Pet Peeves On Ebay

Don't forget the newbie who loads 500 CTO wallpaper listing at one time, forcing me to go through page after page of junk to even see something interesting. He usually is over priced and charges $4.99 for registered mail on a 5 cent item to boot.

Or very close to that, someone that loads up an entire collection of 1970's pieces one at a time !! All it does is clutter things up with no bids! When will these people realize that if anyone is in the market for a 1970's US Stamp they can usually find a whole hoard for $3 ?

"Or very close to that, someone that loads up an entire collection of 1970's pieces one at a time ! All it does is clutter things up with no bids! When will these people realize that if anyone is in the market for a 1970's US Stamp they can usually find a whole hoard for $3 ?"

I always cringe when I realize just how much it must cost the sellers in listing fees. But then again, it is hard to feel sympathy for someone who is selling without even the slightest bit of research!

Oooh! Great to see this one revived. I've got another one. Often I'll find a US item I reallllly need at a good price. Just when I'm about to click the bid button I see the item is offered only in the US. Not meaning to put our American friends on the spot here, but what gives? I thought we had Free Trade (sure I voted against it, but it's here, so I live with it.) Why do some American sellers have this protectionist attitude?

"Oooh! Great to see this one revived. I've got another one. Often I'll find a US item I reallllly need at a good price. Just when I'm about to click the bid button I see the item is offered only in the US. Not meaning to put our American friends on the spot here, but what gives? I thought we had Free Trade (sure I voted against it, but it's here, so I live with it.) Why do some American sellers have this protectionist attitude?"

Don't want to pay for shipping to Canada possibly?

Mostly the reason that US sellers don't like to ship out of the country is due to the fact that Proof of delivery is entirely on the seller and from my understanding is once it leaves the US signature delivery is not an option. Many sellers have been burned by the "Never received item" scam and I believe the old adage of once bitten twice shy applies there. On another note, if you ever win an auction that won't ship outside the US, let me know as I receive shipments for other collectors and then I ship it overseas.

If you are talking about ebay, then most times if a seller doesn't send outside of the USA, then you cannot bid.
The seller would need to change their settings for that listing and most times they won't do it or won't answer your request.
It's happened to me often as well as 'I don't send to Israel' racist remarks.

And it is very frustrating I can tell you.

Londonbus1

My latest since I'm sick and tired of this. One seller in particular, I will not mention names but this seller is an APS member and couldn't sell a Stamp if his life depended on it. I'm so fed up with supposed APS members that can't read a simple catalog and quote values from Scott catalogs for pieces with cut corners / Missing and pulled perfs / horrible centering. Scott catalog clearly states that values are given for pieces in VF condition (Talking post 1890)but these sellers insist on giving the catalog value for a MNH Stamp while they are selling an unused stamp with no gum. Perhaps I will post this sellers ebay page and I scrolled through his completed listings and must say he wasts a ton of time listing as through the first 4 pages of items there were 4 sales out of a possible 100.

Last week he advertised a Stamp, Regummed, atrocious centering, and reperfed and tried to list it for 80% of catalog.

You cannot regulate lack of knowledge. Of course one might assume they are trolling for suckers. One of Bidstart's most prolific revenue sellers has been posting and reposting the same sorry batch of damaged stamps and fakes for a few years now without modifying the prices one whit, simply because there is no incentive for him to do so. At least with ebay, since listing does cost *something*, after a while sellers are likely to remove an item or lower its price until it sells.

I almost always list the catalog value of the stamp(s) I am selling, regardless of their condition, simply because it provides a point of reference. Of course I discount accordingly based on condition, and I always include a "Best Offer" option if someone feels my asking price is out of line (I never do auctions, only fixed price).

Thank you all, for convincing me never to go there. There are many other sites to choose from anyway.

There is nothing wrong with purchasing from ebay and there really is not bigger source of material but one must exercise caution and knowledge is power. There are also some very honest and fair sellers that if something is misidentified (It happens) they will give you an instant credit with no hassles or questions asked. It is not the place of all evil.

I sometimes look for pre owned albums. I hate listings that have six scans of the binder, edge of pages, etc but nothing is shown of the pages. You are left with no idea if they are marked up, have lots of extra mounts or what. Most of the time you cannot get a straight answer when following up.

As a seller I get some real insane questions. Currently as listing some album pages with full color illustrations. Listing says no stamps included. have had two questions from folk who want to know about the 'stamps' on the pages.

I'm a seller on ebay and I will say 99.99% of my buyers are EXCELLENT and everything goes smooth as silk! However, please read the listings about invoices. If you are buying multiple items, please request an invoice or wait till the end of the auction and an invoice will be sent with the correct postage rate. If you are just buying one item, the auto payment feature is correct.

ebay is horrible at combining shipping when one is selling lots of varying shapes, quanities and weights. An automated invoice with the correct combined shipping at exact USPS costs cannot be had and it has to be done manually. ebay is not a perfect automated system. Be patient and wait or send a request. Also, it's rare for a buyer to do this, but don't pay for items individually.

And always, good commmunications can work out the vast majority of problems or misunderstandings.

Hey X Silver Spin, I started this thread a while ago because I couldn't believe some of the things I was seeing on ebay. Never meant it to dissuade anyone from buying or selling there. I do both, and for the most part have had no problems with other buyers or sellers. Like Battleships just posted, 99.99% of the folks you'll encounter there are top notch. And to quote our friend Stallzer, 'exercise caution and knowledge is power'. There are a lot of good things to be had on ebay, and at a good price if you shop around.
I guess the only point we're trying to make here is that it can also be a source of entertainment.

Battlestamps,

I recently had a kind seller send cash in the shipment to refund ebay's goof up with his combined shipping. He wasn't required to do that but it is sure customer-friendly. And you can be sure he's on my 'preferred sellers' list.

Karen