Was a neutral appropriate?

[Balham's Finest]

If I were buying comics from eBay (especially $500 books), I would be more concerned with getting what I ordered and in the condition described. That's the biggest issue with eBay.

 

 

Big +1

Generally ebay purchases for me, are deals I could not pass up. If a $500 book is as described, there is absolutely no way I am leaving anything other than positive feedback and risk not being able to buy from a seller that offers such deals in the future.

 

I can see the thinking behind this. The other option is just to leave no feedback at all, of course.

[comix4fun]

Seller took 11 days to ship and didn't tell me it would take that long. After waiting a week I enquired, they told me it would ship that day and then did not ship for another four days. Curt replies and usually took over a day to respond. Overcharged on shipping and seemed annoyed when I asked for it to be box shipped even though it was a $500 book.

 

 

I left a neutral and got this reply:

 

 

WHATS THE PROBLEM? YOU GOT YOUR BOOK! I TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE A LITTLE SLOW BECAUSE OUR CREW WAS ON VACATION! ITS SUMMER TIME AND THE WORLD GOES AWAY! IT WAS PACKED SO WELL WITH EXTRA BUBBLE! IT GOT TO YOU SAFE WITH NO PROBLEMS, YET THAT WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU! EVEN DEALING WITH US YOU SEND ME A TON OF EMAILS BOTHERING US! YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE FUC**N JERK OFF'S THAT IS NEVER HAPPY. EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They absolutely did not tell me it would take a while to ship. All they said was that they couldn't provide extra scans of another book as the guy who does them was on vacation.

 

 

 

I think if you left a neutral over such a small thing, his reply was appropriate. If I sold on eBay, I would block you too.

 

 

You don't overcharge for shipping and wait almost two weeks to ship a book without prior notice to buyers, do you?

[Thomas Nielsen]

If I were buying comics from eBay (especially $500 books), I would be more concerned with getting what I ordered and in the condition described.

 

Did you read this part

 

Overcharged on shipping and seemed annoyed when I asked for it to be box shipped even though it was a $500 book.

 

 

What is your ebay handle mark ?

[comix4fun]

 

If the book was as described and was packed well....i wouldn't leave a neutral over slow shipping. I'd let the seller know I was a bit bothered by it but would leave positive feedback.

 

 

 

That'll teach him a lesson.

[thunsicker]

I'm neutral about the original feedback, but would let it stand after receiving an email like that. Very bad customer service. The correct response would be to own up to your mistake and apologize to the customer. You want the neutral removed? That's more likely to get it done than telling the customer off.

 

EDIT: My ebay handle is hunsicker if anyone needs to block me for this opinion.

[comix4fun]

If I were buying comics from eBay (especially $500 books), I would be more concerned with getting what I ordered and in the condition described. That's the biggest issue with eBay.

 

 

Big +1

Generally ebay purchases for me, are deals I could not pass up. If a $500 book is as described, there is absolutely no way I am leaving anything other than positive feedback and risk not being able to buy from a seller that offers such deals in the future.

 

 

If it's someone you've never dealt with, and it's $500+, and the auction says 2 days shipping time and it's now 11+....I'd be pretty concerned. In any other business setting a lack of open communication and broken shipping estimates are red flags that are rather logical reasons for worry.

 

The ends don't justify the means in every situation. He had every right to be worried given it wasn't some $10 book.

[the blob]

Waiting for comic books just to put them away never got to me. Waiting for clink or HA to ship something I had won and paid a month prior and I wont even go there about CGC and all the waiting that is involved. Heck Kenny is restoring a book for me he has had since March. Waiting is an every day part of this game. You obviously want your books and want them right now. Try telling yourself that they are yours when you pay or submit them. Possesion need not be so physical. People often sell books they dont have cause they are at CGC. It seems you may be blocked from buying from this seller, maybe no big deal. Neutral feedback, while you think it may be less than Neg still carries the same weight and can remove/reduce a sellers 20% discount. Thats why he is pizzed.

 

Yeah I did think long and hard about it before leaving a neutral as I know it effects their livelihood.

 

I don't want my books now, I have a few books still out in the wild that I bought last year which have still not returned. What I do want is good communication and not telling me you will ship a book and then not doing it and general crummy customer service.

 

Did you pay separately for shipping or was it part of the price?

 

While there isn't really a difference, my gut instinct tells me that is a bit too long to sit on a book if someone has shelled out $20 or whatever for priority mail shipping.

 

OTOH, do they have a "handling time" in their terms? I know I usually can't get to things right away, run out of supplies, etc. and include, I think, a five day handling time to give me a few days to get my sh**t together and put the buyer on notice (aside from the notice in my sales descriptions saying I am not a fast shipper) that this is part of the price (as I generally had free shipping on my ebay stuff).

 

honestly, i dunno, a "1" on shipping time probably does more damage than a neutral, but I don't know ebay's sytem

[Jeffro.]

People have good intentions and sometimes life gets in the way.

 

Shipping within 2 weeks of an order is not out of the ordinary. If I have to wait two weeks for an order from eBay i'm not losing sleep over it.

 

Of course life gets in the way. However, that's where communication comes into play. If I sold you a book and told you that it would ship within three days and then it was two weeks later, you still didn't have the book and I never contacted you to tell you why there would be a delay, you are saying you'd be okay with that? I sure wouldn't.

 

As I understand it, the OP was told the comic would ship within two days. It didn't and the seller didn't say why. The OP contacted the seller and was told that the comic would ship that day. It didn't. Wasn't shipped until four days after that. Sorry, that's poor service. Am I going to lose sleep over it? No, but let's call it what it is, bad service.

[comix4fun]

Waiting for comic books just to put them away never got to me. Waiting for clink or HA to ship something I had won and paid a month prior and I wont even go there about CGC and all the waiting that is involved. Heck Kenny is restoring a book for me he has had since March. Waiting is an every day part of this game. You obviously want your books and want them right now. Try telling yourself that they are yours when you pay or submit them. Possesion need not be so physical. People often sell books they dont have cause they are at CGC. It seems you may be blocked from buying from this seller, maybe no big deal. Neutral feedback, while you think it may be less than Neg still carries the same weight and can remove/reduce a sellers 20% discount. Thats why he is pizzed.

 

Yeah I did think long and hard about it before leaving a neutral as I know it effects their livelihood.

 

I don't want my books now, I have a few books still out in the wild that I bought last year which have still not returned. What I do want is good communication and not telling me you will ship a book and then not doing it and general crummy customer service.

 

Did you pay separately for shipping or was it part of the price?

 

While there isn't really a difference, my gut instinct tells me that is a bit too long to sit on a book if someone has shelled out $20 or whatever for priority mail shipping.

 

OTOH, do they have a "handling time" in their terms? I know I usually can't get to things right away, run out of supplies, etc. and include, I think, a five day handling time to give me a few days to get my sh**t together and put the buyer on notice (aside from the notice in my sales descriptions saying I am not a fast shipper) that this is part of the price (as I generally had free shipping on my ebay stuff).

 

honestly, i dunno, a "1" on shipping time probably does more damage than a neutral, but I don't know ebay's sytem

 

 

I am not sure how it works either but I have heard from sellers that they can get messed up pretty good by those 1-5 rankings. A lot of sellers have gone to working shipping cost into the item and giving "free" shipping because that removes the ability to rate their shipping on the 1-5 scale.

 

Maybe it's just me, but as soon as I am paid, I treat the item as if it isn't mine any more and I move to get it out as fast as I can and as a priority above other things. If I run into a problem or run out of materials I am emailing (or PMing) several times to let the person know. Communication can solve almost all these problems. Given this seller's reaction he's not so good at the communication thing.

[The-Collector]

Waiting for comic books just to put them away never got to me. Waiting for clink or HA to ship something I had won and paid a month prior and I wont even go there about CGC and all the waiting that is involved. Heck Kenny is restoring a book for me he has had since March. Waiting is an every day part of this game. You obviously want your books and want them right now. Try telling yourself that they are yours when you pay or submit them. Possesion need not be so physical. People often sell books they dont have cause they are at CGC. It seems you may be blocked from buying from this seller, maybe no big deal. Neutral feedback, while you think it may be less than Neg still carries the same weight and can remove/reduce a sellers 20% discount. Thats why he is pizzed.

 

Yeah I did think long and hard about it before leaving a neutral as I know it effects their livelihood.

 

I don't want my books now, I have a few books still out in the wild that I bought last year which have still not returned. What I do want is good communication and not telling me you will ship a book and then not doing it and general crummy customer service.

 

Did you pay separately for shipping or was it part of the price?

 

While there isn't really a difference, my gut instinct tells me that is a bit too long to sit on a book if someone has shelled out $20 or whatever for priority mail shipping.

 

OTOH, do they have a "handling time" in their terms? I know I usually can't get to things right away, run out of supplies, etc. and include, I think, a five day handling time to give me a few days to get my sh**t together and put the buyer on notice (aside from the notice in my sales descriptions saying I am not a fast shipper) that this is part of the price (as I generally had free shipping on my ebay stuff).

 

honestly, i dunno, a "1" on shipping time probably does more damage than a neutral, but I don't know ebay's sytem

 

Shipping was separate and handling time was two days.

[Sqeggs]

Having read some of your posts and after a few PM's, you are kinda wound up tight sometimes.

Personally - I wouldn't have left anything, and decided if I wanted to buy again on a book to book basis.

Was the book how you wanted?

If so, what's a few days extra?

Is the seller a big feedback number? Some of these guys, as you know, regard $500 books as run of the mill stuff.

2 weeks to ship, if your book was ok, isn't the end of the world. Not to me anyway.

Maybe... but the OP already said the guy's listing stated a two day turnaround. If you can't or aren't going to stick to it then don't declare it. Even if $500 books are "run of the mill" to the seller it doesn't justify the way it was handled.

 

Agreed. When a seller sets an expectation (as this seller did by stating that shipping will be within two days), then buyers will look for the seller to live up to that expectation. Good customer service is all about setting expectations and meeting or exceeding them.

 

If you say that you will deliver something within four days and you deliver that something in two days, you have exceeded expectations. This usually results in a happy customer.

 

If you say that you will deliver within four days and you deliver in six days, you have failed to meet expectations. This usually results in an unhappy customer.

 

I would have been fine with an 11 day shipping time, if told that at the beginning or even at the 7 day mark if they had shipped on the day they said they would.

 

Also, maybe I am just too young and impatient.

 

From this experience I will raise my neutral threshold.

 

Disappointing conclusion. You did the right thing by letting other buyers know your experience with this seller was less than satisfactory. I'm amazed at how many of these threads there are where a seller misbehaves and people pile on to say you should still leave positive fb.

 

This a guy who responded to you with obscenities and you're sorry you left neutral feedback? Really?

[Transplant]

I rate this thread's potential as a neutral.

[comix4fun]

I rate this thread's potential as a neutralered.

 

 

Fixed!!

[BlowUpTheMoon]

 

If the book was as described and was packed well....i wouldn't leave a neutral over slow shipping. I'd let the seller know I was a bit bothered by it but would leave positive feedback.

 

 

 

That'll teach him a lesson.

 

 

 

[The-Collector]

Waiting for comic books just to put them away never got to me. Waiting for clink or HA to ship something I had won and paid a month prior and I wont even go there about CGC and all the waiting that is involved. Heck Kenny is restoring a book for me he has had since March. Waiting is an every day part of this game. You obviously want your books and want them right now. Try telling yourself that they are yours when you pay or submit them. Possesion need not be so physical. People often sell books they dont have cause they are at CGC. It seems you may be blocked from buying from this seller, maybe no big deal. Neutral feedback, while you think it may be less than Neg still carries the same weight and can remove/reduce a sellers 20% discount. Thats why he is pizzed.

 

Yeah I did think long and hard about it before leaving a neutral as I know it effects their livelihood.

 

I don't want my books now, I have a few books still out in the wild that I bought last year which have still not returned. What I do want is good communication and not telling me you will ship a book and then not doing it and general crummy customer service.

 

Did you pay separately for shipping or was it part of the price?

 

While there isn't really a difference, my gut instinct tells me that is a bit too long to sit on a book if someone has shelled out $20 or whatever for priority mail shipping.

 

OTOH, do they have a "handling time" in their terms? I know I usually can't get to things right away, run out of supplies, etc. and include, I think, a five day handling time to give me a few days to get my sh**t together and put the buyer on notice (aside from the notice in my sales descriptions saying I am not a fast shipper) that this is part of the price (as I generally had free shipping on my ebay stuff).

 

honestly, i dunno, a "1" on shipping time probably does more damage than a neutral, but I don't know ebay's sytem

 

 

I am not sure how it works either but I have heard from sellers that they can get messed up pretty good by those 1-5 rankings. A lot of sellers have gone to working shipping cost into the item and giving "free" shipping because that removes the ability to rate their shipping on the 1-5 scale.

 

Maybe it's just me, but as soon as I am paid, I treat the item as if it isn't mine any more and I move to get it out as fast as I can and as a priority above other things. If I run into a problem or run out of materials I am emailing (or PMing) several times to let the person know. Communication can solve almost all these problems. Given this seller's reaction he's not so good at the communication thing.

 

Spot on seller has three other neutrals and a negative from this year for communication related issues and one other neutral for slow shipping.

 

I think this case was borderline and I should have given the benefit of the doubt.

 

Oh well you learn.

[youmechooz]

as a seller, i feel you did the right thing. a neutral doesn't hurt and they shouldn't have handling time at 2 days if they cant meet it. a neg would be too strong, a neutral is fine.

[thunsicker]

People have good intentions and sometimes life gets in the way.

 

Shipping within 2 weeks of an order is not out of the ordinary. If I have to wait two weeks for an order from eBay i'm not losing sleep over it.

 

Of course life gets in the way. However, that's where communication comes into play. If I sold you a book and told you that it would ship within three days and then it was two weeks later, you still didn't have the book and I never contacted you to tell you why there would be a delay, you are saying you'd be okay with that? I sure wouldn't.

 

As I understand it, the OP was told the comic would ship within two days. It didn't and the seller didn't say why. The OP contacted the seller and was told that the comic would ship that day. It didn't. Wasn't shipped until four days after that. Sorry, that's poor service. Am I going to lose sleep over it? No, but let's call it what it is, bad service.

 

+1 I wouldn't leave a neutral for that shipping, but I might for that godawful communication. You can't ship it out right now? Let me know. When I contact you it's going to be four days until you can reach the post office? Just tell me.

[comix4fun]

Waiting for comic books just to put them away never got to me. Waiting for clink or HA to ship something I had won and paid a month prior and I wont even go there about CGC and all the waiting that is involved. Heck Kenny is restoring a book for me he has had since March. Waiting is an every day part of this game. You obviously want your books and want them right now. Try telling yourself that they are yours when you pay or submit them. Possesion need not be so physical. People often sell books they dont have cause they are at CGC. It seems you may be blocked from buying from this seller, maybe no big deal. Neutral feedback, while you think it may be less than Neg still carries the same weight and can remove/reduce a sellers 20% discount. Thats why he is pizzed.

 

Yeah I did think long and hard about it before leaving a neutral as I know it effects their livelihood.

 

I don't want my books now, I have a few books still out in the wild that I bought last year which have still not returned. What I do want is good communication and not telling me you will ship a book and then not doing it and general crummy customer service.

 

Did you pay separately for shipping or was it part of the price?

 

While there isn't really a difference, my gut instinct tells me that is a bit too long to sit on a book if someone has shelled out $20 or whatever for priority mail shipping.

 

OTOH, do they have a "handling time" in their terms? I know I usually can't get to things right away, run out of supplies, etc. and include, I think, a five day handling time to give me a few days to get my sh**t together and put the buyer on notice (aside from the notice in my sales descriptions saying I am not a fast shipper) that this is part of the price (as I generally had free shipping on my ebay stuff).

 

honestly, i dunno, a "1" on shipping time probably does more damage than a neutral, but I don't know ebay's sytem

 

 

I am not sure how it works either but I have heard from sellers that they can get messed up pretty good by those 1-5 rankings. A lot of sellers have gone to working shipping cost into the item and giving "free" shipping because that removes the ability to rate their shipping on the 1-5 scale.

 

Maybe it's just me, but as soon as I am paid, I treat the item as if it isn't mine any more and I move to get it out as fast as I can and as a priority above other things. If I run into a problem or run out of materials I am emailing (or PMing) several times to let the person know. Communication can solve almost all these problems. Given this seller's reaction he's not so good at the communication thing.

 

Spot on seller has three other neutrals and a negative from this year for communication related issues and one other neutral for slow shipping.

 

I think this case was borderline and I should have given the benefit of the doubt.

 

Oh well you learn.

 

 

 

He exceeded his own shipping estimate by over 550% without a word to you as to when, or why....I think he blew past the borderline somewhere around Albuquerque.

[The-Collector]

Having read some of your posts and after a few PM's, you are kinda wound up tight sometimes.

Personally - I wouldn't have left anything, and decided if I wanted to buy again on a book to book basis.

Was the book how you wanted?

If so, what's a few days extra?

Is the seller a big feedback number? Some of these guys, as you know, regard $500 books as run of the mill stuff.

2 weeks to ship, if your book was ok, isn't the end of the world. Not to me anyway.

Maybe... but the OP already said the guy's listing stated a two day turnaround. If you can't or aren't going to stick to it then don't declare it. Even if $500 books are "run of the mill" to the seller it doesn't justify the way it was handled.

 

Agreed. When a seller sets an expectation (as this seller did by stating that shipping will be within two days), then buyers will look for the seller to live up to that expectation. Good customer service is all about setting expectations and meeting or exceeding them.

 

If you say that you will deliver something within four days and you deliver that something in two days, you have exceeded expectations. This usually results in a happy customer.

 

If you say that you will deliver within four days and you deliver in six days, you have failed to meet expectations. This usually results in an unhappy customer.

 

I would have been fine with an 11 day shipping time, if told that at the beginning or even at the 7 day mark if they had shipped on the day they said they would.

 

Also, maybe I am just too young and impatient.

 

From this experience I will raise my neutral threshold.

 

Disappointing conclusion. You did the right thing by letting other buyers know your experience with this seller was less than satisfactory. I'm amazed at how many of these threads there are where a seller misbehaves and people pile on to say you should still leave positive fb.

 

This a guy who responded to you with obscenities and you're sorry you left neutral feedback? Really?

 

Well I will go with established norms for feedback. So if the standard is a neutral is to be used for serious customer service failures I will shift to that. At least then all the neutrals will mean the same thing. and I can use the DSRs to rate my experience.

 

The guy is a person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed but I am pretty empathetic and when someone reacts strongly to something I usually ask why. In this case their business is important to them and so I don't want to be unfair in my practices.

 

[the blob]

If it didn't deserve a neutral to start with (and, honestly, as someone who has gotten dinged badly for slow shipping, even i do communicate with folks when I am behind and with a $500 book after 2-5 days he should have sent an e-mail saying "sorry, we're really backed up" or some such something), his response warrants leaving it all alone. All caps profanities are not going to get someone to change their mind, trying to be courteous might (though i have to say that last time i tried that it just enraged the guy more... but I'm pretty sure he was manic or bipolar)