1A) As a seller I will not leave feedback until the buyer has done so.
If you do this as a seller, you back yourself into a wall and make yourself
look like a fool if the buyer happens to be unhappy with their purchase. It
is also a means of pressure for buyers to contact you before posting
feedback to work out any problems, knowing full well that they, the buyer,
have not received their feedback yet either.
1B) Feedback is absolutely meaningless and I would prefer if eBay did not
even offer this feature. I currently have a 100% positive feedback with no
neutrals. I find it very annoying when people bug me about posting
feedback. I post feedback every Friday afternoon in one big batch.
Feedback is not meant to be an ego boost. What does A+++++++ TERRIFIC
EXCELLENT AAAAA+++++++ mean? What a waste of space, things like that say
more about the intellect of the person who posted it rather than the ethics
of the person receiving the feedback. Feedback should be given to a
consumer watch division with-in eBay and once the seller or buyer has
accumulated a given number (not a percentage) of negative feedback then they
are banned from eBay.
2) About Camp Freddies USA aka Mad House Minis aka British Legends, it is
a dead giveaway about the behavior of a a company when they have three
names. However, in that seller's defense, Midget wheels weigh 14lbs a
piece... about 32lbs when packed in pairs. Shipping gets a bit pricey when
things start getting outside of a 300mi radius from the seller via UPS. I
sold a set of very nice Midget wheels less than a week ago, for $115 on
eBay, and the total for shipping ended up being a pretty substantial sum for
the buyer. However, when I make an error in shipping price, I do not
request further payment from the buyer (although I will look for a cheaper
way to ship, like US Parcel Post). This is a business for me, so reducing
costs contributes a great deal to producing higher profits (as always).
3) Some common sense is always involved when making a purchase. A set of
five Midget rostyle wheels for $60... at $12 a wheel I would have probably
just shrugged them off as trashed to begin with. They were listed at less
than $10/wheel when bidding opened. Not a shot at David, as I know he is
quite knowledgeable about these cars. Just the usual "if it seems to good
to be true, it probably is" disclaimer.
4A) Buyers can be just as bad as sellers. I recently sold a Triumph
Spitfire bumper for 42% below the retail price (bidding started at $75).
The first bidder emailed me a very derogatory message about how he was doing
me a favor for bidding because he purchased the opposite side previously for
$70 on eBay. Oh Whoopee! I was entirely satisfied when he was outbid by
$1.00 and now the cheap bastard will have to pay $129.95 to purchase the
same part from Moss or Victoria British. British cars are cheap to own and
maintain, so the ownership base is made up of a lot of cheap rats who will
always do and pay the minimum to keep their car in the minimum running
condition.
4B) If an item I list does not sell when the auction ends, I am not going
to suddenly change my mind and sell it to you for the cost of shipping. I
am not a moron and Moss does not send its distributors free parts, and until
they do, I will not be giving out free parts either.
5A) For you Canadians out there, please read the shipping information. I
will not ship to Canada and neither will many other eBay sellers. The
customs paperwork via UPS is too much of a hassle and I really do not like
going out of my way to go to the Post Office to send one package. However,
since I am relatively nice, if you are a momentarily blind Canadian bidder
and fail to see my multiple notices, I will make that trip to the Post
Office.
5B) For you African Warlords with your Jaguar collections, I no longer
send stuff to Sierra Leone... that means no more XK120 clutch kits for you!
(none of the warlords seem to own MGs) In fact, I do not do any
international shipments anymore... although it seems some Europeans of
Scandinavian origin have the same temporary optical impairments that
Canadians often display.
6) If you have questions about something in an auction description or
want more photos, do not email the seller with moments to go before the
auction ends. Ask your questions early, ask for photos early... the last 24
hours of the auction should not be used for these types of requests. As
superstitious as it sounds, I do not like watching my auctions end. I end up
in a cyclical page refreshing rage watching the price for the last 10
minutes of the auction, hitting that refresh button every 10 seconds. I
feel like I am jinxing the outcome of an auction by doing so. I swear once
I crashed all of eBay's servers by doing this... even if it was
coincidental, eBay was down for about an hour right after my end of auction
page refreshing spree.
I have purchased quite a bit of on eBay as well, personally, and only have
had one bad experience in which the carburettors I purchased were not
Triumph models but were rather from a Volvo. Not a big deal, but I was
buying the carbs specifically for the brass ID tags which I was assured were
correct for a customer's TR. They would have been correct had my customer
had a Volvo engine in his TR. Maybe it would have been funny to stick a
Penta marine motor in the trunk. Okay, bad joke.
eBay is just a game. Whoever manipulates it most to their advantage gains
the most from every deal. You have the option not to play once you read a
seller's terms, view their photos and if you wish, their feedback. I
welcome all questions received in the 6 days prior to the auction. Once you
bid it is your obligation to complete the transaction. Should you be
unhappy with your purchase, it is returnable within a reasonable time frame
(usually 60 days, some used parts I even guarantee for a full year). I do
not accept returns on non-British parts, I sell them so cheap just to get
rid of them, that it is time wasted for me if I have to deal with a return
of non-British junk. If it does not look like it fits your car, do not bid
(goes for all non British and British cars).
Kai
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