An Ebay Question

[George]

If you ordered an OOP CD through ebay (Buy it Now) and the seller told you 36 hours later that he didn't have it and refunded your money, would you mark it as a positive, negative or nuetral experience?

Be aware that other copies were available and you may have missed out on one of them because you ordered the one that the other seller didn't have.

[PerfectWagnerite]

If you ordered an OOP CD through ebay (Buy it Now) and the seller told you 36 hours later that he didn't have it and refunded your money, would you mark it as a positive, negative or nuetral experience?

Be aware that other copies were available and you may have missed out on one of them because you ordered the one that the other seller didn't have.

If he doesn't have it he doesn't have it. What are you going to do? I would just not leave any feedback. If you got a refund at all it should be positive. But if you are not happy then just send him an email giving him a piece of your mind and that should be all.

Usually if I see a couple of sellers selling something rare and I want and it is not too much money I'll buy at least 2 copies. So in case one doesn't come through I have the other one. If it is rare the extra copy I can always turn around and sell and not lose too much if any.

[George]

If he doesn't have it he doesn't have it. What are you going to do?

In his email he states that it was sold on amazon (he cross-listed it) 3 months ago. To me, sellers (like caiman) who list things that they don't have, for whatever reason are not being responsible sellers. I feel that other consumers have a right to know that this person may/may not have the CD he is selling. Then people like me can buy from more responsible sellers. 

I would just not leave any feedback. If you got a refund at all it should be positive. But if you are not happy then just send him an email giving him a piece of your mind and that should be all.

So a negative feedback is only for when they don't refund your money?

[Szykneij]

If he didn't have it, he shouldn't have listed it in the first place. I hope he gave you a plausible explanation of why he couldn't provide the CD. If he just messed up, negative feedback wouldn't be appropriate, but if he sold it to someone else instead for more money or just listed it in the hopes of finding a copy if someone ordered it, I'd slam him.

EDIT: Posted at the same time as your response.

[Szykneij]

In his email he states that it was sold on amazon (he cross-listed it) 3 months ago.

If he only had a single copy, he should not have cross-listed it. Since he did, he should have immediately removed the ebay listing once it sold on Amazon.

[George]

If he didn't have it, he shouldn't have listed it in the first place. I hope he gave you a plausible explanation of why he couldn't provide the CD.

To me, other than a computer error on the part of Ebay (like they failed to delete the ad, when the seller asked them to) there is no acceptable explanation. Why? Because people can say whatever they want and there's no way to tell if they are telling the truth.

If a negative mark will make him more responsible in the future or warn other sellers that this dude may not have the CD he's advertising, then I see no reason not to give him one.

[George]

If he only had a single copy, he should not have cross-listed it. Since he did, he should have immediately removed the ebay listing once it sold on Amazon.

Right, single copy and he didn't remove the ad. Irresponsible.

[PerfectWagnerite]

So a negative feedback is only for when they don't refund your money?

You are free to do whatever you please but I am just saying that is just what I would do. Look, if he DIDN"T refund your money then he deserves a negative feedback, I agree with that one. Now if he did refund your money the feedback should be at least neutral. Neutral feedbacks aren't counted when they calculate percent positive feedback. When doing the percentage neutrals are treated the same as no feedback left although you can see the neutral feedbacks.

I have sold stuff I don't have. Sometimes I list and item, then I can't find it because my house is a mess. Things happen.

[George]

You are free to do whatever you please but I am just saying that is just what I would do.

And I appreciate you doing so. I only started this thread to better understand the etiquette and workings of ebay. Again, thanks for your opinion. 

[Gurn Blanston]

I would give a neutral rating. I wouldn't be happy, but I wouldn't be out anything either.



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Now playing:
Telemann Fantasia for Violin - Andrew Manze - Telemann Fantasia #01 in Bb for Violin

[George]

I would give a neutral rating. I wouldn't be happy, but I wouldn't be out anything either.

I hear what you are saying, however if I take this rating at face value, I didn't have a positive experience, I didn't have a neutral experience (nor does it sound you would have), I had a negative experience. 

[bhodges]

I'm tempted to say "neutral," too, but part of this might depend on the seller's communication with you, and how well he/she let you know, apologized, etc.  (Edit: I misread "36 hours," which still does seem a little late in these transactions.  You never know exactly what weirdness is happening on the other end.)

I've ordered a good bit on eBay and I save "negative" for moments of outright fraud, or other problems, like when I ordered a Boulez/Vienna Bruckner Eighth DVD, and inside was Andrea Bocelli in Tuscany.     (Granted, I've gotten plenty of pleasure from relating the story.)

Nevertheless, with no reply from the seller to make things good, that got a very quick "Negative!" 

--Bruce

[orbital]

I'd give them a neutral rating too. If this is not a neutral transaction I don't know what is. No harm done.  The fact that you might have missed another opportunity is not part of the e-bay transaction concept methinks.

But it is your experience that matters, if you had a negative experience, then you had a negative experience and you should state that of course.

[George]

two more questions:

For Buy it Now purchases - Do sellers have a choice about who they sell their CDs to?

Once a seller gives you a positive rating for buying their product, if you give them a negative rating, can they go back and change their rating of you as a buyer?

What's the whole point of rating the buyer anyway?

George

[bhodges]

two more questions:

For Buy it Now purchases - Do sellers have a choice about who they sell their CDs to?

Once a seller gives you a positive rating for buying their product, if you give them a negative rating, can they go back and change their rating of you as a buyer?

What's the whole point of rating the buyer anyway?

George

I've used "Buy it Now" and as I understand it, it is first-come, first-served; whoever clicks first is the winner, and is obligated to buy the item.

And although I've never tried to change a rating, somewhere on the site (I think) it says it can be done in some circumstances.  The rating system is designed to give buyers or sellers an indication of the other party's trustworthiness.  If I see that a seller has a feedback rating of say, "85% positive" (rare) I'll most likely look elsewhere.

--Bruce

[PerfectWagnerite]

two more questions:

For Buy it Now purchases - Do sellers have a choice about who they sell their CDs to?

No, but the seller can set requirements on who can buy such as restrict potential buyers to less than xxx number of negative feedbacks or by country restrictions. Other than that if you commit to buying it is yours.

two more questions:

Once a seller gives you a positive rating for buying their product, if you give them a negative rating, can they go back and change their rating of you as a buyer?

No, ratings cannot be changed, only removed.

two more questions:

What's the whole point of rating the buyer anyway?

There are some buyers who won an item but later decided they don't wanted and thus not pay. So you get a rating for buyers also. Also there are those who didn't read the description and when they get the product make all kinds of unnecessary demands on the seller but that is not all that common.

Anyway buyers usually only get negative feedback if they don't pay.