What kind of feedback should I leave...

[GOLDEN KEYS]

So, I bought five very common NES games from some guy on Ebay a few weeks ago for about fifty cents to a dollar each. His listing advertised that he would do combined shipping but did not list how much it would be. He had it listed at $2.99 a game without.

After the auction, I see he lowers shipping from $15 to $12 on my paypal checkout page. Seems a little excessive for five NES games so I email him and ask to have that reduced to a more fair number. No response. I decide to just pay the next day.

A week later, having still not received a response about the shipping price, I email to ask if they have shipped yet. He promptly responds and says he forgot to send them out but will do so the next day.

Another week passes. I email him to check in and he tells me they will be there any day.

I emailed him a couple days after that and asked what kind of feedback he expected after ignoring my initial emails and the slow shipping. I finally get a response today and he tells me that he wants positive feedback because he took a loss at auction since he paid $2.99 a piece for the games. He also says his family needs the income.

If he hadn't included the part about his "losses" I wouldn't even hesitate to give positive feedback, as long as the games arrive soon. But clearly, he was making up for his loss at auction by over charging for shipping.

Three weeks later and still no games. I'm leaning toward neutral but maybe I'm still just irritated about his last email about his "losses". What would you guys do?

[Cornelius]

Based on what you've said, I'd be leaning towards a negative and some low ratings, too. Bad communication, and 3 weeks is really too long. Unless he used media mail, in which case the shipping charge is pretty bad.

The shipping itself is probably going to cost him about 8 bucks (assuming priority), so that really isn't as terrible as it could be.

As a seller who always gets things mailed the day after payment (or same day), I have no sympathy for those that are slow.

[megasdkirby]

Although some will critisize that he did nothing wrong concerning shipipng (since he did *kinda* combined shipping), it was obvious that he made a profit from it. Still, the debate lingers whether he did good or bad, since you did agree to his terms.

I would have asked about combined shipping, an exact amount, prior to bidding. If he doesn't respond, then the seller is not worth your time.

In this case, I would give a neutral feedback and leave DSR's according to his performance. He will suffer more with lower DSR's than with a negative (in most cases, unless he is new).

[GOLDEN KEYS]

Based on what you've said, I'd be leaning towards a negative and some low ratings, too. Bad communication, and 3 weeks is really too long. Unless he used media mail, in which case the shipping charge is pretty bad.

The shipping itself is probably going to cost him about 8 bucks (assuming priority), so that really isn't as terrible as it could be.

As a seller who always gets things mailed the day after payment (or same day), I have no sympathy for those that are slow.

yeah, i actually just did business with another guy where i paid $1.50 per game shipping and $.99 auction price. I bought eleven games from him and he shipped them out the next day (also, sent me an email letting me know that he did so) and they arrived within three days after auction.

that was definitely one of my better experiences, though.

the only reason i'm hesitant to leave five negatives is because he does have about 2500 sales on ebay and only 3 negatives in the last year, the rest are positives.

he could be lying but i'm always a little sympathetic when someone gives me a story about needing income for their family


haha, once i bought three nes games from some SOB selling off his collection assuming he would do combined shipping and he refused. i paid $18 for him to ship three NES games. i got the games at fair prices though because i only paid about $.10 a piece at auction. to his credit, he didn't actually SAY he'd do combined shipping.

the guy had 26 negative feedbacks by the end of the month.

[GOLDEN KEYS]

Still, the debate lingers whether he did good or bad, since you did agree to his terms.

I would have asked about combined shipping, an exact amount, prior to bidding. If he doesn't respond, then the seller is not worth your time.

yeah, this is why i just went ahead and paid. i found his auctions in the last minute or so that they were up so i didn't have time to email him before hand... but, as you said, i agreed to his terms when i bid.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

From reading the thread I get the impression that you still haven't gotten the games. If that is the case after 3 weeks, I would be more worried about filing a complaint rather than feedback.

JY

[Baloo]

From reading the thread I get the impression that you still haven't gotten the games. If that is the case after 3 weeks, I would be more worried about filing a complaint rather than feedback.

JY

Yeah, 3 weeks is a LONG time for something not to come, unless there was some kind of communication about times of shipping and receiving.

I say neg him.

[ryborg]

You can't knock him for the combined shipping issue since he didn't specify and you didn't ask. Like someone above said, if you're not sure, ask BEFORE you bid, not after you win. At that point, you're bound to buy the items regardless of how he answers you.

Three weeks is VERY slow. That alone is worthy of a neg or neutral, depending on how you feel. However, before you leave any feedback, I'd give the seller a chance to make up for it by giving a partial refund or something similar.

[b1aCkDeA7h]

Though this shouldn't matter, out of curiosity, what were the games?

[GOLDEN KEYS]

Though this shouldn't matter, out of curiosity, what were the games?

it's been so long i had to actually go back and check... i forgot one of them was an SNES game.

exodus

monopoly

pro wrestling

jordan vs bird

mega man x



the price for the NES games were all $.30 to $.50 and mega man x was $4.50...

i know, most of those are real bottom of the barrel games but i'm slowly working toward a complete collection (almost 150 games now) so i'll buy any NES game if i don't have it.

[GOLDEN KEYS]

You can't knock him for the combined shipping issue since he didn't specify and you didn't ask. Like someone above said, if you're not sure, ask BEFORE you bid, not after you win. At that point, you're bound to buy the items regardless of how he answers you.
.

check post #5 in this thread, you're actually pretty much repeating what i said in that post.

[b1aCkDeA7h]

It was a needlessly long time with bad communication, though like others said, you should have tried hard to find out all of the shipping details before bidding.

Still, the poor communication and unclear details are things you should note in whatever feedback you end up posting.

[slidee]

You are thinking WAY too much into this but when you finally do get the games, you should leave him positive feedback with low DSR ratings for shipping price, communication, and shipping time. In the meantime, file a Paypal dispute to put his funds on hold.

[megasdkirby]

You are thinking WAY too much into this but when you finally do get the games, you should leave him positive feedback with low DSR ratings for shipping price, communication, and shipping time. In the meantime, file a Paypal dispute to put his funds on hold.

I agree, but I would not leave positive...I would leave neutral. For me, a positive means one was happy...in this case, the buyer was not happy. Negative means the buyer was really pissed off...which I don't think this was the case.

I say Neutral, since the buyer was neither happy or pissed...just perplexed.

But yeah, rate his DSR's accordingly. In the end, that is what hurts the most.

[GOLDEN KEYS]

i responded to his email yesterday and told him that as long as i received the games by the end of the week (saturday) i would leave neutral feedback. i thought this was fair, since it's probably been over a week since he said they would "be here any day now".

you'd think if he really did just forget the games, he would have paid to ship them out faster at that point. he told me he threw in an extra game (i'm guessing a common sports game since that was all that was left that i didn't bid on for his auctions) so i guess that's something... maybe?

anyway, i probably am thinking too much into this, as slidee commented. i told him if i didn't receive the games this week then i would be forced to open a claim and most likely leave negative feedback.

sent that yesterday afternoon and no response yet...

[swlovinist]

As a seller with ebay for over 9 years, I can say that over three weeks is too long to wait. I agree with others that if the seller said any day and a week past, open a claim. When they come, posisitve feedback with low communcation and shipping scores.

[GOLDEN KEYS]

As a seller with ebay for over 9 years, I can say that over three weeks is too long to wait. I agree with others that if the seller said any day and a week past, open a claim. When they come, posisitve feedback with low communcation and shipping scores.

just curious, what's the reason for the positive? a positive usually signifies a buyer was happy with a transaction with and it went smoothly.

are negatives and neutrals just really damaging for a seller?

[megasdkirby]

Neutrals are not damaging. It's basically "staying the same", but at the same time means that the buyer was neither happy or pissed. Just...neutral.

I really don't think a positive should be given. Or if you want, you can leave a positive but put something like "Got the package, which is very good, though slow on shipping. Good though" or something like that, and rate DSR's accordingly.

[GOLDEN KEYS]

okay, just received the games...

first off, i see they were sent out nine days after payment... which means he must have waited a couple days even after he claimed "he forgot and would ship them out asap". also, they shipped media mail and he paid $2.77 for shipping. he also shipped them in a cheap envelope that looks like it was designed to fit no more than one or two dvd's in. he crammed six games in there. a couple of the games were VERY dirty... but nothing a lysol wipe couldn't fix. the free game was "gyromite", worth no more than a dollar or two, and i do already have it. he also has yet to respond to my message from thursday.

any final thoughts before proceeding with feedback and putting this behind me? i'm not gonna lie, i'm a little irritated and this guy might be in for some unwelcome feedback.

[megasdkirby]

See, he gave you a freebie, which is nice.

HOWEVER

He flat out shipped horribly, poor customer service, profited from shipping (even though you agreed to the terms, he could have at least ship in a box, WITH protection)...

I dunno what to do...I would NEG him, but you did get a free game. Of course, the free game was probably meant as a type of bribe for you NOT to complain.

Did he at least put Delivery Confirmation?

What was the method he mentioned he would use on his listings?