How to treat your customers! Not!

[waynorth]

This is the culmination of my "no paypal" saga! I forgot where I started it, so a new thread seemed appropriate!
Some of you may remember I was smelling a rat when I sent payment for the whittler below and heard nothing! Well, I smelled something but at least it wasn't a rat. The knife finally arrived, but you would think a person who has done over 1300 ebay transactions would know how to treat a customer.:grumpy:
Here's how NOT to do it !!! Don't communicate!! Don't answer emails! Don't answer phone messages; or the phone! Don't answer notices from ebay!! Carefully smoke all packaging material over burning Camel sh*t :barf: until you are sure someone can smell it without opening the package!!
Wrap a $500 dollar knife in the advertising section of the newspaper, and cram it, pungently (see Camel sh*t above) into a tiny box someone can stick in their sock and walk away with! And finally advertise a knife as mint, even if someone cleaned it!
To be honest, the knife is near mint, and I've seen a mint one sell for 2 1/2 times what I gave for this one, so I'll keep it and enjoy it; after I get over the ignorant treatment. Entertaining you guys helps, so thanks for the therapy !
Nice one after all, but I'll steer clear of "pig-person"!

 

[Bob W]

Carefully smoke all packaging material over burning Camel sh*t until you are sure someone can smell it without opening the package!!

Are you refering to cigarrette smoke? That crap soaks into everything, especially small spaces that can't be cleaned. The worst, I ordered some computer parts that had apparantly been owned by a chain-smoker. How in the hell can you clean electronics?

Some eBay sellers advertise their products as, "from a non-smoking household". That is much appreciated.

Hint, if you chain-smoke in an enclosed area, no one wants your old stuff. Just throw it in the dumpster.

-Bob

 

[Larry303]

.....so c'mon what feedback did you leave....let me guess"Lovely Lady,quiet communications,almost wrapped,arrived by surprise,with distinctive perfume and even been cleaned for me.....TART" Hoo Roo

 

[waynorth]

Yes Bob, cigarettes; or a close relative (i.e;Camel sh*t. I wonder how you pronounce * ??)!
Larry, you must write copy for the lonely hearts club ! I nearly fell out of my chair!
I don't know? Maybe I'll keep with the non-communication theme and write nothing- - - - -but it IS an opportunity to be creative. At least I was able to leave the pitiful amount of packaging at the P.O. so I won't have to bleach my house:jerkit: !

 

[ea42]

Nice one Waynorth, too bad the experience left a bad taste in your mouth, literaly. I actually had a surprisingly good experience with a seller recently. I had purchased a Belknap bone whittler about three months ago. Small and quite used, but still a nice looking knife from the early fifties. The picture was sharp but not zoomed at all, so I'm sure you see where this is going. When the knife arrived, everything looked okay but the sheepsfoot seemed slightly askey at the tip. On closer inspection I noticed that the entire tip of the blade was broken off.Well I immediately emailed the seller , and he replied that I could send the knife back for a full refund or keep the knife and he would refund me half, all this even included shipping. I have to mention that all this was done without nasty words or temper tantrums, a big help. I sent word back that I'd send the knife back for a refund when I got a chance, and became so busy that I had completely forgotten about it. Three days ago I got an envelope in the mail from Michigan , which really peeked my interest since I don't know anyone in Michigan. Inside was a check for twenty bucks and a great letter stating that he hadn't heard from me and still wanted to do right, so sent the check for half and was still willing to do the complete refund. I'm still flabbergasted, and actually pretty fond of that little knife, so it stays in the collection and the seller goes to the top of my favorite sellers list. I only wish there was some way to leave feedback for folks who go above and beyond.
Eric

 

[waynorth]

The guy has a conscience, that's great Eric.:thumbup:
About a month ago, I bought a 4-line Camillus jack for about $50, and when it got here there was strong evidence that the blade came from a different knife. Nice fit, just not correct. I sent the seller a high magnification set of scans, and he agreed, and refunded my Paypal payment, and then told me to keep the knife! Of course I'll never sell it, but I keep it as an example of the stamping.
It smelled pretty good, just had the wrong handle!

 

[kevins73cigars]

Waynorth - quick question about "mint" knives being cleaned. Is a knife still mint if a collector takes it out of the package, uses Q-tips and some 3 in 1 oil and gets the dirt out of joints? I know this sounds dumb, but I want to start collecting older knives, and I don't want to make any dumbass mistakes.
Thanks,
Kevin

 

[waynorth]

I don't think it ruins the "mint" designation. Mint is supposed to mean "as manufactured" so that doesn't include dried oil crud. If the knife has a lot of light scuffing from handling, it's hard to honestly say it's mint. I like "near mint" as a designation, because it's almost impossible to call a handled knife mint in the strictest sense. Really, if you polish it with those metal cleaners, it's no longer MINT!!! The finish is subtly changed from the factory finish.