This just happened again to me last week, not for the first time, and I need some insight to understand it. I had an interest in several cards on auction from a seller I never dealt with before. If I had won all the cards it would have been over $200, approximately.

I had I question about payment and contacted the seller through normal channels prior to bidding. I said I can't bid until I hear from him/her. I never heard and I never bid. Scratch that seller from any future items.

So sellers, I ask you, what's up with that?

Are you so busy that you can't respond to a potential buyer several days before the items close? Are you so rich you can turn away good customers? Are you such a bad business person that you don't know the first thing about customer service?

Someone with good feedback and an obvious history wants to participate in your auction and you ignore them. They may have bought many things from you and you have now lost them forever. People cry that they can't make money in this hobby. Maybe this is one reason why.

That sounds strange. I just listed some cards for the first time EVER on E-bay, but the total wouldn't have come to 200 bucks, so it wasn't me!

quote:

Originally posted by cardaddict:
That sounds strange. I just listed some cards for the first time EVER on E-bay, but the total wouldn't have come to 200 bucks, so it wasn't me!

No, I'm sure it wasn't you.

But it has happened to me a few times before, two years ago with someone who does post on Card Talk that I never bought from before, or obviously afterwards.

I am speaking about asking a question mind you, not about making a Best Offer. That's a whole other issue. Sellers regularly set BINs with Best Offers accepted and make no attempt to respond to any of the Best Offers. That's not right either, but I can understand it for really low ball offers. However if it is a reasonable offer, the least a seller should do is respond with his/her minimum.

I look at it all as a matter of good faith, especially if it is a new buyer/seller relationship. If I have never done business with you before, I would like to know that I can reach you and you will respond before I give you my transaction. If a seller can't contact me before I give him/her my money, they are even less likely to give me good service after they have my money.

FYI, I have pretty much found most of my regular sellers off of Card Talk. They are an excellent bunch and know who they are.

I always come across sellers that won't respond to questions or Best offers... it is annoying.

If you are selling items online, I think you should expect questions and you should as a seller attempt to answer each question in a timely fashion.

If you have a best offer, then you should respond. If you are sent a low ball offer, you should still respond with an offer. Come back with high counter if you want...

You never know that person could be your Buyer... sometimes it takes a couple of back and forth between people before you can agree on a price.

I hate it when someone has a best offer and won't accept any reasonable offers... I remember once a seller had an item for $80 or best offer and I contacted him and he said he wouldn't take less than $75... maybe I am wrong here but why even bother having a best offer?

Cryptozoic have been pretty good.
Maybe you have to ask the right question,
Topps are not responding to my ''which are the SP cards in Walking dead survival box''
I don't think they know themselves

As a seller I always respond to questions if I can, it's just good business practice.

The only time I have a problem is if someone asks a question in the last couple of hours before an auction ends. Ebays messaging system is slow and often it can take a few hours for the message to reach my inbox.

I always respond straight away too but you have to remember sometimes life gets in the way!
People get ill or suffer a loss-its not always that simple.

Raven

Before the Internet it was not unusual (and not nice) for card dealers who advertised in card and collectors magazines etc. not to respond to written enquiries that had supplied an SAE. These magazines were often full of letters by people complaining of getting no response to their enquiries. It was very rare to have the magazine print a response from a dealer even then but those that did usually commented about the lack of SAE's being enclosed.

I think you may have experienced the modern day equivalent in Internet terms which is a pity.

regards

John

When ebay first started sellers used to put a note with the purchase thanking me for buying an item. Now you rarely get an acknowledgement. Sums up society now - either Ruder or lazy

I just read an interesting editorial in my newspaper about how social media and smart phones have transformed people into total know-it-alls, believing anything they read in these mediums as TRUTH, no matter what it is, not to mention the impoliteness and rudeness while using these devices in public. Whether this has any relevance to this discussion or not, I thought I'd mention it.

I refuse to own a cell phone of any type whatsoever (I know, I should have one in case of an emergency and that IS a valid argument, I admit), and I shun social media (by which I mean Facebook, Twitter, etc., NOT forums such as this) because I have a gut feeling they are just EVIL. Maybe I go too far in this respect, but it's just the way I feel. Any arguments to the contrary are welcomed and one day I may be convinced to change my views, who knows?

As a private seller I always respond to normal messages within a couple of days. I know dealers get swamped by stupid messages but surely they can weed these out and respond to genuine messages. I have skipped some bids in the past because people dont respond when you ask if you get the card in the photo or if they combine postage etc.

I must admit I have missed several messages tucked in with best offers. These appear in tiny faded writing and are very easy to miss.

I disagree about Best offers though. People use best offer for different reasons. I sure like me a lot of private sellers use it because they have no idea of what their card is worth. So if you make 1 offer within hours of the listing I probably wont counter it. If you make one towards the end of the listing then maybe I will.

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
Raven

Before the Internet it was not unusual (and not nice) for card dealers who advertised in card and collectors magazines etc. not to respond to written enquiries that had supplied an SAE. These magazines were often full of letters by people complaining of getting no response to their enquiries. It was very rare to have the magazine print a response from a dealer even then but those that did usually commented about the lack of SAE's being enclosed.

I think you may have experienced the modern day equivalent in Internet terms which is a pity.

regards

John

As a card collector that pre-dated the internet marketplace, I do know how it was and how it is now. As a buyer only, I happen to be one of the more pro dealer collectors. I understand that it is a business to them and that card collectors need honest and reliable dealers to obtain their cards.

That's why I get annoyed at bad practices and wanted to point out to any sellers that don't see the need to respond to questions, you are hurting yourself. I really did want to buy those cards on auction. Even if I didn't win them, it would have surely rung up the prices. I had a simple question, days in advance of closing, about the shipping and said I can't bid before I know, please contact me. The site makes it easy to answer, it would take a minute to respond. The seller, who is not anyone I know, did not answer. He/she lost my bids and all other business I may have done. Now isn't it dumb to turn away good customers over something so small?

The internet makes things a whole lot easier than that SAE ever was, or even the phone call. If you are going to sell on the internet you have to answer your mail and if you didn't know that before, hopefully somebody gets the point now.

quote:

Originally posted by cardaddict:
I refuse to own a cell phone of any type whatsoever (I know, I should have one in case of an emergency and that IS a valid argument, I admit

No need to change your views but a "pay as you go" cell phone could be useful as long as you keep it charged and with a bit of credit. It might save yours or somebody else's life one day.

Some sellers BLOCK buyers who ask questions. In my case sellers who ask lots of questions end up being problems. The last buyer who asked me 8 questions about an item filed a SNAD and walked away with $600 in merch, then "returned" and empty box. And ebay's response was "well, it happens, it's the cost of doing business"

Of course this certainly doesn't mean everyone who asks a question is going to scam you out of an item, but it happens, and more than you'd might think. So a lot of sellers are skittish now. Ebay's atmosphere is generally pretty toxic now.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cardaddict:
I just read an interesting editorial in my newspaper about how social media and smart phones have transformed people into total know-it-alls, believing anything they read in these mediums as TRUTH, no matter what it is, not to mention the impoliteness and rudeness while using these devices in public. Whether this has any relevance to this discussion or not, I thought I'd mention it.

I refuse to own a cell phone of any type whatsoever (I know, I should have one in case of an emergency and that IS a valid argument, I admit), and I shun social media (by which I mean Facebook, Twitter, etc., NOT forums such as this) because I have a gut feeling they are just EVIL. Maybe I go too far in this respect, but it's just the way I feel. Any arguments to the contrary are welcomed and one day I may be convinced to change my views, who knows?[/QUOTE
]
I go in and out of facebook for long periods of time, not a big fan myself. I do have a cell but I tend to use it to look up the weather, maps and movie times.
My wife is a PhD counselor and Social Media depression and increase in social media usage connected to increased suicide attempts are real issues now in her field.

quote:

Originally posted by Studio-Hades:
Some sellers BLOCK buyers who ask questions. In my case sellers who ask lots of questions end up being problems. The last buyer who asked me 8 questions about an item filed a SNAD and walked away with $600 in merch, then "returned" and empty box. And ebay's response was "well, it happens, it's the cost of doing business"

Of course this certainly doesn't mean everyone who asks a question is going to scam you out of an item, but it happens, and more than you'd might think. So a lot of sellers are skittish now. Ebay's atmosphere is generally pretty toxic now.

That happened to me in 2008. However, back then you did not have to have a credit card or bank account attached to paypal. They could not withdraw funds to return to the seller who shipped an empty box to me. I was pissed for the longest time and stayed off of ebay for about 5 years.

As for selling and I sell about 20 items a month on ebay, I try to answer questions promptly but sometimes I am not on ebay for a day or two or if the question is in the last 1/2 day before the item is close I may not get it. I had that happen about a month ago, the question came in 6 hours before auction end and I checked the auction the following morning after the auction was over and it was purchased by someone else. I did not feel the need to answer the question of "If it does not end, will you sell it to me at this cost?"

I sell only very sporadically on eBay but I have found that these days I simply just don't have as much time to devote to it/my buyers.

I sympathise with your annoyances Raven but I think it comes down to a couple of things, either rudeness, laziness or most probably life getting in the way.

Cardaddict has hit on something in his dislike for social media etc. (and I agree completely by the way!) and that is that social media has turned people into rude monsters who DEMAND a response, and they want it NOW.

I had a buyer message me about something they had purchased at I dunno, 7 in the morning. At this time I'm getting ready/on the way to get work. I will not use my phone whilst driving and when I get to work I'm in a notorious no-signal zone so couldn't get on my phone/internet if I wanted to. You could say I should message back on my dinner or whenever (IF by some miracle I can get signal), but frankly with how busy I am at work, I really don't get that free time.
So you do your day, make the trip back home, you have to deal with the screaming pets that need feeding, the partner who deserves some attention and conversation about their day, get showered, take the trash out, get something sorted to eat and before you sit down it could be 8pm. At that point I really can't be arsed with eBay. And I REALLY can't be arsed with a buyer who has messaged me multiple times throughout the day asking why I haven't got back to them 1 hour after their initial message(!), like I should be instant messaging them or something. Like they are the centre of my universe.
Honestly, I just wanted to refund the money, tell them to **** *** and get a life. We don't all live on facebook, twitter etc. We aren't all glued to our phones. An eBay seller is not Amazon Prime.

I am encountering more people on eBay who, as a collective whole, seem like tedious idiots: mega-lowball time wasters, morons who can barely string a coherent sentence together, know-nothing know-it-alls, people who ask questions to which the answers can be found if only they would read the item description. And everybody wants an unrealistic deal it seems.
The people on there are the biggest turn off for me these days and they seem so much worse than a few years back.

On the upside, I generally find most card buyers (international and at home) to be pretty laid back and quite pleasant. I have no idea why that is, but I'm glad it seems to be the case.

Sorry rant over.

Yeah, part of it could be just plain laziness or maybe that they didn't click the box that sends Ebay messages to their email. They only see the messages when they sign in to the site. Some people are bad at Ebay business (poorly-worded descriptions, bad spelling, blurry photos). Then they complain that their stuff isn't selling.

I've actually had pretty good luck in getting replies to questions. It's nice when sellers make that effort just to say "I don't know where this card came from."

I would think anyone selling cards would not want to alienate someone asking about $200 worth.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
This just happened again to me last week, not for the first time, and I need some insight to understand it. I had an interest in several cards on auction from a seller I never dealt with before. If I had won all the cards it would have been over $200, approximately.

I had I question about payment and contacted the seller through normal channels prior to bidding. I said I can't bid until I hear from him/her. I never heard and I never bid. Scratch that seller from any future items.

So sellers, I ask you, what's up with that?

Are you so busy that you can't respond to a potential buyer several days before the items close? Are you so rich you can turn away good customers? Are you such a bad business person that you don't know the first thing about customer service?

Someone with good feedback and an obvious history wants to participate in your auction and you ignore them. They may have bought many things from you and you have now lost them forever. People cry that they can't make money in this hobby. Maybe this is one reason why.

I still get a note like that sometimes. A couple of dealers have even thrown in an extra card.

I fly to Florida a few times a year on business. People seem more polite especially at a store.

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
When ebay first started sellers used to put a note with the purchase thanking me for buying an item. Now you rarely get an acknowledgement. Sums up society now - either Ruder or lazy

Yes, I bought mail-order too back in the 90's. The thing that irritated me was one guy who sent me the wrong card and then sent me only most of my money back - minus a "restocking fee." Why should I pay for his mistake?

I am also sympathetic to Ebay sellers. I sold on Ebay about 10-12 years ago and have heard that fees have only increased as modes of payment became limited just to Paypal.

I was thinking about selling again but keeping hearing horror stories about how Ebay tends to side with a whining buyer even when the evidence favors the seller.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
Raven

Before the Internet it was not unusual (and not nice) for card dealers who advertised in card and collectors magazines etc. not to respond to written enquiries that had supplied an SAE. These magazines were often full of letters by people complaining of getting no response to their enquiries. It was very rare to have the magazine print a response from a dealer even then but those that did usually commented about the lack of SAE's being enclosed.

I think you may have experienced the modern day equivalent in Internet terms which is a pity.

regards

John

As a card collector that pre-dated the internet marketplace, I do know how it was and how it is now. As a buyer only, I happen to be one of the more pro dealer collectors. I understand that it is a business to them and that card collectors need honest and reliable dealers to obtain their cards.

That's why I get annoyed at bad practices and wanted to point out to any sellers that don't see the need to respond to questions, you are hurting yourself. I really did want to buy those cards on auction. Even if I didn't win them, it would have surely rung up the prices. I had a simple question, days in advance of closing, about the shipping and said I can't bid before I know, please contact me. The site makes it easy to answer, it would take a minute to respond. The seller, who is not anyone I know, did not answer. He/she lost my bids and all other business I may have done. Now isn't it dumb to turn away good customers over something so small?

The internet makes things a whole lot easier than that SAE ever was, or even the phone call. If you are going to sell on the internet you have to answer your mail and if you didn't know that before, hopefully somebody gets the point now.