Ebay Bait And Switch Situation

kcaramat is quite correct - the vast majority of buyers and sellers on ebay are honest. I have problems with less than a faction of 1% of the buyers I deal with and usually it's a new user who doesn't pay for a low priced item. That's not a big deal to me. Most of us have more problems with the average big box store or chain restaurant.

As for feedback, I prefer to leave it on the day of shipment. Right after an auction I need the time to pack items and get them to the post office. Afterwards, I can then leave feedback in bulk for everything that was shipped that day. Also, by leaving feedback on the day of shipment I have a easy to access record of when I shipped something. If someone asks me when I shipped an item, I simply look at their feedback.

Centerstage98,

I think what has happened is that neutral feedback actually now means negative feedback. Language mutates over time. Because 100% positive feedback is so common, anything less than positive is deemed negative. Neutral has ceased to exist. I learned that from the first or second time I left neutral (as a compromise between positive and negative) feedback, naively thinking it actually meant neutral.

The same thing has happened in college grades (my own bailiwick). Pity the naive professor who thinks that A means outstanding and B means good/above average and C means average. Give a student a B and he takes it as average or even failure because almost everyone else gives mostly A's. Give a student a C and she considers it abject failure. You can try to explain that C is satisfactory and B is above average but it cannot be heard. The language has changed.

Stubborn as I am, I persist with the old grading system, explaining what it means when I use it. Students respond by giving me F (negative) feedback on teacher evaluations. I have a thick skin (and I have tenure--for all you who think tenure is evil, consider that it helps keep an old war-horse tough grader like me teaching instead of having been fired years ago).

I console myself by telling myself that I did them a great service by, for once in their coddled little lives, telling them that they are actually in the middle of the pack rather than OUTSTANDING (when everyone is "outstanding" it is impossible to identify the truly outstanding among all the "outstanding ones"; when everyone is outstanding, outstanding means nothing). That gives them the chance to improve, whereas if they are told they are outstanding when they are not they'll never know the truth and lose their chance to learn and improve.

But they don't/won't buy it. The language (coinage, lingua franca) has changed. Everyone is now above average, outstanding. Businesses know that A grades are now meaningless, so they figure out other ways to get a true assessment. I warn the students but they don't listen and will have to learn the hard way when they go job hunting whether they are truly outstanding or merely average.

To apply all this to ebay and Yelp and all the other feedback systems: on ebay, nearly everyone is 100% positive. 99.5% actually means okay, pretty good--even the best ebay seller with any volume of sales over several years' time can have been the victim of a few cranks and jerks. But when I see 98% positive, I read that as a red flag.

Notice what's happened? 100% no longer signifies true 100%. 98% is relatively uncommon and signifies D or F. I don't recall ever seeing anything below 98 or 97% positive. Have you? The range has shrunk to 3 percentage points, actually, the practical range you'll see is more like 98.5 to 100.

So we all have developed other ways of assessing ebay sellers--mostly trial and error or recommendations from other people. Over time we find the sellers we know to be knowledgeable and trustworthy and stick with them.

What's also interesting is that 93%-96% positive feedback is perfectly acceptable on Amazon for large sellers, but the same percentage denotes a less than stellar seller on e bay.

I am not so sure that I would agree that 99% of the sellers/buyers are honest (which would puts the percentage of 'honest' people above the general population by most researchers).

What is probably happening is that many of us simply ignore/steer clear of listings which are dubious in our minds and thereby avoid many of the potential pitfalls. But keep in mind that not everyone has extensive philatelic, or even online, experience. Most of us have had one or more bad online transactions and have learned how to be careful.

I do agree that the majority of buyer/sellers (and people in general) are 'good' but keep in mind that anytime there is a bad philatelic transaction we stand the chance of losing another hobbyist to our great hobby.

And I concur with Hieronymus, the feedback system is misleading in the traditional sense. I also think that the lack of account vetting and ease of falsifying accounts is a glaring issue with today's online auction sites.
Don

Stampcrow,

I was seeking tickets to a local theme park. Also this was the first or second time I sent anything back to a seller due to not being what was advertised. I contacted the sender and without getting a reply and sent the item back. Probably not a good idea but the tickets were for an east coast park not the one in the Midwest what I wanted. After a week or so of not hearing from the seller I initiated the process with ebay and left a highly negative feedback. Another week or two went by and there was no follow up from ebay. I'm thinking it was maybe because ebay did not get a response back from the seller either. After a while they sort of denied my claim because of not having proof I ever received or sent back the Tickets. Very frustrating. So just a caveat, get some sort of paperwork that something physical was actually received or sent if you do not already have a relationship with the seller.

Consider the possibility that the seller was just sloppy and sent the wrong plate block. The web Sell Your Item (SYI) form provided by ebay fails to expose the Custom Label field which can be used to tag a listing with an inventory number. Free ebay products like TurboLister (not worth the price) or paid ebay products like Selling Manager Pro expose and display the Custom Label.

I assign a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) number to every stamp or block scanned for ebay or bidStart. An inventory tag with the SKU number on it remains with the stamp or block. The SKU number is incorporated into every listing. I use SixBit ecommerce software to manage listings and post sales processing. Packing lists includes a thumbnail image of the stamp, block or accumulation and the SKU number. Sixbit populates the ebay Custom Label from the SKU column in the database making possible to unambiguously track every unique listing, even if some have identical titles.

Accuracy is not only to be expected, but it is possible. Every careful seller will take pains to make sure that the correct stamp or block is shipped every time. Still, it is possible for errors to creep into the best system.

I would suggest giving the seller a break and don't post negative feedback. A so-so DSR rating like a 3 will give the seller enough of a heads up and minimize the risk of being blocked as a buyer. Also, think about moving on to other more careful ebay sellers.

Clark

A cousin remarked that student 'reviews' of professors means that the grades she gives are now subject to negotiation, eg, 'raise the grade you gave on my paper, or else'.

I'm not saying you did anything wrong. I'm just thinking, it was a mistake.
I haven't experienced this but have thought about. I would not send an item back until paypal refunded the cost.
First contacting the seller directly. Then if needed start the process with ebay.

I would say that 100% of the people I buy from on ebay are good honest people. Don nailed it when he stated we have learned what listings to stay away from. Even a good seller can make a mistake and when that happens the key is to communicate with them and they will make the deal right.
I got a cover a couple weeks ago from someone with a note saying, "Hey I found that cover that I lost and previously refunded your money". They did not have a return address or list their ebay ID. They only signed the note with their first name. I don't remember the transaction and I feel a little guilty to accept the cover knowing that they already refunded my money. The problem is I have no idea who to pay at this point. My reason for sharing this is I believe this is exactly how most sellers I deal with would handle the situation. They go out of their way to make sure the buyer is satisfied.

The comments on this thread are showing up

very strongly the type of person you are!

Stampcrow,

Yes in hindsight it was not a good way to do business from someone I haven't met or know the character of. I do hold true to the fact as others on this site that most people are honest. What made me upset with ebay was that they sent me a general email just before this that stated my purchase was guaranteed. At the time I was a little naïve with the ways of ebay. Has it stopped me from buying stamps or other things off of the site no. But my naiveté got a booster inoculation.

Since I value the hobby a great deal and would not like to burn any bridges since I depend on ebay and its dealers for buying stuff from, there is no way that I would issue a complaint against anyone unless it was necessary since I did not get the exact stamps that were shown that I bid on and was expecting to receive even though the dealer insists that he sent the ones pictured on the site. Let's just say that my philatelic reputation as a writer/researcher who specializes on such a stamp issue does not allow me to fool around with the matter on hand.

I sent back the stamps that they sent me which were not the ones exactly pictured and they refunded me my payment for them. They have re-listed the stamps back with the exact same picture as before which makes me wonder if they just didn't want to send me the exact stamps pictured and they are now trying to sell them to someone else. In other words, will the person who wins this auction this time will they be getting the stamps that they sent me and I returned which are not the pictured ones or will they get the ones in the picture that I never got but wanted? I am really confused and I am thinking of contacting ebay. To a collector like me who buys according to what is shown, this feels like some cruel confusing joke.

jogil.....why dont you just post the ebay item #???

I sent the exact items back as received since I don't need to destroy my philatelic reputation over an item that cost around the same price of the return registered mail and I have now been insinuated by the seller of switching one of the items which I did not switch due to its condition. This is the item that was sent to me and now I am being insinuated of switching it. I have been refunded for the items, but I am thinking of leaving a negative feedback due to this insinuation. I am upset for me not getting the exact pictured items and now the seller is trying to reverse it on me.