posted on February 26, 2001 01:03:50 AM
My buyer buys 2 purchases of pottery from me. I join them together to save on shipping. She emails me, can I send them any other way cheaper. I mess around trying to get her a cheaper rate with UPS and I drop the handling charges stated in the auction.
She finally agrees and she pays and gets the dishes unbroken. Next email is I used the darn word "Perfect" in my ad, meaning no chips, dings, flakes,or cracks and they all had crazing she says which will only get worse.
Ok, I email her again and say we guarantee everything and just send them back.
Next email is where should I send them too? Duh!Like I moved quick.
Before I even answer that one, I get another email, well, she would like to keep half and return the rest. This after telling me how bad they all were.
These were 9 plates, 60 years old,she got for $18 and $10 postage. Just one of the small ones crazed goes for $10 plus shipping at replacements when you can find them! Frankly, I am tired of this buyer and should have known she would be a problem after hassling with the shipping rate for a week.
What would you do? Frankly, I don't think she should keep half and expect a reimbursement. Am I wrong or just going nuts over this buyer?
posted on February 26, 2001 02:28:55 AM
IMHO, I think it should be all or nothing. She just wants to be difficult. You can't return half a box to Walmart.
posted on February 26, 2001 02:43:53 AM
It's all or nothing. I'd use the "Wal-Mart" idea as suggested above. You can't return 1/2 a television set, or 1/2 a pair of shoes.
posted on February 26, 2001 05:57:54 AM
You don't have a store where she can walk through and pick and choose. Even store sell things in sets and have reasons they do so.
All or nothing is reasonable.
posted on February 26, 2001 08:52:13 AM
Would suggest NEVER using the word "PERFECT" in any description. We used to but had too many P.I.T.A. complainers saying that you said the 100 year old Porcelain Widget was perfect BUT it has lines all over it!! Big time DUH!!!!
Learned a lesson and "Near Perfect" is as good as it gets and we include Crazing as a "defect" on all pieces that have some.
As far as sending back a partial shipment, All or Nothing is the way to go. Given the buyer seems to be a Real Pain, would suggest that you just instruct them that, under the circumstances, it would be best for all parties if the shipment was returned. Will at the very least (hopefully) avoid you a "neg".
posted on February 26, 2001 11:52:21 AM
Thanks all for your input. Not worried about a neg, everyone has to get that first one, right? It's a right of passage (or so I've been told). Nearly 4 years and I can count on one hand or less my bad buyers, so I have been very lucky, I think. This one just gets to me for some reason, so I wondered if I was letting emotion interfere with business.
posted on February 26, 2001 03:20:10 PM
Crazing is a serious flaw that should always be mentioned. There is no such thing as "perfect" with crazing. There are plenty of 100 and 200 year old pieces without crazing. To not mention this in the auction is stupid. If you are so ill informed about Pottery and Porcelain you should not be selling it.
posted on February 26, 2001 03:53:49 PM
Snowydays - If you are so ill-informed in the ways of diplomacy and polite conversation, perhaps you should not be posting here.
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
posted on February 26, 2001 04:04:54 PM
I suppose it is a good idea to not mention a major flaw in a piece, after all, there are plenty of buyers who like to come back and buy again after getting screwed on a piece that is described as perfect?
See this quote from a seller above: "We used to but had too many P.I.T.A. complainers saying that you said the 100 year old Porcelain Widget was perfect BUT it has lines all over it!! Big time DUH!!!!" I think the "big time DUH" belongs to the seller, not the buyer. I hand out a negative at least once a week over something like this. What that seller said was actually very funny, cannot believe a seller could be so clueless.
Sorry, but I can post anywhere I like, you have nothing to say about it.
posted on February 26, 2001 04:19:55 PM
"You can't make me not post here...neener neener" Snowydays, grow up. If you had trouble trying to comprehend what I was saying, perhaps this is a little easier: the opinion you put forth on these boards will get a warmer reception and response if you'd learn how to speak with a little more diplomacy, and not be so heavy-handed. Your opinion, as is everyone's, is a valuable addition to this discussion, and to these boards. Don't ruin it with your apparent lack of couth.
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
posted on February 26, 2001 04:30:07 PM
Why do I need to be diplomatic? If a seller does not know how to describe items correctly that is their problem, not mine. I don't care if my opinion is popular or not. I sell mostly Johnson Brothers and Franciscan and have 2500 feedback, never received a negative for a misdescribed item and never will. I received 8 Johnson Brothers Soup Bowls today that I spent $100 on. The "rim flakes" in two of them turned out to be huge honking chips in all of them but one. The seller, who has over 1000 feedback, is whining about their perfect feedback rating. They should have worried about their feedback when they sent that junk out to me. There is a difference between a seller who honestly makes a mistake and one who lies by ommission. Buyers are leaving ebay everyday because of this, you should be worried about that instead of how I post.
posted on February 26, 2001 04:45:29 PM
Hello Everyone,
Your comments are becoming more and more personal rather than discussing the subject.
Personal comments often lead to skirting the boundaries of common etiquette, hence breaching the Community Guidelines.
Take it easy. Try and help each other. The forum is here for that purpose.
posted on February 26, 2001 05:30:10 PM
harmonygrove,
I don't deal in anything you sell, I know nothing about ceramics or pottery. But if you sold me something described as being "Perfect" it darn well better be "Perfect" when it arrives.
Why would you characterize a buyer as a PITA when they did not receive what they bargained for? Redefining the English language to suit your marketing needs doesn't quite seem to be the proper thing to do here if you want to be have happy customers.
posted on February 26, 2001 05:39:50 PM
Some buyers consider crazing a "defect", some don't. Regardless, it is part of the detail of the item and should be included in the item description so that the buyer can make an informed decision regarding purchase.
I do think that you should not do a partial refund, to me it sounds suspicious. I would require a return of all items and then send her a complete refund. If she refuses to return all items, I would not refund her.
posted on February 26, 2001 05:57:25 PM
Surprising even myself, I have to agree with snowydays here. Completely.
Lies of omission are the #1 problem on eBay. Sellers take the picture from the best side, color enhance the picture, and "forget" to mention all kinds of flaws. It is common to see descriptions of "excellent condition for its age" -- what does that mean? Age has nothing to do with it. It is either in excellent condition or it is not. If an item is crazed, it is certainly not perfect. Not even for its age.
posted on February 26, 2001 06:48:16 PM
Well, I don't have 2500 feedback but I have been selling china and pottery on ebay for 3 1/2 years. And three people checked this china before the ad was even written so I guess we are all blind! Or maybe it developed crazing in transit, NOT!
As for me being to dumb to sell on ebay, you're probably right! But if it was all so badly crazed in one email and she wanted to keep half in the next email, what happened? I maybe dumb but I didn't just fall off the turnip truck!
posted on February 26, 2001 07:06:21 PM
You do know, don't you, that some crazing is impossible to see in the regular lighting in the home? If you take a piece outside, that looked perfect while you were inside, that when you tilt it towards the sun that it can look like a roadmap with all the crazing? I don't know many people at all that don't mind if their piece is crazed, they only buy it if there is no other alternative or if it is very rare.
I went around and around with a seller 3 weeks ago. They also said that if crazing was a defect then I should not be buying vintage pottery and porcelain. Sorry, but they should not be selling it and I told them so. I got my refund.
posted on February 27, 2001 12:03:10 AM
if three people checked them and you all noticed no crazing then there probably was no crazing right?
sounds more to me like this person had some bad plates and wanted your plates to finish their set. if you do get a bunch of crazed plates back that look worse than you remember your plates looking is sounds like they are trying to rip you off.
Another popular scam is you go to the flea market and get something cheap that has problems, or something you just chipped yourself and want to replace. go to ebay buy a like item that will be shipped with insurance then make the claim on the flea market trash and keep the good one, sometimes keeping both if you don't have to surrender the bad one, guess you could keep doing it until you get caught.
the best way that I have heard to avoid this is to get a clear marker that reacts in black light(radio shack). also I have heard that you can get nail polish that will do the same thing(not a clue). It will not harm nonporous items, never yellows and can only be seen with the black light. it would be a total pain to mark everything before you ship but if your a small seller it shouldn't be too hard. If the stuff comes back without your mark it's not your stuff. I actually learned this from a lady that did phone bids and appraisals for a big auction house, if the buyer could not attend the auction they phoned in their bid. everything that was shipped was marked, they had a set of about 20 stamps they could rotate through and they would be put on the bottom of items when boxed for shipping, she said that they would record the stamps used on the shipping paperwork by stamping the paperwork. if the marks were not there, or different, it was not their item, after all if you have something that is damaged when it is received your not going to clean it and you have to use something stronger than water to get this stuff off.
