indicate we need some other means to communicate that we are not the same as the general lowlife dirt bags they may have bought from in the past. At least it indicated to me that I am not the only one having such experiences lately.
So is there anything else that a seller can do? Or should we simply stop listing as auctions and go to Buy It Now format for our future listings? Is there some way we could post an emblem that a user could click that would take them to a forum here, where they could ask other forum users for recommendations regarding a seller's integrity? Perhaps something like that might also bring in more members, which certainly could be good for hobby, and might also bring in some new posters with interesting posts of their own.
I honestly don't know, but I thought I'd throw this out for comments, and perhaps see how others may have handled similar situations themselves. I know if I want advice about a particular seller, that I can always come here to ask for recommendations, and I have seen where others have issued warnings regarding their own experiences with the worse sort, but I rarely see recommendations regarding top notch sellers that can always be counted upon to describe their items conservatively with all visible flaws noted.
I'll start by giving one unsolicited recommendation now. You can always count on coinden's listings to be accurate and conservatively graded, and often a half grade or even a full grade higher than his description indicates.
Hmmm, now that I think about it, he rarely gets poor bidding. Maybe I should ask him his secret.
Here is wybrit's comment...
<< <i>It's no wonder that the last time I put nice raw coins up for auction that I got very poor money for them. >>
And that comment was prompted by the seeming endless supply of dishonest sellers on ebay, so much so that even when an honest person lists very nice items, often buyers are so jaded to expect the worse that the items go for pennies on the dollar to their true value. Now this can be a boon to a lucky buyer, but as this appears to be happening more and more often recently, I believe it could eventually lead to a dearth of nice coins being listed in the future on ebay, and I for one get most of my raw items through such auctions.
Quoting the winner of several of my items that I myself listed recently, "I am already anticipating excellent quality coins, and at that price I received one smok'in deal." I took a major hit on those auctions, but I am happy my customer recognized that he got an amazingly great deal on several coins. However, those of us who honestly list quality raw coins seem to be suffering from the plethora of dishonest people who list cleaned, whizzed, polished and generally worthless garbage as if such coins stand a chance of getting certified. I have tried every thing I can think of to indicate my honesty and integrity, even to the point of offering full refunds including shipping both ways to anyone for any reason without question, but wybrit's comment seems to indicate we need some other means to communicate that we are not the same as the general lowlife dirt bags they may have bought from in the past. At least it indicated to me that I am not the only one having such experiences lately.
So is there anything else that a seller can do? Or should we simply stop listing as auctions and go to Buy It Now format for our future listings? Is there some way we could post an emblem that a user could click that would take them to a forum here, where they could ask other forum users for recommendations regarding a seller's integrity? Perhaps something like that might also bring in more members, which certainly could be good for hobby, and might also bring in some new posters with interesting posts of their own.
I honestly don't know, but I thought I'd throw this out for comments, and perhaps see how others may have handled similar situations themselves. I know if I want advice about a particular seller, that I can always come here to ask for recommendations, and I have seen where others have issued warnings regarding their own experiences with the worse sort, but I rarely see recommendations regarding top notch sellers that can always be counted upon to describe their items conservatively with all visible flaws noted.
I'll start by giving one unsolicited recommendation now. You can always count on coinden's listings to be accurate and conservatively graded, and often a half grade or even a full grade higher than his description indicates.
Hmmm, now that I think about it, he rarely gets poor bidding. Maybe I should ask him his secret.
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Comments
Advantages:
* Low listing fee
* I control the prices I set
* At some point, a reputation does build up
Disadvantages:
* Monthly fee for store
* High final value fees (but that is offset by realizing better prices)
* Listings get hidden behind auctions
Last year, mostly due to personal matters having nothing to do with ebay, I closed my store and retreated to selling coins on my website. To my surprise, I still made some pretty healthy sales. Things have been quieter this year, since the pound is down against the dollar and the economy is disastrous.
I can't see a simple path to getting objective recommendations. You are faced with the problem of how you define an objective board of people. Is this entity licensed to provide definitive opinions? Is it ISO certified (TIC)? In the end, it's really all subjective and has no reference point. Also, how do you prevent the entity from becoming corrupt or turning into a "good ole boy" network?
As for the emblem idea, I don't think it would work either. I remember this British ebay seller who for years had been selling good material, and lots of it. All the while he/she was piling up positive feedback. About two years later, the seller was red-star level (back when it meant something) and could easily have been given an emblem. But now, the the fix was in: this ebayer started selling gold bars and pulled the big bucks scam on multiple buyers. This person had done this at least two times under two different IDs': patiently built up high confidence and then pulled the sting.
You return his money and now have a slabbed coin that will bring better money IMHO
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