Beware of this eBay seller: mushroomcathy [OT]



#2

She sold me a Sharp calculator that was described as having some "loose wire" and worked before, sold for parts, but it arrived having missing parts (printer cover), leaked LCD, badly corroded betteries...

I give a neutral feedback on her and she puts a negative on me!!! Plain unfair!!!!

Sorry to bother you all with this, I thing that I'm ranting for my 1st negative feedback... Please feel free to delete this message.

Best regards,

Nelson

(12345 to Delete)


#3

4 negatives and 8 neutrals in the past year. That should have been a clue. Percentages are not all they are cracked up to be. I put more faith in recent feedback and what people say, more than a mere percentage.

There is someone selling a 9114B right not on ebay that cut-and-pasted exactly from one of my auctions. They cut all except that part that talked about the battery. Why? Because the 9114B they are selling is without a battery pack at all. Is that disclosed? No! That is decption by omission. How did I find out? I asked about it, since I knew they omitted that part.

Too many sellers are failing to disclose problems and fall back on "you should have asked." I call that deception by omission.

Always ask specific questions and demand detailed answers. If you receive no reply or vague answers, assume the worst.

HP Buying Tips

Edited: 22 Jan 2004, 2:20 a.m.


#4

I remember that this item I found lasting only 30 minutes to end the auction and was very cheap... There wasn't time to ask questions! Next time I will not bid on such a hurry.

I already read your tips and other tips here on the museum. Generally I have more caution, but that item was *very* cheap (about US$3). If I know...

I allways follow your auctions, they are very good but I only watch, as I haven't much $$$ on my budget now.

(I'm still dreaming of one HP-97 and HP-71!)

Best regards,

Nelson

#5

I was the seller of this item, if you would look at the description it clearly says "I am selling this item AS IS, mostly for the parts that are with it. . . . What you get is the calculator, the original book, and a spare ribbon unopened in original packing."

Buyer did get more than a broken calculator, he got a new ribbon.

Buyer did NOT contact me about his dissatisfaction, the cover was there, and the calculator did work but probably needed a new battery. If he wanted anything other than parts he should have bought a new one.

All this for $3.24!


#6

Quote:
I was the seller of this item, if you would look at the description it clearly says "I am selling this item AS IS, mostly for the parts that are with it. . . . What you get is the calculator, the original
book, and a spare ribbon unopened in original packing."

You left out something from your auction description, which makes the above quote misleading. What it actually said was:

Quote:
I am selling this item AS IS, mostly for the parts that are with it, unless you are an electrical whiz and know how to rewire. This calculator worked great, until one of the wire to the adapter piece came off. I do not know how to make it work.

What you get is the calculator, the original book, and a spare ribbon unopened in original packing.


This clearly implies that the broken wire is the only problem, and that it is a parts-only machine unless this wire is "rewired."

Did the LCD leak? If so, it should have been mentioned in your description.

Were the batteries corroded? If so, it should have been mentioned in your description.

What concerns me the most is that you responded to neutral feedback with negative feedback! Feedback is supposed to indicate whether or not someone lived up to the terms of a transaction; it's not for retaliation because you didn't like what he said in your feedback. If the buyer paid the correct amount in a reasonable time there was no reason to leave negative feedback. That in itself would be reason enough to keep me from bidding on any of your auctions.


#7

I agree. In fact, I feel the seller should always leave feedback first (this is seldom done). That way more accurate feedback can be registared.

I always look at feedback before I bid. And I look at the retalitory feedback. I don't mind seeing a negative or two on the sellers feedback. In fact, if there is a followup, and he left positive or no retalitory feedback on the buyer, I feel much better, than a clean feedback. This tells me how the seller will behave if something goes wrong. The flipside is if he leaves negative feedback, but was paid ie Exactly what Mushroomcathy did, I would never bid on their auctions. Newbies are all that will bid (not always a bad thing for sellers though), and therefore their items won't bring the best price for them.


#8

Quote:
I agree. In fact, I feel the seller should always leave feedback first (this is seldom done). That way more accurate feedback can be registared.
In a perfect world I'd agree. But there are a great many bidders who use feedback to "get their way." Some people threaten negative feedback, for many reasons other than discription errors. Bidders threaten to give seller negative feedback:
  • if they don't accept a return (even though it may be stated no returns in the auction),
  • they threaten negative feedback for buyers remorse,
  • they even threaten negative feedback to renegotiate a price after an auction is won

Another person said

Quote:
If the buyer paid the correct amount in a reasonable time there was no reason to leave negative feedback.
That is not the only reason to leave negative.
  • What if the bidder demanded a chargeback and didn't return the same item? I think he deserves a negative for that.
  • What if the seller accepts a return, and the bidder swapped a bad part for a good part? I think that deserves a negative.
The transaction is complete when both sides are happy OR when there is a breakdown in communications and nothing can be resolved. That is the point at which feedback should be left.

In this case, the seller admits that the buyer was just mistaken or misread the auction. That doesn't warrant a negative.

"As is" should never let someone off the hook for failure to disclose the actual truth of the item. If the seller, said absolutely nothing about the condition and used "as is" that is buyer beware. But if the seller disclosed some flaws, then they MUST disclose ALL flaws or it is deception "by omission", in my opinion.

Having said all of this, I find it hard to believe that either party is this bent out of shape over $3.00. But, I guess there is a principle at stake here.


Edited: 22 Jan 2004, 9:59 a.m.

#9

There is more that was left on the description:

* Broken plastic supports
* Missing screws
* Paper/label glued (strong glue!) all on the back
* The battery wires are corroded also, as some part of the PCB
* Leaked LCD display (already mentioned)

I was able to put it to work, but the display is only 2/3 readable. As the unit was opened by someone and left opened, the seller could tell the state of the battery.

I found the printer cover, it was wrapped on paper and I thought it was only filling stuff (my luck that I don't threw away the garbage!). My mistake.

But as was said, it isn't more about the item, is about the behavior of the seller. Ok, I was silly enough to haven't readed the other feedbacks. I wasn't the only that put a neutral one and received a negative!

I sold once on eBay, and when the buyer paid I wrote a positive feedback even before I posted the item. And I'll continue to do that.

It is all about trust. The buyer is allways on the weak side of the rope. We pay in advance and wait for the item to arrive - even months - and when the item wasn't that we are waiting, it is very frustrating. I'm shure that I'm not the only one with this feeling.

Best regards to all, and good luck to Cathy and much more luck to her buyers.

Nelson

#10

Hi Nelson,

Sorry to hear about that. I must say, out of 7 e-bay calculator purchases, only two of the deals ended up with the calculator equaling or bettering my expectations. The other 5 were not quite there: one was outright wrong and NFG--the seller preemptively threatenedd me with legal action should I give him negative feedback! One other deal the seller made a mistake and refunded me and apologized. So really only 3/7 deals were truly equitable. The other 4 are ok, but the condition of the machine is not quite right---but not wrong from the description, if you know what I mean.


So, I am not to happy with e-baying now--at least not with calculators. With housewares and toys, I have had no problems.


But Mike is absolutely right--one has got to really know what the seller is like. I know that with the deals I did that went bad I had been impetuous in the bidding--and later found that by doing more research after the fact, I could see that I should not have bid.

I have taken to looking not only at the recent feedback, but actually "drilling" through their feedback to see where they bought stuff, or if they only sell with that account, to see what else they are selling. I trust the accounts that both buy/sell more than the sell only accounts. I wonder if others feel the same way?

But let me stress that I am not an "experienced" ebayer---rather, I am prematurely "wizened".


regards,

Bill


#11

I have had good luck with eBay. My last calculator purchase was at least 2 years ago though. Only 1 item was described wrong. The seller described the calc as a 41CV but it turned out only to be a C. However, the calc was in very good condition with only a little wear on the rubber feet. I only let him know that he should look at the item a bit better before putting up an auction. We ended up leaving positive feedback for each other. Though I was a bit down about it being the wrong calc I was not mad or totally upset and I still ended up getting a nice calc.

#12

Quote:
I must say, out of 7 e-bay calculator purchases, only two of the deals ended up with the calculator equaling or bettering my expectations.
I think this is quite common. I am receiving more and more items that have deliberate deception. I've been doing ebay for a couple of years and I now see a rise in deception. I see auctions all the time that I know for a fact are misleading people or misstating the condition. I always ask questions, always!

It is sometimes hard to find all the negatives, on wholesale sellers. Too many to check. However, there is software you can get that will bring up all negatives for a seller or bidder. It will do the work for you.

Another thing to check is the percentage of return bidders. You can check that by comparing the "unique" feedback bidder # to the total feedback number.

Edited: 22 Jan 2004, 10:20 a.m.


#13

"I am receiving more and more items that have deliberate deception. I've been doing ebay for a couple of years and I now see a rise in deception. I see auctions all the time that I know for a fact are misleading people or misstating the condition. I always ask questions, always!"

I agree totaly, the same is happening on ebay.co.uk. You can often tell far more by HOW a question is answered more than the actual answer, if they even bother to send a reply!

I think ebay could improve if they demanded the seller indicate (by way of a yes / no check box) that photo's are of the actual item. I've seen many listings where it is up to the buyer to guess or ask if the photo is of the actual item (even then they can be given the wrong answer).

#14

The following link takes you to a seller who has listed machines past and present:

http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=nesbilt&items=200&page=5&frompage=-1&item=-1&de=off

Although he has almost all positive feedback, you will notice that when he has negative feedback, he does two things in almost every case:


1. He counter-attacks the buyer with negative feedback


2. He makes disparaging remarks regarding the buyer's "experience" e.g. "Newbie" doesn't read etc. etc.

3. I never see any effort to ameliorate or make right.

Maybe he really is right---just brutally honest about his feelings.

This is a judgement call. But to me, it seems that he must be working the gray area often enough. But in the end, it's a judgement call!

Regards,

Bill


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