[Phono-L] Suckerpunched by eBay & Vic III for sale

Thu Apr 9 19:44:55 PDT 2009

I no longer buy from ebay. I am Phonofreak56 and I have over 1600 pos. feed-backs. I got booted off ebay(no great loss) because I refused to pay by pay pal. Here's what happened: There were 2 newbie sellers that didn't mention pay pal only or required. I win the items and immediately ask the sellers for their address so I can send payment. No response came to me. A few days later, I get an email asking why I haven't paid. I respond that I need an address so I can mail payment, and pay pal only or required was not stated. A few days pass and I get two strikes for non payment. I sent an email saying that pay pal was not mentioned in the auctions. I get a "canned" answer from someone who doesn't know English. My question was skirted and avoided. The straw that broke the camel's back went like this. I won a really nice VV50 with a 3 digit serial number. I paid for the item and had it in my possession. Then I get a third strike and booted off. Like before, I
 emailed ebay and the typical response like before. The buyers have no rights and it sucks being at the mercy of an unscrupulous seller. They will take the word of a newbie with 20 pos. feed-backs over some one with over 1600. Go figure. Now I buy from fellow collectors and from shows. F**K ebay. I have no use for it. I notice that ITG classified are getting bigger before the ebay craze. Thanks guys for allowing me to sound off. Harvey Kravitz, Phonofreak56
--- On Thu, 4/9/09, Mike Stitt <smstitt at gmail.com> wrote:
From: Mike Stitt <smstitt at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Suckerpunched by eBay & Vic III for sale
To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l at oldcrank.org>
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009, 2:37 PM

Al,
This list is one! Phonographs shows another. My real point was that some of
us with really nice stuff (me for one) don't sell often but like John do so
from time to time. In the past you just put your item up and tell folks MO
or check or ???. Now it's PayPal or nothing. As someone who always felt
eBay
was a good venue but rarely sell it is not attractive for me and perhaps
others if you need a Paypal acct (merchant account?). This may lead to some
nice items *not* being on eBay. Not all of us are dealers. Further more,
fees now can range up to 15% I'm told. The whole idea of eBay was that
collectors could join together (Pez, remember) to sell their items. It is
the social side of the hobby that brings new blood to the table to buy those
common machines as well. Then they turn into advanced collectors.
Omar knew this as eBay always tried to have a "community."

 Forcing Paypal I suggest will keep some of us casual sellers away. I have
found another effective venue is calling people up and asking if they want
buy a phongraph.

Well they say too much money, so you put it on eBay and they buy it for
more...Bwahahahaha
I see your point however. Why not let it be the market place is was and
should be?

Hey Al how the heck you been. Will I see you at Salem?
Mike

On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 12:34 PM, Albert <cenfin at comcast.net> wrote:

> Mike:  What other venues are there?  Advanced collectors are not going to
> buy common machines, or if they do they wont pay retail..  I  too hate
Ebay,
> but I love to sell machines there because I have always got great prices
and
> they sell quickly.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Stitt"
<smstitt at gmail.com>
> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l at oldcrank.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 11:08 AM
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Suckerpunched by eBay & Vic III for sale
>
>
>
>  I thought we had talked about this here. I may be wrong. When eBay forces
>> PayPal they collect a % on shipping fees as well. I thought I had
bemoaned
>> the fact that many collectors who are not dealers but very
"casual"
>> sellers
>> will find "taking PayPal" way to much of a burden for an
occasional sell.
>> We
>> collectors tend to fuel eBay with some very nice stuff when we decide
to
>> let
>> go. eBay will effectively drive away sellers with good stuff and
buyers as
>> well. I don't mean it will doom eBay and super rare stuff will
still show
>> up......with the flea market stuff. The middle road people may find it
>> easier to sell in another venue. I will not establish a sellers PayPal
>> account for the few nice pieces I wish sell each year. I've been
an eBay
>> member since 1997 and my feedback is a whopping 107. I see many phono
>> items
>> in the last few months for sale on this list. Keep it up. Hey no fees
and
>> you are dealing with people you know...sort of.... Collecting is fun
when
>> it
>> is part of a social network, at least to me it is..
>> Mike
>>
>> On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 10:32 AM, Abe Feder <abefeder1 at gmail.com>
wrote:
>>
>>  John,
>>> You can take ck's you just do not put it in your add. If you
not a very
>>> small number say "Pay Pal account required" If they do I
by pass them. I
>>> send them in ask a question if they take cks or cc and they always
say
>>> yes.Ebay really messed up my account when they hit me with
increased
>>> fee's
>>> that I just did not know about. After three months of trying to
get it
>>> square-I just do not do pay pal.
>>> Abe Feder
>>>
>>> On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 12:04 AM, john robles
<john9ten at pacbell.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> >  Okay, it finally happend. Afte defending eBay (mentally if
not
>>> physically
>>> > on this board) for a long time, I got my comeupance today.
Two days ago
>>> > I
>>> > put several items on eBa for sale, including a nice Vic III
that I >
>>> have.
>>> I
>>> > am DESPERATELY trying to raise $2800 in a short time to buy a
harp to
>>> > replace mine (which developed structural problems).  I need
to raise >
>>> this
>>> > money SOON!  So I listed some phonoe items that were near and
dear to >
>>> my
>>> > heart, including the III. You may remember what I went
through trying >
>>> to
>>> get
>>> > a back bracket for it.
>>> > So this morning, I find that eBay has REMOVED my items
because I did >
>>> the
>>> > unholy deed of saying I accept Paypal and personal checks
(held for
>>> > clearance). Apparently you cannot accept mone order or
personal checks
>>> > on
>>> > ebay any more. I didn't know this because I don't
read every piece of
>>> > claptrap that ebay sends me. I use the Turbolister to create
my >
>>> listings,
>>> > and it caugh that I offered to accept money orders, and it
gave me an
>>> error
>>> > code on that. So I changed it. BUT it did NOT give me an
error code on
>>> the
>>> > term personal checks.  So I guess some grunt at ebay whose
job it is to
>>> > check such things found it and pulled m auctions. I had $460
in bids on
>>> the
>>> > III when it was pulled. They sent some sort of email to my
bidders
>>> telling
>>> > them the items were being pulled. I was FURIOUS. I wrote them
an angry
>>> > letter, and they basicall said too bad. They were nice about
it, bt at
>>> the
>>> > end of the letter it said I should not respond because they
would not
>>> > receive it. Nice
>>> >  and caring.  Anyhoe I relisted most of the stuff, and the
Vic III is
>>> item
>>> > number 110374580209.  I am so desperate to raise the cash
that my buy >
>>> it
>>> now
>>> > on this item is only $1995, which is less money than I have
into it. So
>>> if
>>> > you want a deal, there it is.  As for ebay, they disguise
their >
>>> corporate
>>> > greed behid the veil of 'protecting their sellers from
fraud'. They own
>>> > Paypal, so of course they want you to use it exclusively.
Arrgh. Thanks
>>> for
>>> > leting me vent. And thanks for reading this far.
>>> > John RObles
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Phono-L mailing list
>>> > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
>>> >
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