Ebay dilemma: Should I leave neutral/neg feedback?

[denverappraiser]

Date: 1/26/2009 6:30:30 PM
Author: glitterata

That really speaks to her character.

You are right, she is wrong. Bwwwttthh.

Her response speaks to her character and your comment speaks to yours. This is as it should be. Good job and congratulations on a lovely piece.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[partgypsy]

I do have to say despite the crack it is a beautiful piece, with alot of meaning behind it.
I also would not be sure exactly what to do in that situation where I wanted to both leave negative feedback and keep the piece.
It reminds me of my only negative feedback as a buyer. I purchased a video, which was defective. It ran part of the way through then stopped, and when I tried to rewind it it made a really strange noise and I was afraid it was going to mess up my vcr so I took it out. I emailed the seller that the video did not run, explaining what exactly had happened and willing to have exchange or refund and he said no returns, my fat or some such. So, for the first time I left negative feedback, something short like item was defective but seller would not refund money. And the seller then left a nasty (negative) feedback that "buyer watched the video two times and then tried to return it knowing ALL SALES ARE FINAL!" It bothered me almost more the inaccuracy of his statement than the negative feedback

 

[partgypsy]

Oh yeah, and this happened literally about a month before they instituted the seller''s no negative feedback rule. I contacted ebay about it and while they did ask me a bunch of questions what happened and gave me a gift certificate to use on ebay, stuck with that negative feedback.
But Glitterata, if this helps I''ve never had any problems purchasing off ebay since that incident so it doesn''t seem like sellers are discriminating against me because of 1 negative feedback.

 

[glitterata]

That''s good to hear, PG (about sellers still selling to you). But what an infuriating story! I bet buyers who read both of your feedbacks can tell you''re right and he''s lying.

Your story is exactly why ebay instituted its no-negs-for-buyers policy.

I wonder how ebay could change its feedback policies to make it work well. The changes they made still don''t seem to make dissatisfied people all that willing to tell their stories--look at all the advice I got in this thread telling me to leave a positive or say nothing at all.

 

[partgypsy]

It''s a tough call. Personally if what happened to you happened to me, I would be very tempted to leave a negative feedback. NOT because the piece wasn''t perfect, but you followed up with them on an email asking about the damaged and they LIED to you. That is what I find infuriating. We can argue whether it was intentional or not, but the fact that one photo was doctored made it seem they wanted to minimize/discount the damage to get a higher final bidding price. The whole thing does seem strange though why she would risk her good feedback score for just a few extra bucks.

 

[glitterata]

Yeah, it makes no logical sense. I think it must be something psychological--some combination of half-lies and self-deception, with only the occasional out-and-out lie thrown in when she''s made a mistake and feels threatened. As I got to know her better through email and by studying her other listings very thoroughly, I got the impression of someone who thinks of herself as more truthful than she actually is.

What made me decide to give her neutral feedback was when I caught her in an out-and-out lie--she told me she had zero neg or neutral feedback from buyers, whereas Toolhaus showed that she had four neutrals from buyers (as well as several negatives and neutrals from sellers). Four is not zero. And then when I called her on it, she spent several emails arguing that the people who left those neutrals had been wrong to do so, as if that made her lie into the truth. That convinced me that her M.O. was to believe whatever was most to her advantage, even if it didn''t happen to be true.

That could explain her insisting that what looked like a crack was really just a line, and what looked like a chip was really just a moisture mark, and what looked like photoshopping was really just the scanner. Maybe part of her knows as well as I do that it''s false, but another part thinks it''s true because it SHOULD be true, because it''s to her advantage for it to be true.

Her response to my feedback seemed like more evidence that that''s how her mind works.

Anyway, the whole thing was very interesting, and I''m not exactly sorry it happened. I ended up with a piece I love, for a price I could live with; I followed the good advice of Neil and others and ultimately felt good about having done the right thing; and I got to see a fascinating form of sneakiness at work.

She would make a great character in a novel.

I''m SOOOO glad I''m not related to her, though.