Sad Ebay Transaction, And Still An Issue.

mootermutt987: I agree with your comments but in my case I do offer a 100% "satisfaction' guarantee no matter what the reason, and I stand by it. So I will accept returns when the buyer opts for it. Over the years some have returned them and some have kept them. A little over half my customers for this item are satisfied repeat buyers.

I also agree with tweaking the title and description to reduce the number of issues and have gone as far as I think I can given the title length limitations. This is the reason I have information in my descriptions about the differences and where to find "tires" as opposed to "drive bands". Since doing that and tweaking it over the years, the percentage of buyer's with this problem has reduced and are realistically very small for long term product ad.

Your point is well made about some sellers, particularly ones that "might" be a bit deceptive in their ads who are unwilling to change them to present a better description. I also find it amazing when sellers provide very little or no description details at all other then their terms and conditions. The seller the OP was dealing above with is one that I have seen before but have never bought from. I'll be that much more weary of and attentive to their ad details going forward. There never a reason to be abusive with a customer, there's always a professional way to handle it, what ever it is.

jconey - there are many sellers that accept returns for any reason. (ETA: forgot to say, I find dealing with such sellers to be a very positive experience. Such a policy gives me confidence that I will be happy and I will jump at such a deal when given that deal or an 'as is' deal) Thank you for that. Although not required, it would be nice to have more sellers follow that philosophy. When I've bought the wrong thing because of my mistake, I don't return it for a couple of reasons. One, it was my fault and making me 'pay' for it is my way of helping to prevent that in the future. Two, my mistake shouldn't be the seller's problem. Even if there is a no-questions-asked return policy, I still don't want to have the seller go through the hassle of refunding and re-listing. I would never ever have a bad feeling towards the seller where I made the goof. If he DOES have the item that I really did want/need, I would make a 2nd purchase to get what I want. There are good sellers, and bad sellers. There are those that understand that mistakes are made, and those that won't tolerate such things. The good sellers rise to the top. The bad ones sink. And drown. Or grow gills.

Hi rogdcam,
Thank you so much! Your contacting the seller has moved him to change the title and take out the $30. I was hoping there was some way to do this for any future buyer of the auction. I really appreciate you contacting him.

Shows as a currently active auction with material matching the photo above. The Auction revisions page shows two revisions, 7-13 and 7-14 including the title. THERE IS NO REFERENCE TO THE VALUE, face or otherwise of the offered stamps.

Thus is appears the seller took your information OP and corrected the listing. So it all has worked out.



Two suggestions:
1. Add up the postage in the photos yourself.
2. If state face and received face do not match (higher or lower) you can "return" the lot as not described by opening a not as described case. Of course if the face value exceeded $30, you would not be here complaining, correct?

And an aside...
3. If you will place some weight on the one negative of this seller, where it sounds like the buyer as as much of a piece of work over a $5 item as you state the seller is, avoid dealing with the seller--Don't Bid.

BTW While gwanghoops quoted the negative feed back: "BUYER BEWARE. before you bid, check your risk tolerance. Fact statement: I was sent wrong item, twice attempted to resolve with return for correct item listed "as per scan," twice refused. Requested refund as last resort, which seller previously indicated unwillingness to do. Return for refund accepted, I paid return postage and duly returned. While in transit, seller indicated next manouvre; on arrival, refused refund, then opened "fraud" and "thief" case against me. (Familiar, anybody?) Classy" I must question the validity of the feedback, which was written in ALL BOLD as the key stroke count far exceeds the number normally allow when posting feedback (not enough interest to speak with ebay to learn how the excessive keystroke feedback is done). It seems that buyer doth protest too much, methinks.

You are allowed 500 characters now.

Didn't know that. Guess I should leave feedback more often.

In my opinion, sellers who behave like this only make a rod for their own backs.

@mootermutt - I don't think any reasonable seller will mind if you return an item, even if it was your mistake in purchasing it. I've had it happen a few times as a seller - one recent example - buyer meant to buy Canada CO2, purchased CO1 by mistake, but didn't realize until it arrived. No big deal, he sent it back, I relisted it, sent the buyer what he actually wanted to buy, we settled the amount difference.

It happens infrequently enough it's just a small part of running an online stamp store. I had concerns about moving to 100% no questions asked return policy, but it's been friction free. And customers really like it.

~Greg

That's new, hope I never need them all. My, "Received well packaged and as described" usually works quite well for everything. Even with a minor hiccup, normally it all fit within the old limit.

As a buyer, I get turned off by sellers who:

a) State they accept no returns (such a statement has little/no realistic effect on an ebay transaction);
b) State that the buyer is responsible to pay additional shipping fees (not indicated in the listing) for tracking, otherwise they
hold harmless the seller in case the item doesn't show up (that's not the way it works on this platform -
the seller is responsible to get the shipment to the buyer - ALWAYS!);
c) 10-15 working days to prepare and ship an item (are you kidding me?);
d) Private feedback (Why?); and finally
e) Buyer is responsible for return shipping if an item is returned (Again, it doesn't work that way for
item not as described, for example).

When you pretend that you are a dealer, you should act like one. This includes responding to questions, not automatically
assuming that your customer is trying to rip you off, and etc. It is common sense, really. Your reputation is priceless,
and bad word-of-mouth will destroy you...

All in my humble opinion, of course, having been both a buyer and a seller. The number of people that
will try to rip you off (as buyer or seller) is a very small percentage - almost all transactions go smoothly, in my experience.

John