eBay

kcdogg · ‎09-19-2023

Well, I think I've received a bizarre first answer to a message I left for a seller with zero sales and zero feedback. I'm not a newbie on Ebay and have been buying since 2001 , 100% Positive feedback (218). I don't buy a lot, only what I want or need at the time.

Message I sent; Normally I don't buy from sellers who have a low or no feedback, but I'm tempted due to the price

Seller; I totally understand the concern. The reason I don’t have any feed back yet is because I haven’t made the required number of sales yet

mr_lincoln · ‎09-19-2023

@ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote:
@gosimus wrote:
@kcdogg

< a seller with zero sales and zero feedback [replied] ... I haven’t made the required number of sales yet >

Logical. The required number of sales that would qualify a member to receive "feedback as a seller" is one. You already said that he had zero. He could certainly have feedback as a buyer, but I think the context is about selling.

Messaging "Normally I don't buy from sellers who have a low or no feedback, but I'm tempted due to the price" was not necessary and, really, kind of weird. Why would you do that? Looking for assurance from the seller? If the seller were not legitimate, do you think he would admit it? Of course not, anybody who would steal would have no qualms about lying as well.

You know, that is EXACTLY like when buyers message me and say "is it authentic" or "is it real" or "do you guarantee it".

I mean, I understand there are times when listings say "I can't guarantee" or "we don't know for sure", or "we believe"... heck, I've wrriten those listings.

Ive had some recently ask me some odd questions like "do you GUARANTEE _____" ... I responded "yes" and buyer never purchased. My response seriously wanted to be "If I was being honest, the answer is yes. If I was lying, the answer is yes" ....

So much of guarantees and such people put out there are hot air. EBay's MBG supercedes it and really what is guaranteed and how? I don't get into that. I have a reputation. That should speak for itself, it sure speaks louder than anything I say about myself.

999 out of 1000 buyers do just fine buying from me. The 1 out of 1000 that need to hear some "reassuring" hot air, I could do without.

@ajs_coins_and_alchemy

My listing Descriptions say "Questions welcome" so unless the question is way out in left field I respond. But in many cases I agree with you that they never purchase. I did have one last week that resulted in 3 days of contemplation before I just added them to my BBL and moved on. I have a Silverplate Pattern book and the Buyer asked me for a picture of page 122 ...

-Checking their FB they had one in the last 6 months and all others were over a year ago

-They had FB as both Buyer and Seller

-Were they trying to identify a pattern and if so how in the world would they know that the pattern they were looking for was on page 122?

-Did they have the same book but that is missing page 122 and if I sent them a pic they would purchase?

-Did they have the same book but page 122 was damaged?

-Were they just trying to create busy work for a Seller just to see if they could get them (me in this case) to do something?

I thought about this off and on for 3 days and finally just put them on my BBL and laughed at myself for trying to second guess the reason(s) for such a random question from an extremely low activity account ...

But to your point, I get many questions on items that do not result in a sale ...

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

stephenmorgan · ‎09-19-2023

If a person has a equal number of Positive and Negative Feedbacks their score would be Zero but at least they have Feedback.

Not sure how far eBay will let it go but I have seen a -3 feedback score.

kathiec · ‎09-19-2023

@stephenmorgan wrote:
If a person has a equal number of Positive and Negative Feedbacks their score would be Zero but at least they have Feedback.

Not sure how far eBay will let it go but I have seen a -3 feedback score.

EBay hasn't counted feedback in seller metrics for years. What counts is MBG cases opened and defects.

ajs_coins_and_alchemy · ‎09-19-2023

Oh geez! Thankfully I generally don't get questions like that. I sell coins. Coins are not very technical. You get what you see, there is no page 122... or owners manual ... there is no concern of "do u offer a warranty in case it breaks down on me 11 months from now".

No, the questions I can stand are "Do you guarantee this to be authentic".

I had some sealed (envelope) proof sets. If anyone is familiar, the 1955-1964 proof sets, those manilla/yellow envelopes. Original government seal, unopened. Had a huge batch.... Someone who messaged me asked...

--------

"Do you GUARANTEE it is ORIGINAL sealed and has NEVER been opened"

-----------

I literally sat there and contemplated life for a while and went through a roller coaster of emotions. Like, I just bought this last week, it's been around for almost 60 years. What could someone have done to it in the last 60 years? It appears sealed. Not a single sign it has been opened. Very clean un-wrinkled envelope... the flap is perfectly intact. The paper is generally thin, no signs it was (carefully) opened and resealed because its perfectly sealed. I have pictures of all of this....

These are sold frequently. Its not like I'm the only person claiming to have these. There are kinda tons that remain. Not a huge mark up on them. They sell for a couple bucks more than open ones so not like crazy stuff.

What is a guarantee. How can I guarantee this. What do I know? What does he know? There is the MBG. I know I believe this to be sealed. Is anything true in this world? Is anything factual? I'm a scientist, I believe in evidence, but everything is still a "theory" because it's all our perspective and perception...

Does this buyer message EVERY seller like this? Would he message top major coin dealers like this? Does he walk into his grocery store and ask questions like this? Why me?..

Is this buyer really going to buy this? Is this buyer wasting my time? Will this buyer be trouble?

--------------

After all this serious life contemplation, I said "yes" and buyer never purchased. God Blessed!!! 😡

Side note: I seriously want to start asking buyers, like the ones who message requesting discounts or "whats your best price" on buy it now items w/o "Best Offer" ..... "do you do the same thing at the customer service counter at WalMart? Do you message your Amazon sellers? Do you do this at the grocery store?"

ajs_coins_and_alchemy · ‎09-19-2023

So theoretically a seller could have infinite negative feedback if sellers don't fail on metrics (buyers opening cases and defects and such)

Ok, so then the "limiting factor" here would be how many buyers continue to buy from the seller in an ongoing basis, enabling the potential further gain of negative feedback

Hmm ... interesting...

Challenge accepted? 🤔

buyselljack2016 · ‎09-19-2023

@kathiec wrote:
@buyselljack2016 wrote:
..........post 4
I've read Mud's post three times now and found absolutely nothing that mentions DSRs. All it mentions are the feedback stars everyone receives depending on their number of feedbacks received.

Thank you for the correction.

I did not read closely enough. My mind went directly to thinking "yellow stars" (perhaps they are actually gold) displayed in the DSR section that does not appear until after 10 seller feedback ratings, and not to the star in the feedback brackets ( ).

My apologies to @khetzel for confusion of post 4 , post 11, post 12.