ANOTHER ebay story!

In summary (well not really!):

Buyer (me) 100% positive feedback

Seller 100% positive feedback.

Seller lists new Procol Harum at very low buy it now price of $5.99. Item described as "new CD". Nothing further.

Buyer (me) buys it!

CD arrived today. Made in Germany printed on back cover. Made in Germany printed on disc.

Something funny about the insert:
The little yellow promo sticker which is meant to be stuck on the outside of the jewel case is actually printed on the front cover, crookedly at that! Also the booklet only has a front and back page whereas I think the official release has lyric pages.

The paper quality is good and shiny but judging by the fact that the sticker is part of the cover rather than an actual sticker I believe it could be a very good photocopy of the official cover copied through the jewel case(?)

The CD looks "authentic" but who knows!

I emailed my concerns to the seller and he replied that he bought it from "a reseller in Eastern Europe", but that he has one and he is "very happy with it".

I've checked his feedback and previous and current auctions and whilst he has 60 positive feedbacks and no negatives I believe that could be because no-one else has spotted it yet. He doesn't sell collectables so his market may not be particularly "switched on" to authenticity issues.

He has offered to refund if I return the CD, but he didn't mention refunding postage (more than the price of the CD) and frankly I couldn't be bothered. It was cheap after all and sounds fine.

No ebay feedback has passed either way yet and I can see from his previous auctions that he generally waits for the buyer to give feedback first before giving it back (little wonder!).

So should I express my suspicions by giving negative or neutral feedback thereby letting his future bidders know that all is not quite right with this seller? Or would it be unfair to do so merely on suspicion? He will no doubt retaliate.

I have already emailed him again suggesting that he refers to the source of his CDs in his future auction descriptions. I believe most of his items are probably similarly sourced because they are all very cheaply priced.

I've also noticed that he sells under more than one ID which presumably is against the rules.

In the end I'll probably just forget it and put it down to experience.

 

Unless you have positive proof, I'd say nothing...If you can prove it. Post it in his feedback and be prepared for a negative feedback responce...Either way it's a losing situation...If you love the Cee Dee...Enjoy it. and forgettaboutit!

 

Nothing in the rules to prevent this - normally people seem to have different IDs to enable them to sell and track different categories of product.

I think this is the wisest course of action.

One thing I don't understand is that the booklet would have to be taken out of the case to copy the back so why would the front not be copied at the same time rather than through the case

All the best - Andrew

 

I see your predicament...Seller holds buyers feedback hostage until buyer leaves feedback. It's sleazy and it sucks and I've just had the same experience myself with a reseal situation.

 

One reason is that the item might get lost in the post. The buyer agreed with standard shipping (not registered, not insured) on his risk but nevertheless wants a refund.

Joachim

 

Re: Re: ANOTHER ebay story!

Yes, good point! I've got no idea how he did it but he did manage to get the sticker copied with the front cover art somehow.

Thinking about it more, the CD looks legitimate. Is it possible that Russia (for example) imports the discs without artwork in bulk and then makes cutdown replicas of the original artwork for their local release? That would explain why the cover and the disc both say Made In Germany.

 

Well if the buyer gives negative feedback in that situation the seller certainly has the opportunity to respond below that feedback.

I know this is an old argument but I believe the buyer is entitled to receive feedback on completion of his contractual obligation, ie prompt and proper payment.

 

I agree with Peter; as an eBay seller I leave positive feedback for the buyer when I receive their payment. I've noticed that a lot of eBay sellers wait to leave feedback until I, as an eBay buyer, leave feedback for them first. To me, as an eBay seller, if you are confident in the item that you are selling, and have given an honest description in the eBay auction listing, then you should not fear negative feedback from an eBay buyer. Once I receive the payment from an eBay buyer, I consider their obligation in the transaction complete, and it is now up to me as an eBay seller to provide them with the item that they puchased, as described in the eBay auction item description.




Ed Hurdle
HeavyDistortion

 

It is sleezy, they have your money what do they have to complain about?
I did dump on one seller who sent me absolutely trashed - warped & scratched records, and they complained back. But it does far more harm to the seller.

 

The feedback will nevertheless be counted as positive. And nobody reads follow-ups to positive feedbacks.

That is not easy to decide. After giving positive feedback the seller has no chance to effectively mark a buyer's unfair behaviour.

Joachim

 

I do the same, but it happened to me more than once that I got negative feedback for an item which was exactly as described.

Joachim

 

I agree - to me it boils down to what the seller has more concern/respect for : either maintaining his feedback rating or respecting his clients - it's becoming to omuch of a game where the goal seems to be getting a high score.

All the best - Andrew

 

I guess you know how important sellers's good or perfect feedback is for some/many buyers. Even in this forum you could read things like: "I would like to buy item xyz but I'm not sure because the seller has some negative feedback", two or three negatives and five hundred or thousand positives. So the buyers are the reason for the "keep number of negatives low game"!

Joachim

 

Well if a seller has 2 or 3 negatives and a 1000 positives then 1000 buyers didn't think that way.

All the best - Andrew

 

This has happened to me a lot in the past. I end up not leaving any feedback, because I want to keep my rating *perfect*. I suspect this has happened to a LOT of other users, and it's unfair because it gives a false sense as to the seller's true feeback rating.

 

I bought a copy of Sarah McLachlan's soundboard bootleg "Under A Blackened Sky" from eBay for $23, and it turned out to be a CD-R. I was suspicious when the seller had written in the ad that the disc did not have the original artwork, but I did not think about this too much until after I won.

Then I emailed the seller expressing that I did not want a CD-R, and he emailed back indicating that it was a copy. We agreed to half the closing price, with the understanding that if I thought it sounded good at my place, I would pony up the balance. Well, it did not sound that fantastic (though the performance is electric), and I did not know if I was hearing limitations in the recording or the CD-R transfer process, so I did not contact the seller again, and I never left feedback.

Strangely enough, I saw the real boot for sale on eBay some months later and bought it sealed for $14. And it would not play cleanly. It sounded just a tiny bit better than the CD-R, and it had all the original photos etc, but would skip on a couple of tracks. That was pretty weird, and in some ways I felt I'd been too hard on the seller. But selling CD-Rs, even CD-Rs of a bootleg, is not allowed - and hopefully the seller learnt from our transaction. Well, he still got $12 out of it.

One thing you can do is wait until the three months is almost up, and then leave negative feedback right at the death. If you time it right, the seller may not have a chance to counter. I haven't tried this technique, but it may work.

Regards,
Geoff

 

I think that would say more about the person leaving the feedback.

All the best - Andrew

 

Or 1000 buyers feedback were held hostage.

 

Well no-one can force me to leave feedback - if I was being "held hostage" I just wouldn't bother, in my opinion life's not long enough to get wound up about eBay games.

All the best - Andrew

 

Unfortunately, in this case, I believe that if the seller has offered to refund the purchase price, you really have nothing to complain about.

When buying on ebay you should consider not only the seller's feedback, but also where they are located, the cost of the item, and what the shipping costs will be, just in case the item is not satisfactory. You should also ask any questions before you bid, and if there is any concern the item may not be satisfactory, you should work out return options before you buy. When buying from overseas (or when buying an item with high shipping costs), you should settle the question of shipping refunds for unsatisfactory items before you bid, because unless you get an OBVIOUS PROVABLE fake, or the seller has completely misrepresented an item's condition, you can't really expect to have the shipping refunded unless it has been agreed to beforehand. And most sellers won't agree to a full shipping refund in advance if you just don't LIKE the item for some reason.

I buy a lot of items on ebay. If the description of the item is unclear, I ask questions. If the item is not new, and is not listed as perfect/mint, I always send an email asking "Please describe ANY defects that would prevent this item from being described as perfect/mint." (Different people have different definitions of "excellent condition" and "near mint" and it's hard to argue about after the fact.) If I do not get a reply I do not bid. In the case of CDs, any response from the seller other than "well, it's about as perfect as can be but I will not describe an item as perfect/mint if it has been opened" ends my interest, unless I am willing to accept an item that is less than perfect, in which case I may ask even MORE detailed questions.

Never buy anything you aren't willing to lose the money on. Never pay more than you think you can recover if the item isn't exactly what you want. And never let a low Buy It Now price convince you to Buy It Now without getting all your questions answered, unless you're willing to take whateveer you end up with. If a price seems to good to be true it probably is.

As for feedback, I don't think you should leave negative feedback unless (A) the item is counterfiet, (B) the seller grossly misrepresented the condition of the item (and unless the seller claims "new" or "perfect" you better ask a LOT of questions first) AND refuses a refund, or (C) you feel uncomfortable about the item for ANY reasons that do not fit A or B, and the seller refuses a refund. In case of A or B, you have a right to expect the refund of your purchase price and ANY shipping costs. In case of (C), unless your "uncomfortable feeling" is clearly the seller's fault, you should offer a 10% restocking fee and eat the shipping.

My $0.02

 

But maybe 100 potential bidders thought that way and he lost money 100 times ...

Joachim

 

Then 100 people lost out on an article they wanted for no rational reason.

All the best - Andrew

 

That's correct. But it doesn't help the seller.

For eBay 1 negative feedback just kills 1 positive feedback, but for a seller it might be more a relation of 1:50.

Joachim

 

I'm with you Joachim. There are wacky buyers out there and as a seller it is prudent to protect yourself. I received one negative feedback as a seller - the buyer claimed the item was defective, but it was brand new from the factory. I would have refunded his money if he had asked, but instead he gave me negative feedback without even contacting me first.

 

It always seems to be bash the sellers when the subject of Ebay comes up. When I bid on something I always have the money ready to go. My payments are made within an hour of the auction close (if it can be made via credit card) or will be mailed the same day. However in my limited Ebay selling experience I cannot begin to tell you how often I'm made to wait a month before I receive payment.
As far as negative feedback is concerned. I have 260 positives to 3 negatives. IMO 3 to 260 is high. Out of the 3, two were from the same person because I posted negative feedback on him after he fail to pay for two items (after 5 weeks), so what did he do gave me negative feedback (calling me impatient). The first negative feedback I received when a customer was unhappy with a item (which I immediately refunded both the full amount including both the inital shipping and return shipping cost).