Ebay Customers - some of the worst! :-(

[Shards]

A really good way to ferret out shill bidding(a seller using another account to place bids on his/her own item to artificially raise the price, or having a friend, family member or associate do the same) is to look at the profiles of the seller and the bidder. If they're both in the same state the chances are better that shill bidding is going on.

If the bidder seems to be bidding on only the seller's items, the chances are even better.

It is very true that it's best to bid once and bid your max, but some bidders don't quite understand that. So in your case I don't think you have much to worry about in terms of shill bidding.

Sorry for going a bit off-topic there.

One of my friends bought his desktop computer off of e-bay while he was working <20 hours/week at Weis Markets. He saw it online one day, and then did slow raises on opposing bidders. I think that was the right way to go, because the fact is, he only has so much cash. There was a glass ceiling to what he was willing to pay, but there's no reason he should have had to pay it if the seller was willing to take less.

I personally think that if you don't want people to do slow raises, you should find a service to sell them at a fixed price, not in an auction format. When you create an auction, you're telling your customer 'tell me what you want to pay for this, and it's only natural to want to pay as little as possible, especially when you can't afford to buy something full price.

My buddy who did this got his computer for about half what it would have cost him to buy commercially, and spent a good 2/3-3/4 of his savings on it.

I also have several friends who look for bulk deals on Warhammer 40k figures on e-bay because they can't afford to put together their armies at retail prices.

[Tigress]

4) Lady who demanded her $$ back on a book because one tiny corner on one page was slightly bent. I did it, but damn I was mad. How picky can you be? The bend was literally microscopic!

I had a similar incident over a sale on Amazon.com. The book I sold the customer normally retails for $30+ and she got if for about $5-6. (Out-of-print edition of a popular anthology series. I got it cheap myself and just wanted it out of my house.) I had stated in my description that some of the pages were curled, but it was in otherwise fair-good and readable condition.

She Emailed me a week later to complain about the condition of the book. She didn't think the curled pages qualified it for fair-good. But she didn't want a refund! She just wanted to tell me that she wasn't satisfied with her purchase. Instead of bitching her out for not reading the description, I went the diplomatic route and offered to refund her money and reimburse her for shipping the book back to me. (More than fair IMNSHO.)

No. No. That was fine. She just wanted to tell me she wasn't satisfied and that I shouldn't list things falsely.

[Shimatta]

One of my friends bought his desktop computer off of e-bay while he was working <20 hours/week at Weis Markets. He saw it online one day, and then did slow raises on opposing bidders. I think that was the right way to go, because the fact is, he only has so much cash. There was a glass ceiling to what he was willing to pay, but there's no reason he should have had to pay it if the seller was willing to take less.

I personally think that if you don't want people to do slow raises, you should find a service to sell them at a fixed price, not in an auction format. When you create an auction, you're telling your customer 'tell me what you want to pay for this, and it's only natural to want to pay as little as possible, especially when you can't afford to buy something full price.

My buddy who did this got his computer for about half what it would have cost him to buy commercially, and spent a good 2/3-3/4 of his savings on it.

I also have several friends who look for bulk deals on Warhammer 40k figures on e-bay because they can't afford to put together their armies at retail prices.

Yeah but when you place a bid it only goes up to the point that other bidders put their max . if you bid 100.00 and another person olny bids 50.00 the your final amount will end at 51.00 or so. Even though you put more down it won't go up that high. A lot of people on Ebay seem unable to understand this part.

[cinema guy]

Yes, bid in how much you are willing to pay (allowing for postage). Don't bid any more, otherwise it easy to get caught up in the competitiveness of bidding, get carried away and pay more than you want to.

[DevilBoy]

Yeah but when you place a bid it only goes up to the point that other bidders put their max . if you bid 100.00 and another person olny bids 50.00 the your final amount will end at 51.00 or so. Even though you put more down it won't go up that high. A lot of people on Ebay seem unable to understand this part.

This is exactly what I do if I bid anything on eBay.

[depechemodefan]

I had a similar incident over a sale on Amazon.com. The book I sold the customer normally retails for $30+ and she got if for about $5-6. (Out-of-print edition of a popular anthology series. I got it cheap myself and just wanted it out of my house.) I had stated in my description that some of the pages were curled, but it was in otherwise fair-good and readable condition.

She Emailed me a week later to complain about the condition of the book. She didn't think the curled pages qualified it for fair-good. But she didn't want a refund! She just wanted to tell me that she wasn't satisfied with her purchase. Instead of bitching her out for not reading the description, I went the diplomatic route and offered to refund her money and reimburse her for shipping the book back to me. (More than fair IMNSHO.)

No. No. That was fine. She just wanted to tell me she wasn't satisfied and that I shouldn't list things falsely.

That kind of sounds like me I bid on some paperback books and won them. On the listing he said one was "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Lost Slayer." I was really interrested in the other books, since I already had that Lost Slayer book. There was diff. printings. since it was a series, there were either 3 or 4 books, and then there was the series in one big book. Anyway, but when I received it it was book 1 of the series. Now I don't care, but I emailed the seller that the discription didn't mention it was book 1 of the series, but I didn't need a refund or anything, I just wanted him/her to know so in case he/she sells more books that he/she should pay attention to that.

Now I've been a ebay member since 2005, but I only had 23 transactions. I heard here that now they want people who havn't sold much to get a Paypal account, but I already have it and it's no big deal. Now ebay mandates a return policy! I don't want to have one, since most people have buyers remorse. If I say, "This Miss Piggy mug does have a crack and a scratch" I don't want to put up with someone saying, "I didn't realize it has a crack and a scratch, I want a refund!"

[Shards]

Yeah but when you place a bid it only goes up to the point that other bidders put their max . if you bid 100.00 and another person olny bids 50.00 the your final amount will end at 51.00 or so. Even though you put more down it won't go up that high. A lot of people on Ebay seem unable to understand this part.

Ah. Well, in that case, I can see what you guys mean. I've never used e-bay before, so I wouldn't have known...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Ditto what Shimatta said. It's called proxy bidding.

However, ebay n00bs often confuse it for shill bidding since they don't really understand how a higher bid than the one they just placed can keep coming after each bid.

[XCashier]

2 and 3. Isn't so very wonderfully awesome to know those two losers can trash you with negative feedback and you can't do the same to them?

Remember, on ebay buyers always get positive feedback. Can't have those scummy sellers using feedback as a weapon to bully those poor innocent buyers into silence.

That ticked me off too. The playing field is now far from level. I wonder if you can click the positive button and then write "NEGATIVE!" and the explanantion in the feedback field?

Some of you may remember this guy:

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=27321

He got NARU'd but he's back now. Sigh.

What's "NARU" mean?

It's sickening that after all the crap he pulled with all those women, the lack of contact information and the shady business dealings that he's allowed back. This kind of scumby makes all sellers look bad...and is probably why the balance is now so skewed.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

NARU= Not A Registered User

Which means This Account Has Ceased To Be, the holder has been banished from ebay and is not to register another account, so on and so forth.

[lordlundar]

Ditto what Shimatta said. It's called proxy bidding.

It's also a great counter to snipe bidding.

[Kali]

It's sickening that after all the crap he pulled with all those women, the lack of contact information and the shady business dealings that he's allowed back. This kind of scumby makes all sellers look bad...and is probably why the balance is now so skewed.

So, the guy is back now, and I just recieved this e-mail from a random ebay user:

Hi, I have a random question for you. I was reading through some feedback for a seller and you had left negative, said he had threatened your family. The seller is our-toys. Just wondering what he said and if he actually followed through with any threats. I am having a similar problem and have just had the police here about him. Thanks for any input.

(Yes, I know I put the idiot's username, I do not feel at all compelled to protect his privacy, mods if you disagree feel free to remove it.)

So there you have it, he is still at large and terrorising families. Hurrah.

[Qaeria]

I think Charles was a Seller I had to deal with.

I was looking for an iMac G4 for the local Seniors Society, and found one through Charles. I won the auction, and his payment terms was for Money Order for this particular item. Since this was for the society, I needed them to transfer the funds to me, as I could not access the full purchase price immediately. I sent him a good faith deposit of $200 right away, and promised the remainder would be sent no later than 48 hours after the deposit. He knew the situation, and was fine with it.

So now I am waiting for about a week, and I see in my email a message from him. Thinking he received the $$ and was wanting to arrange shipping, i eaggerly checked it out.

I got the single rudest email, calling me a thief, a liar, everything uder the sun, and how dare I cause him much frustration as he was hoping to clear the computer out of his small house. Now since I sent Money Orders, I had the ability to trace said money orders, and cancel them to get a refund, but of course the process is long and arduous. This was un-fscking-acceptable, and I should just immediately transfer money direct to his account. Told him not happening. I contacted the Post office, and everyone else I could think of to explain why 2 money orders got lost in the mail.

I know things can be lost, but not 2 separate pieces not even sent on the same day, and not even identifiable for containing a Money Order.

So of course he complained to eBay about me, and I showed them my documents. eBay told him that since I have the documents to show I paid according to his terms, he would have to wait for the trace of said money orders. Now throughout all this I asked him if he spoke to his post office or delivery person to see if there was a problem with mail on his end. You'd have thought I asked to rape his 12 year old daughter in front of him for how indignant he got.

A week later, I get another email from the guy, and he finally admitted that due to too many attempted break ins on the Apartment Complex' Mail Box, Mail was not being delivered until the Box was replaced. Once he received his mail, lo! and behold, 2 money orders were waiting for him.

So I got the computer in the end, and because of his idiocy, I left a neutral feedback. He called me 26 times, sent over 50 emails demanding that I recant my feedback. I ended up reporting the bugger to eBay for harassment, and I haven't heard from him since.

[wagegoth]

With the new anti-seller policies, I won't sell on eBay anymore. I used to buy and occasionally sell all types of Buffy the Vampire Slayer collectibles, but now they're just sitting in the garage.

It's obvious that eBay only wants big sellers, moving lots of merchandise. I buy less and less from eBay, and I usually only buy from small sellers or large sellers that I've dealt with before.

eBay has been artificially inflating the number of items for sale on their site in a bid to look better for another merger.

[Darkwish]

It's obvious that eBay only wants big sellers, moving lots of merchandise.

eBay has been artificially inflating the number of items for sale on their site in a bid to look better for another merger.

I wish I could comment on the big seller part, but I kinda need my job at the moment. On the plus side, we have managed to recently kick some HUGE sellers from the site due to ongoing issues.

I have no idea what you mean about eBay artificially inflating the number of items on the site. eBay doesn't list anything on the site other than occassional test listings (which are clearly marked as such). Also, eBay keeps buying more companies, and have no plans to sell/merge. Even if they did, there's only a tiny handful of companies even capable of doing so (like Google or Microsoft).

On a side note to that, I remove hundreds and sometimes thousands of listings every day for various policy violations, and roughly half of them are listed by big sellers.

For the people worried about shill bidding - report any sellers you suspect of this! eBay has tools that are very good at determining if shill bidding is happening and they will take action if it happens. You also don't have to worry about being mistaken for shill bidding, even if someone reports you. Again, the tools are very good and it is reviewed by actual people before any action is taken.

And for those who have buyers or sellers harassing you, please report them to eBay as well! Include as much information as possible! If you get law enforcement involved, make sure to have them contact eBay as well! I have no idea how that guy Kali mentioned got his account back, but I'm going to have our investigations team take another look at his account tomorrow.

And katiegoo? You have my sympathies. I have to deal with some of those same jerks.