oscarsear Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Had a very bad experience with an E-bay seller. It ended up going thru Paypal and so forth. Finally got resolved. But I learned something new about E-Bay. This same seller got a flurry of negative feedback during this time. Something like 26 different buyers left negative feedback for this guy in under 2 weeks time. He/she was able to render their feedback listings as "private". The roster showing the number and type of feedback remains viewable but the actual feedback comments are now hidden. Of course I can access the feedback I left thru my account, but no other feed back is accessible and new customers can see NO feedback comments what-so-ever. Just an FYI for anyones interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Rex Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Sorta defeats the purpose of leaving feedback doesn't it?!? Yes, their feedback positive % will still be affected but if they do alot of business then that might still not be enough to tell how good or bad the seller may be. D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted August 22, 2005 Author Share Posted August 22, 2005 D-Rex....Xactly...This person still shows a 96% positive feedback value, but the number of negs and neutrals in the last 30 days shows high numbers. I'd have thought that given the circumstances that E-Bay would've punched their ticket and sent em packing. On the otherhand they've sold over a thousand items with something gone real screwy this past month. Mebbe they went on vacation and left some brain dead person running the site? Weird... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capo72 Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 I had the same thing happen to me. The seller made their feedback private and quickly amassed alot of negatives right after I won one of their auctions. I got ripped off for about $50. I filed with Paypal, and after about 6 weeks, they ruled in my favor. That was great except the seller emptied their Paypal account, and there was nothing to recover for my loss. Just got a big SORRY! IMO Paypal protection is a joke. If only I had used a credit card. The seller was booted from eBay shortly after and i've learned a lesson. Oh well, it was my 1st real loss of $$ in over 100 transactions, so I guess it's not bad in the grand scheme. Jeremy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelerFan Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 No matter what, the crooks in this world find a way to ruin everything for others. If they would just put that much energy into some honest pursuit they might do very well for themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 If someone has hidden feedback, it's a pretty good indication that you shouldn't buy from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 FWIW I avoid any seller who hides feedback. And I am sure lots of other folks do, too. So, I don't think the seller is really getting away with anything. Which looks worse to you, letting people see the bad things others say about you (with or without a response), or covering them up? Definitely use a credit card if you can for eBay transactions. A charge back is one more recourse you have. PayPal can come through for you. But sometimes it won't. The credit card company can charge back to PayPal even if the seller's account is closed. Luckily, I have never come out on the short end financially on a eBay deal, although it has taken a bit of work on a few occasions. That said, I figure the possibility into what I am willing to bid. Hopefully, if I do lose money on a deal, I'll still be ahead overall compared to buying elsewhere. BTW eBay is not always the best place to buy. I just bought a new TI 83 Plus calculator for less than $74 plus tax locally, retail after in-store discount and rebate. Even on eBay, at the best prices I have seen over several weeks, I couldn't save enough after shipping is added to make it worth taking the small risk of non-deliverly, late delivery, damaged delivery, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAS Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 What happens in these situations is usually a delay in the drop shipment. Many of these sellers don't ever see the products they sell. They drop ship...which means they put in an order to the wholesaler (supplier), ship it from there to the buyer, then take the profit margin. No inventory, no risk. This does mean, however, that if the supplier has problems meeting demand or with product inventory, then the Ebay seller takes the hit and is responsible for getting the money back the the buyers. With very high volume sellers receiving payments every minute of every day (no exageration) this can be much harder than it would first appear. Even with good order processing software, oversights still happen. In any case, yes...I would not buy from sellers with hidden feedback either. I believe it's quite fair for them not to show their feedback; just as fair as it is for the buyer to purchase from someone else. And that's the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 dude ...PayPud and Flea bay only care about who is paying them ..the seller anything else ... is window dressing so's you feel better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted August 23, 2005 Author Share Posted August 23, 2005 CAS...I suspected that a drop ship arrangement was exactly what this guy was doing. But, as I told him, you can't enter into a contract to sell something you don't have in hand...it's outright fraud. An E-bay purchase contract is not for a "maybe I can get it for you" agreement. The contract is to buy what is being sold, an item, not a performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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