HI Jerry:
Take a look at the FB he has left for others and you may get a better idea of what I mean by "interesting...." I think that most of the profane ones have probably been erased by now (that's one of the few cases where eBay will erase FB if you request it - the other notable one being the printing of personal contact info. such as your e-mail address or 'phone number).
BTW, IMO FB left for others is often more important than FB a seller has received. Precisely because many folks fear retaliation, they are often hesisitant to leave any FB at all when they should leave a negative, but when a seller "goes Postal" way more often than the number of times he receives bad FB, that's a huge red flag for me. I run away as fast as possible. Success on eBay is all about thorough research and doing your home work IMHO. Over a five- or six-year period, I have never failed to receive an item, nor has any of my items "gone permanently missing" that I've sold to others. Pick your trading partners very carefully and IMO you won't have many "surprises" at all....
Agreed somewhat on the PayPal comments (what do you mean by "looting users' accounts," though?) - my linked account is with an institution where I have no other accounts and has a very low running balance. It has been that way since day one. That's prudent "due care" risk management IMO.
A neutral FB is perfectly appropriate under certain (somewhat rare) circumstances IMO. Most neutrals are really negatives in disguise, though, so I count 'em towards my 1% bogey if I feel that they are legit....
IMO, never, ever bid on something if you don't know exactly what the shipping costs will be, unless you know and trust the seller. It's a recipe for disaster. Also, stay away form "all sales final, no returns" etc. etc. types of sellers. What are they trying to hide?
Some experienced sellers on eBay have as much as 10% (!!!) bad feedback. I find it unbelievable that even a newbie would work with them, but it's all part of the wacky world of eBay I guess. P.T. Barnum must be smiling somewhere....
Cheers,
Greg Parker the acronym king today for some reason.... NSW*
* not sure why. Not to be confused with New South Wales.
In a message dated 1/31/2004 12:37:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net writes:
> Well my street address is 18118 Widcombe, in Houston, so maybe the stuff
> has
> been dispensed to 78778 Widcombe, which would be about half way to San
> Antonio. I bought a couple of Mavic skewers from collalbo in Belgium. The
> auction made it appear he was located in the US, and didn't state the
> shipping cost, but then he invoiced for a high shipping cost, and when I
> questionned it he replied that shipping from Europe is expensive. He also
> couldn't resist complaining about the fall of the $ vs the Euro and blaming
> it on the US invasion of Iraq. It took a couple of weeks to receive the
> skewers, which after shipping weren't the good deal they first appeared. I
> will say he warned me about PayPal looting users' accounts, which motivated
> me to change all my accounts so that the PayPal-linked account is isolated
> from all others and only has a minimum balance. This guy has an opinion on
> everything, which maybe is what you meant by "interesting". I still have
> not left feedback on this transaction, as I don't know quite what to say.
> Not really a Negative experience but not exactly Positive either. They
> don't have a category for Interesting and Neutral always seems like a wimpy
> entry for those who can't make up their minds.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Houston, TX
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <GPVB1@cs.com>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 9:34 AM
> Subject: Re: [CR] PayPal and German eBay Purchases
>
>
> >Hi Jerry:
> >
> >I buy semi-regularly from non-US-based eBay sites/sellers, and it can
> indeed
> >take a very long time to receive the goods, unless they send via someone
> like
> >Fed-X, which can zoom stuff here in three or four days from darn near
> anywhere
> >on the planet!
> >
> >It regularly takes 1-3 months to receive goods from Europe, and most of
> those
> >are air shipments! Since about last October, it seems to be even slower
> than
> >it used to be.
> >Another issue with packages from Germany is how many Europeans write the
> >numeral "1" vs "7" - it doesn't ever confuse me, but USPS has sent stuff
> of mine
> >to 48703 instead of 48103 because they thought that's what they read, and
> that
> >added weeks to the shipment time, from the various date stamps that I saw
> on
> >the box, while they figured things out here Stateside.
> >
> >I track stuff received vs. not received with my Feedback page, but that
> only
> >lasts for 90 days, so occasionally something hasn't arrived yet when it is
> >about to scroll off of my FB page. That's a signal to me to get on that
> item with
> >the seller.
> >
> >Thus far, I have never failed to receive any item, but sometimes it takes
> a
> >whole lot of follow-up and hand-holding, and the shipping costs can easily
> >exceed the item price. I try to go for something on eBay that is located
> outside
> >the US only if it is really cool/rare or seems like a screaming deal
> (which
> >isn't very often!), or when I know and trust the seller. Otherwise, the
> time and
> >shipping costs just become too large and end up making a "good" deal into
> a
> >"poor" one....
> >
> >Charlys-auktionen is Klaus Jeworowski. No relation to Carsten as far as I
> >know. His auctions look like Carsten's IMO because Carsten's success (as
> cyclo24)
> >has created a bit of a micro-sized cottage industry on German eBay of
> folks
> >trying to cash in by selling "junky old bike parts" to us rich Amurricans.
> You
> >may well receive those items from Klaus a month or more from now....
> >
> >Being also of German descent myself (about 25%), I like the typical
> >thoroughness of German sellers (their packing prowess in general is
> awesome!), but as
> >always, check their FB - it will tell you most everything you want to
> know, or
> >at least enough to decide if it's worth dealing with them. My personal
> >"cut-off point" is 99% positive, and in general, I believe German eBayers
> have a
> >higher rating than your average American seller. There is of course that
> 1%
> >globally that just seems to enjoy having a hassle in everything they do,
> and Germany
> >is not significantly different from the US in that respect. Check
> >Belgium-based "collalbo" if you want to see an "interesting" non-US
> seller. His stuff
> >always seems to "get lost in the mail - twice" - must be a statistical
> aberration
> >I guess...! ;-)
> >
> >I also try to deal with International sellers in their native language
> >whenever possible, which generally delights them, so that may help some
> too in my
> >particular case. Your actual litres/km may vary!
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >Greg Parker
> >Bicycle Classics
> >Ann Arbor, Michigan
> >
> >
> >>Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 21:52:13 -0600
> >>From: "jerrymoos" <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
> >>To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> >>Subject: [CR]PayPal and German eBay Purchases
> >>
> >>
> >>Well, the eBay saga continues. After the previously posted problems
> with
> >>Cyclo_Network, I also failed to receive any goods 5 weeks after paying
> >>another German seller, charley's-auktionen. The seller claimed no
> >>responsibility because I had not paid for insured shipping, and stated
> he
> >>had shipped on Dec29, but offered no proof. I again filed eBay and
> PayPal
> >>complaints just before the 30 day PayPal deadline. I received notice
> today
> >>that PayPal had determined the seller was at fault and had obtained a
> refund
> >>of $153 of the $160 price. This seller was offering goods very similar
> to
> >>Cyclo-Network and the format of the auction pages was also similar, so
> >>perhaps this is just another Cyclo-Network alias. The mail from Germany
> is
> >>very slow just now - it took me a month to receive a Peugeot from list
> >>member Kim Klakow. But apparently PayPal found there was something more
> >>than slow mail involved in the charly's-auktionen case.
> >>
> >>Being of German descent myself, it pains me, but I have concluded to
> avoid
> >>German eBay sellers in general, except for CR list members like Kim.
> The
> >>deals seem great, but the goods never arrive. I never had any doubts,
> on
> >>the other hand, that the bike from Kim would arrive. I've never been
> >>stiffed on a deal by a CR member, so I have a lot of trust in anyone who
> is
> >>an established list member.
> >>
> >>By the way, I still resent the way PayPal manipulates members into
> linking
> >>in bank accounts, but I have to admit, they are 2 for 2 in recovering
> all or
> >>most of my money in eBay fraud cases. Credit where credit is due.
> >>
> >>Regards,
> >>
> >>Jerry Moos
> >>Houston, TX