Do You Message Sellers About Mistakes?

Thanks Puzzler.

I don't want to hijack this thread but this particular stamp was rare unwatermarked variety (Michel cat. 500 euros) which is known to have forgeries. Stamp was listed for $200 but had no bids that's why I hesitated contacting the seller. I regret that now.

Regarding the difficulties with knowing when to message and when not to:

I would think it would be a different thing if the fake/forgery was sold as such. But I believe (I think) ebay has a Policy against selling forgeries.

You could check the policy ruling and then politely warn the seller about it, quoting it or linking to it. Or you could out and out report it. ebay (I have read elsewhere) will respond (sometimes with unneeded vigour) and remove the listing or warn the seller themselves.

Sometimes sellers do not know all the policies of such a huge site like ebay. Also, I think ebay's policies seem hidden away and hard to find at times. You need to use the correct wording that they use to find them while searching. They do not link other similar words to it sometimes. So you could miss something. Unintentionally.

Highly unlikely, but possible. Thus the polite heads up.

Do not feel too bad. There are always people not knowing enough about some things (like stamps) so they will buy anything. I was once there. I bought garbage. I learned after a while. Then I bought better stuff. Sometimes garbage also but better darn it.

There seems to come a time when you have learned enough to 'get a feeling' about something. But, still, you could ignore your feelings and buy that good looking stamp. Unfortunately some sellers seem to make selling to unknowledgeable and/or inattentive buyers a full or part time job.

I have had cancellations on stamps that I questioned because they were too good to be true (centered, legible, etc, etc). One has to make a study of these things it seems in order to learn and recognize what is what. What is an original, what is a fake, what is a really good fake that you're not really sure about. Thus, for those able and willing to pay, the expertizing services.

Some forgers are considered so good as to be artists themselves. And people collect their work.

I do not think there is an easy answer for every situation except to say that if you feel it's wrong, then listen to your feelings, and hope to learn, and act so that you are doing the right thing, not to be right.

Why are people throwing rotten tomatoes at me?

I philosophize too deeply at times.

I yield the soapbox to another . . .

no no dear puzzler those are rotten stamps not tomatoes :D

If I see an incorrect listing, I will let the seller know. Often a less valuable stamp stated to be something scarcer will only end up in a problem for the seller when the buyer wants to return it.

Most times I usually request confirmation of the detail of a stamp (such a a san of the back of the stamp).

However, if the seller has described something less valuable as a scarcer stamp, they are fair game, in my view. Picking up a scarce stamp for a little money is all part of the fun. Provied you don't gloat back to the seller about what they have missed, there won't be any downside.

If I do query a listing, I always go to the trouble of explaining why I have a concern about the description.

I hope people email me about any mistakes I make in a listing. Sometimes errors side through like mismatched titles to descriptions or bad photo links and I appreciate it when folks bring that to my attention. Also if I'm just plain wrong about something, it would be a good learning experience for me to know what it is and why. Oddly enough, in the past where I had a bad photo link, people would still bid on an item and never tell me about it.

I do notify sellers frequently regarding mistakes. Some are listing errors and some are blatant spelling errors. Recently I sent Barry Suppler, well known gold coin dealer a message.
His listing said the coin was for the "conscience" buyer.
Obviously he meant to say the conscientious buyer. He did not thank me and changed the spelling.

Another coin seller described his coin as having a Denver "mink mark". I sent a message saying it was mintmark. He didn't change it and the coin sold with a D mink mark. lol

I am sometimes tempted to email sellers (not usually stamp sellers..!) about the bad spelling, punctuation, grammar and "Text Speak" in their listings, but that's just because I'm a pedantic bore...

As a seller on ebay (not stamps, just the usual domestic stuff) I would appreciate constructive feedback on a listing, as long as it was done politely.

Wouldn't a mark made by a mink lessen the value??

That's really funny.
Depends on what the mink ate four hours ago I suppose?

An honest seller would appreciate having mistakes in a listing pointed out.

Someone telling you (potential customer) to butt out seems to have poor business sense...

As far as telling a seller that their legitimately described item is "overpriced," that seems a little more complicated. There seem to be lots of collectors out there that are putting items up for auction or on Stamps2go for prices that are not very realistic. My thought is that these are probably collectors not that interested in selling, but more listing their item "for the fun of it." They have an item which they treasure and listing it for sale at a high price is their way of telling the world...