I have just had a strange experience. Ordered a new vinyl from discogs it was a good but not too good price. Seller rating was 95% so I should have known better, but the majority of feedback was that items ordered were not in stock. So I messaged to ask if it was in stock. Got a prompt reply to say it was so I ordered. Item was dispatched but 10 days later it did not arrive. I asked for a refund which was given and seller said item was lost in the post. I asked for proof of postage as my dads a postman so could help with a claim but they said not to worry, thanks for my understanding and if I wanted the LP still they have another copy for sale. Out of curiosity I look at the shop to find the LP for £10 more! Which is very overpriced. I suspect that this seller never even posted it. As for feedback what would you all do? Checking their feedback they are doing this lots. I’m tempted to leave negative but am I being to harsh? This is the first time I’ve ever ordered from a seller with less than 99.5% positive feedback so lesson learnt!
disagree, because the seller was clearly a repeat offender. Stop posting stuff you don't have in stock for sale, and you won't get negative feedback. I have zero patience for repeat offenders of stuff like that.
Good chance they could have your negative taken off by Discogs because it appears they did everything they could. Key word is "appears." I'd leave neutral feedback. Buyers read those too. In fact, I've found them to be very important in finding trustworthy sellers.
This is a great Discogs story. After reading many threads like this, and having occasionally received non-target discs listed under "target" pages, I began asking sellers for photos, and politely inquiring as to whether or not there was a matrix match. This usually works well, and at worst, the seller might not reply. But one particular seller, after sending such an inquiry, blocked me from buying. This two-line message was the one and only message this clown received from me, which apparently constitutes an affront to his/her integrity.
Who needs such an uncooperative seller like this anyway. Yes, there are a lot of uneducated sellers out there who haven't learned there can be two identical catalog numbered discs with two different CD's and why I always ask after it happened once. Sometimes, if I'm in helpful mood, I'll link the one they're actually selling as opposed to the one I actually want with the same number as long as the line of communication is polite and open.
This type of thing has happened to me before, too. If you make an inquiry about some special facet of a listing of which an unscrupulous seller was previously unaware, they ignore your message, pull the listing, raise the price, and put it back, often touting the feature of which you made them aware. I am beginning to think that sending sellers messages is more often than not an unpleasant experience...which suits the sellers just fine, of course.
One out of 100 (and that is a generous estimate) will actually put things in their listing like "matrix match" and actually give more specific info about their item...it often seems a wiser choice to spend more and go with sellers who care, than trying to get a bargain elsewhere.
Discogs has a feature whereby you can submit a request, e.g., register a complaint about an unpleasant experience with a seller. This is a way to avoid leaving negative feedback directly.
I just got a vinyl from amazon-uk, mailed to me all the way from UK to California in a paper bag - that's right, no cardboard, just a bag to go halfway round the world. Needless to say, it arrived with the corners smashed. After this, I'm thinking Discogs ain't so bad!
Why, certainly. On the Discogs site, click on Community, and in the dropdown, select "Community Guidelines". Scroll down the page until you see "Still have questions? Submit a request", and go from there. It helps in that by alerting Discogs to the specific sellers who engage in shady &/or offensive practices, these sellers will receive some sort of penalty--and at the very least it lets the sellers know that they cannot get away with these things.
If your postal system provides a tracking number and the seller refuses to provide it, it does sound suspicious. If that is the case, consider leaving a neutral review with your explanation behind it. There are occasional unscrupulous sellers who might claim an underpriced discount was lost in the mss as Il or no longer in stock, then reliant it at a higher price. Proving that a seller has done that is impossible, but just like those who reward CDs then sell them for a higher price as mint, it can happen. I just made a Discogs purchase where there was no response for five days after the sale, so I asked when the CD was shipped. A day later I was told the cd had sold. I suspected that they were slow to check their store stock and someone else bought it at retail. I think that 2 days is about the maximum response time a buyer should have to wait for a response. Of course, Discogs created this problem in part by converting to automatic invoicing, a seller doesn’t have the ability to check to confirm availability before payment. Anyone can misfile or sell something before a Discogs listing can be updated as sold.
One caveat about discrepancies between what is listed and sold on Discogs: With the huge number of daily edits, it may be impossible for some sellers with large inventories to keep up with all of them, so it is possible for someone to make an edit in such a way that the listed item no longer matches the description when it was first listed for sale. One recommended step is for sellers to verify that the data matches what is listed for an item once it sells, time consuming, but worth the effort. It is also a good idea to check condition prior to packing, there is always a chance that the grade isn’t correct. Any buyer should appreciate a seller’s honesty and offer of a refund or a reduced price if there is a potential issue before shipping, like discovering an item marked promo that wasn’t listed for sale that way.
Thanks for the reply, I wasn't sure what you were referring to. In my experience "submitting a request" does absolutely nothing. I don't think there is any penalty for the sellers through this route, I know for sure isn't for buyers, even ones with 5 negative out of 6 feedback ratings for non-payment. If a seller is shady, dishonest or combative I think appropriate feedback is the best route to alert other buyers to potential issues.
So this took an interesting turn, I left neutral feedback along the lines of ‘lost in the post, refund given then told he had the vinyl but for £10 more’. Then he left a sarcastic comment so I messaged him explaining my feedback. Then he sent a mass of messages calling me all the names under the sun, saying that I was harassing him and that he had called the police on me. I kept my cool and stressed that my feedback was factual and that I actually offered to help with a postage claim but he would not provide evidence of shipping. However he put his foot in it a few times firstly confirmed he was not even based in the UK despite his profile saying he was and that he sends items from a distributor (drop shipper) so his pricing and postage issues are their fault. All in all very strange experience. Just waiting for the police to come and arrest me lol! I’ve only ever had an experience like this one other time on eBay when I asked a seller to send a DVD back as there was no dvd in the case. The seller responded by telling me he had reported me for tax fraud (for some reason). this was even more weird as I had not spoken to the seller directly I’d just gone through eBay. Some very weird people out there!
I thought you might like to see this...I received this from Discogs after I griped about a seller who blocked me BECAUSSE I ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT AN ITEM. A polite, simple question. So while I agree with you that negative feedback is the best tool, in this case, since I had not even made a purchase yet, that was not an option. So I submitted a request. At any rate, these are the actions that Discogs could take against sellers...that's "could" of course, but if others gripe about the same type of thing, maybe there will be some action taken. The "accounts" mentioned are those of sellers. Here it is: Account reviews are kept confidential, and may result in one or more of the following actions: Warning issued to account holder, along with instruction to follow all Discogs policies and the Terms of Service; Temporary account restriction, possibly including blocks against sales and purchases, interactions with the discography, and/or postings in the forums; Permanent account restriction or site ban, depending on prior documented concerns; Other actions as deemed appropriate by Discogs Community Support staff. OK, now that I reread that, it seems tame and lame. But I did all that I could do.
That's the standard reply you get when you send in a report. But Discogs won't do anything of those things to that particular seller just for blocking you. There's no rules against sellers blocking buyers. Even eBay wouldn't do anything in a similar situation. Reporting sellers for stuff like this or transaction issue with non delivery, condition, is pointless.
Thanks for this. I feel the same way...now. At the time, I was wondering if I had breached some unwritten Discogs rules of etiquette.
