From: Steven P. Allen (spallen@rolemail.ccis.edu)
Date: Tue Mar 12 2002 - 09:30:41 PST
IMHO, there's no such thing as "excessive" S & H IF the seller is honest
about posting them UPFRONT. Then, it's the buyer's choice to bid or
not. (And before anyone flames me for charging too much for S & H, I
should point out that in only ONE sale I've ever made was the fee I charged
enough to pay for the shipping, much less the materials--I LOST money on
all the rest.)
I've only had one bad experience with a buyer: he bought via "Buy It Now"
but didn't pay, despite repeated promises to do so and many weeks'
chance. I didn't even bother leaving feedback on him just so as to avoid
his leaving negative for me. That was a conscience call that I'm not proud
of, but, at the time, I was simply anxious to have done with him.
Before feedback was tied directly to COMPLETED auctions only, some yahoo
left me a positive and emailed me telling me to do the same for him, just
because he wanted to get his rating (2) above ten. I did NOT respond in
kind, but I did notify eBay. I suppose that is was this sort of thing that
prompted them to tie fb to completed auctions.
My rating of 50 (no neutrals, no negatives) does not reflect a dozen or
more positive transactions. Some of them were auctions where I bought or
sold but the reserve price wasn't met. Since the auction must be
completed, even though we made a deal, we couldn't leave fb. Some of them
were deals made post-auction because the auction ended without a bid before
I (as a buyer) or the other guy (when I was the seller) could make a bid.
The rest are because I refuse to leave fb to a seller before he leaves it
to me (as buyer, and, yes, I ALWAYS post the buyer's fb when I get his $$$
). I don't get pushy about it; if the transaction is finished and the
buyer hasn't left any, I simply thank him or her for the item and go
away. Some get the hint and leave it, after which I ALWAYS go back and
leave some for them, but I never hear from most of them. While I jealously
guard my positive rating, I'm not interested in making it higher for it's
own sake.
YMMV,
Steve Allen
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