Recently we've been buying items on eBay and we've learned some valuable lessons from the people who've sold us things...
Lesson #1: If the box is too small, DON'T MAKE IT FIT!
This guy FOLDED a tin beer sign, then put it in a box and mailed it to us. He was nice enough to refund the $15.50 winning bid, but I lost $8.30 on the deal. ($7.30 shipping plus $1.00 handling...I guess the extra $1.00 handling fee was for the guy to FOLD the tin sign?!)
Below are photos of the sign with the box that he shipped it in. We unfolded it to show the size of the sign in relation to the box size. Unfortunately, as anyone who's worked with metal or tin knows, once it's been folded there are permanent creases in it...making the sign of zero value and completely ruining its aesthetic value.
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Lesson #2: Carefully consider how to best leave feedback for sellers like this.
Being an avid eBayer, I pondered over whether I should leave feedback for this guy. After a month of pondering this question -- "Would I want to be aware of a potential problem prior to bidding?" And kept answering "yes", "Yes", and a resounding "YES!" I finally decided that the best route would be to leave neutral feedback just to make others aware of the lack of packing sense. Heck, maybe they could provide him with some pre-shipment packaging pointers if they chose to buy from him?
So, I finally left neutral feedback. His immediate response was to leave me negative feedback stating that the item was damaged during shipping and it was my fault for not purchasing insurance. Now, that's a pretty interesting response from the guy as the only way this sign could have been damaged in shipping is if the United States Postal Service opened his original flat package, folded the sign, and repackaged it in a too-small box! ...and between you and me, I find that scenario highly unlikely!
Unfortunately, the way eBay is setup, a bad seller can leave false statements and negative feedback against you. Thus, before you leave negative...or even neutral feedback...determine how to best represent yourself. Be sure to document how things arrived -- before you remove them from the box, after unpacking, etc. Document everything. Report the problem to eBay. And remember, that eBay's feedback line only allows 80 words, so use them WISELY. It's difficult for buyers/sellers to identify who's really in the wrong in less than 80 words.
Lesson #3: I'm hoping education will work
Support the cause, help this guy learn how to package items better. Buy something from him today...apparently it'll take more than 1500 items sold for him to learn how to package items that need to ship flat! View his listings and bid, bid, bid!
auction close date May-25-04 07:25:55 PDT