kristie
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posted on February 16, 2001 02:36:31 PM new
I've become increasingly frustrated with
Half.com recently. I think the breaking point came when I received a low feedback because "book took almost 1 month to arrive". I have always mailed my books out on time and many times have made special trips to mail them the SAME day they were ordered. I'm frustrated that there's no way to respond to feedbacks like that or to contact the seller.If that seller had been able to contact me, I could
have explained that the book was mailed on time and reassured her that the delay was likely a postal one. Why can't feedback and communication be a two way street on Half.com?
When you consider the fact that most books are greatly undervalued on the site and profits are not that high on most books, it's not worth the effort anymore. I think I'll be sticking to Ebay and Amazon for my future book sales. Any opinions on this?
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keziak
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posted on February 16, 2001 02:52:04 PM new
Hi - I had an episode that pissed me off last month. Book never arrived, I got a blistering negative. Then the book shows up here. The buyer gave the wrong address. Excuse me for not correcting it by ESP! so I was charge by half.com, but at least got the book back and it's on ebay and up past what the original buyer paid.
I tend to double list on half and Amazon and ship to whoever buys first, and it works out OK. I am trying to decide whether to add "first bid wins" auctions on bidville to this equation.
keziak
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MAH645
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posted on February 16, 2001 02:54:46 PM new
I agree I've had some bad feed-backs where the customer lied in the feed-back I guess knowing you can't reply back.I been lucky they haven't complained about shipping yet.One said I sent a Horror video instead of a Daniel Boone Video. Funny thing is I Viewed the Daniel Boone and advertised as such before I sent it.Why do people lie like that.
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kolonel22
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posted on February 16, 2001 07:13:18 PM new
I couldn't agree more. I received a scathing review from someone. Listed the book as : Inside & out like new. DJ has some wear. The feedback I got was "BOOK NOT AT ALL LIKE DESCRIBED, SAID IT WAS LIKE NEW. THE BINDING IS ALL MESSED UP AND IS WARPED SO ONE COVER STICKS OUT ALMOST AN INCH FARTHER THAN THE OTHER. THE BOOK WAS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO "LIKE NEW" I JUST BOUGHT 12 BOOKS ON HALF.COM AND THIS ONE HAD THE HIGHEST RATING OF THE CONDITION OF THE BOOK BUT, IT WAS IN THE WORST CONDITION OF ALL THE BOOKS I RECIEVED. WOULD NOT DO BUSINESS WITH AGAIN.
I have 154 feedbacks out of 467 sales. I have a 4.9 feedback and most of them state the book is in better Condition than they expected. I do this intentionally trying to go that one little extra step and give the customer something they didn’t expect. So when I say like new believe me it's like new. In fact the only time I list a book that way is if it literally doesn't look like it was ever read. The customer is getting more of a NEW book than like new USED book.
But I couldn't reply to this person nor can I offer to fix the problem, give a refund or any other customer service that I would normally do in a retail store, on the Internet, or on eBay. Bottom line I know the book was mint and have no idea why this kind of feeback was given. It really ticks me off.
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MAH645
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posted on February 16, 2001 08:10:11 PM new
I think Half.Com needs to change things to where we can make a transaction right when someone isn't satisfied,at least give a seller a chance.They really need to do something with the feedback system,we can not control when a customer gets the merchandise and its getting worse all the time no matter how you send it.Media Mail sucks and nobody likes to pay for Priority on low priced items.It almost makes you think twice about listing on Half.Com but I do sell alot there.
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belalug3
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posted on February 16, 2001 08:49:58 PM new
Does Half.com allow you to include your own email address inside the package? Or is that another one of their forbidden practices? (reminds me of a Communist dictatorship)
I was thinking that if you could include your own email address some of these problems could be resolved before the feedback takes place.
And why in the world do they have to CUT A CHECK to pay me, when day in and day out they are accepting credit/debit card payments for merchandise? They could easily & quickly put a credit on my card.
Also, how ludicrous that they don't allow REGULAR FIRST CLASS shipping--especially for small items like CD's!
I'm afraid those Half.com folks need to sit down at the drawing board and make some changes from the ground up. Or maybe they're too busy "rolling in their dough."
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digitalmaster
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posted on February 16, 2001 08:57:14 PM new
I was close to selling on Half.com and now it seems like its not worth it. Are there any sellers out there selling on half.com that has had good experiences?
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wbbell
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posted on February 16, 2001 08:57:28 PM new
According to a poster elsewhere in this forum, Meg's goal is to become the number one online seller of CDs and Videos -- and half.com will be the venue.
I look for many more significant changes to be made to half.com as eBay slowly transforms it into their own version of amazon.com.
For instance, many will remember not too long ago, you had to list items at half their retail price (or less). That was sort of the fundamental concept of half.com -- everything is half off. But soon after the acquisition, they lifted that requirement.
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kristie
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posted on February 16, 2001 09:09:07 PM new
It is annoying when you want to give good customer service and you don't have the opportunity contact the customer directly about a problem. The idea of including your email address with the order might be a reasonable solution. I might try that in the future. Thanks for the suggestion. 
More than likely, I'm going to slowly start transferring my Half.com inventory onto Ebay or Amazon. Less headache that way! It would be one thing if there were a big profit margin on items I sell on Half.com, but with everyone so drastically underpricing their books, that doesn't happen very often. At least Half.com and Ebay's banners don't seem to be affecting my Ebay book sells yet. But, it sounds like if Ebay has it their way, this may not stay true much longer. In my opinion, Ebay purchasing Half.com has done nothing to help Ebay book sellers.
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kolonel22
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posted on February 17, 2001 06:07:12 AM new
digitalmaster
Don't let all the negative talk scare you away from selling on Half.com. The majority of my transactions go through without any problems so I really shouldn't complain to much.
For example I sold 255 books in the month of January with gross sales of $833.23. February sales so far are at 141 books sold with gross sales of $400.50.
I tried listing on Amazon and for "ME" it hasn't been good at all. Everyday I get sales off Half.com where my Amazon.com sales are meager.
Don't let the feedback issue stop you. It hasn't and won't stop me. It's just frustrating and not very fair but what in life now a day is?
Health & Happiness
“The Colonel”
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Jereth
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posted on February 17, 2001 10:22:31 AM new
Coronel, you're selling your books too cheaply!
Marie
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kristie
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posted on February 17, 2001 10:36:36 AM new
Marie, I couldn't agree more! That's one of the problems with Half.com. People feel compelled to list their books for next to nothing just to make a sale. It seems like there are more profitable avenues to direct one's effort towards.
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kolonel22
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posted on February 17, 2001 01:23:25 PM new
Jereth
You're correct about me selling my books cheap. The problem is, I get a nice hard cover book Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. It's in MINT condition. I go to Half.com and list it they tell me the retail price is $27.95 and suggest I sell it for $13.95. But then you look at what the book is currently listing for in "Like New" Condition and it's selling at only $1.49 and the remarks say "Brand New in plastic wrap!"
Obviously I can't list my book for half or even a fair market value of let's say $9.95 or I'll never sell it. Not when in Like New condition it's selling for $1.49. The book will sit there indefinitely. So I end up listing my copy for $1.49 or a little less. I end up moving quantity and that helps make up for the low prices. Do I like it? Heck no but I've tried Amazon. For awhile I was listing the same books on both sites to do a comparison on what site will sell on. Amazon sales were mediocre at best.
I guess one thing you have to take into consideration regarding my book sales is the types of books and authors I sell. I sell authors like; Tom Cancy, Danielle Steel, Steve Martini, Sidney Sheldon, Fabio, Jack Higgins, etc. So as you can see these are pretty common place books. Noting hard to find at all, and certainly nothing special.
I wish sellers would use their heads a little more and not be so willing to give merchandise away. I see more and more of this especially on Half.com and eBay. If sellers would just sell for half of half we'd all be better off than selling a $27.95 book for $1.49. I know the buyers sure get a deal and a half but it would be nice for all the effort and time I put in as a seller to get at least a fair market value. I'm not looking to make a killing I just wish competitively prices were better.
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kristie
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posted on February 17, 2001 01:59:47 PM new
Kolonel22, I agree with you 100%. I could live with some of the problems inherent with Half.com's feedback system if I could at least get a reasaonable profit on a book. It seems as if prices are getting more and more depressed as more sellers come on board. I don't know if there's much that can be done to change the situation unless Half.com makes an effort to educate sellers. Fortunately, I haven't seen a big drop off in book sales on Ebay due to Half.com. Hope it stays that way!
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RaeCharles
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posted on February 17, 2001 02:31:28 PM new
I've sold 7 books on Half.com in about 4 months and never received ANY feedback. I guess that's better than negative feedback  . I like it because it's easy... no payment hassles - you just deposit your check every month. I ALWAYS get a delivery confirmation, which may be one reason I haven't gotten any negative feedback for slow or non delivery. It's very much worth the .60 on media mail; usually the shipping allowance is over what it actually costs to mail. I sell mostly textbooks on Half... regular novels, etc. aren't selling at all no matter how cheaply priced.
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