Negative Seller Reaction

Go to your My Snipes, click Modify accounts at the top, unclick instamail. Most of us do that!



Mrs.M

"My Snipes" tab. Then "Modify Account". Scoll down to "InstaMail".

Mrs. M,

Your post snipe beat mine.

By the way,





to our forum!!



Mrs.M

Uhhhuh, they always called me "fast fingers"!



Mrs.M

It'd be a pretty dumb seller that didn't honour (English spelling! ) the sale ... your actions got him more money than he would have if you didn't bid/snipe!

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View My Photo Album - here

Hard to believe some sellers resent snipe bids...I don't see how they could! It makes them more money, so why do they complain? Besides which, it's not like there are any rules to bidding, that's why it's possible to bid on an auction at any time...the best thing to do is just uninstall the InstaMail, this will prevent future sellers of auctions you win from knowing you used AS.

*~samuraiblossom~*

Samaurai, it depends on one's perspective. From the standpoint of your snipe happening versus your never bidding on the auction at all, then naturally the snipe raised the seller's profits over the next highest bid and he should be happy.

OTOH, some sellers see it as a matter of your sniping their auction versus your bidding earlier in the auction. They feel that the latter would have resulted in counterbids and maybe a bidding war. We snipers cannot deny this, because avoiding that very scene is at least part of why we snipe in the first place.

Bottom line, as both a seller and a buyer, it is an AUCTION! In an auction, both parties take a chance. I say if the seller objects that strenuously, let him open a store and put price tags on his item!

Mrs. M

According to eBay policy, the seller and buyer are required to follow all terms listed in the auction. The seller is not allowed to add terms after the auction ends, nor to add terms (prior to an auction) that are not made public.

So in this case, first the seller almost didn't sell you the item you won. Had they carried out that threat, they would be in violation of eBay policy, and severely punished! Second, the seller has threatened to renege on future auctions if you win them using a snipe. Unless the seller specifically and publically mentions a no-snipe policy in their auction listing, that seller (if you won using a snipe and seller reneged) would also be in violation of eBay policy, and severely punished!

To put it very bluntly: if a seller lists "no sales to Jews, Arabs, or Indians", eBay policy allows a seller to renege if that term is violated. If the seller did not list that, the seller has broken the contract.

--Rob

AS, puhleeeze, set the default for instamail to NOT sending it!!!

I do not recall what the default setting was when I signed onto AS, but by the number of people who've complained about having sellers notified that they sniped the auction it seems that the default must be to have the emails sent.

Since most people come here not really knowing the best options to choose, it sure would be nice if AuctionSniper had the default set at NOT having an automatic email response.

Sure, I can appreciate that they are trying to advertise as much as possible...however, I wonder how many people have been turned off by this action of AS.

WarriorNun

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning"

It's funny... I don't remember ever unchecking that box, but when I look at my settings, it's not checked.

Hmmm...

Do you mind telling us what the item in question was that you sniped? You see, I have this theory that different types of sellers respond differently to auction sniping. It probably has most to do with their personality type, but the line of sales they're in also has something to do with it.

BTW, hi, I'm new here, though I've been sniping for some months now. I may not be a regular but I'll drop by now and then.

Gordo

A feature idea could be to make the referral link optional in the insta message. The insta message concept is great it is the referal link that causes some issues.

The link is a benefit to us because we get free snipes if a person signs up however the seller might not be the idea target market

what do you think?

thanks

David

Gordo, I just wanted to stop by and say...



to our forum!!

Thanks Mrs. M

Well, nobody asked to hear my theory so of course I'll tell y'all anyway

This isn't to disparage any particular group of eBay sellers, just to point out that we all have our particular obsessions and occasional strange behaviors that result from them... the antique/collectible world is a good case in point. There is a general, unscientific belief among people at large that anything sufficiently old has gotta be "worth something"... which may or may not be true. Even antique dealers, who are in a position to know what's really worth something and what isn't, are not immune to this... you know what I mean if you've ever stepped inside an antique store and seen the "authentic Voyageur era axe handle, axe missing, slight porcupine damage, $50.00"...

The specific sellers I've seen reported here who got all shirty over someone using AS were sellers of antiques and collectibles. They were convinced their item was worth more, to somebody, and they resented the sniper for not giving someone else the chance to beat their bid. Somehow they have gotten the idea that they can make a killing on eBay selling their one-of-a-kind items, which may or may not really be one-of-a-kind...

To put it bluntly, if no one wants your item, its effective market value is ZERO. No doubt there are people in the world who will pay more for it, but they may not have computers, or be bidding on eBay that day.

I don't think any of us are here to rip anybody off. I know I'm willing to pay a fair price for the items I bid on. I just don't want to pay top dollar. I want a deal, not a steal!

First - Thanks to everyone that replied to my original message. I am overwhelmed by your respones and helpful suggestions.

Second the item in question was a collectable german pocket knife. I estimate it's maximum value at about $35.00 and with handling I ended up paying about $30.00. I did pay $1.00 more than the highest bidder just before closing. After the auction when I received the negative note I suggested to the seller that he post a note on future items: "Snipers are not welcome."
I also offered to let him cancel the sale with no hard feelings and I'd take my business elsewhere. (The item is not that hard to find!)He apologized and the transaction was copmleted.

I did not realize that the insta-mail would have a negative effect and I thought that AS deserves to get their message out, and I don't mind helping. Now I think I'll turn it off. Thanks again for pointing out the toggle to me.

Robert B. Chiarello

One positive to insta-mail is letting sellers know just how many of you snipers are out there winning their items. It lets them think of sniping in a positive light and thus helps reduce negative reactions in the future, giving a more positive view of sniping.

It also helps speed communication between yourself and the seller and helps you get your items faster.

Quote from Sara
"It also helps speed communication between yourself and the seller and helps you get your items faster."

I don't understand why this would be, Sara. I am a seller and it certainly would not make me want to do any of the above any faster or different than usual. When someone wins an auction, I am notified by ebay right away anyway. ..btw, I like snipers in my auctions.

I took the notice off of mine for that very reason.
However, it is because one seller had the tag on their item that I learned about AS. So...it depends upon the seller.

I concur with Mrs. M.

I learned about AS when an item of mine was purchased several months ago and I got the auto email. It certainly didn't cause me to handle the deal any faster. I much prefer personal contact and this particular buyer obviously didn't. All contact from him was via "automatic" sources (Paypal etc) and I never received a single personal word.

In fact, I would probably deliberately delay getting back to someone like that just to show my disapproval. There is no substitute for courtesy and politeness, even in today's computer-mad world.

That's my preach for today.

GG

Well, good sermon!

I always make sure to keep personal contact with anyone I am dealing with in a transaction. If I am a buyer, I email the seller about all my information and when and how I intend to pay. I answer any and all emails the seller sends me. Same sort of thing if I am the seller (though I am by far a buyer when it comes to eBay). I like to be friendly with those I deal with, it's the polite thing to do and it leaves a good impression with the person I am dealing with in the transaction. Sometimes I even get to talk to sellers about my hobby of collecting anime plush and see if they can help me out with finding some particular items I need. Good communication and being informative to those you deal with on the bay is a great thing. And it makes things SO much easier in a transaction.

*~samuraiblossom~*

You meet all kinds of people when buying and selling on Ebay. Most are very nice and there are a few screwballs to season the mix.
I've had people snipe my auctions. At first it may seem true that it would tend to lessen the price paid, but if there is going to be a bidding war, then unless your snipe price is high enough it isn't going to make a difference anyway. I've had several sniped at the last minute, but they weren't going much of anywhere anyway and I was glad to get the bid. Sure I could have grouched because the item went for $5 and I thought it "should" have gone for $20 ...

I usually stay calm but I think if that dufus had grouched at me like that, I might have just given it right back. As an earlier post stated, if it isn't in his little rules then it doesn't apply. I AM curious - was that a power seller or was he going to ban you from all (gasp!) FIVE of his auctions

Rick Grunwald

I am in total agreement with you as a seller and a buyer. And... to our forum! Hope to see you back soon!

I just go with the buyers flow in regard to emails. If they use all the impersonal notices etc - I do the same and no nice nice stuff (lol I am always polite etc). If they send me an email I reply with the same tone.

I find that alot of buyers just want the transaction done and thats it. I get some emails that say "Payment made oct 10" and thats it. I am not going to bother writing a 3 paragraph email back to them.

Works for me too - with family, life, work and ebay - the less time I spend writing emails the better.

That said - if I get an email that is lengthy and pleasant in tone - I reply in the same way. All happy happy joy joy.

Lexie

Yep, that's my Lexie happy, happy, joy ,joy

autophile writes:

"So in this case, first the seller almost didn't sell you the item you won. Had they carried out that threat, they would be in violation of eBay policy, and severely punished!"


Sorry to say eBay does little to nothing to non performing sellers, besides emailing them to let them know they have been bad. They certainly do no punishing.

So, if you wind up with a seller who decides not to sell...your just out of luck.
I know, been there, done that, got the Tee Shirt.
(also, my first negative, in retaliation to the one I left seller.)

Does seem rather one sided, considering what happens to you if you decide not to pay.

OP, I'm glad it worked out for you, it really is unbelievable that some sellers react this way, they should just be happy that someone bought their stuff.

AS RULES!!!

robert

I received an email from Auction Sniper for one of my buyers. At first I thought "what a little sneak" even tho I'd manually sniped my fair share of auctions. I didn't think it was right to use a sniper "service" to do it. But here I am. I used the buyer's reference in her email to sign up for it myself. I've disabled the automatic email feature tho. I don't want any sellers to get a bad taste in their mouth when they learn I sniped the auction using AS. It's already pretty obvious by the times of my bids what I did.

It just boggles my mind after all this time to see bidders--some with 100os of feedbacks--actually bidding early on an item.

How can they not know that bidding early (or anytime at all except right at the end) will not only increase interest in the auction, but also drive up the price!?

It would be like smiling when you get a good hand in poker--dumb.

My biggest fear is that AS becomes actually popular. Then we will have to reduce our lag time to milliseconds to outbid each other!

Still, it's nice to know the world is still populated with a large proportion of doofuses =+) That's always profitable for the rest of us.

Every day above ground is a GOOD day

The saying 'all's well that ends well' applies. I got the product, the seller got his money, which was $1.00 more than he would have otherwise. I got an apology from him, after he 'cooled down". And I found this forum and all of the prople that were nice enough to respond.

Oh, the seller has 41 additional items up for auction none of which is of interest to me, so he can continue his activity with no worries that I'll add to his income. And I notice that he has NOT included a statement on any of his items that he does not welcome AS.

Robert B. Chiarello

quote:

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Sorry to say eBay does little to nothing to non performing sellers, besides emailing them to let them know they have been bad. They certainly do no punishing.

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I have to disagaree. I've seen more than one sellers' account suspended for failing to deliver. One of them happened to be a seller I bought from. It was a magazine subscription and he got suspended before I had a chance to leave MY negative feedback (I never got my subscription). At least I was only out $4.00. A friend of mine reported a seller for non delivery and he was suspended also. It takes at least three complaints before ebay will do anything about it.

quote:

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Still, it's nice to know the world is still populated with a large proportion of doofuses =+) That's always profitable for the rest of us.

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Tonbo, my experience is that if someone else seems to be acting really stupid, it is normally because I am missing something, except when they vote for Bush.

There are actually quite a few good reasons for leaving early bids. One of them is that it helps keep sellers who don't like sniping happy.

Rosetsu, I am LMAO!!!!!!!!!

Hey Rosetsu!

RE: Bush voters.

Go with your experience! You're missing something!

Jabbergah

Hi Jabbergah,
Well perhaps I am wrong about Bush, but I am too old to take advantage of the paid (but dangerous) indefinite adventure holiday in Iraq.

Lucky me..I have one for a governor too!!

I wrote:
quote:
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Sorry to say eBay does little to nothing to non performing sellers, besides emailing them to let them know they have been bad. They certainly do no punishing.

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coralbelle responds:

quote:

I have to disagree. I've seen more than one sellers' account suspended for failing to deliver. One of them happened to be a seller I bought from. It was a magazine subscription and he got suspended before I had a chance to leave MY negative feedback (I never got my subscription). At least I was only out $4.00. A friend of mine reported a seller for non delivery and he was suspended also. It takes at least three complaints before ebay will do anything about it.
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Coralbelle...
Sorry if I was not clear when I made the statement that eBay will do nothing to a non-performing seller...What I was referring to was a seller who refuses to sell, not a seller who receives payment and then does not deliver the goods...two different animals.

AS Rules

robert

quote:
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Sorry to say eBay does little to nothing to non performing sellers, besides emailing them to let them know they have been bad. They certainly do no punishing.

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coralbelle responds:

quote:

I have to disagree. I've seen more than one sellers' account suspended for failing to deliver. One of them happened to be a seller I bought from. It was a magazine subscription and he got suspended before I had a chance to leave MY negative feedback (I never got my subscription). At least I was only out $4.00. A friend of mine reported a seller for non delivery and he was suspended also. It takes at least three complaints before ebay will do anything about it.
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Coralbelle...
Sorry if I was not clear when I made the statement that eBay will do nothing to a non-performing seller...What I was referring to was a seller who refused to sell, not a seller who receives payment and then does not deliver the goods...two different animals

AS Rules

robert

quote:

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Originally posted by coralbelle:

quote:

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Sorry to say eBay does little to nothing to non performing sellers, besides emailing them to let them know they have been bad. They certainly do no punishing.

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I have to disagaree. I've seen more than one sellers' account suspended for failing to deliver. One of them happened to be a seller I bought from. It was a magazine subscription and he got suspended before I had a chance to leave MY negative feedback (I never got my subscription). At least I was only out $4.00. A friend of mine reported a seller for non delivery and he was suspended also. It takes at least three complaints before ebay will do anything about it.

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Coralbelle...
Sorry if I was not clear when I made the statement that eBay will do nothing to a non-performing seller...What I was referring to was a seller who refused to sell, not a seller who receives payment and then does not deliver the goods...two different animals

robert

quote:

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Originally posted by coralbelle:

quote:

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Sorry to say eBay does little to nothing to non performing sellers, besides emailing them to let them know they have been bad. They certainly do no punishing.

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I have to disagaree. I've seen more than one sellers' account suspended for failing to deliver. One of them happened to be a seller I bought from. It was a magazine subscription and he got suspended before I had a chance to leave MY negative feedback (I never got my subscription). At least I was only out $4.00. A friend of mine reported a seller for non delivery and he was suspended also. It takes at least three complaints before ebay will do anything about it.

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Coralbelle...
Sorry if I was not clear when I made the statement that eBay will do nothing to a non-performing seller...What I was referring to was a seller who refused to sell, not a seller who receives payment and then does not deliver the goods...two different animals

robert

Sorry about all the multiple posts...the Forum was acting pretty weird that day and was telling me it could not accept my post, so I resubmitted a few time and got same response.
I guess it was lying to me...cause there they are!!!

I even came back yesterday to resubmit my response about non-performing sellers...but did not see them then...obviously.

AS Rules!!!


robert

I absolutely LOVE the automatic e-mail response as it saves me having to do anything if I win. My pager just goes off and I know that the seller has my mailing info and everything else. The one thing I HATE about the auto e-mail response is the line that says, "USE WHAT OTHERS ARE USING TO BEAT YOU." We are e-mailing a seller for gawds sakes, not another bidder. I am sure they enjoy being told to use the same thing I used to beat them...OUTTA SOME CASH! I don't mind telling them that I used AS, but I do mind being so snide about it. I have outweighed the pros and cons and still send the auto mail. I have sniped over 800 auctions and have had maybe one negative reply. Most sellers love the fact that they don't have to wait and wonder if they are ever going to hear from you. I love snipers and I love sniping!

"The biggest tragedy in life is not death; it's what dies inside of us while we are still alive."

Hi Kev!

Like you, I use the post auction auto e-mail feature. It is a very convenient & useful feature to the AS service. I've seen other posts similar to yours, expressing dissatisfaction with the auto e-mail because of the AS promoting paragraph. If fact, some snipers dislike the canned e-mail so much, they elect NOT to use the feature.

The really goofy thing about the whole situation is that it is ONLY one offending paragraph (maybe a few lines) that turns some people off!! It would be nice if the AS people would re-write this small section that would still be able to promote the AS service, but be plain vanilla & benign enough to ruffle fewer feathers of users!

For instance, I think few snipers would object to something on the order of:

"This winning bid was placed in behalf of the bidder by AuctionSniper. If you are curious to learn more about this service and how it may help you win more auctions, go to {website address keyed with AS user's e-mail address as referral}".

I think more people would use this feature if the AS sell would be toned down a bit, and THAT would get AS's name out there more!

If the AS programmers would REALLY like to do some extra work, they could modify the e-mail setup page so that the user could SELECT among several pre-written AS-promoting paragraphs to be included in the e-mail. It is doubtful they would allow the AS-promoting paragraph to be deletely entirely as theoretically there would be no direct benefit or return to AS in that case.

Maybe Sara will add this request to the list of program change requests!

Snipe on!

Jabbergah

Jabber, I like your idea! Hopefully Sara will see it and present the idea to them!

quote:

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Originally posted by Mrs.M:
I like your idea! Hopefully Sara will see it and present the idea to them!

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Hi Mrs. M,

If AS made this change, would you turn on the InstaMail option?

After reading it, possibly. I would like to test the reaction, at least. ANd you?

I'd give it a go with something *toned* down.

I just think if some snooty seller emailed me being as rude as some of the above ones - I would have to be seriously rude back ...then I would end up with a list of negatives a mile long

I really like the idea

Lexie

Hi Y'all!

I noticed you liked my idea, but which one?! That's the disadvantage of writing so much!

1st idea was simply a toned down AS sales pitch in InstaMail. (My favorite since it could probably be accomplished in a matter of programing moments!)

2nd idea was e-mail setup screen that allows user to select among SEVERAL AS sales pitches, presumably at least one of which would be benign or toned down.

3rd idea was for the remote possibility that AS would allow an auto e-mail to be sent completely without any AS sales pitch. (Yeah, right!)

I would like to extend & edit my suggestion for a new AS "sales pitch" in the InstaMail. It's brief, to the point, and definitely soft-sell:

"This winning bid was placed in behalf of the bidder by AuctionSniper. If you would like to learn more about how this service may help you win more auctions, go to {website address keyed with AS user's e-mail address as referral}".

The neat thing about this "soft-sell" message approach is that I think it piques the recipient's curiosity in the service rather than stir up their wrath or resentment! Sometimes it's better to say less than more! In addition, if the AS user's ID is somehow built into the AS link, they can get free snipes if the recipient clicks on the AS link and signs up! So this would ENCOURAGE AS users to use the InstaMail service because of the fair chance of picking up some free snipe credits!

Anyway, thanks for liking my idea, whichever it was!

Jabbergah

Yeah, yeah, yeah...the curse of perfectionism!

OK, here's my latest crack at the Best soft-sell paragraph for AS in InstaMail:

"This winning bid was placed in behalf of the bidder by AuctionSniper. To learn more about how this service may help you win more auctions, go to {website address keyed with AS user's e-mail address as referral}".

Succinct, to the point, soft-sell, yet curiosity-raising!

'til I come up with something better....

Jabbergah

P.S. Hey! Maybe AS should have a contest amongst us snipers to come up with the best AS promotional paragraph for InstaMail! Oh yeah, I already won!

I actually liked both ideas, jabber. With me it was six of one and a half dozen of the other. If there was no choices, as long as it was a good one like you wrote..or... give us a selection of good choices. It certainly would be to their advantage.

I liked ALL of your ideas, but as the multiple choice idea would suggest, the fewer the options, the better. People get confused really easily and it would be nice, if, at a minimum...AS could come up with one simple nice paragraph to promote the service and not PI$$ off the sellers! I like that they allow us to put in what we want to tell the seller. I let them know why I use AS, and that I prefer to pay them IMMEDIATELY through PayPal CASH. So the sooner they respond to me with preferred payment type and shipping, the sooner I can get them their money. I haven't found any sellers that get upset at that idea!

I don't think we need several canned multiple choice options, just one, clean, and simple communication would do!

I love AS and I love having closed nearly 800 successful happy auctions with 100% positive feedback!

Thanks for the support Jabber, and AUCTIONSNIPER STAFF, keep up the good work!

"The biggest tragedy in life is not death; it's what dies inside of us while we are still alive."

Perhaps the same could be done with the "Mail to a friend" make it short and sweet like the suggestion(s) for the seller one.


"Shop"

What do you think of the suggestions/rewrite to the InstaMail AS message proposed in the postings in this topic since 11-17? Do you think it doable/worthwhile?

- Jabbergah

I've been doing this sniping business since I got on ebay through a knowledgeable friend. Perhaps my AS has the email response on or not. I've won several snipes and not once did I get any negative email from sellers. Maybe it IS due to the personality of the seller!!

Yes, am sure it is!

Nice to see you here! !!

Wouldn't it be funny if all the buyers in the auction got emails from AS to join?

It's too bad people get offended by a bid on their auction. I wonder if those same people would throw a fit in a "live" auction house when a bidder is on the phone with a "secret" buyer and that buyer beats them quite handily.

I don't see much difference other than the fact eBay has a time limit on their bidding. Everyone has a fair shot at bidding and all AS does is hide your interest until you are ready to bid. AS places your high bid seconds before the auction closes and anyone can place a bid for a higher amount just before or just after your bid.

The bottom line is the auction item is going to sel for what it is going to sell for and that's all. I can tell you how many times I've been beat by higher bidders just minutes before because they are caught in "auction fever" and run the price up over retail for a new item, but I won't, because it would just take too long.

AS is a way of making things even. Tell your friends about AS. Don't worry about telling people you don't know or are doing transactions with. It isn't worth the grief for the small amount AS charges. If you're a serious sniper, you are going to lose sometimes but when you win, you'll feel good enough to forget.

<-M->

I've forgotton more than I can remember. <Forest Gump>

I for one found it was not worth the irate seller, so I turned it off. Yet, it was a seller that had the AS on their messages. OH, WELL.
I agree with the saying: If you lose, shrug it off as they paid toooo much. If you win, gloat like mad.



"Shop"

quote:

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I've forgotton more than I can remember. <Forest Gump>

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One of my favorite movies!

Shop, yes, you are right. Seller's including me, do put it on their Me Page to earn their OWN free snips! Lol! Such is life.