Things I had learned about ebay after many thousands of dollars & transactions.
Now with the WORST ebay experience I was not only ripped off by a seller, but slandered in feedback stating I was the thief. That I got the item & a refund. (Actually I got neither) And then I was further berated, taunted, & belittled in addition to further slandered. I was also Spywared/Hacked and had this ebay and other accounts manipulated in attempts to control them as he tries to control his buyers and ANY situation that he cannot handle thru initial intimidation and berating. Seller told me there is NOTHING anyone can do about it that is not against ebay policy and was using the power seller hotline to manipulate ebay while using the spyware browser hijacking to control my accounts if ebay did not do as he demanded also.
When I researched this seller I find out his behavior is because he is a child that calls himself the gamemaster, has one of the BIGGEST mean, vindictive, spoiled child type personalities, and selling on ebay is just another malicious game he plays. Any customer that has ANY complaint at all BECOMES A NEW OPPONENT in this ebay game of his and that he feels he HAS to win at ANY COST while still making money playing at ebay members expense. Also I saw people had blogged him or left comments about his bad behavior on the web so I made a blog of my own and any further customers of his that had a VERY similar experience with him could add "Do a web search BEFORE you buy" in feedback comments to him. Since we are allowed to contact members socially to ask THEIR side of the problem he DEMANDED ebay stop us from contacting each other & discussing him. Since ebay could not do that he took matters in his own hand with spyware and manipulated my account while tracking members I contacted and sent emails so they knew HE knew who they were and try to scare them from further contact.
You ARE allowed to contact members to discuss business they had especially if you have a similar problem with same seller. Any seller telling you it is against ebay policy & they will get you booted are lying to try to control you. (as this seller did) Report these sellers to ebay.
Ebay FINALLY did the right thing with the previous mentioned seller I had the problem with and booted him. After YEARS of customer abuse however.
It took me hanging in there for those years and not giving up to accomplish this.
Now the pendulum swings too far in the other direction because of his type, and sellers cannot defend themselves with honest feedback. I do not agree with that also. I just do not believe sellers should have a standard list of lies for retaliation when your feedback was perfectly honest because of seller negligence and poor service.
But sellers that are angered by the new feedback standards can email that seller by getting his email address from my blog and give him that special thanks for being one of the many sellers that ruined ebay.
That whole nightmare story is in xanga blogs. Several to fit it all since oversear is a start blog and the_ebay_ proof just shows the PROOF in paypal and ebay records. But all you have to do is web search ME (maddmind) to find them. But you can web search that seller under his current ID name or his store name. But all can be seen in my blog since there are links to and copies of other blogs. Go to xanga.com and then add / after xanga.com and type oversear after that forward slash.
The best web search tools are: alltheweb.com & zuula.com
The slandered comment you will see in my feedback with sellers ID is:
So Looking at a sellers feedback is VERY important. Not just what they receive, but what they leave the customers.
I know it can be a drag if they have a lot of feedback and a good score.
Use the toolhaus link. toolhaus.org
Beware of a seller (Like the one that called me a thief in my feedback)that seems to look forward to having an excuse to confront, even lie about & call his customers names. Then reflect his own personality flaws onto the customer stating that is what they are. Signs of this are a lot of name calling. Loser/liar/thief/ idiot & a special favorite is telling SO many to grow up & calling them child when the feedback they are leaving is proof positive of who is who there.
This type probably suffered TOO many wedgies in life.
Things just got stuck and do not flow properly, so they are FULL OF IT!
Bizarre! But they are on ebay also. They can SELL & even get power seller status.
Still a candidate for "Jerry Springer"! But also a seller on ebay.
Look for retaliatory feedback. Positives that mention slow shipping met with retaliatory neutral or even negative.
Neutral met with negative. Look again to the language of these. These are signs of a "I'll show YOU!" impossible personality type seller. NEVER risk dealing with a seller that is screaming that dealing with them means you cannot leave honest feedback without vindictive retaliation.
you must look VERY closely at the feedback they receive and how they follow up. More important is check the feedback they LEAVE for their customers & what they have to say about them. Look for key examples where they avoid the direct issue & just make claims they are a power seller so trust them. This is code for "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." And if they call customers names they have definite issues so stay away from sellers such as that.
The seller that got me stalled me for 2 months (too late for ANY refunds) & in square deal said he couldn't care less, & that he doesn't have time for idiot whiners. With all honesty,I had cursed him in square deal calling him an a**hole because he was still giving me that "Yeah! Yeah! Whatever" attitude after already previously questioning MY honesty without checking 1st. So that was the end (So I thought)
So I left honest feedback / he left feedback saying I was lying! I got my item! AND that I was a PayPal Thief! Which is a liable statement of defamation. Ebay allows that! YES! ebay ALLOWS defamation even if the proof is with ebay & PayPal records. They just will not allow us to show you the name or the proof here or in any ebay forum. I kept all correspondence from square deal & the emails that followed. Plus there are the paypal records showing no refund, plus paypal & ebays disappointing "sorry too late" email responses. But even with the proof in ebays records ebay will not only NOT remove lies (liable defamation) but will HELP the power seller by deleting this page if I even mention his name edited (which is SUPPOSED to be the ebay policy)
Ebay protects this behavior & gives us no options of defense against it so know how to spot these type sellers ahead of time & not get involved is most important.
Well in MAY 2008 ebay is supposed keeping them from leaving negative in the 1st place. I do not agree with that either. They should just have to show proof to keep them from leaving pure retaliatory or slander.
Now As far as electronics You are probably better off with local stores where you can see, & hopefully get a demonstration. But if you KNOW exactly what you want then make sure the seller has a FULL return policy. And hopefully simple & not one you think you may need a lawyers advice.
DO NOT deal with any (STORE CREDIT ONLY)refund policy. If the 1st thing you buy turns out to be junk, then you are free to return it for more expensive junk? This is just a tactic that LOCKS you into a sale that can lead to throwing away a lot more of your money.
And forget digital cameras, camcorders etc that do not have matching INPUT as the high OUTPUT advertised. What is the sense in having a camera where the pictures you take can be blown up to a poster size if it only takes pictures like your cell phone or such? Nothing like being able to blow up BAD pictures to a poster? And the smaller the lense, the worse the picture.
Asking questions of a seller is another way to flush out the ebay bully's.
See this story:
http://www.10news.com/technology/5279126/detail.html
If you get answers such as the following example you can feel lucky you found out before possibly having a bad purchase experience.
Actual example left of the same seller that slandered me: Anonymous) wrote:
I messaged this seller to see if the item was in stock (as i have been caught before by the "4 available" trick) I also asked if he knew how long postage to Australia would take and if he had another model available, his repsone was you sound like an idiot and i am blocking you from buyiny my items, Thank God because I got them cheaper elsewhere. He says he only abuses those who are rude I cant see what I did to deserve his petty behavior but it doesnt matter as I am an adult and didn't get drawn into his back and forth petty emails, i just blocked hius as spam whats funny is he sent me another email after i spamed him
So ask all the questions you can think of.
The way they leave feedback / answer questions / & what they have in their ME page are the key to recognizing the ebay bully's.
AGAIN
1: Straight forward return policy.
2: Check ID history for name changes. Frequent or many could indicate much trouble & seller needs to keep trying to hide with a new name after using up previous ones. Seems Ebay did away with ID history or it only works for the 1st month. They SHOULD have complete history.
3: Check feedback VERY carefully. Especially what kind of feedback the seller leaves for the customers.
Look for a lot of reply's/follow ups & look VERY closely at the feedback they leave others. The way it is worded. Professional and to the point or vicious name calling & child like behavior? Retaliatory? Creating ebay feuds or wars? A lot of issues showing thru?
Check ME pages & the feedback. Look for contradictions & hypocrisy. Do they make claims to VALUE feedback & ebay & then LEAVE reply's, follow ups & all over BAD feedback that totally contradicts those statements?
This is ebays suggestion to leaving feedback:
Feedback Policies: Overview
Feedback is a valuable indicator of a buyer or seller's reputation on eBay. Your member profile includes a feedback score, as well as comments from other members you've bought from and sold to.
As an eBay user, you should use caution and good judgment when leaving feedback for another user. What you write will be a permanent part of that user's record on eBay.
eBay's feedback-related policies are designed to encourage open and honest trading. However, to ensure that feedback is used for the proper purpose and not abused, eBay has some basic rules that must be followed.
Learn more about how feedback can be abused by practices such as:
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Feedback extortion
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Feedback solicitation
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Feedback abuse
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And as you are about to leave feedback you see this message:
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| Please note: |
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- Once left, you cannot edit or retract feedback; you are solely responsible for the content.
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- It's always best to keep your feedback factual; avoid making personal remarks.
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- Feedback can be left for at least 90 days following a transaction.
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- If you have a dispute, contact your trading partner to try and resolve the dispute before leaving feedback.
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4: If at all suspicious of feedback ask questions & then Google sellers id name. Actually use multiple search engines /google / http://zuula.com/ / http://www.alltheweb.com/ / http://www.altavista.com/
See what some may have taken the time to point out on the web. Often people go to the web because ebay does not allow the sellers ID or name to be shown. (Yet they allow ANY lie & slander to be told of you)
Also google some previous ID names if ID history shows changes. Also ebay STORE names & even nicknames they use in the ME page or even the ads themselves.
5: Just because they have a power seller logo means nothing. See if they honor it or abuse it by just trying to use it as an excuse for their mess ups. It does not take much at all to get & keep this "so called" badge of honor.
If you see feedback stating "I'm a Power Seller you are a loser" that is a clear sign. Tells it all right there. Just 1 of those means TROUBLE. Some of the BEST sellers have no need for the power seller symbol and are FAR above the standards for it.
Check the forums and you can see this type information and much more. Key words: bad sellers / bad feedback / awful sellers /awfullest feedback (amusing)/bad power sellers / power seller symbol what it claims to be? Remember to check them also with previous ID name in ID history.
6: MOST IMPORTANT: Use the toolhaus link to gather all the neutrals & negatives together to see them with ease instead of 10 to 20 minutes of checking thru 200 at a time. This could prevent all of the above work. The way sellers leave feedback tells you of how they conduct business. What they say? / how they say it? / does it match well with customers statement? / a lot of liars & thieves? / unprofessional name calling? / 2 or 3 times as many negatives & neutrals GIVEN than received? Just the toolhaus tool & what they claim in their ME page can show the WHOLE story.
http://toolhaus.org/
Good Luck!
&
Happy Ebaying!
Be CAREFUL!
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