[time-nuts] another Ebay mixup

[Dr. David Kirkby]

John Miles wrote:
> I suppose the "Item as described" field could encompass packaging, but it
> seems too vague.  Ultimately, people (including myself) need to grow a pair
> and start leaving neutral/negative feedback for sellers who pack carelessly
> and/or deliver items that aren't the exact unit shown in the photos.
>
> -- john, KE5FX
>
>   
One (probably the main) problem with the feedback system is that if you 
ever sell, it is very dangerous to leave anyone negative, as they are 
very likely to retaliate and so reduce the selling price of items you sell.

I have one negative, which is a direct result of me giving the seller a 
negative, after he lied about his location (UK auction, in pounds, 
location as UK), but real location was the USA and ripped me off for 
postage - about 8 x what it cost him. Hence I am very reluctant to give 
a negative again.

More recently I bought a "new" 147 GB SCSI disk. It was shipped in a 
jiffy bag, so it it left in good order, it was almost certain to be 
damaged on arrival. Running a few utilities I found the disk had 47 days 
of use (hence not new), and had multiple bad sectors which were not 
present when it left the manufacturer - it had 1bout 600 when new, but 
had developed another 100 or so.

After some argument, the seller agreed to refund my money, but I said I 
wanted him to pay my costs (Paypal, postage etc). He then asks what sort 
of feedback would I leave if he refunded these. I agreed to leave no 
feedback. Truth is neutral might have been appropriate, with an 
explanation of the reasons, but I wanted my money back and I did not 
want a negative/neutral myself.

I've had other similar instances, where the feedback I gave (or did not 
give), was a result of possible retaliation.