What I Recently Learned About Ebay Sellers

[treborefir]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a beautiful Visconti Opera Club on Ebay. It was advertised as a medium but the seller had others with various nibs. I like a stub so I messaged them re availability and received no reply. The bidding went on and I won the pen. With my acceptance I again asked about a nib swap and again got no reply. They sent the pen and it is beautiful but came with the medium nib. I ended up sending the pen to Pendleton Brown and he made it a great stub.

 

Now comes the annoying part. I gave the seller a neutral feedback because he didn't answer my queries and I felt that was rude. So, time goes by and I feel the need to get an Opera Master and they happen to have one for sale and I try to bid on it and find that they have blackballed me and I can't bid on anything they have up for auction! I looked over their ratings and see that anyone who complains is called a liar and blocked from bidding! I called Ebay and while the customer service rep was very nice and sympathetic she said that there is nothing to be done but purchase from somewhere else. I pretty much am furious that a seller can blackball a person for giving other than positive feedback so I thought I would mention that I will not purchase from Italianpens ever again!

 

By the way, I found a really good deal with Bryant! :-)

[WendyNC]

Lou has done that to a number of people around here. I don't happen to be one of them, but it's consistent with the little I know of him.

 

He's also a bit of stinker in that he apparently doesn't give feedback to a repeat buyer.

 

And then there was the time his shipping folks sent the wrong pen. Right model, wrong color. The exchange about it was civil and it was made right, except that he agreed to refund me my return shipping and then, on his own, decided that instead of refunding the cost, he'd "make it up to me" by "upgrading" the box. A different box didn't do me a bit of good, but by then, I'd read about his reputation and decided it wasn't worth the fight.

[mineiro]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is definitely useful.

While I have no experience at all with this seller, I have been tempted several times. In the end I didn't dare to buy from him as a little search on this forum delivered quite mixed results.

I only buy from people that have a strong reputation here. Usually I let them know that I am an FPN reader and this has kept the number of disappointments very low.

[sanpei]

Giving a neutral at the seller, you damaged it,

Ebay do not allow place neutral or negative FB to buyers,

so only way of seller's defense was to block your nick,

is a normal behaviour to avoid problems in the future,

from a person that classified you as a timewaster

 

S

[treborefir]

Giving a neutral at the seller, you damaged it,

Ebay do not allow place neutral or negative FB to buyers,

so only way of seller's defense was to block your nick,

is a normal behaviour to avoid problems in the future,

from a person that classified you as a timewaster

 

S

The seller refused all attempts to contact him. He complained that I did not send the messages but I had the Ebay messages saved in my computer. He is basically calling me a liar when I had the proof but couldn't defend myself. How could I be classified a "timewaster" when all I did was buy a pen and ask a question???

[79spitfire]

Giving a neutral at the seller, you damaged it,

Ebay do not allow place neutral or negative FB to buyers,

so only way of seller's defense was to block your nick,

is a normal behaviour to avoid problems in the future,

from a person that classified you as a timewaster

 

S

The seller refused all attempts to contact him. He complained that I did not send the messages but I had the Ebay messages saved in my computer. He is basically calling me a liar when I had the proof but couldn't defend myself. How could I be classified a "timewaster" when all I did was buy a pen and ask a question???

I understand the frustration, but like you pointed out, you made a better deal by moving on.

[Ghost Plane]

There's a long history of that there. You'll do better elsewhere.

[fabrimedeiros]

Giving a neutral at the seller, you damaged it,

Ebay do not allow place neutral or negative FB to buyers,

so only way of seller's defense was to block your nick,

is a normal behaviour to avoid problems in the future,

from a person that classified you as a timewaster

 

S

The seller refused all attempts to contact him. He complained that I did not send the messages but I had the Ebay messages saved in my computer. He is basically calling me a liar when I had the proof but couldn't defend myself. How could I be classified a "timewaster" when all I did was buy a pen and ask a question???

 

Thanks for sharing! This is outrageous!

[jar]

Giving a neutral at the seller, you damaged it,

Ebay do not allow place neutral or negative FB to buyers,

so only way of seller's defense was to block your nick,

is a normal behaviour to avoid problems in the future,

from a person that classified you as a timewaster

 

S

The seller refused all attempts to contact him. He complained that I did not send the messages but I had the Ebay messages saved in my computer. He is basically calling me a liar when I had the proof but couldn't defend myself. How could I be classified a "timewaster" when all I did was buy a pen and ask a question???

 

So waste no more time. Move on and buy elsewhere.

[Yuki Onitsura]

I'd suggest being very careful about checking seller feedback and making sure your questions are answered to your satisfaction before bidding. That said, if Bryant has it in stock, the price will usually be better anyway and the service is top notch. Live and learn, I suppose.

 

Yuki

[camoandconcrete]

I was nervous about buying from him but I did in the end as I was able to get the oversized Divina Black for around 375 from him. Its been months now and he has not left feedback.

[KrazyIvan]

I had a situation where I was black balled even before I placed a bid or had any dealings with the seller, I thought. It puzzled me. I decided to reach out to the seller and was able to plead my case. I had asked some questions on an item or made an offer before ever biding on his items and he did not like feedback he saw on my profile. I have two negatives from sellers that burned me. Fortunately he was receptive and I was able to get a pen I was looking for.

[JonSzanto]

I'd really ask that the OP or a Mod change the title of this thread. What the OP learned was about one eBay "Seller", not plural. There are still good people out there, and the thread title is erroneous, while true to the fact that this particular seller was a galaxy-class (bleep).

[amble63]

I'd really ask that the OP or a Mod change the title of this thread. What the OP learned was about one eBay "Seller", not plural. There are still good people out there, and the thread title is erroneous, while true to the fact that this particular seller was a galaxy-class (bleep).

 

or this thread could just be merged with the one or two that already exist about Italianpens! The guy is notorious. Having said that, I have purchased probably 4 or 5 pens from him without issue. I even got feedback twice!

[Ghost Plane]

Moving this thread to Market Watch

YOUR MODERATOR

[river1]

There have been problems with receiving items purchased from Italy and complaints about the mail. You may be lucky to have received the item.....buyer beware...

[treborefir]

I'd really ask that the OP or a Mod change the title of this thread. What the OP learned was about one eBay "Seller", not plural. There are still good people out there, and the thread title is erroneous, while true to the fact that this particular seller was a galaxy-class (bleep).

 

My reasoning for using the plural was that I didn't know that a seller could blackball or block a bidder. Of course there are wonderful sellers on EBAY, myself included :ltcapd: . So I did learn about sellers and what they could do.

[bugmd]

I have bought several nice pens from this seller including some great deals on some moderately expensive pens. All of my deals have gone smoothly though I must admit I feel more comfortable once the pen is in hand. I am over the lack of feedback issue. Need to have some risk tolerance with the deal, if you are risk adverse then go to Bryant or a B&M shop.

[torstar]

Don't spend what you can't afford to toss away on ebay.

[crussell]

I guess I don't understand why you'd want to do business with somebody who didn't treat you professionally in the past. If two people aren't compatible, it seems like a really good thing that one can stop further transactions. I wish I could set up google to avoid showing results from shops I'm not not fond of.