Steven and all,
I also had a good experience on E-bay before Christmas. I won a bid for a Brooks Pro. What had attracted me to this item, apart from the fact that it was in the antique brown which I was looking for, was that there was apparently a Christmas special - free shipping. The whole deal seemed worthwhile at the price at which I won - around about $40.00 - and given the high shipping costs which I have had to pay on some items. What I hadn't noticed, however, was that in tiny print at the bottom of the page was a note which said that the free shipping offer was only to buyers in the U.S.. I e-mailed the seller asking for the final price with shipping and noting that the "free shipping" deal was not clear but accepting my mistake. The seller got back to me and said that she would be happy to pay the shipping because her ad was unclear. In the end postage was a bit more than she had anticipated and she e-mailed me to ask if I would mind splitting the costs but she would be understanding if I declined. As the whole deal had been so honourable and communication post-sale had been very friendly, I was quite happy to pay half the shipping.
I will do business with her again - her e-bay handle is retro1*com.
BTW the saddle was fabulous and in great condition - will look great on the BJ.
Paul
Paul Williams, Ottawa "where the canal is now open for skating" Ontario, Canada
> Jerry wrote about the De Rosa Time Trail bike seller:
>
> > As a completely opposite example of an eBay seller, I had contacted the
> > seller of the Baines someone outed a week ago with some questions to
which
> > he promptly replied. When he ended the auction early, I emailed him
twice
> > in the last few days to expesss my disappointment and my continued
> interest
> > if he relisted. Today, he replied, apologizing for not answering
sooner,
> > explaining that a deal to buy a used BMW, to which he was going to apply
> the
> > Baines proceeds, had fallen through, and offering to make me a copy of
the
> > original 1935 Baines brochure, if I was interested.
> >
> > Fortunately, I think there are more good people like this on eBay than
> there
> > are jerks like the one selling the Derosa. I'm thinking of inviting the
> > Baines seller to join our group.
>
> I have another example of a super-honorable seller on Ebay. I was able to
> score a fantastic deal on a 'buy it now' option on a bike on German Ebay
> recently. I was able to get the bike for about $400, which is only a
> fraction of what the bike could have reached had the 'buy it now' option
not
> have been offered. Anyhow, a German 'collector' from Kiel (the parentheses
> are mine to signify that I can't respect the man as a collector after what
> he attempted), by the name of Dietrich Schmidt, tried to hijack the bike
> from under me. He sent an email to the seller saying that the seller was
> under no legal obligation to sell the bike to me as the item description
> stated the bike was only available for German delivery. Therefore as a
> non-German registered bidder, he could cancel my bid. In the same email he
> also offered to pay close to $1000 for the bike. He then continued to
pester
> the seller, with increasing offers for the bike, ending up offering a bit
> more than $1500 for the bike. Well, the seller did the morally and
> ebay-ethically correct thing and sold the bike to me for the contracted
> price. So, if you ever see any products offered up by a seller with the
ebay
> handle mr.mtb I can guarantee that you are dealing with a super-honorable
> person. As a small gesture in recognition of his honesty, I added a
'packing
> reimbursement' that he didn't even ask for in the payment. He even offered
> to refund that to me until I said that was a little thank you from me.
>
> Steven Maasland
> Moorestown, NJ
>
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.435 / Virus Database: 244 - Release Date: 01/01/03