posted on December 23, 2000 02:05:03 PM
Is there any way to determine the e-mail address of a half.com seller before placing an order, so that one can ask questions about the actual condition of the items being sold?
I've looked at the site but can't find a "Get user's e-mail address" function.
My concern is this: yesterday I Iooked up several books on half.com that I'd like to buy for resale (I figure eBay's not going to remove the half.com banners from our search results page, so I may as well turn the site to my advantage). Several of them contained "like new" in the brief item descriptions. I thought "Great!" but then I read the feedback for the sellers offering these items and was amazed to see comments such as (and I'm paraphrasing here): Book described as "like new" was in poor condition, the covers badly warped and seller said book was "like new" but pages were creased and had stains inside and Book was described as "very good" but had writing on the inside etc." After looking up only four or five titles it became clear to me that several of the sellers whose feedback I checked are blatantly lying to customers about the condition of these books. After only a half hour or so of checking I found myself suddenly wary of doing business with sellers on that site -- particularly if I can't contact them beforehand to ask specific questions about the item I'm interested in.
I really hope it was simply an oversight on my part that I couldn't figure out how to contact the seller before the sale. Because if not -- if half.com is set up so that buyers cannot question the seller prior to the sale -- then it would seem to be an environment in which abuses can flourish.
posted on December 23, 2000 02:13:23 PM
In the interest of fairness and accuracy, I should have mentioned that these sellers also had many positive feedbacks from people whose transactions went smoothly. Still, two or three bad comments per seller- and all of the same nature -- make me leery of doing business with that person. If I can't contact the seller, what's to protect me from becoming the next person who has to leave a negative remark about the seller's "like new" description? The law of averages? That's not good enough.
posted on December 23, 2000 02:38:18 PM
Many eBay and Yahoo sellers use half. Could the same ID be available on either site?
A seller of books should underpromise and overdeliver. I grade my stuff on the conservative side.
Frankly I don't like half as either a buyer or seller--I would never want anyone between me and my customers, especially one who holds my money and charges a hefty fee in the process.
There is no way to contact the seller before a purchase unless the seller has included their email address with the description.
As a seller I add "ask me more" then my email address.
Half.Com wishes to be in control. Any misrepresented books get returned to them for them to decide if indeed there is a misrepresentation. They will contact the seller as it's not up to me to do this if I want a refund. I am still waiting to hear from them since I mailed my "received wrong book" and returned it to them. It's been almost a month now and I understand it can take even longer to get resolved.
Then I get an electronic email to please leave this seller feedback as I have not done so yet. Because I'm not sure the seller is totally at fault I am reluctant to post any feedback until this is resolved.
I try to only buy from people whos feedback reads positive and avoid the ones I'm uncertain of.
Half.Com has a number of bugs to fix in their system before I feel totally comfortable about them. Meanwhile "buyer beware".
posted on December 23, 2000 02:52:52 PM
I stopped selling on Half.com because there is no way to contact the buyers or have them contact you. I had a buyer for a book. Shipped it the same day I got the order, book rate. Few weeks later the buyer leaves me a negative feedback saying "Book never came, terrible seller!" If I had known her email I could have emailed her and let her know how long book rate can take, if she had had mine, she could have emailed me and asked when I shipped it. Because neither of us have any way to contact one another I have to just live with this blot on my record (Half.com said they do not remove feedbacks period when I complained.) Since I decided at that point to drop Half.com and didn't care anymore, I wrote the buyer a snail-mail letter thanking her for screwing up my business with her ignorance instead of at least checking with Half.com (who could have emailed her question to me) and cc'd it to Half.com, because I think they should know that we're BOTH angry now. The snotty feedback that she had left me made it a really satisfying nastygram to write, as well (something i have NEVER done before and probably never will again, but I was SO mad!) I stopped listing books with Half. com after that. I think the system is badly set up and managed and if you want to buy used books, I encourage you to check out Amazon's Marketplace which allows buyer and seller contact. MUCH better, and I've done more business there as well.
I take care to describe my books really well, so I have had no complaints other than this wacky chick who left the neg, but I've bought many many books that were in great condition, better than described, from Half.com....seems that it's russian roulette as far as descriptions...it's much harder to describe condition in the tiny space they give you but some do it better than others.
One of the sellers whose feedback I viewed had several "sent wrong book' complaints out of about 50 comments. Can you imagine seeing that in an eBay feedback profile? Who would want to bid on the auctions of someone so careless and with such little regard for his/her customers?
Another thing I don't like about half.com is that you have to work a little harder to see the seller's feedback -- in other words, it's not displayed alongside their screen name. You have to click on the screen name to see the general feedback rating, then click again to see the specific comments.
It's almost like half.com doesn't really want you to see the feedback ratings.
posted on December 23, 2000 02:59:51 PM
You've got that right about the Feedback Spaz. As an eBay company they will probably not move too fast to correct things until it hurts them in the $$$$$$$.
Hopefully they'll get it together before they fall apart. I do love buying from them though.
posted on December 23, 2000 04:08:48 PM
I've had the same problems. I filled a partial order with a book that I sell exclusively on half.com. Buyer leaves me a 1 and says I sent the wrong book. I'm 99.9% sure I sent him the correct book. The book is gone so if I sent him the wrong book someone else would have contacted me. Also, it seems like he would have contacted half.com to get his money back and I would have been contacted which I wasn't. I asked half.com if they would remove the "1" feedback and was told they could not remove it but they would recommend to the buyer to change it. Of course he never did.
Recently, I bought a video and the order was cancelled. I was buying from one of their bigger book resellers that also has a B&M. I left a "1" since the order was cancelled by half.com for not confirming within the required time frame. The company didn't even bother to cancel the order. About a week later I get an email from half.com saying that they removed the "1" I left for this company because they are a B&M and sold the video in the store and sometimes they don't have control over this. Apparently this is an acceptable practice for some but not for others. EXCUSE ME?
posted on December 23, 2000 08:11:10 PM
I sell on both Amazon Marketplace and half.com [except right now, because I put all my stock on ebay during free listing!]. I am also a half.com buyer. So far so good in all respects, though I know it's a crap shoot.
One thing I like about half is their policy of confirming with the seller that the item is actually being shipped. Amazon just sends the seller the ship notice and assumes it's going to happen. Also, Amazon buyers didn't really understand what "special standard" rate means. I've started routinely emailing them when I ship and usually mention how long book rate takes.
About buying on half.com for resale, I guess I'd look for all-positive feedback. I haven't found many real bargains though: stuff that I could buy, pay shipping,and still make a profit by listing on ebay.
I wish yahoo was a better market for books, but I've had a ton more sales on half.com than on yahoo.
posted on December 24, 2000 05:34:34 AM
I don't think half.com was created for book collectors. It's more a venue for readers looking for inexpensive reader's copies.
Even the ebay ads say sell your common books at half com.
Has anybody figured it out yet? I don't have time to sell books for 25 cents, no matter how high my volume. Jeez, you can do that at a yard sale!
posted on December 24, 2000 06:13:19 AM
I agree that communication should be possible between buyer and seller, but I don't look for it to happen!
I have bought and sold without any real problems on half. In fact, I have been VERY pleased with the books I have bought there - but I always check the feedback comments of the seller, and if they don't look good, I don't buy.
posted on December 24, 2000 06:59:47 AM
I always pay the extra $0.60 to add Delivery Confirmation on the packages because I didn't want to deal with the claims that books never arrived.
I have sold a dozen books so far (10 of which the USPS Delivery Confirmation records say were delivered.) I have only had 1 person leave feedback. It was a 4 rating (not terrible), but the comments entered were totally inaccurate. The buyer claimed that I shipped the book UPS (it was sent USPS book rate.) The buyer also mentioned since the package was left in the door, if it were raining or snowing the book may have been damaged. I sealed the book in plastic before I put it in a padded envelope! The bad thing about Half.com is they don't allow the seller to post a response, so other potential buyers will have no idea of what really happened. A very bad thing for sellers.
I started moving my listings to Amazon Marketplace!
posted on December 24, 2000 10:45:18 AM
Spaz I totally agree with you about the half-baked Half.com. I love it because it enables me to buy CDs and books that I just want for myself (often reselling after I've perused them -- much cheaper than my library fines, LOL).
This is the same reason why I'm a tad upset with eBay's increasing restrictiveness in how we eBaysians can/cannot contact each other. In trying to control the true problem spammers and bottomfeeders, we every day citizens get swept up into the net.
Ah well. I've had overall good luck buying on Half. My biggest complaint is that they are not set up for classical CDs.
