Ebay seller Belote: not the best experience

[powernoodle]

This is a minor quibble, so take it for what its worth.

In addition to the good vendors associated with BF, I buy from a few ebay vendors. Belote is one such vendor. Its one of the larger knife sellers on ebay.

Short version of my most recent experience with Belote is that it failed to post the UPS tracking number on ebay, didn't send it to me and subsequently ignored 3 requests for the tracking number. Time was of the essence with the delivery of this one, as I did not want a UPS package sitting on my porch while I was out of town, so knowing the tracking number was an important part of the bargain for me. And it was a spendy knife.

I received the knife, and this is certainly not the end of the world. And I did not give Belote bad feedback.

But with so many good vendors out there, there really is no reason to interact with those who ignore you after you make payment. Newgraham, gpknives and many other good vendors will bend over backward to give you first rate customer service, so I recommend sticking with the best.

This is just a little data point to consider the next time you are choosing between Belote and other vendors. Thanks.

 

[ThievesLikeUs]

You totally just mirrored my experience with that seller recently.

I bought a over $100 knife.First it took them 3 days to ship, then no tracking #.

Also sent several(5) emails over a 5 day period with not one reply.

Item was received, but IMO communication is #1 in any deal.Plus it takes seconds to upload a tracking number, which I expect with any purchase.

I left Neutral feedback for that reason alone, and the horrible communication.

Never again will Belote get my business

***END RANT***

 

[elof_alv]

Well, I got from them a H1 dragonfly and some other items and got them some 2 months later, they forgot to email me that they were out of stock... Didn't leave feedback as it kinda expired on eBay, coul not find the items any more.
Recently got a Becker 9 and a bunch of other items, didn't respond to my email about stock availability and didnt get shipping notification for a few days. Now USPS tracking says its in transit to destination for the last 2weeks. As long as it is not transported on actual ship it should not take so long.

 

[powernoodle]

I left Neutral feedback

Me too. I did receive the knife (Al Mar Eagle Ultralight), so I did not believe that bad feedback was warranted. I'll get my revenge by depriving them of my future purchases, which are not insignificant.

 

[Zidfeldts]

I have bought dozens of knives off Ebay. Out of all the knives that I have bought the only 2 that I have lost were confiscated by customs agents who liked knives. I have never communicated with any seller between the time I have "won" the auction and the time the item is received. Even so it always arrives. I don't have time to be tracking things on a screen and I am sure most sellers don't either.

 

[AlienAutopsy]

I've also had problems. I bought a Spyderco military, an orange one, about a year ago. It was listed as new, but it was very dirty when it came. Poor deal.

 

[powernoodle]

I don't have time to be tracking things on a screen and I am sure most sellers don't either.

Yet you have time for this thread. Its all a matter of priorities.

I don't agree that most buyers don't care to know which day a $100+ knife is going to be left unattended on a front porch to get rained on or stolen. Especially when you pay for UPS delivery, ebay has a display in the purchase history where the seller is supposed to show the tracking number, and when ebay provides a link to contact the seller and says the seller will respond within 48 hours.

Irrespective of all of this, either a seller does what it takes to create return customers, or it does not. Belote does not. This is not an indictment, its just a fact.

 

[philwar]

Any Cold Steel I buy new is always from Belote. He is usually quick, and always the cheapest of all seller that ship internationally. I never get a tracking number, which I guess doesn't matter to me because I never need to know exactly when it arrives.
His not responding to emails is more serious, IMHO. There is no acceptable reason for that. I'd try once more to find out what that is, it is not customary for him.
Anyway. Thx for the heads-up. I will keep it in mind next time I buy from him, which, depending on his performance, may then be the last time.

 

[mgysgthath]

I had a similar experience buying a CS Recon 1 quite a while back.. refused to communicate.. took a week or more to ship out.. eventually did arrive, but I'm pretty sure it took 3 weeks +.

 

[hardheart]

I have bought dozens of knives off Ebay. Out of all the knives that I have bought the only 2 that I have lost were confiscated by customs agents who liked knives. I have never communicated with any seller between the time I have "won" the auction and the time the item is received. Even so it always arrives. I don't have time to be tracking things on a screen and I am sure most sellers don't either.

you have so few posts, what was the point in adding this one

 

[arrowhd]

Earlier this year I puchased a knife form this same seller "Buy it now". After about a week of not hearing anything from them I emailed them. They responded about 4 days later and indicated that the item was "out of stock". They did refund my money but I can't say I would be eager to buy from them in the future.

 

[RevDevil]

Earlier this year I puchased a knife form this same seller "Buy it now". After about a week of not hearing anything from them I emailed them. They responded about 4 days later and indicated that the item was "out of stock". They did refund my money but I can't say I would be eager to buy from them in the future.

Pretty sure that is against ebay rules somewhere, listing an item for sale that you do not have in stock.

 

[SOLEIL]

Earlier this year I puchased a knife form this same seller "Buy it now". After about a week of not hearing anything from them I emailed them. They responded about 4 days later and indicated that the item was "out of stock". They did refund my money but I can't say I would be eager to buy from them in the future.

Exact same thing happened to me earlier this year. They admitted to selling out of stock items even though it was listed as "in stock" as a mistake. I believe that they don't carry much inventory. Regardless they have lost me as a customer.

 

[awh]

A lot of ebay sellers are this way. The margins are often so small, that they don't put the effort into customer support. For me, getting a knife for 10 to 20% less than you might have to pay other online retailers is worth the aggravation.

 

[snowreaper1]

Just look at his feedback. I considered buying from that seller a few time because he does have the best prices and has a listing for just about every knife
but he has hundreds of negative and nuetral feedback. Their business model seems to be mark their items at the lowest price and sell mass quantity. I doubt hes
the kind of seller who trys to keep return customers.

 

[Wharn]

I bought a "Condor 15.5" Bolo Machete Carbon Steel With Leather Sheath CTK227-15HC NEW" from him on November 10th and I get it in the mail last week, open it up to find no sheath. I specifically bought it from him because it was advertised as having the sheath, and I didn't see too many places that had it in stock. I emailed him and he sent this back:

Please accept our apologies. The latest delivery of this model came WITHOUT sheaths. On investigation we found that this was a mistake at the factory in El Salvador and they are putting their mistake right by sending a load of sheaths to us.

We have several customers waiting for them and we should not have shipped any more until we got them in. I don't know how this slipped through and I apologize. I will make sure that we send you a sheath as soon as we get them in.

So I obviously asked when he thinks he will get the sheaths and and he says he doesn't know. I saw KC has the sheaths for sale (the lowest I can find them) for $17.95 so I asked belote if he could at least refund me that much so I could just buy the sheath. He responded with he could refund me $10 because that's how much he values them, or I can just wait for the sheath.

Honestly if it were just a knife I could fit in a flat rate box I would probably just return it, but shipping the thing from Hawaii would be pricey so I suppose I just need to wait for the sheath. I guess in his defense he does thousands of sales...