posted on February 22, 2001 05:59:56 PM
executivegirl
The seller apologized to me for that response. I am waiting for your apology but I won't hold my breath.
[ edited by mballai on Feb 22, 2001 06:00 PM ]
posted on February 22, 2001 06:10:07 PM
It is painfully clear that mballai has a little problem with overreaction, not to mention an itchy trigger finger where feedback is concerned.
Just thank the Lord that he doesn't bid on any of your auctions. Life is too short to have to deal with people like this.
I am waiting for your apology but I won't hold my breath
....and I've been waiting for an answer to my question I've asked you THREE times now and have yet to receive a response... I'm not holding my breath either.....
posted on February 22, 2001 06:13:23 PM
Hello again mballai,
Thanks for the clarification on that.
I still believe you should have contacted the seller before leaving feedback, especially a newer seller who may not have shipped books before. It could have been a positive learning experience for him.
This may be just a hobby for him now but it can also be the start of a future business.
posted on February 22, 2001 06:17:40 PM
ExecutiveGirl
For starters: trying to marginalize my opinion. Because you state something isn't relevant, doesn't mean that it isn't. You have to prove it isn't relevant by logical argument.
Trying to pick my feedback apart isn't relevant for another. We are talking about
this situation only: Lousy packaging and what I did about it. If you like what I did or not that's the only issue here.
If you want to debate the issue, stick to the issue. And save yourself the embarassment of showing that you don't know how to debate.
posted on February 22, 2001 06:18:45 PM
I hope everyone takes notice of the fact that mballai refuses to address a very valid question asked by ExecutiveGirl.
Why, mballai, is it bad for someone else to neg you without contacting you first---yet you feel completely justified in doing the EXACT same thing to someone else?
Of course, mballai WILL NOT explain this, because he CANNOT explain this.
After enduring just about all the lousy service I could handle in the last few weeks, I finally neg'd a seller for poor packaging.
after reading that, it was clear to me that some seller who was probably very careless and has some things to learn got slammed by somebody who had a few bad weeks with other sellers. it's a shame a seller with only 30 feedbacks got SMASHED without a chance to make it right.
I prefer to use such instances as an opportunity to share some of my experience, perhaps help them improve their services. Others have to work very hard to earn a negative from me.
Who knows? Maybe if I had a few "lousy" weeks of service from other sellers, I too might take it out on somebody who goofed. I hope I would count to ten or 100 or do something before I did.
posted on February 22, 2001 06:26:47 PM
The funny thing is that this guy is sitting there straining his fragile little brain trying to come up with some BS excuse as to why it was OK for him to neg without contacting first, yet NOT okay for someone else to be that reckless.
C'mon mballai, you must have something cooked up by now? How about one of your patented "ad hominem attack" defenses to create a diversion.
posted on February 22, 2001 06:29:36 PM
Not contacting the seller prior to leaving the neg indicates a desire to neg - and not a desire to work out the "problem" (if there was one). The seller shouldn't worry - in some cases negs say more about the buyer than the seller. Rationalizing as to what the item cost the buyer, or the minimal "handling", or the weeks of frustration doesn't cut it. Seems just plain meanspirited to do that to a seller, especially a newbie, who had no clue there was a "problem".
posted on February 22, 2001 06:33:30 PM
THAT'S because there was NO PROBLEM!!! except for XXXX and some XXXX and a whole bunch of XXXXX! Not to mention that this is totally XXXXX'ed!
posted on February 22, 2001 06:40:05 PM
ExecutiveGirl
Sorry, that's not the topic here even if you say it is, please stick to the subject. And for your reference please note that I have long since changed my mind on the subject as stated before. If someone wants to step on my corns with bad feedback now tough luck. So what? If I deserve it...fine, if not, so sad too bad. My positive feedback speaks for itself.
posted on February 22, 2001 06:49:21 PM
I'll ask again...does anyone think there was "delayed shipping"? Looking at the time frame, I question that. At least, worth mentioning in feedback.
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
[ edited by koto1 on Feb 22, 2001 06:50 PM ]
[ edited by koto1 on Feb 22, 2001 06:50 PM ]
posted on February 22, 2001 06:50:50 PM
A piza box is not inadequate or "lousy" packaging for flat thin items (in fact, I have seen several AW sellers of LPs advise other AW sellers to use pizza boxes to ship the LPs). The pizza box in question wasn't inadequate packaging...it was discusting because it had the remnants of old pizza and drew ants at some point during the shipping.
There is a buyer who posts here who has very specific demands on how books he buys should be packaged. He does not like the methods some sellers use. My book packing methods would be unsatisfactory to him...although I have sent almost 2000 books my way with out a problem. If that buyer did not ask BEFORE he bid if I would pack his way and then negged me afterward because my method wasn't up to his standard (even though the book got where it was supposed to in exactly the condition I advertised it as being), you can be sure I would ban him from my auctions from then on.
In this case, the method of packing was not unreasonable nor was it substandard...nor did it have old pizza sauce and have an added bonus of ants. The packing was acceptable and did it's job, as intended. The buyer had a higher standard and punished the seller because the seller didn't do it the buyer's way....but he never let the seller know what those requirements were.
Mballai...the fact that the pamphlet was for an $800 item is totally irrelevant. What difference does it make if this $26 pamhlet was for an $800 item or a $5 one?
AND...the fact that your feedback given shows a tendency to be, shall we say, a bit of a quick draw when firing off negatives, is VERY relative to this. And the fact that you didn't like it when a buyer negged YOU without contacting you FIRST is VERY, VERY relevant to this whole discussion.
posted on February 22, 2001 06:52:55 PM
I don't necessarily agree that a negative feedback was warranted in this case. But I certainly understand mballai's frustration with poor packing and I think it merits being addressed in some fashion. The fact that the item arrived without damage is sheer luck, not evidence that the packing was adequate.
Some months back I won a collectible magazine from a seller who just put it in a priority mail envelope, packed very much in the manner mballai says his item was packed. It arrived in very wrinkled condition with a heavy crease down the center because at the post office they crammed it into my PO box rather than holding it for me at the counter. If it had been sandwiched between 2 heavy sheets of cardboard it would have been protected. I emailed the seller and complained, and she refunded half of my purchase price. I was going to give her a positive for handling my complaint so well, but then she emailed me and pretty much stated that the damage was my fault for not buying insurance, that the post office treats insured packages with more care than uninsured ones. (!) Although she gave me a partial refund, she seemed to deny any responsibility for the damage, and didn't seem to understand that the PO insurance won't pay off if the item is improperly packed. (BTW, I didn't request insurance but also I did not decline it; it was not offered.) I opted for leaving a neutral feedback, just saying "Thanks, I suggest that magazines be packed in cardboard." Poor packing is something I want to know about before I bid -- I appreciate it when other buyers leave feedback that lets me know about it up front. Especially when dealing with a seller who just doesn't get it.
In another case I won an expensive LP and emailed the seller after winning, stating that I would like it to be sent in an LP mailer. I said that if he did not have an LP mailer, let me know, and I will send my payment to him in one that he could re-use to send the LP back to me. Well he sent it to me sandwiched in a collapsed priority mail box, one of the worst ways you can mail an LP. It arrived undamaged, but I was annoyed that he ignored my request, so I left a neutral feedback stating, "LP very good as described, but seller needs to pack in LP mailers." The very next day I received an email from another of his customers, asking me "Did your record get damaged in shipping too??" His record was packaged the same way, but was not as lucky as mine, and he was pissed!
I don't know how explicit mballai was with the seller regarding what constitutes a magazine being "well packed," but in my situation with the LP, I was very clear on how I wanted the item packed, told him I would make it easy for him by supplying the packing materials myself, and he ignored me. I didn't feel a need to contact him before leaving my feedback. (Though, again, I left a neutral, not a negative.)
I buy a lot of magazines, books and LPs on eBay, and the packaging of a lot of what I receive is lousy. Rather than get into a big back-and-forth with each seller on the details of how they pack, unless the item is unusually expensive, I just consider the packing to be a part of the whole risk of buying stuff on eBay. Will the seller actually send the item? Will it really be as described? Will it be packed well enough to withstand a trip through the post office? The whole thing's a gamble.
[ edited by triplesnack on Feb 22, 2001 06:56 PM ]
posted on February 22, 2001 06:53:10 PM
Good question, koto, the auction ended the night of 2/9. There were 8 business days from 2/9 to yesterday, when Mballai started this thread.
posted on February 22, 2001 06:53:53 PM
ExecutiveGirl
Wow!! You are just so smart. Unfortunately making "a" topic doesn't make "the" topic. If you don't want to stick to it, your brilliance will be ignored by those who recognize that the subject is about lousy service that deserves a negative, not about sellers (including myself) who have had their feelings hurt.
posted on February 22, 2001 06:54:16 PM
11 days for shipping priority package...that is an interesting question. post office is really slow around here lately. I sent a dvd out to my buyer nearly 2 wks ago via priority and he hasn't got it yet. i know it was going across country...but geez
posted on February 22, 2001 06:56:55 PM
EG...less than that, especially since negative was left on 2/20, and there was President's Day weekend thrown in there!
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
