Really Ugly Response From An Ebay Seller

Ray Mac, Thanks for keeping an eye on this stuff and keeping the community informed. I'll avoid buying from this guy.

In the last 15 days this seller had 991 items that ended, he sold 24. I think he should find another line of business.

Not so fast. Although I no longer routinely contact sellers I don't know, I know that some still do. As a seller it is helpful to find out about errors in listings, especially early in an auction so that they can be fixed before anyone bids. Some years ago I contacted a seller of a misidentified stamp and received a grouchy and nasty response. Did I vow not to buy from him? Not exactly. About five years later, I noticed group lot containing a never hinged type II 599A coil misidentified as a 599 in an otherwise unremarkable Fourth Bureau issue group lot. I happily bought the lot, using my ebay buying ID, for about $20.

So don't close off your options. Every seller eventually will make a mistake in favor of the buyer. You may as well take advantage and have no feelings of guilt whatsoever.

Clark

I'm wondering, is this someone selling other peoples items on consignment?
The response to Ray certainly doesn't sound like someone that is a stamp person. If they were, they wouldn't be rooting for the demise of the hobby.

So the seller may have been frustrated that the cosigner gave bad information about the stamp. He then vented, inappropriately on Ray.

You'll find this written above the item now. "This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available".

Maybe someone offered $16.00...

His pointed use of "you" hints that he does not count himself among those who collect the stamps he sells.

His experience of the stamp hobby is that it has been "decreasing," and apparently that is irritating to him. But that is a matter of perception. First of all it is an observation that is more apt in the United States, and to a lesser extent Europe, than it is in some other countries. But before we decide that the hobby will be a dinosaur in a few more years, we might want to take a critical (that is, analytical) look at what makes us think it is in decline. That is a topic for another thread, but for this thread I have to ask whether the angry seller is merely being eclipsed by forces he does not know how to control, and is lashing out.

Dear ray.mac,




As your friends here have made clear, you said nothing wrong. Yes, you have been listed as a pinhead, but who hasn't? I'm on the Pinhead Leadership Board myself. Don't take it personally. Your seller sounds like a very angry person...and there's WAY too much anger in this world.

Were I in your shoes I might have been tempted to respond with my snide side, like: "Hey, cws, I hope you don't own any semi-automatic Storm Trooper weapons. Until you chill out, please stay in Denver. And maybe consider giving your stamps to someone who still enjoys the hobby."

Thank God 99.5% of the stamp-related discourse I have had has been with thoughtful, pleasant ladies and gents.

I rarely hear someone use the epithet "pin-headed". Maybe he's Bill O'Reilly?

Too funny...

I have some *choice* memes for Faux Noise but would
never post them here...

I have occasionally felt compelled to send a note to a seller whose listing was blatantly incorrect, overstated as to value, or otherwise ridiculous. Sometimes my note was friendly, sometimes worded much more judgmentally than ray.mac's. I've generally quit doing it for the reason stated above. I've gotten a few angry and a few weird responses. There are some odd folks populating ebay these days, and I have no desire to attract a hostile internet stalker.

But I'm enjoying this thread and the good humor ray.mac's post has inspired.

geez ray.. you have always been a blow hard.


(j/k)

Hi, btw..

Hey stampvirgin! Long time no see!

I will admit, you were a little hard on him a little (you were quick to point out his flaws), but there is NO way he should have said that. Completely absurd.

And one more thing...

I didnt realize stampvirgin had MORE posts on here than on our fellow Coin Community!

OMG, SV!!
Daryl, hope all is well for you. Glad you stopped by...let's see if I remember...CSA, and you were missing just one or a couple, US classics, and was it Vietnam tou collected?

Hope you didn't leave the hobby for good, you were a big poster here, and have been missed!

Take care my friend, Ray

Just saw the link to the ebay auction. Says the owner ended the auction and pulled the item, so in spite of his ranting and raving he seems to have seen that you may have been right, so good on you Ray Mac for calling the seller out on it.

Being a Pin-Head is not a bad thing, keeping these ebay sellers honest is overall a good think for the hobby (as they say on the Australian board there are so many "Bunnies" being fleeced by unscrupulous dealers that take advantage of noob collector cluelessnes) so its better to be "blunt" and call spades spades when we we see something that doesn't look overly kosher.

Then again I was born in NY so have no problem with "bluntness" though I generally avoid ebay sales having see so much dross on offer at overinflated prices. I'll stick with delcampe, where there is much less of a problem and the owners of the marketplace are zealous in dealing with problem sellers if they are made aware of an issue.