Am I just a jerk or is e-bay full of crazy sellers.

pmlewis

I am not sure why this is bothering my so much but I just have to get some feedback on this one to prove I’m not crazy. I was thinking of bidding on this Hafler SE240 amp (160275963653) so I emailed this guy with a question. I thought it looked like the caps for the fuses on the back of the amp were missing but it turns out I was looking at the inputs. I guess my eyes aren’t what they used to be.:o Anyway, I get these nasty emails back from this guy and I don’t know why. Did I come off as jerk in my initial post and responses? I do not care about this deal, but for future reference I would like to know so I don’t blow any other deals. Also, when he said he blocked me, is that just for his auctions or now am I flagged in e-bay?

Dear audioandotherthings,

Hello.
From the picture it looks like the fuse caps are missing. Is that correct? Did you actually test the amp? Could you send me or post a picture that shows a closeup of the fuses and one of the binding posts.
Thanks,
Patrick
pmlewis


Dear pmlewis,

no that is not correct the unit works perfect and the fuse caps as you say are there you are now blocked i dont want youre bid period
- audioandotherthings


Dear audioandotherthings,

Wow, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. At no time did I ever intend to imply that you would sell defective merchandise. Many sellers on E-bay do not test there merchandise and I was just confirming that you did. I have a Hafler amp and an it has replaceable fuses on the back. I am not familiar with this model and wanted pictures to clarify what is on the back panel. Every other seller I have ever asked for more pictures has never had a problem with it. After reviewing the pictures in your posting again I see that that what I thought were fuse holders were just the input jacks. My mistake. In your post you encourage people to ask question and say "there are no dumb questions - only dumb answers". I do not understand the harsh tone of your response. I asked honest questions and expected a civil response. If you do not choose to deal with me that is your choice.
- pmlewis

Then he replied by e-mail. I copied and pasted it so as not to post his private e-mail. The caps are his.

HONEST QUESTION YEAH RIGHT YOU HAVE SO GOOD OF EYES YOU SEE THINGS THAT AREN'T THERE, AND YES YOU ARE A NEGATIVE PERSON SO YOU ARE NOW BLOCKED

bdaley6509

The line 'Did you actually test the amp?' probably ticked him off, but I agree, I think he over reacted.

sucks2beme

EBAY is full of dipsticks and crazies. There are a lot of guys making a living
hawking garage sale and pawn shop finds. A lot of guys on disability and
unemployment make ends meet with it. I find myself more and more leery
of EBAY for anything. That classic line, " I have no way to test this"
followed by other items for sale, like a source and a pre-amp. If you have
a source, pre, power amp and speakers for sale, you have a way to test them.
BS. They sell stuff untested because it's easier than testing
and posting the truth.

SolidSqual

First, his English is so bad that he's probably from China.
Second, he is so ready to defend himself, he's is probably a crook.
Third, www.audiogon.com

janmike

SolidSqual wrote: »

First, his English is so bad that he's probably from China.
Second, he is so ready to defend himself that he is probably a crook.
Third, www.audiogon.com

Took the words right out of my mouth. I stay away from ads like that one.

bobman1235

The WORLD is full of crazies. The internet just connects them all.

SolidSqual

janmike wrote: »

Took the words right out of my mouth. I stay away from ads like that one.

Thanks for fixing my grammar janmike. Hadn't had my cup of coffee yet.

vonnie123

Funny, the seller has pretty good feedback, but the response(s) to the question posed was way out of line. Good one to avoid.

SolidSqual

I've been to China on occasion and have noticed that it's difficult for them to gauge the tone of written English.

This is one of the deficiencies with internet communication. By its very nature, it's terse. Often the reader sets the tone of what he is reading with his own experiences and emotions. Unfortunately for you, these shortcomings of internet "talk" are further exacerbated by culture.

On the bright side, chances are you saved your shirt.

bobman1235

SolidSqual wrote: »

I've been to China on occasion and have noticed that it's difficult for them to gauge the tone of written English.

I was just having a conversation last night with a friend of mine who is trying to learn Chinese (Mandarin). The fact that they can communicate with EACH OTHER is amazing to me, let alone the fact that they can learn English when their language is just so vastly different than ours. ESPECIALLY written language. I truly cannot comprehend how such a vast population can subsist using traditional or simplified Chinese characters.

billbillw

What a jerk. You're better off not dealing with him. He's obviously got issues.

SolidSqual

Well, the characters kind of work like letters and words. Not really an alphabet. When I learned how to read simplified Mandarin it was definitely hard at first, but once you have about 3,000 to 5,000 characters memorized, then you can read almost any newspaper. That may seem like a lot, but with practice, it becomes like reading English. You get used to seeing groups of characters together and you just know what they mean.

demaples

I wouldn't fret over it. And yes there are plenty of idiots on ebay. Sunday I took a chance on a newb with low feedback rating and bid on and won some golf clubs really cheap. Paid the guy with paypal then got this email:

SIR I HAD PUT THE CLUBS ON ebay THINKING MY RESERVE WAS SET AT85.00DOLLARS NO.I DID START THE BIDINGAT 99CENTS ,BUT WANTED A RESERVE OF 85.00 DOLLARS . IM SORRY I DIDNT WANT TO SELL THEM FOR ONLY. $10.00 PLEASE DONT PUT A BAD REPORT ON MY EBAY ACCOUNT .I TRIED TO SENT A MESSAGE TO ebay REGARDING THE PROBLEM WE HAD .PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR ANY INFORMATION. THANK YOU AGAIN

I emailed back and told the idiot to just return my money. We'll see what happens.

mhardy6647

I think that the "value proposition" turned away from eBAY's favor a year or two ago.
I still peruse it occasionally, but hardly ever buy anymore. Never did have the chutzpah to sell there.

pmlewis

Thanks for the replies. I try to be fair in all my dealings and this just kind of threw me off a bit. When I communicate via the internet I try not to interpret any emotion into what I read and just go by what’s written. Obviously there are a lot of people who are not able to do that; this person must be one of them. I never thought that English may not be their first language.

I have to admit that when he said I was a negative person I lost it a bit. I always think of myself as a “glass half full” kind of person and realize how lucky I am for the good things that I have in my life. Not that I don’t work hard or anything, I just believe that you need put yourself in position to minimize the bad things in your life so when the opportunity arises I can make good things happen. Often times though this is much easier said than done.

Sorry if I got a little off topic.

Patrick

treitz3

Ah, the pleasures of Flea-Prey...........

reeltrouble1

And lest we ever forget

Paypal sucks.

RT1

treitz3

Amen.

janmike

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

And lest we ever forget

Paypal sucks.

RT1

Understatement of the year Ted.

bilbeau

Why does PayPal suck? I never had issues with them.

I do read the adds on Flea Bay carfully and look at the persons reviews. I also look at the shipping charges. Some of those charges are way way off base especialyy something from China. Whoa do they want some bank to ship stuff.

I try to buy stuff local using Craigs and then Flea Bay.

treitz3

bilbeau wrote: »

Why does PayPal suck?

Don't get me started on Flea-Prey or PayPal. Both are legalized criminal organizations. They don't give a rat's **** about the buyer or the seller, all they care about is their bottom line.

http://www.firemeg.com/ is another good one to catch up on all of the criminal activities.

Remember when the Flea-Prey/PayPal grid got breached and 15 members PRIVATE information remained on Flea-Prey's website for almost an hour? In violation of California law, somehow they were able to sweep this under the rug. The information collected by DOC, a number of resources including Flea-Prey's question and answer board were forwarded to the FBI at two different offices, CNN, the Washington Post, The Charlotte Observer, MSNBC, FOX News, Dept. of Homeland Security, The Wall Street Journal, (specifically Damian Paletta), and The Federal Trade Commission. National radio talk shows and Senators as well as Congressmen were advised to this activity as well.

The fact that 15 people have had SS#'s, mothers maiden names, Credit card information, passwords.....well here's the link to where this information was obtained...... http://firemeg.blogspot.com/ Be sure to scroll down and read the previous articles and the archives for a full take on the story.

More information can be found in the Tag Notes for '06 and '07 here... http://auctionguild.com/tagnotes.htm

WATCH THIS!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr_7--e5A1g
Now, are you getting the gist? I got more where this came from as well. This is just the TIP of the iceburg.

bobman1235

Here's a little tip for people - if you don't like the way a company does business, and want people to listen to you and take your opinion seriously, don't say outrageous things like "they're a legalized criminal organization." Most reasonable people see a phrase like that and instantly tune you out as a nutcase (which I'm sure you're NOT, I'm just saying you create the perception).

Overexaggerating your point when it's a GOOD and VALID point does you more harm than good.

SolidSqual

I actually thought the guys case was rather well laid out and the slip of "criminal organization" was a good way to demonize Paypal. Most people eat that stuff up.

This method is highly successful against most any big biz. "Big Oil" anyone? "Big Tobacco" "Walmart"

BaggedLancer

Don't like ebay? Don't use it.

Don't like paypal? Don't use it.

I use both and have never had an issue. Paypal makes selling things 10x easier for me so the fee is worth it. Never had an issue, even shipping internationally.

bilbeau

My feelings exactly.

I havnt had any issues so I use them. I have had issues with sellers and Paypal got my money back.

If I want to sell and dont like the fee I wont use them.

dragon1952

You probably could have worded your question differently. Like you admitted, it's hard to 'read into' written correspondence the manner in which it was actually meant.
"Did you actually test the amp?" can be interpreted in a very negative manner. In fact, it's hard to interpret it many other ways.
The seller has 3915 feedback at 99.6%. He says right in the ad, "THE UNIT WORKS GREAT AND SOUNDS SUPER A GREAT AMP FOR THE AUDIOPHILE , GUARANTEED OR YOU MAY RETURN FOR A REFUND". The guy deserves a hell of a lot of credibility for his feedback alone, and very few sellers....even good ones....will offer refunds. Were those super-sized pictures there originally or did he add them later? Because if you enlarge the pics you get as good of a view as you need. I'm assuming there have been no revisions in the ad because usually it will say so. I've got about 1000 Ebay transactions with 100% feedback and, although I certainly wouldn't ban someone or even respond in a nasty manner, I think I would at least point my feedback out and ask the bidder to please give me a little credit.

SolidSqual

dragon1952 wrote: »

You probably could have worded your question differently. Like you admitted, it's hard to 'read into' written correspondence the manner in which it was actually meant.
"Did you actually test the amp?" can be interpreted in a very negative manner. In fact, it's hard to interpret it many other ways.
The seller has 3915 feedback at 99.6%. He says right in the ad, "THE UNIT WORKS GREAT AND SOUNDS SUPER A GREAT AMP FOR THE AUDIOPHILE , GUARANTEED OR YOU MAY RETURN FOR A REFUND". The guy deserves a hell of a lot of credibility for his feedback alone, and very few sellers....even good ones....will offer refunds. Were those super-sized pictures there originally or did he add them later? Because if you enlarge the pics you get as good of a view as you need. I'm assuming there have been no revisions in the ad because usually it will say so. I've got about 1000 Ebay transactions with 100% feedback and, although I certainly wouldn't ban someone or even respond in a nasty manner, I think I would at least point my feedback out and ask the bidder to please give me a little credit.

Not to doubt your credibility or the guy we are discussing on ebay, but when I used to work in an anti-counterfeiting office, we often dealt with ebayers who were in a ring of counterfeiters that quickly bought items from one another for small sums with no real exchange of cash except to satisfy ebay fees. They did this hundreds of times in days to quickly build amazing feedback. Then they would scam the **** out of some unlucky person looking to buy some authentic wares.

Complete A'holes.

dragon1952

Yeah, no doubt, but those should be easy to spot by perusing the feedback.

SolidSqual

dragon1952 wrote: »

Yeah, no doubt, but those should be easy to spot by perusing the feedback.

Not at all, scammers are not stupid. Many are very good at the game. They cut and paste real feedback and even write some really good pages of fake feedback.

dh4645

what an idiot.
he's a ****

Fireman32

What are you trying to sell?