September 22 08: REGARDING MY NICE NEW 7 NEGATIVES. ..So here we go. ...After closing my eBay store I decided to blow out some material auction style. These were mostly lots of 50, 60 and 70 comics, that I was selling in my store for $50.00 and $60.00, without ONE complaint. My starting price on these listings was $24.99 (cheap, I would think!), and for the most part that is what I received. ...I sold about 25 (OTHER) lots. There was not one complaint.....But THIS BUYER (WHO LEFT ME 7 NEGATIVES and 2 that were meant to be) didn't like ANY of his lots. They were "trash", etc.....Now, how could this be?

...WELL HERE IS THE STORY: FIRST, the "buyer" asked me if I could wait a week for payment and I said yes. He placed his bids and won NINE AUCTIONS. One week later the "buyer" emails me to say that he has "lost his job" and offered me $100.00 to let him off the hook (apparently he didn't want a blemish on his eBay score card). At first I said I wasn't interested. I was already depressed and this was just too much to handle. ...I thought about it a few minutes and decided to take him up on it. He was very happy and I was all of a sudden a SAINT. He said "God will smile down upon me", and even offered me $150.00 to make sure I wasn't angry. ...I told him $100.00 was enough. ...Then he emailed me again with more requests, I think he wanted me to leave him positive feedabacks or something, before he sent me the money. ...I replied that this was getting messy and there was too much thought and too many emails involved. If he could keep it simple, I would do it, but... (I guess I got a little SARCASTIC HERE, because we had already exchanged about 20 emails, from start to finish)... SO, THEN, he blew a fuse and told me to forget everything, and that he would send the full amount owed, AND THAT THE BOOKS BETTER BE AS "NEARMINT" AS I SAID (Of course, I never SAID they were all "NM"!).... At this point I knew I was in trouble, he was going to get ALL of his money back, through Paypal. ....These lots cost me $11.00 each to send, with insurance (say $100.00 total), so if he gave me any trouble I would be out $100.00, but he WAS the "winner" and he was going to buy them, so I had to send them...... He paid on a Thursday and his books arrived probably Saturday. He sent me NO email (complaining about books), he just hammered down his negatives. They were all "TRASH". All... Just pure junk.

Well that's the story. Now it is up to eBay and Paypal, whether I will continue on eBay in any real sense. I'm not going to leave entirely, probably no matter what, but if these negatives are not removed and if I lose this $100.00+ (discounting eBay fees!), eBay will certainly not be my sole means of income as IT HAS BEEN FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS. ...IN TEN YEARS I RECEIVED A TOTAL OF THREE NEGATIVES. Read this "buyer's" comments and try to make sense of this: HOW COULD I BE AS BAD, OR THESE BOOKS AS BAD, AS HE IS SAYING??? How is it that this newly unemployed and now angry person, WHO WANTED OUT OF THE DEAL ALREADY, just happened to get 9 misgraded lots, ALL worthy of SCORNFUL eBay negatives??? Was it coincedence??

...EBAY HAS his messages to me on record (the offers were sent through the eBay message system, so they ARE "on record"). That and just a little logic SHOULD get me out of this, but these days (on eBay) I just don't know...And I'm starting not to CARE. Tomorrow I begin this battle, to have my feedback cleaned up, and to save MY $100.00+. ...And all of this, to sell some comic lots at 35cent to 50cents each, minus eBay and Paypal fees!!!

Oh, and by the way, check out this guy's "feedback left for others". He has hit several other sellers with multiple negatives recently. In fact, in just the last 2 months he has left more negatives than I left in TEN YEARS!! Take a look, and I'm sure you'll feel the same compassion I did for these sellers.

September 23 08: Ebay "support" told me today that they cannot (will not) take down these negatives. I am taking down my listings. It'll probably take 3 or 4 days to get Paypal's verdict. I can HEAR it now, but I'll wait anyway, because I can't quite believe what I'm hearing...

October 19th 08: Paypal sided with "buyer". "Buyer" returned comics, but only about 325 of original 450 (or so), in ONE long comic box (Media Rate, $20.00). As most comic collectors know, a long box holds only about 350 comics. This box wasn't tight. Comics were shuffled like cards and almost entirely valueless now, as they were no longer "sets" or "lots" worth selling. "Buyer" also tossed in a few that he never purchased. ..."Delivery Confirmation" is all Paypal needs to see, to KNOW that merchandise has been "returned to seller". He could have sent me grapefruits! 'Nuff said. ...'Course, that just "MY" version of the story. My 7,000+ POSITIVES and THREE negatives in ten years, and all of the above, wasn't enough to convince anyone.... I doubt that 10,000 positives and NO negatives would have... So be it!

December 17th 09: MY FEEDBACK SCORE IS 100% AGAIN! The guy who left me 7 negatives and robbed me has been thrown off eBay. I'll leave what is written here because I do not know if the "negatives" will return IF the eBay member in question returns with the same user-name. If they do, that would be a shame (wouldn't it?), because it is EVEN MORE obvious now that I was the "wronged party", and I was still robbed. ......But anyway, this IS "GOOD NEWS" of a sort! Hard to find these days, the grocery store across the street just went under (announced TODAY!).....An 8 year old building!! Wow! Show me ANY good news these days, and I'll take it. ...........................................

FEBRUARY 4, 09: THEY LET HIM BACK ON, AND MY FEEDBACK WENT BACK TO HELL!! ..Oh well! At least this kind of proves my point, it's just too bad no one will ever know he was tossed off eBay. All YOU'LL hear about is what a "great customer" he is, thanks to eBay's new feedback policy. I've had quite a litle curse on me this year, like a "monkey on my back"... Trying to shake it off... ...........................................

MARCH: All 7 negatives WERE REMOVED. I do not know why, but eBay apparently decided to take down all the (80+) negatives this guy left over a two month period..... I mean, I still lost my money... But I guess SOME justice is better than NO justice. I'll probably take all this down soon, no need for anyone to think I had "issues"....I'll think about it, but I think this story (more importantly) points to some "issues" that need to be resolved on eBay. I AM back on eBay, but with such CAUTION that I do not believe I will ever make as much as I once did. ...........................................

FEED ME! FEED ME!!!