I've done a little ebaying and so far things have gone well. In the spring I received a camera body from the UK and it didn't match the description. The seller refunded me £30 without any argument and I have a working body with a few scratches and a ding on the baseplate for about £15. I now have a 10* rating, no negative feedback -- which I shall avoid at all costs -- and am able to put 'Buy it now' prices on my offerings. I also add 5% when buyers use PayPal because they really are in this business for the money. Of course when foolish people steal my carefully written descriptions it makes me mad.
I have a load of stuff to sell and hope to get on with it as soon as my head stops spinning. I woke up on Friday and yawned in Technicolor. Being unable to stand. I made a pitiful sight. It was like being on a small boat in a storm and it went on all day and the next. Now I'm able to stand, but things are still going round and round. It may be a virus, it may be worse, but things are improving. Even Sonera's email servers are now sending mail once in a while. They claim a worm caused a 'denial of service' attack. Aino tells me that's what was reported on the news yesterday afternoon anyway. I'll get to the point now: In the past two buyers have contacted me after a sale asking for other stuff and I was able to oblige. I consider this quite legitimate since those items were never on eBay anyway. In a third case a man contacted me months after an item had failed to sell and bought it for a little more than the last bid. He used PayPal and so eBay got something out of it after all. Furthermore, I've met a lot of enthusiastic microscopists though eBay and am negotiating several deals for equipment that has not been offered on Auction -- yet. I've put up a gallery of pictures and refer people to them. Don _______________ Dr E D F Williams http://personal.inet.fi/cool/don.williams Author's Web Site and Photo Gallery See New Pages "The Cement Company from HELL!" Updated: August 15, 2003 ----- Original Message ----- From: "graywolf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 2:51 AM Subject: Re: Ebay > Well, maybe I was bit out of line in my comments. Sometimes I wish I had not hit > the send key quite so soon. I feel I could have been more diplomatic, but my > comments did reflect my reaction to your article. > > As to your #4, one who bids in a auction expects to either win or lose based > upon his bid. They do not expect someone to buy it out from under them in the > middle of the bidding. Think of how you would feel if you had made an honest bid > and someone had come along and made a private deal with the seller in the middle > of the auction. > > My limited experience with Ebay over a couple of years has been fundamentally > favorable. I have bought a couple of things that I would not have if I had seen > them up front, no one to blame there but myself. Once I was sold something so > far from what I considered honest expectations that I left negative feedback. > Once I got such bad vibes I decided to not go through with the deal and accept > the negative feedback myself. There have been a couple of items that were not > satisfactory up front, but we worked out a deal acceptable to both buyer and > seller. Mostly I have had no problems either buying or selling, and I kind of > think that matches most peoples experience with Ebay. > > Of course since I have sold a half dozen items on Ebay I see you you have > already discounted my opinion. Oh well... > > > > > Brian Dipert wrote: > > 1) I was a member of the list back when Pentax hosted it, and have again > > been a member for quite a few months. I'm not a prolific poster, mind you, > > but I've posted several times before. In fact, graywolf, I believe you and I > > have had private email correspondence within the last month or so, although > > I may be confusing you with someone else on the list > > 2) I 'thought' I very clearly admitted my blame for being talked into taking > > the transaction outside Ebay. I let emotion get the best of me. Please note > > that 'buy it now' (ie terminating the auction early within the Ebay system) > > was not an option, because the item had already received bids. > > 3) What I blame Ebay for was a system that so easily enables accounts to be > > hijacked, and allows those accounts (and other accounts listing identical, > > obviously fraudulent auctions) to remain active weeks or months after > > complaints are received. > > 4) I have absolutely no clue what you mean, graywolf, when you say that I > > tried to cheat other Ebay users. I resent being referred to as a 'con man'. > > > > It's funny. I wrote that editorial in mid-January. It ran six months ago, I > > think. The reader feedback was extensive, and overwhelmingly positive and > > supportive. The only negative comments I got were from folks who admitted > > that they (coincidentally?) were active Ebay sellers. > > > > I tried to educate this list to not repeat the mistake I made. I got slammed > > as a result. Fine. There'll be no more correspondence from me on this topic > > ============================== > > Brian Dipert > > Technical Editor: Mass Storage, Memory, Multimedia, PC Core Logic and > > Peripherals, and Programmable Logic > > EDN Magazine: http://www.edn.com > > 5000 V Street > > Sacramento, CA 95817 > > (916) 454-5242 (voice), (617) 558-4470 (fax) > > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Visit me at http://www.bdipert.com > > > > > > -- > graywolf > http://graywolfphoto.com > > "You might as well accept people as they are, > you are not going to be able to change them anyway." > >
