Dealing with buyers who leave a questionable amount of bad feedback

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by bamaaudio, Feb 11, 2016.

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  1. bamaaudio

    bamaaudio Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    I just recently sold an item on the bay to someone whose 'feedback left for others' history is nearly 35% negative or neutral remarks. That sounds unbelievably high to me. So now the obvious thought coming to mind is "will the buyer have similar unrealistic expectations and leave bad feedback for me?" I described the item reasonably well, took photos instead of using stock pictures, and even shipped same day. But it still leaves me a bit nervous as I sold discs that I labeled as 'acceptable' condition (the equivalent of VG play copies with a lot of scratches) and this person may be expecting something different as they've left other sellers plenty of bad feedback for discs with scratches. I went as far as to leave a thank you note with my e-mail address if the buyer has any problems but so many people seem to ignore such things and just vent their frustration in the feedback instead.

    Anyone else been in this position and how has it turned out for you?
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2016
  2. Thesmellofvinyl

    Thesmellofvinyl Senior Member

    Location:
    Cohoes, NY USA
    I'm sure you'll be among the 65%.
     
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  3. joefont

    joefont Senior Member

    I'd block him.....as a seller, I just don't need the potential grief!












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  4. ejr1953

    ejr1953 New Member

    Agreed. I do a bunch of buying and selling on Audiogon and before I respond to someone's offer, I try to check them out. I've avoided two bad experiences where the buyer emailed me to get around making a formal "offer" on Audiogon, only to find they wanted to reduce the price (let me know on the ride up to my house).
    Life's too short to deal with people like that.
     
  5. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    The two times that I went ahead and accepted their bids and sent the item after I read their feedback, both turned out to be be horrible and demanding refunds. One of them bid from the UK went I stated three times in the listing US only. Then they got bitchy in emails. and I stated no deal. They explained that due to English not being their language, they may have come across different than they really are. Then the item arrived and they emailed saying it was much worse condition than advertised (just like the other feedback they left), and wanted a refund. The problem is I was out the shipping to the UK which was $55. They returned the item and I refunded. I lost the $55 which is why I did not want to send outside US.

    My other issue is that this box set had LPs in it and each one had the shrink wrap still on each jacket. When I got it back, all shrink wrap had been removed from those jackets, and the box was tossed into the shipping back without the bubble wrap I had so carefully wrapped it in. This person really made the effort to tell me they did not like me with their packing, etc.

    So when I see those red flags, I most often will not deal even if they won the item fare and square. I'll back outta there like a dead beat in three seconds flat. Or I will not send item and say that I did send, and then refund them after two weeks, and tell them item must have gotten lost in mail, so sorry. Whatever it takes to get rid of them.
     
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  6. LordThanos1969

    LordThanos1969 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ, USA
    Interesting strategies. I may need to adopt one of these when I'm dealing with a questionable buyer.
     
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  7. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    Sounds almost like a little bit of fraud (at least for 2 weeks) to me. It's o.k. to lie to a customer as long as he is "questionable"?

    Is it so difficult to contact the buyer before shipping the item?
     
  8. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Contact the buyer and say exactly what? That you are "pulling the plug" on the transaction? I think that this is the best way to handle it (direct and upfront). But one needs plan B and plan C in these situations. The best way to stop the sale, and then after you get hit with a Neg feedback, is to reply in that feedback why you won't deal with this person. "Too many Negs given out by this buyer, not dealing". But I would rather dump them flat and not get the hit in a Neg left.

    But let's say it's going to go on further than that, be ready with several courses of action. I've been through this a couple of times. And I have tried each of the various ways of deal with this, including just sending out the item in the first place, and then deal with the ramifications of this regretful move. Usually the nastiness comes out early on (from them) enough that you can get a real sense of what and who you are dealing with, and that helps you decide how to handle it. That are the massive Red Negs all over their feedback given out.

    Let me know if you need some links to see what these people's feedback given out to buyers looks like, so you have a crystal clear picture of how awful it gets. I've had two of these in recent years.
     
  9. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    Well, it depends on a lot of factors. If it is a CD for US$ 20 or less including shipping I will just ship it and see what happens. If it is something more expensive and/or includes international shipping I will contact the seller before shipping and ask them about their expectations and tell them that it might be better to cancel the deal.
     
  10. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Welcome to humanity. There are people out there for whom the world turns around them. And you are there to serve their needs. Oh...and it better be free.
    You know that silly old saying 'the customer is always right' ? It's not true. Just ask any of your family or friends who work in retail or with the public!
    The buyer sounds like trouble. Hope it goes well.
     
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