I mainly sell used model train buildings. I go out of my way to identify who made the building and provide the kit number whenever possible. On top of that I go over the buildings and identify any issues I an see. I compare them with other buildings and let the buyer know what if anything may be missing. This way my buyers can have good idea as to what they will be receiving and if the building will work for what ever project they are working on.
For 3 or 4 years I had a stellar record of nothing but positive feedback plus when every a buyer has a reasonable problem I have always worked with them to resolve the issue . A little over a year a go I got a set of multiple N scale buildings. 1 of the buildings seamed a little large for N scale and was only a side of a building. Some models will cut buildings in half and place them against a wall as a back drop so it looks like there is a row of complete buildings against the wall but are just the fronts or sides so there is a little more detail then a wall painted like there is just a sky line.
When I researched the building I found it to be a small side building for a engine shed. I originally thought it may be HO scale instead on N scale. I found the manufacture had the same style building for both N and HO scale. I dug through worth point and found a image of the N scale building with a ruler laid right in front of the portion of the building I had on hand. The dimension in the picture measured out to exactly what I had on hand. I did a little closer inspection on the doorway on the building I had on hand. While it was taller than a normal N scale door the width was way to small for a HO scale door. While normally a door will be the same size as a figurine for that scale industrial buildings will have larger doors so that not only people can use them but equipment and supplies can be brought in through them.
I listed the building as a N scale and completely disclosed every thing about how it came with N scale buildings but originally I thought it may be a HO scale building used as a back drop. I disclosed that I identified it as part of a engine shed and included the kit number. I also included the image from worth point showing the building was the same size as the verified full N scale version. I still warned that the door was a little large and even though it was taller than normal N scale I stated that I feel it is N scale but still stressed it may be HO as I do not have the full complete building. I did not sell it for a lot of money only like 4 or 5 dollars. With engine shed you can take multiple kits and combine them to make wider or longer buildings. So selling it cheep would let a buyer expand their current building.
A little while later a buyer bought the item and I shipped it. about a month later they left me natural feedback saying they thought I misidentified it as N scale they said the door was way to big for N scale. I chose not to respond as the buyer did not ask me fore a refund and in this case I would have worked with them or possible just cut my loses and issued the refund and not paid for a return label. Since the feedback showed the eBay listing id with the blue link I figured other buyers could click and if really worried see I actually disclosed the issue the buyer was talking about and that I said originally I thought it was HO and why I listed it as N scale. Because of all this I did not want to be petty and look like I was arguing with the buyer and left my feed back record speak for it self a couple of hundred positive to 1 neutral was fine with me and most buyers who look at my descriptions of items I am selling under the train sections of my store will see I go above and beyond to inform them of condition of the item being listed. After 1 year the neutral dropped off and from what I can tell did not effect my sells.
Sometimes you got to pick your battles and as I stated in the last post if you do reply do not get personal and stick to facts about what you did to fix the issue so that you will not look worst to potential buyers.
mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
