redskinfan
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posted on March 27, 2001 06:08:03 PM
I came across this TOS. The seller seems to have trouble getting bids for some reason...
"I WON'T ACCEPT CHECKS IF YOUR FEEDBACK IS UNDER 10--- MONEY ORDERS OR PAYPAL ONLY-- no exceptions. Money must be in my hand within 10 days of auction's end. Please, no lame excuses--I've heard them all (my server/computer was down, family emergency, etc.). If you aren't going to pay promptly then don't bid. Or if you need to wait 2 weeks until your next paycheck to get 10 bucks together then you probably shouldn't be buying stuff on ebay. Yes, I sound like a jerk but it gets a bit tiring hearing the same stuff over and over. Check my feedback---treat me right and I will reciprocate. Thanks for looking and check out my other stuff."
Does that just make ya feel warm and fuzzy all over??
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gs4
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posted on March 27, 2001 07:14:08 PM
Yep, Needs a vacation
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mrpotatoheadd
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posted on March 27, 2001 07:22:56 PM
If his feedback checked out okay and he had something I wanted, I'd bid. I don't plan on doing any of the things he complained about, so I know he's not talking about me and I wouldn't anticipate any problems.
I'm not looking for warm fuzzies- I'm looking to buy stuff. But that's just me...
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kudzurose
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posted on March 27, 2001 07:24:27 PM
He might as well add this (I found it in a TOS today):
"If you don't pay I will contact Ebay, give you negative feedback and you will be kicked off Ebay."
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zjq
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posted on March 27, 2001 09:26:38 PM
I agree with mrpotatoheadd. I wouldn't have any problems buying from this seller. Sounds as if he's tired of b.s. from flakey bidders.
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yeager
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posted on March 27, 2001 09:45:03 PM
On ebay, there are many different types of people with different personalities. It sounds like this person may be either tired of deadbeats or may have a low tolerance for non payment. One of the two.
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Saffyland
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posted on March 27, 2001 09:46:00 PM
I personally tend to avoid sellers who have a TOS that makes it sound like they have a chip on their shoulder before the auction even begins (especially if it appears they put more time & effort into the fine print of the TOS than they did into the auction descprition!)
If I walked into a brick & mortar business and the prorprietor greeted me with that type of attitude, I would move on in a heartbeat.
Ditto for an online business. It takes me much less time to find another person selling the same merchandise online than it does for me to drive to another b/m establishment.
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jamesoblivion
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posted on March 27, 2001 09:55:29 PM
I think this is the cyber equivalent of following a buyer around in the store to make sure they won't shoplift -- a turn off -- except that in this case condescension won't prevent deadbeats but it might turn off people who don't like being condescended to. In general I've noticed that people who are apt to go deadbeat will do it no matter what you may write, and people who have no plans to deadbeat simply don't need harsh messages. So what's the point?
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kikat
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posted on March 27, 2001 09:57:52 PM
Have you seen the one that clearly states there will be a $25.00 late fee for payments not received within 10 days?
Apparently a few of his winning bidders didn't read his TOS because he has a few negs for trying to impose the fee.
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jamesoblivion
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posted on March 27, 2001 10:01:41 PM
How does one collect a late fee? 
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shaani
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posted on March 27, 2001 10:16:42 PM
This seller has obviously heard all the excuses and dealt with a lot of problems but then so do most sellers if they stay in the business long enough.
With a TOS like that though he puts a negative spin on things right from the start. So if you bid on his auction and your payment gets delayed in the mail (not your fault) you know he won't believe you.
I am getting a bit tired of all the long TOS and EOA statements and conditions. Just because he has dealt with jerks I don't want to hear about it. Same way as the next customer at the counter in my store does not want to hear about the last weirdo I dealt with. Things were better a few years ago before all the sellers got so paranoid because of a few bad experiences.
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uaru
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posted on March 27, 2001 10:38:25 PM
That seller needs to stop selling if it is upsetting him that much. Can you imagine an attitude like that in a B&M store?
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postcardman
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posted on March 27, 2001 11:11:53 PM
Speaking of TOS I wonder what percentage of bidders actually even read the listings at all? I had major problems with international bidders last year, which wasted a lot of time and money so quite a while back I changed my ebay setup so each auction has the ebay stated terms: ships to United States only and I state this again in the Terms of Sale section of my listings. Occasionally a polite person from another country will email first and ask if they may bid on the item, I generally thank them for asking and decline, most of the time non U.S. based people just go ahead and bid and then proceed to waste a large amount of my time with back and forth emails on shipping methods, payment methods, haggling, their requests that I lie on the customs forms, etc. As a part time ebayer I have found it just wasn't worth my effort, I know there are many nice people all over the world and some of them will bid much higher for stuff than U.S. based people but it was just too much trouble and aggrevation. Currently I am dealing with a quite obnoxious pair from outside the U.S. who have required 12 emails so far, and have yet to send payment 12 days after auction end and now seem to be on the offensive! I don't know what the solution is, I really don't even know why auctions marked on the ebay template as U.S. Sales only are even showing up to bidders in other countries! What I think I know is that 99.xx percent of my ebay customers are good as gold, they are polite, pay promptly, send nice notes and leave nice feedback and generally make ebaying a fun experience, on the other hand the sub 1% that are jerks, deadbeats, scam artists, etc waste a huge amount of my time and energy and I really wish I could figure out how to stop them from doing so.
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shaani
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posted on March 27, 2001 11:37:07 PM
Hi postcardman,
I really don't think that most buyers take time to read the TOS and the longer it gets the less likely they are to read it.
I don't know what the situation is with your foreign bidders but I suspect that after 12 e-mails you are not in control of the situation. The fact that they are obnoxious is a good reason not to let it go any further.
I learned (finally) a few years ago that when the customer is obnoxious and you lose control and let them take over you only stress yourself. No matter what you do they won't appreciate it afterwards and then you feel even worse.
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redskinfan
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posted on March 28, 2001 05:09:27 AM
This guy had only 1 sentence telling what the item was. Nothing detailed. Then those TOS.
Thing is, sometimes a person's harddrive will crash or someone may have a family emergency. Just because someone else lies about it doesn't mean everyone does. I had bid on a lot of stuff back in August/September and then my dad's wife passed away. I was having to do a lot for my family and needed to be by my dad who became so grief striken he was talking about dying himself and we feared him suicidal. Most of my sellers were understanding except one.
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