posted on July 24, 2001 07:58:40 AM
A while ago we posted an auction, it sold. later the bidder contacted us saying his grandmother had bought it for him for his birthday & he no longer needed it. We decided to let it slid. We did contact him saying we would submit a nonpaying bidder form, we made no mention a feedback. He went ballistic. Posted a neg on us and sent very nasty emails to my wife. His big statement was the old "Go ahesad neg. me, I will just change my ID. I have done it before, I will do it again". As with most(I assume young) cowards when I emailed back (male) his tone changed a little, not nice but no more threats. I checked out his feedback & saw he had shades & one other feedback, a neg. It was for an auction from the same day, same story. Like I said that was several months ago. Last week I went into my feedback & it is gone.
My questions is, 1: when he changed ID's did his -2 follow him?
2: If you make a big enough of a jerk of yourself does Ebay just wipe out all record of you?
posted on July 24, 2001 10:59:49 AM
My opinion on this subject differs from MBM, I think it is important to neg the DB's, how else do you get them off eBay which appears to have finally happened with this jerk, someone likely complained & pursued it through SafeHarbor (which will act, though sometimes only eventually). And also, its a good signal to alert other sellers/bidders that someone may possibly be a risk to deal with -- at least they can look into it.
I've left LOTs of negs, not because I'm nasty, just because in 4 years of selling full-time there have been a couple of hundred deadbeats, and still even with that I've only received 10 negs in return, 9 were retaliatory.
And not entirely due to my efforts of course, but I'll tell ya, a large number of the people I left negs for are now NARU on eBay, and I'm sure most of them got chucked off, so good for all of us!
posted on July 24, 2001 11:30:28 AM
Mrbusinessman, I have never been afraid to neg. when I read other peoples feedback, the jerk always seems to shine through. I always look at the comments on the bad reviews. whenever someone rants & ravs in an unprofessional maner I just disregard them.
If you let them get away with it they win. I answered every one of his emails. I was calm & professional, he ranted & raved about how much he "didn't care". Finally he asked me why I kept emailing him. I told him first I am just replying to his emails. Second the more time he spent responding to me, the less time he had to rip off other dealers. He stopped contacting me!
[ edited by spittingcamel on Jul 24, 2001 07:02 PM ]
posted on July 24, 2001 08:42:13 PM
I have no qualms about negging a deadbeat. This is business and both negatives and NARUs follow those who don't care to abide by the rules. If they retaliate, they are just digging themselves into a deeper hole.
[ edited by mballai on Jul 24, 2001 08:42 PM ]
posted on July 25, 2001 09:33:57 AMAnd not entirely due to my efforts of course, but I'll tell ya, a large number of the people I left negs for are now NARU on eBay, and I'm sure most of them got chucked off, so good for all of us!
I've asked before and I have yet to receive an answer, but I'll ask again: Why on earth do ebaY sellers actually WANT to get deadbeats NARU'd? It makes absolutely no sense when you think about it logically. By getting a deadbeat NARU'd, you're actually doing him a favor. He can (and believe me he will) just open a brand spanking new, fresh ebaY account. And when he bids the next time there will be no negs or bid retractions on his record to warn you. And sellers think this is a good thing? Hardly! Much better if ebaY would devise a way to FORCE bidders to bid using their neg-laden account with the warts out in the open for all to see. ebaY's allowing bidders to open fresh new accounts after they are NARU'd is EXACTLY why negging deadbeats is a losing proposition. And sellers only contribute to the problem when they see to it that the deadbeat becomes NARU. Sellers LOSE because they have no warning when the reincarnated deadbeat bids again. Deadbeats WIN because lo and behold, their negs are now gone. They can bid and deadbeat again with impugnity.
I always look at the comments on the bad reviews. whenever someone rants & ravs in an unprofessional maner I just disregard them.
This is an intelligent way to shop on ebaY and I commend you for it. But there is a slight problem (ok a BIG problem with it). Very few bidders on ebaY know the "ropes" enough to do it your way. Most of the bidders on my items have less than 10 total feedback rating. They haven't even earned their yellow star yet. I can tell you from over 2 years of personal experience and ongoing research about other sellers in my categories that newbies as a rule DO NOT analyze feedback. They either don't have the knowledge and/or ebaY experience required to do it or they're just too lazy to do it. Either way the result is the same. They look at a seller's feedback and see honking red negatives. Next they hit the back button. Once again, negs hurt sellers. They do NOTHING to hurt bidders. IMO it's foolish to play a game in which the only possible outcome is a loss. Another poster said it very well: Business is business. And I run my business in a manner that bodes well for the bottom line. Negging deadbeats doesn't do anything at all to aid me in reaching that goal.
