I don't know if this is the proper forum for such a subject, but I'm at me wit's end and ePay has, up to now, been of little help. So I come here seeking advice from the far more experienced; this is my first truy negative experience I've had there, so far.

This all revolves around the small Yamaha sub I've mentioned here before. The seller had a feedback score of nearly a thousand with a 99.2% positive rate- decent. It was a 230volt unit, that had only "a few scratches" but was otherwise fine, however sold as-is. So I put in a low bid and ended up getting it for $10 plus $20 s+h. A decent little sub for only $30- a nice deal. Packing was decent, shipping was quick.

However, upon receipt of the sub, I found the seller had forgotten to mention anywhere(description or emails) that the power cord had been damaged or modified near the plug end, then crudely wrapped in black tape. I emailed him about this, and all he offered was a faint apology, saying he had sold the item on consignment and that the info about the cord had somehow gotten "omitted" in the process. He did assure me, though, that it was still safe.

I had my doubts, but I still trusted him, so I plugged it into the converter. Next thing I knew, the converter's fuse pops and I actually see- and smell- a tiny puff of smoke come from the cord! Safe, my ass!

I quickly shut off and unplugged everything and immediately investigated the cord. I slowly and carefully unwrapped the tape from the cord. Halfway through, the plug simply falls off! There's maybe a centimeter of cord still attached to the plug, half of it completely stripped of insulation. The two leads were touching! This was frickin' fire hazard, folks!

I was non-plussed, to say the least. Hoping no serious damage was done by the short, I soldered the wires back together- and carefully taped them, and replaced the converter's fuse. Plugged everything back in. Whew! Everything worked fine. Sub sounds great.

Morally, I was well within my rights to give the guy negative feedback for all this, but since the sub ended up working, I decided to go with a neutral rating(he had given me positive feedback, presumably for fast payment, as soon as the sub shipped). I emailed him beforehand with my intentions, to which he said "you must do what you must do." So I did.

Well, this guy(or gal, I don't know) either can't tell the difference between neutral and negative or he's pissed I didn't automatically reciprocate after he'd given me positive feedback, because he's going off on me any way he can. He called me an "idiot" who is "never satisfied" and should be blocked(even lthough all of the feedback I've gotten has been very positive). Then he emailed me to say I'd been banned from his future auctions, and said that "YOU HAVE BEEN LISTED ON THE BAD BUYERS LIST SO IF I WAS YOU I WOULD FORGET BUYING ON EBAY -NO ONE WILL SELL TO YOU AGAIN."
:wtf:
All this over merely neutral feedback? I never asked for money, attacked his character, told others to stay away from him, or anything else improper, yet he's shitting on me!

I looked over this guy's feedback, which is overwhelmingly positive, but not completely. Most of the non-positive feedback was just like mine, neutral. However, he either replies with insults and epithets, or denies responsibility, claiming the sale had occured "under previous ownership." These are rare occurances, but like my particular experience with him, they sometimes happen.

The problem is that his eBay business is long established(since late '99), while my feedback score is a small fraction of his. Who are you more likely to believe? I'm pretty upset about this. My good name is vital. Is there anything I can do?

Not nery cheerfull right now.
:(
-AlphaLima

I've been pretty lucky concerning feedback,but maybe this could jumpstart your search. http://pages.ebay.com/help/feedback/questions/retaliatory-feedback.html
At least the sub turned out to be pretty groovy.
Good Luck!
Jimmy

Thanks, but this doesn't quite cover my problem. It's too late for the guy to leave negative feedback for me(thank heavens). However, what is this "Bad Buyers List" he talks about? If there is one, I don't want or deserve to be on it!:mad:

Thanks again.;)

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

I'm going through the ebay help pages,and I dont see a bad buyer list yet.I know there are people who get banned from ebay,but Im pretty sure thats ebays call,not this bozos.I dont think I'd worry about it too much....Have you gotten this persons contact info from ebay yet?Maybe you could call them up and discuss it with them.I've done that a few times.People tend to be much more polite on the phone....
Jimmy

" Bad Buyers List", that's a new one. I wouldn't worry about it.
I've been on E-bay for some time now and it's really going downhill fast.

Jim

IMO you did the right thing and left feedback that they deserved.

They are filling you full of a BS. There is no " bad buyer " list other then his own which is their own blocked bidders list.

I would not worry bout nuthing

The seller certainly should have mentioned the damaged and taped cord. However, he did apologize (sorta), and all it took was some solder and it's ok.

Keeping in mind it was a $10 purchase, I probably would have felt pretty good about it at the end, considering it works fine, and I probably would have left a positive.

But that's just me, and I also feel that a neutral would have been fully appropriate, too. One of the things I always do is read all the negative feedbacks that the seller has in the last year. As you noticed, he responded way too harshly to a few neutrals, which would lead me to believe that the guy has "issues", if ya catch my drift. :screwy: When dealing with folks like that, inside of ebay or anywhere, my goal would be to not do anything to set him off.

You never know what nutcases will do!!

Anyhoo, as Grumpy mentioned, there's no such thing as a bad buyers list. He can certainly block your ebay ID from his future auctions, but otherwise he's just yanking your chain.

Good thing you like the sub!

AL,

Yep you're cool :cool: .

The guys' obviously either an ass or a nut, you did right.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Pete

It takes all kinds to make a world (or an Ebay) go 'round. As a seller and a buyer, I usually try to be as fair as I can. I've received items that were sold "as is" that didn't work at all, and the seller offered a refund or return.

Recently, however, I bought an item that was came to me packed very poorly, and damaged in transit. The seller insisted that crumpled up newspaper was appropriate packaging for a heavy item, even thought I copied him the verbage from the FedEx web site that stated that it wasn't. He offered a minimal credit, which was less than 1/4 of the cost that it would have taken to make the item functional. All I asked for was the have the seller split the cost of repair.

He then left negative feedback for ME, stating that I lied about the condition of the merchandise received, and that he had offered me a refund that I refused.

I do value my feedback rating, but I'm not that concerned about HIS feedback. Frankly I think he made an a$$ of himself in the process, and the feedback he posted for me shows that. I, of course, left him appropriate feedback as well.

My question is why you plugged the thing in without determining the actual condition of the cord? You're lucky you didn't get electrocuted. Not putting you down but better to be safe than sorry.

Don't be worried about the seller, he's just mad because he couldn't give you negative feedback for "dissing" him. :p:

Well, I feel a little better now.

He's just an overly vindictive SOB, who can't really do too much to me, especially since I did nothing against the rules. Trying to blow smoke up my butt about a "bad buyers list" certainly doesn't help his credibility in my eyes.:bs:

Yeah, I guess I pulled a little dum-dum by going solely on his word, and not trusting my first instincts and investigating the cord first. I've learned my lesson. The affected area of the cord was totally covered with tape. The prospects of me getting executed were pretty low, but the sub's amp could've been fried! In a way, it's good that the sub's previous owner did such a crappy patch job. It shorted immediately, before it reached the sub, instead of slowly simmering and possibly starting a fire!

I'll try and contact him(I obviously have his/her email already) to see if he could not badmouth me to his colleagues at least. His banning me regardless, I ain't dealing with him again, that's for sure!

I think a neutral rating was the best compromise. It doesn't help him, but it doesn't hurt him, either. Even what I said in the feedback was restrained. No warnings against dealing with him or questioning his character(despite my wish to), just a brief explaination of what happened and that I, personally, found it all "not encouraging." He did not deserve a positive for this at all, but negative would've gone too far since, yes, it did work fine in the end. It a shame he couldn't have shown the same restraint.:bash:

Thanks, everyone.;)

BTW, should I reveal his name? Or would that not be prudent, at this juncture?:tongue:

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

Forward his emails to ebay. He is violating the terms of service by threatening you. Eaby may suspend him for doing so.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

John

Naawhhh ... don't do that....Just forget about it. Life's too short to sweat the small stuff.

AlphaLimaXray, no such thing as a "Bad Buyers List", the only thing he can do is ban you from bidding on any of his future auctions/listings. Not a big issue anyway, as I doubt you'll buy anything from him ever again.

The feedback profile of a user is what tells the whole story. You did the right thing IMHO.

Don't bother contacting him. Water under the bridge. You're obviuosly a MUCH better person that he will EVER be. ;)

This right here shows the guys intelegence level. If I were to email him back it would be soly to show this asshat where his IQ is.


As in....... OH NO, YOU RIPPED ME OFF AND YOUR BANNING ME???? WHAT EVAR WILL I DO??





Otoh, I cant spell inteligence correctly so mabye you dont want to take my advice.;)


E

Oh, don't worry, Bump. Proficiency in spelling and grammar is not an automatic indicator of intelligence. Your PC probably has a spell-checker, but can it calibrate a turntable or replace a surround?

Well,... not yet, but you catch my drift.:tongue:

Back to the subject at hand, if the shmuck is BS'ing me about a "bad buyers list" then it's not worth responding to such shite.:bs:
He's either trying to scare me off or make me apologize and/or beg for mercy. No frickin' way!:uzi:

Johncan, I'm not sure what the seller is doing constitutes extortion or a threat, nothing serious enough for eBay to take action. They have my complaint on file. The guy's just being a overly-vindinctive dickhead. It's a bear we all have to cross*, sometime.

*[Ha, ha. Bonus points to whoever recognizes that quote!]

Two questions: I'm about to start selling on eBay(non-audio stuff), how do I automatically block this guy so he won't try and screw me? Secondly, should I reveal his name here?

Thanks.;)

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

I'm about to start selling on eBay(non-audio stuff), how do I automatically block this guy so he won't try and screw me I check my auctions daily for bids, and check out every bidder. If you notice this guy bidding on your stuff, you can cancel his bids, it's your right to do so as the seller.

should I reveal his name here Sounds to me like you're above this guy, revealing his name would bring you to his level.

Agreed. I'll keep the cretin's handle anonymous, unless he does something truly egregeous. If so, then my revelation would be done purely for the public good, not petty retribution:smshot:, and still with great hesitation. I cetainly hope it doesn't come to that!:worried:

Is there an automatic bid-blocking system?

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

I think once you cancel a users bid, the system automatically block future bids from that user on that item. Don't quote me on that though, I've never had to go that far...... ;)

one thing to be very careful about are the people who have many feedbacks like over a couple thousand. they can get slammed with a bunch of negatives and it won't effect there feedback score. ebay needs to start to police it's own act. it has to stop taking the money with no accountability. there are more and more scams going on now. the buy two items and send one back saying it was damaged, saying it was damaged in shipping when it's fine and many more. the biggest problem with vintage electronics is this stuff is just old. connections get loose, etc. i quit taking paypal from buyers. they get the item and i know its fine, they call paypal and bitch, now paypal takes the money from you, and you have to jump through hoops to get your money back. i must stop rantind now and find some blood presure pills.

Every ebay member can have a "blocked bidder list". It is in "my ebay". Search the help section there for information. I have a few names on mine.

AlphaLimaXray, I think you are a jackass. The guy sold you a perfectly good subwoofer for $10 and you complained about him and tried to destroy his rating because of a damaged line cord? Would you have done the same had it been a McIntosh C22 preamp in mint condition too? Grow up and get over it! I'd ban you from my auctions too if I were him.

SM,

I've had this same problem - it's not the money, it's the principle.

When I sell something I describe it - accurately. When I bid on something I expect the same. This guy was either a) blind or b) a sneak. Either way, he deserves reprobation, if only so he thinks twice before doing it again, or at least inspects his goods.

Pete

You mean you had to replace a 49 cent line cord at your own effort and expense too? Poor Pete! Get your money back.

It's used equipment for chrissakes, what do you expect?

Were you the seller?

Pete

I have never bought or sold anything on e-bay or any other auction. I like to see what I am buying before I pay money especially when it is used and I like to deal with people directly. Sometimes just bad vibes is enough to turn me off. When you buy blind this way, you take your chances. Used is used. Expect minor scratches and other evidence that something has actually been out of the box and in use. If you want new with a warranty, don't shop e-bay. Go to a store.

A "jackass"? You've got to be kidding, right? :saywhat:

I hope so, because you are being extremely rude. You also need to go back and read my posts in this thread. Yes, it was $10 plus shipping, but that was through the luck of the auction, not due to the seller's generosity. What he sent me was not "perfectly good." It was damaged- and unsafe- and only worked after I repaired it. Sure, it turned out to be a relatively easy fix- for me. However, had I not had those skills(or a friend who did) I would've been left with something I couldn't even plug into an outlet, let alone use.(Likewise had it been a C22!) This wasn't something easily overlooked- the damage was external and obvious, and it's the seller's responsibility to inform the bidders and buyer that it's there. Any responsible AKer knows that. And stamping it with "as is" does not relieve the seller of that responsibility.

Besides, after all of that hassle, I gave the seller neutral feedback, which doesn't hurt him at all!

Soundmind, it's one thing to have a your own, minority opinion on a matter, or even to be a flat-out contrarian, but it's something altogether different when you're being a jerk. Coming out of left field and hurling insults in your first utterance does not win you points for your argument, besides it not really being in the spirit of AK. You would serve those opinions better if you were to brush up on your forum etiquette a bit.

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

I agree with soundmind in all except one factor...it was a power cord. Safety issue...BAM! POW!! Crackle smoke FIRE!!

...OK...maybe two factors...lighten up a little dude.

And ALX has learned a valuable lesson...flaky line cords should be taken seriously.

Other than that, no problemo;)


/EW...I'm outta here... :zoom:

soudmind

WTF is up to you? The unit was not as described, and certainly not safe.

Also... please leave your attitude problems at the front door.

CK

Man, I sure could use an icy cold Foster's just about now. See ya.

i dont drink Fosters.

- and what does Fosters have to do with you being an arsehole?

Originally posted by ckelly
i dont drink Fosters.


This posting is being reported to the Austrialian Department of Commerce.

I'll bet you don't even tie your kangaroo down sport and I'll bet you don't even do your digereedoo. I'll even bet you don't put your shrimp on the barbie!!!! Do you even have a barbie?

That does it. I would have gone to Sidney next winter but I'm going to BoraBora instead. No Opera house but they've got plenty of shrimp.

Soundmind

SHUT THE F up ! If you insult one more member I am kicking your ass outta of here !

This is your last warning..

Originally posted by grumpy
Soundmind

SHUT THE F up ! If you insult one more member I am kicking your ass outta of here !

This is your last warning..

I will not stand for profanity! If that is what I must endure, I quit.

Maybe!

No Maybe about it. Your out of here !

Let's not quibble.

Definitely.

(It took a lot of Coonawarra Shiraz to see the light.)

Originally posted by soundmind
This posting is being reported to the Austrialian Department of Commerce.

I'll bet you don't even tie your kangaroo down sport and I'll bet you don't even do your digereedoo. I'll even bet you don't put your shrimp on the barbie!!!! Do you even have a barbie?

That does it. I would have gone to Sidney next winter but I'm going to BoraBora instead. No Opera house but they've got plenty of shrimp.

OK first things first - its the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. And they wouldn't care either... none of them drink fosters either.

I don't own a barbie - i never played with dolls... did you?

All you are doing right now is proving a couple of things - 1. the condition of you being a fuckwit. 2. Your ignorance.

P.S. - it's Sydney, not Sidney. I dont like names of places not being spelled correctly.

Drink enough Aussie Shiraz and you will be lucky if you can see the keyboard.

I don't care what you say, you're not turning me off to Penfolds.

I wasnt going to turn you off from penfolds.

I thought it was a better idea to turn you from this forum.



ck

Soundmind, ol' pal, you do what you want, but I don't think its a very good idea to enter into a pissin' contest w/the moderators. Insulting other members is bad enough, but getting a moderator riled-well, guess you never stuck a stick into a hornet's nest when you was a kid. -Sandy G.

soudmind does not belong to this forum anymore.

CK

Jeez, what the heck posessed Soundmind to act like that?:dunno: He just came in and started swinging- at practically everyone! I mean, most of us have seen some newbies looking to stir things up acting that way, but not senior members with nearly 150 posts under their belt. Odd...:scratch2:
I'm beginning to suspect Soundmind was acting with anything but!:nutz:
Has he been booted for good?

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

Alpha,I was thinking the same thing,all of a sudden he went postal.Up until a week ago he was mild mannered and posted rationally.:dunno:

Alan

Maybe he's a victim of identity theft. :eek: :drunk:

A plausible theory. Either way, it's quite regrettable he had to be expelled.:(

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

Listening to Bose speakers have been known to cause psychiatric disorders in scientific tests. :)

Aw, that's harsh. I'm willing to blame Bose for some things(drought, famine, plague, the collapse of Enron), but not that! :tongue:

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

That kind of behavior is uncalled for, he deserved it. But, I agree, it is a shame. :sigh: :no:

I know I'm still a newbie but, here's my opinion.

Kinda hope that my guess is wrong, but with the several beverage references entered about brew and the vine, it may be a clue. I've seen large personality changes when some folks have had just a wee too much. Hate to think that, a man could lose so much ( this IS a great forum) with a short period of indiscretion.

Hope my statement here is not out of line. Let me know if I am.

Most anyone who has followed many threads in this forum would know that starting a reply with name calling, is a good way to be removed from this group.

It's a good policy. The capable policing of this forum has kept its quality the highest on the net.
Mike

I don't think you're outta line. It's another plausible theory. I've known some really wonderful people who turn into raving, extremely combative assholes when they get drunk. The difference can be night and day. In the wrong type of person, a grudge or irritation mixed with sometimes merely a modest amount of alcohol can almost guarantee trouble.(:grumpy: + :drunk: usually = :uzi: )

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

If he is drink posting that is no excuse - we are supposed to be adults here, and adults face the consequences of their actions like grownups.

If you were drunk would you pick a fight with the cop?

CK

Originally posted by AlphaLimaXray
:grumpy: + :drunk: usually = :uzi:


Actually Grumpy's not a bad guy with a few drinks :huge:

This was a very regrettable thing. I didn't know Soundmind, never had read or corresponded w/him, but we are all supposed to be "big boys" here & play nice. And this was such a trivial thing to get all worked up about-no offense Alpha Lima- I can see a knock down drag out over Tooobs vs. soiled state or something like that, but this ? Besides, this is supposed to be FUN- it ain't life & death or nothin' like that. -Sandy G.

Maybe he was the Ebay seller?

John

Originally posted by Sandy G
No offense Alpha Lima- I can see a knock down drag out over Tooobs vs. soiled state or something like that, but this ?

Oh, and don't forget the big struggle of them all- a veritable Cold War- between digital and analog; in my short time here, I've seen whole threads get bogged down and finally axed by the mods because of it! BTW, no offense taken. Soundmind was lashing out at almost everybody, including the moderators. Ckelly's comparison to picking a fight with a cop was apt.:bash::smshot:

John, I kinda doubt it. The loco seller is located in the Deep South. Unless he was misleading us all, Soundmind is in Joy-zee.:tongue:

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima

Agreed it's very strange, I've known SoundMind for a few years on other forums and he was always unfailingly helpful and levelheaded, just a great guy.

I hope things work out for him.

Pete

The guy may have been having personal probs at home or at work. Some people strike out at others when they become depressed or despondant. Not excusing his behaviour mind you, just saying it might be a reason he suddenly *went off*.

ckelly "If he is drink posting that is no excuse - we are supposed to be adults here, and adults face the consequences of their actions like grownups."

I agree.


Celt

Had that thought myself... Sometimes personal problems can carry the weight of ones life. As you intimated, thats our problem and not something to lay on others.

He was warned in the past about his abrasive posting and name calling.

We all have bad days but this guy was having bad weeks. All he had to do was acknowledge his wrong doing. He choose to fan the flames with gasoline.

Wow !

This thread took a wild and unexpected turn for the worst :confused: -----:yikes:

Sorry bout your troubles on ePay there AL...

Then to see Soundmind self destruct :wtf:

In shock !
Army

Thanks, but this doesn't quite cover my problem. It's too late for the guy to leave negative feedback for me(thank heavens). However, what is this "Bad Buyers List" he talks about? If there is one, I don't want or deserve to be on it!:mad:

Thanks again.;)

Cheers.
:beerchug:
-AlphaLima
The only site I ever found about bad sellers/buyers was called EbayersThatSuck.com . I always check it before bidding to see if the seller is on there :D .I do a check on my bidders,too-all of them. I only open mail from ebay in mymessages and I only open questions from buyers in mymessages ,too. However, they have gotten smarter lately.It used to be if it was a message from ebay it would be in your messages ,too and if it was fake,it wouldn't be there.I had a real nice experience with the EV Cardinals I sold recently-ask seller a question-well I opened it and it was some ahole in china trying to get my myemail address. Always check hide my email address when answering otherwise it will show in the header when you send it-cuz it goes to their inbox and there email address. I reported this guy to ebay and got an alert later when he tried to do it again!I even got a weird copy of the supposed invoice sent to my buyer-but it was from the scammer!Fortunately my buyer wasn't fooled-I warned him. :banana: So far I think I am safe....

Wow, now this is an interesting blast from the past! How did you dig-up this moldy old thread anyway? :scratch2:

Well if it continues to pull the kind of crap it pulled on AlphaLimaXray, eBay will be history; and it's been some two years since the original incident.

By zapping AlphaLimaXray for giving, if anything, an evenhanded yet honest response, the seller is corrupting the feedback system.

But the feedback system is the absolute heart of eBay.

I'll ask anyone associated with eBay - ever hear of the expression "a pig in a poke"? That's the main danger of eBay, and what the feedback system is meant to address. If the feedback system gets broken then it's the same as going to a used car lot, asking for the model you want, then paying for it on the spot without so much as a test drive or even a good look-over.

I've been burned on my next-to-last transaction, and the last one was a near miss. On the last, I expressly asked the seller if there was a problem with the unit and they said no. Well, there was a problem that, if I hadn't solved it, would have made the unit un-useable, though it works OK now.

From now on, I tend to avoid eBay. Even a Goodwill store lets me try out the stuff before buying. And I get annoyed at all the eBay icons and bookmarks plastered all over new computers (I saw it when I set up a computer for my sister)

bob adams people on ebay who do not sweat the small stuff ids exactly why it is going to hell.

ebay should change tehre feedback ways
forcing the seller to leave feedback afte the item has been payed for with ease.

then the buyer should be able to leave feedback on the item accordingly to the item recieved and then the seller should be able to leave feedback on the buyers either irgnorance ore psoritive experience.

we persoanllay have had issiues with people getting pised of at shipping cost being to high yet we charge the exact shipping +/-5% (we also live in canada) and i'm talking items were shipping is between 10-20 not hundreds of dollars. yet these people bid on items and do not as for shipping. and we post shipping for most items if we can but some items when shipped from canada are all ove rthe place so we cannot prequote shipping.

but this was and item with a predetermined item.

we ended up leaving a non paying buyer status after we had contacted the person on the phone after isues with emails. and still could deal with her. yet were not at fault in anyway possible.

Okay- if y'all insist on keeping this old dog alive, I'm moving it to Dollars & Sense where all ebay bitching belongs these days.

Well, how about a separate forum for eBay bitching.........BayBitch?

It could be like something in the old "BC" comic strip, a Curse Exchange, where people unloaded at each other and went away in harmony. In this case it'd be buyers and sellers.

Been proposed numerous times, and the Admin consensus has always been- Nope. If that changes, I'm sure they'll advise us.

Alot of this relates to the problem of Ebay only offering 3 choices. I consider a neutral to be negative and figure it DOES hurt my sales. Everything on ebay is like buying something from a yard sale or flea market and should be treated as such. Buyer beware -- period. Ask for pics and lots of them. Never buy something you want pristine from there because grading is subjective to the grader's scale. Sounds like you got lucky in that your item was an easy fix and still a great deal for what you paid.