A funny thing happened on the way to eBay

Codger_64

Codger_64

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I thought that maybe this post belonged in "Whine & Cheese", but no. Or maybe in the "Good, Bad & Ugly" forum. Nope. Most of us don't visit or post in those two forums, so I'm going to post this story here.

It all began with me loosing an auction about a month ago. I liked the knife and wanted it so I bid what I thought it's value was to me. And lost. No complaints there, lost fair and square. Then another knife came on eBay similar to the first, but with a rougher handle which was loose. The blade had substantial wear, and even the stamp was only partly legable. But it was a "type" knife and I wanted it. The price was way over it's value ($74.95) and it drew no bids when it ended the first week of May.

And it immediately relisted for $64.95, again drawing no bidders. So nearing the end, I messaged the seller:

Q: Interesting knife. I offer $50 and $4.05 priority mail shipping, $54.05 total. Thanks Michael May-06-07
A: MICHAEL I ONLY ACCEPT BIDS AS BONIFIDE OFFERS. IF YOU WANT IT BID. THANKS XXXXXXX
(name changed to protect the stinker... er...seller.)

He posted the question and his rebuke of my offer in his listing. And it ended three days later with no bidders. So I e-mailed the arse:

XXXXXXX, I intended this as a bonifide offer on a listing which drew no bidders and was relisted lower. I will place my bid as indicated if it again draws no bidders and is relisted again lower. If not, I will wait for another to be listed.
Thank you,
Michael

Then he replies:

MICHEAL
THERE WILL BE NO RELISTING. IM OFF TO A NATIONAL SHOW ON THURSDAY AND I WILL SEEL IT AT AUCTION ON SATURDAY NIGHT TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER.
I PUT STUFF ON TO SELL AT THE LOWEST PRICE THAT I CAN ACCEPT
AND NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE DO I SELL AN ITEM FOR LESS THAN THE OPENING BID. I HAVE 2 BIG SAFES TO KEEP FACTORY COLLECTIONS AND ITEMS FOR FUTURE SALES.
IF I RELIST AGAIN IT WILL BE FOR MORE MONEY BECAUSE MY EXPENSES HAVE INCREASED.
BEST TO YOU
XXXXXXX


And I replied:

XXXXXXX, Good luck at the show. I hope the knife seels for what you expect. I did not appreciate your posting my name in your auction. I will know to avoid your auctions in the future and advise my friends to do likewise.


And he replied:

MICHAEL
YOU HAVE FRIENDS. I DIDNT SEND FOR YOU OR ISSUE INVITATIONS TO ANYONE. YOU MIGHT WANT TO MAKE YOUR WORDS SOFT AND THEN YOU WOULDNT HAVE TO WORRY WOULD YOU. OWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOWOWO
NO MAS FROM YOU, YOU HAVE IDED YOURSELF AS A NO CLASS
TIME WASTING TIRE KICKER
XXXXXXX

Well, he relisted it again. I guess his multiple safes full of factory collections didn't make him rich at the show as he expected. Another 9 day listing, $54.95 that time. It ended this past weekend with no bidders. And relisted for $49.95. Still no bidders but it will end this coming Saturday. And he still wants $8.00 Standard Flat Rate Shipping to cover the expense of newspaper and driving to the post office?

No, I'll not bid his knife. After all his chest-thumping, I looked at his feedback. 3470 transactions and 99.4% positives. Hmm... that is still quite a few negatives. 9 of them were in the past year and each one described wierd behavior and rudeness like I experienced.

Has this happened to you? Did I provoke him by being rude myself? I'd still like to have the knife but not from this seller, no way no how. And nope, I'm not going to post his I.D. Some of you have bought from him and gave good feedback. Evidently he has his good days and bad days.:rolleyes:

Michael
 
I would say that you provoked him, not in a big way, but you still did. He can list whatever price that he wants and can charge whatever he wants for shipping. Nothing is forcing you to buy from him. I don't blame you for being a savvy buyer, I do the same, but you cannot fault the seller. I think he just posted your email to get the point across to other buyers that he will not take an offer lower than opening bid. Just my $0.02
 
Then...if it is ok for him to post my name on eBay, audience of millions, it is ok for me to post his here, audience of thousands? Nah...I'll pass. Tempting though.
 
Codger_64 said:
Then...if it is ok for him to post my name on eBay, audience of millions, it is ok for me to post his here, audience of thousands? Nah...I'll pass. Tempting though.
Click to expand...

Go ahead and post his ebay id on the good bad and ugly, even if I had given him props in the past, no one should act that way, I would like to avoid him in the future, I have been on ebay a lot for myself and my grandchildren and would not like to run into him. Doing business on ebay is hard enough without chumps. Even if his ratings are out the roof.
:thumbdn:
 
I really would not have given him a second thought except for his self-rightous boasting and lies. He obviously can accept a lower price. He obviously did not sell it to the highest bidder at the national knife show. I may just copy the story over to GBU after I think about it a bit. I just thought the guy was a bit off the wall with his replies. He obviously did invite me to view and bid his auctions by listing them. I'm not a big fish in the eBay sea with only 350 transactions as a buyer, but so far they are all with positive feedback. And my meager 350 transactions represents nearly ten thousand dollars spent with satisfied sellers (don't tell my wife!). Tire kicker?
 
Codger and everyone else, I know Im nobody special or important but reading that BURNED ME !!! I feel like everyone here especially thoes of you Ive gotten to know well here at the schrade forum are like family to me. Like when someone messed with your sister or something and you wanted to give them a good beating, Thats where Im at with this. although I wouldnt consider you my sister michael (haha). I'd love to know the guys user name just so I could keep asking him questions over and over. Thats why I respect your decision to not give his name here. But I'd probablly not be mad if you emailed it to me so I can watch out for him. What the heck ever happend to the customer is always right? he did not have to accept your offer but he could of been more polite. I guess thats his choice. I dont sell a lot of stuff on ebay but when I do I'm more than willing to do whatever it takes to get people coming back whatever it takes, sometimes that even means eating crow or biting my tongue. just my 2 cents, anyone know of a good anger management forum? My wife says thats what I need!! -Joel
 
I'd like to know his handle just so I can offer him five bucks with shipping included:D :D

Eric
 
Thats exactally what I was thinking eric, but five bucks is a little high see if he will take $3.99 and if he will pay the shipping
 
I totally agree with you Michael, I have had a few experiences like yours in the past and the sellers acted like I had insulted them by offering a lower price after the close of an auction that had no bids. I just stay away from them no matter how bad I want the knife. A good business man always listens to his customers and tries to be as polite as possible no matter what the circumstances may be. JB
 
Obviously, with the boatload of business he does, he feels he should not have to suffer us ebay rabble. :rolleyes:

Most sellers I have dealt with are not like this. Yeah, they want to get the most for their product, but sellers who sell alot of product just want to keep it moving. Unless it is the sandbar bowie, they don't want to deal with relisting an item over and over, and will settle for the best offer.

Yours was an honest question. Who knows, however, maybe he is always inundated with best offer emails. His responses were not appropriate, IMO.

Glenn
 
I see nothing wrong about the offer Michael made. I've bought several knives that way. One was a piece of crap but that was no fault of the seller. Another time I got an awesome Schrade Commemorative Muskrat for NY Knife Company. It's all just horse trading and anything is possible.

A polite no thanks would have been a nicer way to handle it
 
Another reason I don't ebay. Nothing against those you do, just not my cup of tea. I like to feel the tires when I'm kicking them.
 
ebay provides me with exposure to all kinds of knives i did not know even existed. i then come back here or do an internet search and see what i can learn about the knives which look interesting to me. it's buyer beware, but you can learn a lot too.
 
Eyegor said:
Another reason I don't ebay. Nothing against those you do, just not my cup of tea. I like to feel the tires when I'm kicking them.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean, but there is that rush when you pull it out of a box and it's way better than described or pictured. and you got it for peanuts.:p

There is the flip side of that as well. :grumpy:
 
I would never have had the opportunity to acquire the knives I have now had I not used eBay. Be that good or bad. Most of my experiences there have been positive. 99% of the sellers are good people. I've only been ripped off completely once when "Jorje Carlos" made a sweep using fake addresses to "sell" power tools. He got about ten of us. Don't know if the Dade County police ever caught him. I often get what I consider good bargains on knives, some times I get less than I expected. But we do not have a lot of knife shows around here few collectors, and the pawn shops have junk. The flea markets have junk. Rude people are everywhere, so I don't count my brief brush with ********* to count for much. I really shouldn't have even posted the story. But I was wondering if any other members had similar experiences. By the way, his latest relisting still has no bids.

Michael
 
Ebay is so political, irritate the wrong person and they can make your life on ebay a living hell.
 
I agree If it wasnt for ebay I would have like 3 knives or something I just dont know where else to go to get them. There is a knife show an hour and a half away from me every other month and there is about 10 guys there selling frost knives. EBAY for me baby!!!!
 
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