Hi,

I think I've found another Babin alias, "gagegageman".
Feedback of one, but has 206 items listed. Posting in all
caps, and all the pictures are out of focus. (Is he really
as inept as he would like us to think he is?)
Plainville, CT. It's getting to be where I won't bid on
anything from anybody that distance away from me just on
the suspicion it might be him...

Later,
--Glenn Lyford

wrote:
Hi,

I think I've found another Babin alias, "gagegageman".
Feedback of one, but has 206 items listed. Posting in all
caps, and all the pictures are out of focus. (Is he really
as inept as he would like us to think he is?)
Plainville, CT. It's getting to be where I won't bid on
anything from anybody that distance away from me just on
the suspicion it might be him...

Later,
--Glenn Lyford

I'm curious about the single feedback comment which says "always has
great deals". Either this guy does trade under a different name, or
elsewhere, or that comment is bogus. Or I guess the person who left it
might be crazy.

Chris

Either this guy does trade under a different name, or
elsewhere, or that comment is bogus.

He's been suspected of using shills or other of his own
accounts to boost his feedback in the past. Yet another
reason not to deal with this individual, whether it is
him or not.

--Glenn Lyford

wrote:
Either this guy does trade under a different name, or
elsewhere, or that comment is bogus.

He's been suspected of using shills or other of his own
accounts to boost his feedback in the past. Yet another
reason not to deal with this individual, whether it is
him or not.

--Glenn Lyford

I just checked some of the bidders. Most of them are fairly new with
anywhere from a 0-8 feedback rating. One bidder has a 76. They should
know better.
No wonder people get ripped off on ebay.
Mike

mj wrote:
wrote:

Either this guy does trade under a different name, or
elsewhere, or that comment is bogus.

He's been suspected of using shills or other of his own
accounts to boost his feedback in the past. Yet another
reason not to deal with this individual, whether it is
him or not.

--Glenn Lyford


I just checked some of the bidders. Most of them are fairly new with
anywhere from a 0-8 feedback rating. One bidder has a 76. They should
know better.
No wonder people get ripped off on ebay.
Mike

Some people get tempted into bidding because the price looks good, even
though the seller looks dodgy. I've nearly done this myself, but so far
I've always managed to resist. Last month I saw a zero feedback seller
with a magnetic drill for about 1/3 the usual price. He said it was an
ex-demo model. I contacted him to ask a few questions, and became
suspicious when he hid his e-mail address. He clearly didn't know much
about the machine and after a while changed the listing to say it was
110 V rather than 240 V. He'd listed a whole load of tools on eBay, and
I started to wonder if they were stolen. I contacted him again and asked
if he knew the history of the drill, and also politely suggested that
hiding his e-mail address wasn't a good idea. I never heard back from
him and no one bid on the auction. When the drill was re-listed the
description was changed quite a bit to say it had "never been used". I'm
glad I didn't bid.

Chris

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 10:31:59 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy wrote:

Some people get tempted into bidding because the price looks good, even
though the seller looks dodgy. I've nearly done this myself, but so far
I've always managed to resist.

What really sucks, though, is that as a seller I don't see any way to
refuse bids from people with crap feedback. I'd love to have someone
tell me I'm wrong and show me how, though.

I contacted him again and asked
if he knew the history of the drill, and also politely suggested that
hiding his e-mail address wasn't a good idea.

That clicky-box defaults on, which is really annoying.

I never heard back from
him and no one bid on the auction. When the drill was re-listed the
description was changed quite a bit to say it had "never been used". I'm
glad I didn't bid.

Trust your instincts. I built my feedback rating up by selling low-ish
value items at great prices. I'm at 70 or so, 120 transactions or so,
100% positive. I prefer to buy from people with 3 or 4 digit ratings,
but that 100% means a lot. I'm still selling off the lower-price stuff
until I get up beyond 100, then I figure I'll have established my
reputation sufficiently, and can start selling the bigger items.
Do I have some stuff I don't know intimately? Sure. Will I do research
before I list it, so I don't come across as a bonehead? You bet.

If they don't bother to research what they're selling, maybe you'll get
a good item, maybe you'll get a hot item and get burned.

What really sucks, though, is that as a seller I don't see any way to
refuse bids from people with crap feedback. I'd love to have someone
tell me I'm wrong and show me how, though.



Yea, you can. I think you can go under bid history within your auction and
do it there.

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 14:57:56 GMT, Dave Lyon wrote:

What really sucks, though, is that as a seller I don't see any way to
refuse bids from people with crap feedback. I'd love to have someone
tell me I'm wrong and show me how, though.

Yea, you can. I think you can go under bid history within your auction and
do it there.

Cool, I'll take a look. I sold a liquid nitrogen dewar, highest bidder
was some guy at a bovine embryology clinic in Switzerland. Sniped at
the last second, we communicated _during_ the auction, and now he's
pretending to not exist. Gonna pull the 'report unpaid' trigger as
quick as I can on that one, and already contacted another bidder who
does want it (and isn't in Switzerland). Pain in the butt though, to go
through all this because someone decided after they sniped the freaking
auction, that they don't want it after all. Delaying growth of the toy
fund, you see.

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 10:31:59 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:

mj wrote:
wrote:

Either this guy does trade under a different name, or
elsewhere, or that comment is bogus.

He's been suspected of using shills or other of his own
accounts to boost his feedback in the past. Yet another
reason not to deal with this individual, whether it is
him or not.

--Glenn Lyford


I just checked some of the bidders. Most of them are fairly new with
anywhere from a 0-8 feedback rating. One bidder has a 76. They should
know better.
No wonder people get ripped off on ebay.
Mike

Some people get tempted into bidding because the price looks good, even
though the seller looks dodgy. I've nearly done this myself, but so far
I've always managed to resist. Last month I saw a zero feedback seller
with a magnetic drill for about 1/3 the usual price. He said it was an
ex-demo model. I contacted him to ask a few questions, and became
suspicious when he hid his e-mail address. He clearly didn't know much
about the machine and after a while changed the listing to say it was
110 V rather than 240 V. He'd listed a whole load of tools on eBay, and
I started to wonder if they were stolen. I contacted him again and asked
if he knew the history of the drill, and also politely suggested that
hiding his e-mail address wasn't a good idea. I never heard back from
him and no one bid on the auction. When the drill was re-listed the
description was changed quite a bit to say it had "never been used". I'm
glad I didn't bid.

Chris

The other day there was a 2004 Kubota tractor for $3000 and free
shipping. 62 hours. Plus a mower, loader, box blade and a trailer.
That setup is worth around 15 grand. I don't find it now.

Dave Hinz wrote:

snip

Trust your instincts. I built my feedback rating up by selling low-ish
value items at great prices. I'm at 70 or so, 120 transactions or so,
100% positive. I prefer to buy from people with 3 or 4 digit ratings,
but that 100% means a lot.

I used to think that the 100% meant a great deal, but I've revised my
opinion now. I got screwed when I bought an industrial toaster from
someone with about a 250 rating and 100% positive (the seller was
"paulandsara" and I am "cdt22" for anyone wondering). They said it was
"very nice" and "in good working order" (I remember the wording
exactly). When it arrived it was heavily used and barely in working
order (had several faults) and was worth much less than I paid. The
seller took ages to respond to my complaint, then wouldn't admit that
their item description was misleading. I don't think they were a con
artist, but in this case they oversold an item and were too arrogant to
admit it. I held off leaving feedback all the time I was discussing it
with them (which was a long time, as they took about 2 weeks to respond
to each message, claiming their ISP lost the e-mails) and about a week
before the 90 days were up they agreed to send me a partial refund. It
never came. Again they agreed to send it after another few months, but
it never came. I would have had more respect for them if they'd just
said "no, we aren't going to give you a refund" and left it at that, but
they really messed me around. I was tempted to buy another cheap item
from them just so I could leave a negative, but never did.

On the other hand, I bought from a guy recently who had quite a few
negatives. I almost didn't buy because of them, but decided to risk it
as he was the only one selling the goods. He was great to deal with;
friendly, helpful, knew his goods and sent them quickly. I guess
sometimes sellers are unlucky and get negatives from crazy people.

I think there is some degree of "feedback extortion" which goes on. If
buyer feedback didn't exist (and it's certainly less important than
seller feedback) people would be more willing to leave neutral and
negative feedback. In my opinion this would be a good thing.

Chris

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 19:34:32 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy wrote:
Dave Hinz wrote:

snip

Trust your instincts. I built my feedback rating up by selling low-ish
value items at great prices. I'm at 70 or so, 120 transactions or so,
100% positive. I prefer to buy from people with 3 or 4 digit ratings,
but that 100% means a lot.

I used to think that the 100% meant a great deal, but I've revised my
opinion now. I got screwed when I bought an industrial toaster from
someone with about a 250 rating and 100% positive (the seller was
"paulandsara" and I am "cdt22" for anyone wondering).

....and then you failed to leave negative feedback to warn the rest of us
away from him. So you are, I'm sorry, but as much at fault as every
other person he screwed who didn't warn _you_ away from him.

I was tempted to buy another cheap item
from them just so I could leave a negative, but never did.

You had a long time to neg him for the actual transaction that was a
problem, but you didn't.

On the other hand, I bought from a guy recently who had quite a few
negatives. I almost didn't buy because of them, but decided to risk it
as he was the only one selling the goods. He was great to deal with;
friendly, helpful, knew his goods and sent them quickly. I guess
sometimes sellers are unlucky and get negatives from crazy people.

Sure, you have to read the feedback of someone who negs them, to see
what _their_ feedback is like. "consider the source" and all that.

I think there is some degree of "feedback extortion" which goes on. If
buyer feedback didn't exist (and it's certainly less important than
seller feedback) people would be more willing to leave neutral and
negative feedback. In my opinion this would be a good thing.

Am I going to neg the guy in Switzerland who shows all appearances of
weaseling out on this liquid nitrogen dewar? Hell yes. The sellers
have less choice in the matter, but that doesn't mean the buyers'
ratings aren't important to them. For you to claim that feedback
doesn't mean much, and then to yourself contribute to it not meaning
much by not negging someone who deserved it, is a bit over the top,
don't you think?

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 19:42:24 GMT, Ignoramus3242 wrote:

I recommend, very strongly, to do buying and selling from separate
accounts.

I didn't know eBay would let you do that? I'd love to have a separate
seller account for some of my more...non-mainstream...items I'd also
like to sell.

I have 300+ positive feedback, 100%, and I would hate to buy something
and be afraid of retaliatory feedback by a seller with whom I had a
dispute.

True, that...

Dave Hinz wrote:
On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 19:34:32 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy wrote:

Dave Hinz wrote:

snip

Trust your instincts. I built my feedback rating up by selling low-ish
value items at great prices. I'm at 70 or so, 120 transactions or so,
100% positive. I prefer to buy from people with 3 or 4 digit ratings,
but that 100% means a lot.

I used to think that the 100% meant a great deal, but I've revised my
opinion now. I got screwed when I bought an industrial toaster from
someone with about a 250 rating and 100% positive (the seller was
"paulandsara" and I am "cdt22" for anyone wondering).


...and then you failed to leave negative feedback to warn the rest of us
away from him. So you are, I'm sorry, but as much at fault as every
other person he screwed who didn't warn _you_ away from him.

I left it so long because at the time I was short of cash and wanted the
refund in order to buy a replacement toaster more than I wanted to neg
him. But I certainly wish I'd negged him.

snip

Am I going to neg the guy in Switzerland who shows all appearances of
weaseling out on this liquid nitrogen dewar? Hell yes. The sellers
have less choice in the matter, but that doesn't mean the buyers'
ratings aren't important to them. For you to claim that feedback
doesn't mean much, and then to yourself contribute to it not meaning
much by not negging someone who deserved it, is a bit over the top,
don't you think?

Above is my explanation for why I didn't neg him at the time. This was
one of my earlier eBay experiences (my first dispute) and now I would
say "make sure the cheque is in my hand next week or I'll leave
negative" but I wasn't that harsh. I should have been. We live and
learn. But my point above wasn't that feedback didn't mean much, it was
that seller feedback is more important than buyer feedback, and I stand
by that.

Chris