Bad Experience With Ebay Seller Hiplatelics

We often have had threads were the ebay playing field is said to be tilted in favor of the buyer with 'item not received' scam often mentioned. A recent experience with the ebay seller 'hiplatelics' demonstrates that sellers can also jerk buyers around.

On 11/2/21 I purchased a group of Post Office Seals. Hiplatelics marked the purchase as shipped and ebay let me know that the label had been printed. Only when I looked closer did I realize that I knew the seller. In 2019 and over lunch, I had met with a fellow from this community (txphl) from Texas. At the time he seemed like a good guy, a collector who wanted to become a stamp dealer. So I sent Hiplatelics an ebay message the same day telling him who I was.

The next day (11/3) Hiplatelics replied back, thanked me for the business, mentioned he enjoyed our lunch, and also mentioned next time to let Hiplatelics know upfront and he might be able to get me a better deal.

The next day (11/4) I got another automated notice from ebay telling me that the Pre-shipment info was sent to USPS.

On Friday (11/5) I was sitting in dialysis and thought I would check out other Hiplatelics listings. To my surprise I see he has relisted the same group I purchased but at 6 times the price that I paid. Even stranger was that Hiplatelics had relisted it the day after they sold it to me (11/3 and an hour before Hiplatelics had replied to my message but had not said anything to me. Hmmm) So I followed up with another ebay message asking Hiplatelics about it.

I heard nothing at all for several days so I sent a second ebay message on 11/8. Hiplatelics finally replied and acknowledged they had made a mistake. He blamed one of his 'assistants' in with a classic 'mistakes have been made other will be blamed' justification. Hiplatelics has other negative feedbacks for listing mistakes over time. Hiplatelics said this was a consigned lot and the consigner was not happy either (no kidding).

Hiplatelics offered a discount off of a new order but he lists very little of what I collect. Being greatly disappointed and even though I felt like I was paying for his mistake, I suggested that we try to work something out with this material I had already purchased. Since Hiplatelics had relisted it $625 I figured that if I throw another $100 in the pot over what I had already paid, that Hiplatelics could eat the approximate other $200 for his mistake, and the owner of the consigned material would get his $400 or so he wanted. Hiplatelics replied saying, "That's an excellent suggestion. Let me call him up (email is not good for this proposal and I'll get back to you by tomorrow. Again, I am very sorry, and I am NOT making excuses, just explaining what happened. In the end, I cannot force the consignor to ship the stamps to you as they're not in my possession." (Hmmm, the listing said the material was in his location.)

I then also got a private email (all previous communication was through ebay but we each already had each other's personal contact info) saying "Thanks for your proposal. I talked to him, and he's going to figure out what he wants for it. Would it be OK to bill you via PayPal? I will still guarantee tracked delivery and lifetime returns." Sounded like it would be done outside ebay but at this point I would just like to complete this transaction. I am facing a $440,000 organ transplant and do not have a big stamp budget, this was something that my wife was counting on as an Christmas present to me, so I agreed.

Days go by without any communication while Hiplatelics holds my money. On 11/12 I followed up with "Where do we stand on this order? I see the listing is still up, would this not cause you an even bigger headache if you sold the same collection twice?" but get no reply. More days go by with no communication. On 11/16 I send another message though ebay but get no reply.

Finally the next day, 11/17, I get a message from ebay saying that I have a refund but never hear anything from the seller. So lame.

In my opinion this is an example of someone who has no idea on how to run a business and do customer service. It is also an example of how a seller can jerk a buyer around just as easily as buyer can jerk a seller around.
Don

An honorable person would obviously have pulled the relisting and fulfilled his contractual obligation to you exactly as originally established.

His name should be prominently posted in this thread so we all can know of his treachery beyond just his ebay moniker.

I thought about it but did not want to 'dox' him. Although I know his contact info because we communicated personally but I also know it because I see member info here as Mod. I did not want to anyone to think that I might dox a person from here. Anyone can do an online search on his ebay moniker for more info.

I am as disappointed not only from losing the material but also in the relationship from a fellow SCFer and person who I broke bread with.
Don

Why not warn collectors by leaving negative feedback, in the lines of "sold material, then canceled the transaction to sell it for a higher price."
Also, he did two things that are against ebay rules: Said he mailed it while actually he didn't, and tried to cut a deal outside ebay. Why are you defending him and not wanting to "dox" him?

Even though I dislike the ebay feedback system and avoid using it, I did in this case. And I have clearly identified his ebay seller name. Folks can do an online search if they want to know more including his APS number and other social media identification.

I wanted this thread to also highlight that ebay transactional "remorse" sword cuts both ways. Just as a buyer can back out of sale so can a seller. And in fact, the entire ebay process falls completely apart if either party does not act in good faith.
Don

Because he refunded you, the sales transaction did not actually ever take place. Do not be surprised if the feedback disappears as a result of the refund.

Thanks for the warning, Don. This guy did a number of things wrong, and that's only with this one transaction. Some of them may have been circumstance, but a bunch of things were by choice. Poor business acumen!!

What a cluster- I'd be furious. Greed rules. Good news is that the negative feedbacks are still there. Seller's approach reminds me of a prominent Chicago stamp dealer who used to come to the Sarasota APS show annually. I'm pretty sure he's since passed. None of the material in this dealer's stock had a price. He waited until a buyer had interest, THEN he would look in Scott's to see what price he should charge. One time, he resisted selling me a set of the Falkland Islands 1938 definitves because Scott mentions a very expensive shade variety of the 5/- (the "indigo" shade). "How do I know that's not the rare shade??"

He did this kind of thing every time I bought from him. One time I even saw him pull a lot from a shopper, saying that he was going to take that lot back to Chicago so he could show it to another dealer. Instead, he picked up his cell phone and called a dealer, asking what he should charge for the lot.

If you're galactically paranoid about making a mistake, why not do this research before hand, and price things accordingly, BEFORE HAND? At least at a show, once the deal is done, it's done. On ebay, all kinds of greedy, unethical behavior is possible.

I have had dealings with this seller as well. A few months ago I made an offer, the listing invited offers, on some cheap material I needed to complete a page. The response was a nasty email berating me for "lowballing" my offer. I did not consider my offer as insulting and would have gone a little higher if he had been open to it. My impression was that the seller was a jerk and I have enough negativity in my life without looking for more. When I see his listings now I simply move on. Life is too short for this nonsense.

Don - Why not do the collector community a favor and report him to APS for unethical business practices?

Change of mind , the seller is Francisco de la Torre with texasphilatelics.com.

Why did I change my mind about publishing his name about not doxing him? Because he just doxed and published my name in his response to the ebay feedback. Shows you just what kind of person this loser is.




Don

The sellers reply makes sense. He made a mistake.

But what a responsible seller would have done, was give the consignor his full price and ate the 20% difference. People pay for their mistakes! Now both the consignor and the buyer are unhappy. It would have been the honorable thing to do !

Indeed. Anyone who sells a reasonable amount of items over a long period of time is going to make mistakes. Make good quickly, take the loss and try to be more careful next time. "That will teach you the benefits of care", my old man told me as he watched me hit my thumb with a hammer.

Buyer/seller remorse is not defined and can certainly include 'gee, I made a mistake'.

But there is no excuse for the rest of their horrible customer service, non-existence communication, breaking ebay policy for transactions outside of ebay, and also breaking ebay policy by publishing my name.

I have called ebay and they removed his feedback response and acknowledged that he violated their rules.
Don

You can get a peek into the depths of a person's overall character by their behavior when it comes to financial dealings with others and it ain't pretty at times. For myself this has been a mixed year with the low character team giving the high character team a run for their money (pun intended).

This seller's character and ethics are on full display and given the other feedback besides Don's their moral compass is due for an overhaul. Karma has a way of taking care of such things.

The money they would have "eaten" to keep everyone happy is peanuts compared to the reputational damage they have done to themselves.

Wow! Published your name!