Here's one for insane shipping

[jlnsctt]

Hey Phil!

 

I would never argue that a seller does nothing or that their job is not hard. I would only say that I don't care.....at all........To use an analogy loosely based on one that Mathew2055 used. If I went to Mcdonalds, and they told me that I should not only buy the product, but pay for their shipping time and receiving over and above my Big Mac price, I would laugh at them and then leave.........They should have all of their needed "recoupable" expenses, built into the price of their Mac. If they don't,raise the selling price......don't add a second bill for transportation/handling/cooking/serving/cleanup of the Big Mac!!!!

When i do mail order from Sears(In Canada,not sure of US), i DO NOT pay some pigs idea of a handling charge......just shipping.

This is because a WELL RUN company realizes that you don't want to scare off potential customers with phony charges to scam a buck!!!!!!!

Oh, and yes, even someone who sells just a few items is still running a company of sorts......(just before some seller came on and told me he only sells out of goodwill or something).

Now, last but not least,without any offence taken please........A BUYER DOES NOT CARE ABOUT A SELLERS OVERHEAD OR COSTS. YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER SEE A BUYER CRY FOR A SELLERS WOES....YOU WILL PROBABLY JUST MAKE THEM BITTER BY CRYING ABOUT A POOR PROFIT MARGIN!!!!!IF YOU WENT TO WAL-MART AND THE PRESIDENT WAS AT THE CASH REGISTER COMPLAINING ABOUT COMPANY PROFITS, WOULD YOU CARE?????PROBABLY NOT< YOU WOULD THINK HE WAS A GLUTTENOUS PIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember once again sellers....You need your buyers more than we need you!!!!!!!!!

Best Regards, Julian Scott

[Philflound]

You seem a little obnoxious about your tone. Ok, YOU don't give a damn about sellers, but you know what? I do. If I'm a buyer, I want to keep great business terms with a seller. If I have a successful business transaction with a seller, I hope that in the future I will have other successful transactions with said person.

 

When you have a good relationship with someone and don't treat them like shit like some people do, you can actually benefit from it. Like maybe you'll be given the first chance at buying something before they sell it to the public, or maybe you'll get a discounted price.

 

I never agreed that high shipping prices were good. And yes, I've turned down bidding on many items because of high shipping prices, but don't knock a seller who charges high shipping because of one fact. Sears or all these OTHER mail order places you see on tv such as videos, cd collections, or the orange cleaner, or rug cleaner, or whatever charge HIGH prices. Something like $7.95 s&h. You don't see people complain about their charges do you?

 

So while you sit in your little room with your small collection hoping to find that cartridge with the cheap shipping, there are collectors like me making deals and increasing their collection to a sizable one. And I'm doing it in a friendly manner, not like the stance you are taking.

 

If sellers read what you wrote that you don't give a damn about them, they won't want to deal with you, because what you fail to understand is that there are MILLIONS of buyers out there. You are just one in the whole world, and you know what? They DON'T need you.

 

Phil

[jlnsctt]

Phil

 

Read my first post. IE If enron can fall so can Ebay.

 

 

Now, if you check my feedback on Ebay, you will see I have good relationships with my sellers. I never once said I had any PERSONAL problems with sellers. Only business problems.

Am i hot about some of the bad sellers? yes.

Do I hate them personally ? No.

Only their business ethics.

Now Phil. I did not slam you either, why would you slam me? You have no idea what type of collection I have, nor what ive spent on it.

As far as mail order goes, the only one I use is Sears...and i will RESTATE to you..there is no HANDLING charge.

 

One last thing before you go spewing your mouth off again Phil.

I do have a fairly extensive knowledge of customer service. I have 2 seperate Canadian business diplomas as well as a bachelor of science degree....I am currently a customer service sales specialist for Telus Mobility in Canada. I cover a geographical area that is huge. All of Saskatchewan , Manitoba. Check a Canadian map for size....Approximately 1/5 the size of the USA.

My job(in a nutshell) is to go to retail outlets for our company, and make sure that CUSTOMERS are being treated fairly, both in pricing and by employees.....I work with a large number of employees as well, making sure the company is working for them, and with them.

Now , from 20 years business experience, I would find it hard to believe that any seller would turn down my money, if I went through a transaction properly.....I would have to say, that if any seller banned me from their auctions after reading this, that their reason for doing so at best would be spite, at worst would be predjudice.

 

Last, but not least phil, I will reiterate, that I did not attack you PERSONALLY as you did to me,,,,Funny, ive read piles of posts by you, and ive never seen you do this.....must be a "hot" topic for you as well.

 

 

ps I will not even stoop as low as responding to your "bedroom comment"

But will mention that I have 5 bedrooms in my 3200 sqr ft house, and it is mine, not my parents. And before you judge, I really think I can afford whatever little video games my heart desires.

Best Regards, Julian Scott

[jlnsctt]

As an addendum to my post, I should add, that when you reply to a post...You should actually READ the post. I did not say that I do not give a damn about sellers...Only that I do not care about their fees, gripes etc. Just as I am sure a seller DOES NOT give a damn about how I get money to pay them...Just that I DO pay them!

IE When I buy a "Gidget"(made up product, for analogies sake) from Wal-Mart, They do not complain to me at the counter that the product cost them so much to deliver to me ,because of ...Import fees,taxes,packaging,bi-lingual labelling(Canada)etc etc etc. They sell me the product with a smile on their face(usually LOL) knowing that all of these costs have been recouped in the ticket price...There is no second bill consisting of what they think their time is worth,or what fees they had to pay the manufacturer.

So, I conclude with, why not up your opening bid to recoup your time, if you must....Not jack the shipping up 6X what it really cost.......Hey, maybe the seller will take MY time of the auction into account? What do ya' figure about that? Perhaps I could deduct the price of the stamp/money order and my handling time/bank fees out of the final auction price!!!!Ludicrous you say? probably. So are a lot of the "handling fees" out there.....

[Philflound]

Well, for someone with so much money and experience, I'm surprised you cry over a couple of dollars. And it seems you contradict yourself as to what your motives are. You say you as a buyer don't give a damn about the seller, but for your job, you must go TO the sellers and make sure things are running smoothly.

 

So, you do care about the sellers. Because if you don't have your sellers that your job relies on, you will have no job.

 

I didn't say bedroom, I said room since it may be a den or computer room or living room or whereever you keep your computer to do your bidding. I don't knock people's living space because everyone has their circumstances as I've been shown many many times over the years.

 

As for pissed off. Yes, you can say that and you have become some of the brunt of it. Yesterday afternoon my uncle passed away 2 blocks away from the hospital. He was on his way to see his wife dying of brain cancer who also has only about 2 weeks to live. He was having a hard time coping with things and I was actually going to help him sell off some of his collectibles when I got back from Florida which was this past Saturday.

 

So now we're in this little predicament with many personal problems that myself and my family now have to deal with.

 

Just to mention a couple of things about this before I end this post. He was going to be 44, she just turned 48 2 weeks ago. When we went to see his body (viewing someone you loved freshly dead is not an easy things) last night, we were given his personal possessions. He had in his pocket a letter from some company saying he was to be given a credit of $5.72 or something like that. All that went through my mind was, "what the f*ck is he going to do with 5 bucks now?"

 

I realized last night that anyone of us can go at any time, and that this year has been most traumatic on my mother. My grandmother (their mother) died in February of this year, my mother had major surgery at the end of June, they (my parents) just bought a house that involved much moving in the beginning of June, and found out there were many problems with the house that wound up costing them another $30,000 in repairs. Now this. It's been one hell of a year that we all wish was over already.

 

We try to keep our minds on happier things like video games or other such hobbies, but I've learned over the past 7 years that keeping in touch with your loved ones is a lot more important. Yes, you may see a change of moods in my posts from time to time, and most of the time you will not know why. Well this time you do.

 

Phil

[jlnsctt]

Phil,

My condolences on the passing of your uncle. It is always horrible when a tragedy strikes close to home.

Again, though, you were condecending to me. I'm not "crying" over a couple of dollars,even though My family is well off.(I never said "rich" as you implied by you opening statement). My wife and I started with nothing. We put each other through school on our OWN accord! No loans, no borrowing from family...Nothing.

My wife is a dental hygenist and my technical title is Regional Manager AWC....We worked incredibly hard for everything we have.

The reason I take stands over things that to some, may seem petty, is that very few people will! If you want an idea or an opinion heard, sometimes you need a very large soapbox!LOL

And again, there certainly was no attack on you personally! Read my posts again and you will see that...In fact the only thing actually addressed to you was a hello in the beginning of one post...If you took that as every post I have written being "aimed" at you then my apologies.

Now, as for what you said about my job, you are sort of right....I do answer to a corporation..BUT..My job is aimed at making the customers experience a better one..Not my sellers experience!

If you look at my Ebay profile, you will see that I don't have bad feedback from any of my sellers...(One neutral,but we won't go into that story here!LOL)

My biggest complaint about Ebay, sort of generalizing everything i've mentioned in previous posts, is that sellers seem to think they run the show.

Now Phil, with all of my experience and schooling, ive been taught that by philosophy, our entire capitalistic society receives it's blood from THE BUYER....You do realize, I hope, that a major reason for recessions or depressions is from a lack of BUYING power from the geographical area! Right?

Now, that is why BUYING power is much stronger than selling power.

If a company lays off employees, that is usually(I stress usually,as there will always be Enron type scenarios as well..embezelment etc) as a result of lost income on the companies behalf! Which, in turn results in the layoffs, which in turn, takes away more buying power which in turn creates more layoffs..You get the idea.

The buyer will always be the most important piece in a capitalistic society. Like it or not. Fact.

Anyhow, I don't think that we really disagree with the shipping prices etc. that much..We only seem to differ on the more important part of a marketplace, namely buyer vs seller.

I think though, if you sit back and mull it over ,you will understand(maybe not agree) with what I said. If the economy is good the buyers will pay,youre right! BUT, if we hit any type of recession, the same sellers who have ridiculous demands,high handling, and 20,000 terms on their auction will be the first ones to cry that their auctions are not selling and they can not understand why!

Once again, my condolences on the loss of your uncle, I truly do understand how hard it is to cope when you lose someone special to you!!!!! Spend lots of time with your family right now, as from my experience, a close family can really help to close large wounds!

Best regards, Julian

[jlnsctt]

As proof that I don't hate sellers Phil, you should check out a post I made around a week or two(I think!)ago, about one of our sellers in the marketplace.

It was regarding Tom Young, who is an atariage member under TomYou.

He made a post regarding some of his new auctions up, and I made a post recommending him as a great seller.....I probably would not have done that if I hated all sellers.

Ps he is great, and always has a pile of good 2600 games up for auction with very reasonable shipping, and good quality product...Not to mention great customer service!!!!.....And no, I do not know him personally at all.....

I can not change post dates, so if you read that post you will realize what I meant.....But I still do not worry about Toms' margins or what not,as he is a big boy who seems to handle all expenses and costs without either complaining about them to a customer, nor by passing off in his "handling"!

[Philflound]

I was never arguing the point that a buyer is actually more important than the seller, but the fact that you stated that buyers don't care about sellers. As a seller, I want my buyers to care about my business. That's why after personally selling over 1200 auctions, I have almost 1100 positives and only 2 negatives, which like you said, I won't get into.

 

I had my own retail store for 3 1/2 years. I ran my friend's for almost 4 years, and have been 'selling' for the past 14. I've learned much from the dos and don'ts in the retail world.

 

My big point was that if the internet existed in mass back in early 1996 when I closed my business, I probably would not have had to close. Ebay could have been my savior, but it was all a matter of timing. I've had much repeat business because of my quality service and products, and also my timely shipping. I rely on Ebay for about 60% if not slightly more of my personal income. I take it very seriously, and though you may not have intended the words you said to be taken by me personally, I did to some degree.

 

The most important thing I was trying to get across was the treatment of sellers towards the beginning of this post. If you treat them like shit, they will in turn have a negative attitude towards the whole thing. Matt, after emailing me several times, has reconsidered his stand on things, and his being new as a seller, may have started on the wrong foot.

 

Because I had my background of a retail business in the real world, face to face with customers, being behind a computer was actually a lot easier to handle. There are a lot less politics trying to get the buyer to make a purchase. You show your goods, they buy it. Literally. You may have to answer a few questions, but it's a lot less time consuming than running a store 7 days a week with an average of 60 hours spent there.

 

So I have no harsh feelings towards you. But I do think you should be a little less voiced in the way you present yourself. Ok, you don't care about sellers. I don't particularly think you should state it that way. Maybe you should have rephrased it, "most buyers aren't concerned with the time and effort it takes to sell a product". This would have presented me with a much more milder reaction.

 

I'm actually surprised no one has jumped in on our 2-way discussion. I'll leave it at this with no more harsh flaming.

 

Phil

[jlnsctt]

I think people are probably quite afraid of our litte discussion!!!!

Anyway Phil, take care of your family, spend time with them and remember, usually a few bad turns bring a much more pleasant future...

You are right perhaps, about my phrasing, but perhaps what I meant was that in a consumer market, customers do not buy something and worry if the seller is going to make out alright! And some of the comments made by sellers seem to show that they would like the customer to understand and care about these things!

Again, no offense to any seller peresonally, more of a stereotypical view about some of the bad sellers!

As you are an Ebay seller, and I am mainly a buyer, we may never see eye to eye on some of these issues. But perhaps Ebay on the whole, would be better if buyers and sellers had a more CONSISTENT playing field...This goes both ways, I also think non paying bidders should be kicked off, And there should be some sort of mediation provided by Ebay over feedback comments...Heaven knows,they could afford it. Although there may be legal implications involved. If sellers hand a sort of maximum handling charge,you would see me complain less...Not NO handling charge, but a percentage increase they may charge over the actual shipping dollars. Would that be fair......Sometimes shipping is not listed in the auction,and the seller fails to respond to emails before the auction end(he may be busy whatever), now it would probably be great for both buyer and seller,that I could still bid,knowing that even if I win, my shipping could be say, only 25% more than actual USPS rates or whatever!(A set shipper would have to be used I guess and i'm sure that would create even more arguements )

I dont think honest sellers could have a problem with that, as most sellers tell me that they are there to profit on their product NOT the shipping!

Any way Phil Take care of yourself, and your family!!!

Best Regards, Julian Scott

Hope ya don't block me from your auctions

[Atari_Owl]

And so peace returned to the forest

 

I wish everybody could finish so reasonably