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Zombie Hunter
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/2/2007 4:39:31 PM
Posts: 13,
Visits: 32
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eBay provides ways to be less than forthright, but my opinion is that sellers who use them belong on this website. Some of these are:
reserve prices if you have a minimum bid in mind, by all means set your minimum. don't hide it in a reserve price, so bidders have to guess. it's enough bidding against other people, without having some invisible line to cross as well
handling charges or any inflated shipping charges. if you want to get paid for your work in packing and shlepping, by all means include the cost of your valuable time in your minimum bid.
and of course, inaccurate descriptions and photos are reprehensible. if you can't get a photo of the real object, and have to post some public-domain photo you found, at least state that clearly in the description. i had to do that a few times because my digital camera can't take closeups and the items were small.
honest sellers can afford to give full refunds including shipping charges, because there are so few refunds to give in comparison to successful sales. and honest sellers can give positive feedback as soon as they get paid, because there are few enough feedback scammers out there that withholding feedback is unnecessary. sellers who don't give feedback until they get it are already suspect in my book.
that's all for now. i'll rant more later.
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Top Banana
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/11/2008 12:55:36 PM
Posts: 314,
Visits: 383
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I disagree with some of those ideas.
People set a reserve price with a low starting bid because low starting bids produce action on an auction. If I have an auction at .99c with a reserve price at $100, I'm going to get more bidders and watchers than someone that has the identical item with a starting bid of $100. Having said that, I never use a reserve price because I either sell stuff that I know will get the price I want, or I sell stuff that I'll be ok with letting go for cheap.
Handling charges should most certainly be separate from the item's price. Why? Well, for one the final value fee does not consider shipping charges so it lowers a seller's overhead, and for another inflating the minimum bid price increases the insertion fee. I'm with you in that gross overcharging for shipping (i.e. charging $6.00 for a $1 first class mail item) is ridiculous. For me, I charge $3.00 for first class mail items. $1 for the bubble mailer, .65 for delivery confirmation, .65 postage. I make .70 for my time. Nothing at all wrong with that.
Full refunds should be issued on a case by case basis. Sometimes a buyer wants to keep an item but is dissatisfied. If the seller and buyer see eye to eye, a partial (not full) refund is in order.
Sellers should not leave positive feedback as soon as they get paid. Receiving a payment for an item does not warrant leaving a positive. Receiving payment is the bare minimum requirement. As a seller, it would be like me saying, "buyers should leave positive feedback as soon as I give them a tracking #" or "as soon as they receive the item". As a seller, I am obligated to do more than just have the item delivered, it needs to be as stated, undamaged, received in a timely fashion with the buyer satisfied. By that same token, there is more than just paying for an item that I expect from a buyer. I need to see that the address they had me ship to was valid, and that they're not going to exploit feedback for refunds.
There are many buyers that exploit the feedback system, and will claim after receiving an item that they never got it, and want a refund. They'll lose their paypal claim when I provide proof of delivery and then just do a chargeback on their credit card and get the money anyway.
Negative feedback doesn't really hurt buyers anyway, it hurts sellers. I could bid on just about anything I wanted with a 75% feedback rating, but as a seller how many people do you think would buy from me?
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Witch Doctor
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 5/21/2008 12:13:32 PM
Posts: 40,
Visits: 25
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Good discussion. I can see some of both views....
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Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. --Thoreau
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Auction Guru
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/8/2008 2:31:35 PM
Posts: 65,
Visits: 56
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jcomeau_ictx (5/8/2007)
eBay provides ways to be less than forthright, but my opinion is that sellers who use them belong on this website. This site is for the thinking man's (or woman's) eBay user. Sorry, but we don't drink the Kool Aid, here. 
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Handygirl, loves buying/selling clothes and tools
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Zombie Hunter
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 6/27/2007 2:25:54 PM
Posts: 12,
Visits: 35
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| I think seller feedback should be left after buyer leaves feedback and any issues are handled and hopefully resolved. Looking at feedback ratings over the years it seems new ebayers are most likely to leave negative feedback without contacting the seller to try and resolve a problem or issue. When selling I include a note in item package requesting contact through ebay before leaving feedback if there are any issues. I request positive feedback if the buyer is happy and note that positive feedback will be left after buyer is satisfied and leaves positive. One pet peeve regarding Reserve prices is sellers who proclaim "Never a reserve price" or similar and then set an opening price at or more than the item is reasonably worth.
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Auction Guru
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/8/2008 2:31:35 PM
Posts: 65,
Visits: 56
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When sellingI include a note in item package requesting contact through ebay before leaving feedback if there are any issues.I request positive feedback if the buyer is happy andnote thatpositive feedback will be leftafter buyer is satisfied and leaves positive.
Good one.
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Handygirl, loves buying/selling clothes and tools
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Zombie Hunter
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 10/27/2007 11:39:43 PM
Posts: 17,
Visits: 6
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jcomeau_ictx (5/8/2007)
honest sellers can afford to give full refunds including shipping charges, because there are so few refunds to give in comparison to successful sales. and honest sellers can give positive feedback as soon as they get paid, because there are few enough feedback scammers out there that withholding feedback is unnecessary. sellers who don't give feedback until they get it are already suspect in my book.
This is true and it's why so many businesses and late-night TV ads offer the unconditional money back guarantee. Very few people will take you up on it. And if you are selling enough it won't matter why that small number requests a refund, even if they're wrong it's just good business to honor it.
All the bills are paid
And I got it made in the shade
(for this month, anyway)
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