Is ebay seller pipster3 a hothead ?

This blog documents the kicking of a sleeping dog, and getting bit for the mistake.
Please Note! the auction is now over and the tubes have been recieved the deal is done, This all took place during a period of about 18 days start to finish. and is now just a story about two old junk yard dogs, once upon a bad day.
Other than the fact that these 10 tubes ended up costing me a little just a little over $30.00 including shipping and postage on my end to send cash, about twice the cost had I been able to use paypal.
All that remains is the decision as to the retraction of feedback or not. As Seller I leave that to pipster3. The damage is already been done, 100% feedback is a lot like virginity when it is lost it is lost forever.
If you choose to continue reading this mutterings, please keep in mind that these are my personal notes and thoughts, recorded over a period of time, soon to be long in the past. A history to not be repeated.
All Text in Italics has been taken directly from the original communications.

I am not a spring chicken, I am in my mid-fiftys, have an ebay store with hundreds of items and a feedback rating at the time of 560, 285 from buyers and 585 from sellers, I had left 922 for others, I have always been a happy camper until now! 100% positive feedback sent and recieved until now, I have even let a few non-payers off the hook with no feedback rather than resort to negative feedback.

I have purchased the following item on eBay from you. Please send me the total amount I owe you. I am not in a hurry, so express mail is not required :)

I had hoped he would respond with some shipping and payment options as I indicated I was not in a big hurry, and as a dialogue evolved I would get around to my other purchasing needs.

"hi,you won the above auction for $4.99,please add $8.50 shipp if in the u.s or canada ($15.75 international)and send international postal money order,bankers money order/cashiers check,or cash ,sorry,no pay-pal)) to- XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX ONTARIO CANADA N3T 1N5 please include e-bay item number with payment,thanks,phil

PLEASE NOTE:-WE NO LONGER ACCEPT BID-PAY AS A FORM OF PAYMENT AS THEY TAKE UP TO 1 MONTH TO REACH US. WE ONLY ACCEPT MONEY ORDERS..(BANK OR POSTAL) WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER, OR CASH....NO PAY-PAL... ps, i have more of these if you are interested.

PLEASE NOTE-the green u.s postal money orders are not valid in canada(AND WILL NOT BE RETURNED UNTILL VALID MONEY ORDER IS SENT),they must be the international type...... ALSO. once the item has been shipped it is no longer our responsibility,you are intrusting the post office with your item,if it is damaged or lost there is nothing we can do unless insured(even then insurance only covers loss,not damage to glass goods),if you would like your item insured please add $10......."

It was at this point things went very wrong. I have an anger that occurs when I find myself dealing with people running auctions on ebay.com in US dollars and making it as hard and expensive as possiable to do business with them! Sellers who sell on ebay.com (should be ebay.us) need to either take some form of electronic payment or state clearly in their auction that they do not! Otherwise list in your own currency or restrict sales!

I run into these sellers a lot on ebay.uk where I collect stonehenge postcards and collectables. I usually end up sending cash, but I bitch about it a bit and play 20 questions to establish a warm fuzzy feeling before I send cash. Over the last few years, I have heard a wide range of reasons why sellers will not accept paypal. Some good and some bad. I have helped a number of sellers get started with paypal and have continued to do business with them.

The flat rate shipping of $8.50 with no other options was an additional irritant, and oh so many conditions on payment Had they been stated up front, I would not have bid. The quote of $10 to the insure delevery of $5 worth of tubes did not help my temper.
In a haze of growing anger, pipster3's email sounded to me like if I wanted to be sure to get this shipment, it would be $18.50 shipping and handeling for him to insure that I get them AS/IS in the the mail, they may be broken, but thats not pipster3's problem even though a preminum is being charged for handeling. Oh by the way, the post office will not cover glass breakage anyway.

... that set me off. I went to ebay and reviewed pipster3s feedback in an attempt to get a better idea of who I was dealing with, It turns out he has had 19 problems in close to 6 years of selling. Not bad, BUT he had collected 13 of them in the last year 10 in the last 6 months and 2 in the last month. Thats 6 in the first 5 years of business and now 13 in less than a year, most in teh last 6 months ?
A scan of pipster3s current auctions showed he has closed ~80 auctions as a seller for about $500 during the current ebay period Oct 29 - Nov 11 2005. Continued sales at this level would shortly put the ebay Power Seller rating in jeopardy. At this point I am concerned, something seems to have set .

At 12:57:22 EST I responded with the following questions, by this point I wish it would all go away. yet if I get acceptable answers I will bite the bullet and send him cash in the mail and right it off as a $20 mistake.

"Let me get this straight, you will not accept paypal, credit card or any other form of electronic payment and did not bother to mention this fact in listing ?
How in the world did you get 3000+ feedback points with so few negatives ?
Has Paypal shut you off for some reason ?
Yes, I am in the market for more, but I can not accept your payment restrictions.
I am not a happy camper :(
May I suggest we mutually cancel this auction and save both of us a lot of time.
Please make a ME page with your shipping and payment requirements and include it in your future listings, it makes doing business much easier :)
PostcardBob bob@ibmcollectables.com"

In hind sight I agree, I let my anger slip in, and could have been a bit more diplomatic, not to mention friendly, with a possiable future supplier. But is was a bad day, I always get moody on the Marine Corps Birthday, My old friends refer to it as sand-flee flashbacks ... ;)

"ALL OUR AUCTIONS STATE CLEARLY,MONEY ORDERS OR CASHGIERS CHECK,THERE IS NO PAY-PAL,BID-PAY,OR CREDIT CARD SYMBOLS ON OUR AUCTIONS,WE HAVE NEVER ACCEPTED THESE TYPES OF PAYMENTS AND OUR CUSTOMERS UNDERSTAND THIS,PHIL"

This was not the response I had expected, and I HATE YELLING in upper case! it sets me off!

At 14:21:32 I muttered the following back in ever increasing anger:

"'OUR CUSTOMERS UNDERSTAND THIS' but I am not a mind reader. This a misunderstanding and not a holy war. I am assuming that the caps lock key is stuck on your keyboard. I do not do not respond well to being yelled at.
I will begin the process to mutually abort this ill conceived auction as soon as ebay allows me, about 10 days, if you as seller do not do so earlier.
Sorry, I can not do business with you under these terms.
Bob"

It was my intent to reminding pipster3 it was a postal holiday here in the states, and payment was on the way, but it would take few days to get him his money. As I stated in the previous message, this was not a holy war just a misunderstanding.

Several hours latter pipster3 left me Negative feedback. It is so recorded at 10:27 PST (a record breaking 24 hours and 30 minutes from end of auction) pipster3 left the following feedback.
"refused to pay because we don't take pay-pal,auction shows methods accepted"

I have not responded with feedback at this time, that decision will come at the end of hostilities and not in the first 24 or even 48 hours ! It will take many days for my current anger to subside.

My first question is, What ever happened to the customer is often right and lost sales are often recoverable thru communications. In pipster3 case the negative feedback card has already been played, the scar is there, there is little I can do about it now.

As to the question of being a hothead, you need to make up your own mind...

I have been in contact with several other ebayers who have had problems with pipster3 over the last 6 months. Several have agree to allow me to quote their responses and some have asked I not use their names. The following is a summery of pipster3's questionable feedback and documents a marked turn in pipster3's attitude, along with comments and editorial.

Apr-30-05 Pipster3 left the following negative feedback: "NO PAYMENT,NO REPLYS TO E-MAILS" to a seller with a feedback rateing of over 300. May-29-05 05:41, Follow-up by pipster3: "this was a mistake,payment received all ok,sorry,phil"
I would have liked to communicate with this buyer, but alas silvers30 is no longer a registered ebay member.

Jun-26-05 Seller oneyhoofs(private) left the following feedback "CON MAN! Have reciept for shipping, Wants another set for nothing. NO WAY."
Reply by pipster3: "RECEIVED NOTHING,HIDES HIS FEEDBACK,NO E-MAIL REPLYS,TAKING COURT ACTION"

Jul-06-05 ourazauctions with a feedback of over 1200 left the following feedback. "Canadians ! Shipped 2 USA Address said they did not get it Left Neg. Enuf Said!"
Reply by pipster3: "HE RECEIVED OUR PAYMENT,NO ITEM WAS DELIVERED, HE REFUSED TO SHOW SHIPP RECEIPT"
I contacted the seller for a follow up and recieved the following "He Bought item, Paid for it, We don't ship out of USA, Had us ship to USA address of a 3rd party, Said they did not get it, We have the Postal receipt with Zip Code, Said he had a Lawyer to Sue us, Stopped all communications with him at that time, Thats about it. Dave"
I checked out seller ourazauctions and found they had over 1400 feedback points and they clearly states in his auctions he DOES NOT ship outside of the USA.So I contacted this seller for a follow up and received the following He Bought item, Paid for it, We don't ship out of USA, Had us ship to USA address of a 3rd party, Said they did not get it, We have the Postal receipt with Zip Code, Said he had a Lawyer to Sue us, Stopped all communications with him at that time, Thats about it. Dave
Aug-21-05 pipster3 had three auctions go wrong with a South Africa buyer alexo3662 who left the following feedback "TAKE CARE!!!!!!!!!"
Reply by pipster3: "NEVER RECEIVED ANY PAYMENT,TRACE YOUR PAYMENT"

Aug-23-05 buyer koksing0 left the following feedback from Hong Kong "I unlucky to find this & pay ~US70(include handle) and get nothing take care HKs" and "Say item shipped but no proof of mail the item and not receive Air 60d &no help" for two items.
I followed up with koksing0 and recieved the following "I visted a ebay aution by seller pipster3 and winning the items and pay it by post the money orders CA 41.90 and 30.00. I have check that he receive it in 20 & 22 Jun 2005 in post office. I remind him to check if the payment recevive about 15 Aug 2005. He not yet ship the items because he said did not know the money come from. He then make clear and said mail the item by air in next day and I trust him at this time. I have not receive anything in few months. Final I receive the item very late and find he post it surface and no response on return money. Moreover, the exchange rate is set higher than normal. So I need to send two part of money order to him and pay more service charge to him. But he made very bad service."
Reply by pipster3: "NO PAYMENT RECEIVED ,TRACE YOUR PAYMENT" and "NO PAYMENT RECEIVED,TRACE IT!"

Sep-06-05 oskoh an ebayer from Aichi Japan, left the following feedback for two items: "This seller received my payment on 23 Aug., Post officer said, but sent nothing!"
Reply by pipster3: "never received any payment,FIND OUT WHO CASHED IT?"
Follow-up by oskoh: "Who? Canadian Post says it is MR. PHILIP HANDS!! Who are you???"

Nov-10-05, pipster3 left the following negative feedback "NO PAYMENT,BAD E-BAYER" for a buyer with over 1000 feedback points from the USA.

Nov-11-05, pipster3 leaves me this just 24 hours after the auction "refused to pay because we don't take pay-pal,auction shows methods accepted"
This document will have to serve in place of my feedback until, this auction is settled and the items are recieved or a reasonable period of time expires.

Nov-22-05 10:00:13 PST Pipster3 relisted these 6 tubes with the same photo an identical listing ?

Nov 23 2005, 10:29am the following was recieved via ebay:
Item: RADIO TUBES VALVES 6 VERY OLD IBM 6B3001 ( 6BE6 ) (6576923427)
This message was sent after the listing closed.
pipster3 is the seller.
---------------------------------------
hi,tubes shipped,thanks,phil

Nov 29 2005 I found a package in my PostOffice Box from Canada. It contained not 6 but 10 tubes, all well packed in newspaper. No message or receipt.

I assume the extra 4 tubes were change for my $20. That is fine with me, I plan on using them in an Art project, having 10 tubes provides me a wider choice based on logo condition and overall look. The extra 4 tubes had increased the airmail postage fee to $5.60c

Nov 30 2005 one day after the package, the Return Reciept for International Mail arrived here at the house. It had been signed for on Nov 23 the same day as the package was shipped.

In conclusion:
There is little question that pipster3 can be a bit of a hot head if the right buttons are pushed and there is also little question I pushed them.
I leave it to him to initiate a mutual feedback retraction, or leave the feedback as it stands, that is his call.
I concider this one of lifes little learning experiances. I hope I learned this lesson well.

Oct 20 2006 I purchased a number of additional tubes for this seller for my IBM collection and we exchanged positive feedback for the transaction.

Bob Bradlee - bob@Postcardbob(dot)com