Your thoughts on this situation

[goldcrest]

*I am not interested in sharing the seller’s name and creating a hoo-ha, so please don’t ask*

Hi all,

Just looking for opinions on this situation as I’m sure it’s happened to a lot of you.

I found 3 cards on ebay I wanted to purchase. The seller is in the US and I’m in the UK. In all of the item descriptions the seller has written “I combine postage on all orders”. I put the three cards in my cart, go to checkout and request a combined invoice but it says the seller has disallowed combined invoices.

I message the seller to say:

"Hi X,

I’d like to buy this card and two others you have for sale; I tried to request a total invoice but I get a message saying combined invoices are disallowed. You mention in your description that you can combine shipping.

I live in the UK. If I purchase the three cards together would you be able to combine the shipment for me and refund the excess postage?

If it helps the other cards I want to purchase are the XXX and the XXX.

Thanks in advance!

• Alice"

I wait two days but don’t get a reply. I look at my cart to check the cards are still available and one of the cards has been de-listed. I’m a little sad because I assume it’s sold, but looking again I can see the exact same card (same cert) has been relisted at over double the price.

I assume this must be a coincidence as I wouldn’t usually jump to the conclusion that this was deliberate, especially from this seller. However my message was sent on 13th Aug at 14:14 BST and the card was removed by the seller on 13th Aug at 14:19 BST.

I wait another day, then send the seller another message on a different platform just asking if they received my first message, as I was interested in purchasing from them. That was yesterday and I haven’t had a reply to that either. They’ve been active online so I know they’ve seen my messages.

Usually this wouldn’t bother me but this seller is very well-known and reputable. I would have preferred and totally accepted a response of “Hey, I’m really sorry but I realised that I listed that card incorrectly. The correct price is now XXX.” That would have been disappointing but ultimately fine. I don’t understand the ghosting. I haven’t done business with this seller before.

In the jewellery trade (my business) this kind of thing is seen as under-handed and pretty much marks you as untrustworthy to do business with. I know I can’t do anything about this situation, all I’m asking is is this something that is accepted in the card selling community? If so, at least I will know to expect it in the future and not let it bother me.

Thanks.

[jj1]

Addressing your issue: if the seller doesn’t allow combined invoices, then he wants you to pay for individual shipping or not buy. He’s already calculated this into his cost structure and has found that it works for him. So if you don’t want to pay shipping for each item, probably best to move on.

As an aside, coming from someone who doesn’t reply to buyer messages I can tell you why I “ghost” and the reason is simple: replying to buyers costs time and doesn’t make me any money.

I actually ran the numbers on this a year or two ago. I did a spreadsheet on approx. 500 sales that I made and cross analyzed with whether or not the sales involved buyer messages or extra effort on my part to make a sale, i.e. post more pictures, combine shipping etc.

What I ended up finding was that adding extra effort not only resulted in no increase in profit/time, but actually made a prospective buyer less likely to purchase the item, more likely to file a complaint about condition or shipping, more likely to file for a return, and more likely to leave negative or neutral feedback.

I actually set my email to filter out all buyer messages from ebay altogether and I’ve found myself spending significantly less time on eBay dealing with problems.

So a seller not replying is probably not be a personal slight so much as it is the seller making a decision about how his business should run. If that doesn’t jive with you as a buyer then it’s best to buy from somewhere else.

[acebren]

You had not purchased the item/s so you did not own them, it’s his right to choose to relist a card that he owns at a higher price if he wants to.

Sounds like he’s very aware of how difficult buyers who asks questions can be, so chooses not to engage.

[somepokemonguy]

They can do whatever they want at the end of the day but receiving a message about an item and then delisting and doubling the price 5 minutes later is definitely not cool.

[smpratte]

I am the seller and here is the actual answer.

The buyer is international, and my eBay store uses webinterpret, an automated listing company that lists items in multiple currencies. Items never have completely identical prices. More specifically, the listing they were watching was outdated, not the original listing. The one in USD is the original listing.

Also, I have someone who manages my platforms. I don’t see or reply to majority of messages as they are a waste of time. Plus I’m constantly receiving unrelated messages on eBay.

Either way I own the item. The entitlement in this hobby is unreal.

[teraz]

This novel was written to ask if it’s acceptable in this community for someone to not reply to you about an EBay listing?

Answer: Yes. That applies to life in general. No one owes you anything.

[mightymax]

is your name Karen?

[PokemonRadar]

As a US seller, eBay has never allowed me to send invoices to international buyers. Not sure of the reason, but it’s a part of ebays policies I would assume. Even for something as simple to combine shipping costs from multiple purchases to an international buyer is not doable on my end.

[thefiercestorm]

It is really interesting to hear some of the seller’s viewpoints on asking questions. I am the buyer most of the time and if a seller doesn’t get back to me I just move on and buy from someone else.

[smpratte]

@thefiercestorm

It is really interesting to hear some of the seller’s viewpoints on asking questions. I am the buyer most of the time and if a seller doesn’t get back to me I just move on and buy from someone else.

That’s fair. In general reasonable questions receive reasonable responses.

However, Statistically buyers who ask questions aren’t buyers. I’m someone who still tries to respond to majority of the reasonable questions, and even in those cases, the numbers don’t lie. Especially since covid. The amount of questions are over 9,000. Not even including the unrelated messages I get from my YouTube.

[azulryu]

I think some people are being too critical of this situation. In every other typical business, ignoring your customers would be seen as rude, discourteous, and a way to lose business. Goldcrest is looking for clarification on if this is something that is the norm in the card community or not.

@goldcrest

In the jewellery trade (my business) this kind of thing is seen as under-handed and pretty much marks you as untrustworthy to do business with. I know I can’t do anything about this situation, all I’m asking is is this something that is accepted in the card selling community? If so, at least I will know to expect it in the future and not let it bother me.

It can be understandably frustrating when you’re trying to buy a few things and 1. Seller advertises combined postage, but no combined postage is given in this order. 2. One of the interested cards suddenly jumps in price after the question is asked. The latter is probably due to pure coincidence, but it would look odd to anyone, honestly. And 3. Seller doesn’t provide clarification when clarification is requested.

The question was if this is the norm in this community. The answer is that it is.

[somepokemonguy]

@smpratte

I am the seller and here is the actual answer.

The buyer is international, and my eBay store uses webinterpret, an automated listing company that lists items in multiple currencies. Items never have completely identical prices. More specifically, the listing they were watching was outdated, not the original listing. The one in USD is the original listing.

Also, I have someone who manages my platforms. I don’t see or reply to majority of messages as they are a waste of time. Plus I’m constantly receiving unrelated messages on eBay.

Either way I own the item. The entitlement in this hobby is unreal.

Ah, so it sounds like the disconnect was the price being displayed incorrectly in the other currency. Of course, nobody is entitled to a message response but look at it from his perspective as well. If I messaged a seller about combined shipping on an item that he says he combines shipping on and then the item is taken down minutes later and relisted for double the price without a response I’d certainly be disappointed. As a buyer, you should be entitled to purchasing an item at the listed price (assuming the listed price is correct) with the conditions laid out in the item description but at the end of the day he never bought the item so the seller is also entitled to do whatever they want with the item. The issue of incorrect listing price is a whole different argument as well with some sellers honoring the sale and owning the mistake while other sellers simply don’t send the item and refund. All of this being said, I’m not naive enough to think that creating a thread about it will do anything other than get the OP labeled as a complainer on here.

[smpratte]

@azulryu

I think some people are being too critical of this situation. In every other typical business, ignoring your customers would be seen as rude, discourteous, and a way to lose business. Goldcrest is looking for clarification on if this is something that is the norm in the card community or not.

@goldcrest

In the jewellery trade (my business) this kind of thing is seen as under-handed and pretty much marks you as untrustworthy to do business with. I know I can’t do anything about this situation, all I’m asking is is this something that is accepted in the card selling community? If so, at least I will know to expect it in the future and not let it bother me.

It can be understandably frustrating when you’re trying to buy a few things and 1. Seller advertises combined postage, but no combined postage is given in this order. 2. One of the interested cards suddenly jumps in price after the question is asked. The latter is probably due to pure coincidence, but it would look odd to anyone, honestly. And 3. Seller doesn’t provide clarification when clarification is requested.

The question was if this is the norm in this community. The answer is that it is.

You either didn’t read my response or just want to grind your emotional appeal axe.

I’m going to elaborate further in hopes to educate people who have never sold on eBay:

First, combined shipping isn’t something eBay offers. They actively discourage combined shipping. It’s entirely a perk I offer After purchases are made. Also, Most sellers use gsp, which is much more expensive. I don’t use gsp. Which is perk number 2.

This person already has 2 massive perks that most international sellers don’t offer, but that’s not enough, they are frustrated about a price on an item they didn’t actually buy…

If anything this thread is exactly why people fully automate and use gsp.

[Cerulean]

@somepokemonguy

@smpratte

I am the seller and here is the actual answer.

The buyer is international, and my eBay store uses webinterpret, an automated listing company that lists items in multiple currencies. Items never have completely identical prices. More specifically, the listing they were watching was outdated, not the original listing. The one in USD is the original listing.

Also, I have someone who manages my platforms. I don’t see or reply to majority of messages as they are a waste of time. Plus I’m constantly receiving unrelated messages on eBay.

Either way I own the item. The entitlement in this hobby is unreal.

Ah, so it sounds like the disconnect was the price being displayed incorrectly in the other currency. Of course, nobody is entitled to a message response but look at it from his perspective as well. If I messaged a seller about combined shipping on an item that he says he combines shipping on and then the item is taken down minutes later and relisted for double the price without a response I’d certainly be disappointed. As a buyer, you should be entitled to purchasing an item at the listed price (assuming the listed price is correct) with the conditions laid out in the item description but at the end of the day he never bought the item so the seller is also entitled to do whatever they want with the item. The issue of incorrect listing price is a whole different argument as well with some sellers honoring the sale and owning the mistake while other sellers simply don’t send the item and refund. All of this being said, I’m not naive enough to think that creating a thread about it will do anything other than get the OP labeled as a complainer on here.

You’re only entitled to it as a buyer when you click “confirm purchase.” Anything short of that, and the buyer is no different than a different potential buyer who just adds the item to their cart and lets it sit there for three months without ever actually making the purchase.

I’ll use myself as an example.

Last month, I saw a card up for sale for $40 (which was probably right around market value for a near-mint ungraded copy; maybe $5-10 below, but whatever). However, the card was on a white background, so I asked the seller for photos of the card on a darker background to make sure they weren’t trying to hide anything (taking photos of a raw card on a white background is always a bad idea, in my opinion, particularly for a new seller [as this person was]). He said sure and sent me photos of the card on a black background and it looked great. I went to purchase the card, and I saw he raised the price to $200.

Disappointing? Yes. But if I would have just bought the card without asking questions first, I wouldn’t have been in that position. Asking questions about the card isn’t wrong, but don’t get all bent out of shape if the seller then delists the item or increases the price before you buy it. Ultimately, until you press “confirm purchase,” it is their card and they can do whatever they want with it. They can take it and wipe their butt with it if they want. They haven’t received any compensation for it, so it’s theirs.

To be fair to OP, I don’t think she meant any ill will here. She seems honestly disappointed and just wanted the card(s). But just take it as a lesson learned: you are entitled to nothing, not just in this hobby, but in life in general. Take your lumps and move on.

[azulryu]

@smpratte

@azulryu

I think some people are being too critical of this situation. In every other typical business, ignoring your customers would be seen as rude, discourteous, and a way to lose business. Goldcrest is looking for clarification on if this is something that is the norm in the card community or not.

It can be understandably frustrating when you’re trying to buy a few things and 1. Seller advertises combined postage, but no combined postage is given in this order. 2. One of the interested cards suddenly jumps in price after the question is asked. The latter is probably due to pure coincidence, but it would look odd to anyone, honestly. And 3. Seller doesn’t provide clarification when clarification is requested.

The question was if this is the norm in this community. The answer is that it is.

You either didn’t read my response or just want to grind your axe about an unrelated topic.

I’m going to elaborate further in hopes to educate people who have never sold on eBay:

First, combined shipping isn’t something eBay offers. It’s entirely a perk I offer After purchases are made. Also, Most sellers use gsp, which is much more expensive. I don’t use gsp. Which is perk number 2.

This person already has 2 perks that most international sellers don’t offer, but that’s not enough, they are frustrated about a price on an item they didn’t actually buy…

If anything this thread is exactly why people fully automate and use gsp.

I read your response and found nothing wrong with it until you made the insinuation that the question was asked as if it were coming from an absurd sense of entitlement. Some other people read into that much as well. I don’t think it’s absurd to expect a response, but some people aren’t used to doing business on Ebay. I was mostly explaining the situation from their perspective prior to the knowledge they would have received here. As for you, it’s understandable why you don’t always provide responses - hell I’ve seen the shit you get almost every day. A load of unsolicited messages and things that don’t even PERTAIN to what you’re selling. And some of the messages you get are just plain stupid. It must be tiring at times to choose when and when not to respond.

I think it’s reasonable to be frustrated by the seller’s situation when they don’t get a response. I also think it’s reasonable for sellers to not provide a response because they’re free to run their business however they want.

Goldcrest isn’t demanding justice or asking for the price to be lowered back on the item. She wanted to know initially why combined shipping didn’t seem like an option. This isn’t entitlement. This is genuine confusion mixed with some understandable frustrations that I think we all go through to some degree.

[smpratte]

@Cerulean

@somepokemonguy

Ah, so it sounds like the disconnect was the price being displayed incorrectly in the other currency. Of course, nobody is entitled to a message response but look at it from his perspective as well. If I messaged a seller about combined shipping on an item that he says he combines shipping on and then the item is taken down minutes later and relisted for double the price without a response I’d certainly be disappointed. As a buyer, you should be entitled to purchasing an item at the listed price (assuming the listed price is correct) with the conditions laid out in the item description but at the end of the day he never bought the item so the seller is also entitled to do whatever they want with the item. The issue of incorrect listing price is a whole different argument as well with some sellers honoring the sale and owning the mistake while other sellers simply don’t send the item and refund. All of this being said, I’m not naive enough to think that creating a thread about it will do anything other than get the OP labeled as a complainer on here.

You’re only entitled to it as a buyer when you click “confirm purchase.” Anything short of that, and the buyer is no different than a different potential buyer who just adds the item to their cart and lets it sit there for three months without ever actually making the purchase.

I’ll use myself as an example.

Last month, I saw a card up for sale for $40 (which was probably right around market value for a near-mint ungraded copy; maybe $5-10 below, but whatever). However, the card was on a white background, so I asked the seller for photos of the card on a darker background to make sure they weren’t trying to hide anything (taking photos of a raw card on a white background is always a bad idea, in my opinion, particularly for a new seller [as this person was]). He said sure and sent me photos of the card on a black background and it looked great. I went to purchase the card, and I saw he raised the price to $200.

Disappointing? Yes. But if I would have just bought the card without asking questions first, I wouldn’t have been in that position. Asking questions about the card isn’t wrong, but don’t get all bent out of shape if the seller then delists the item or increases the price before you buy it. Ultimately, until you press “confirm purchase,” it is their card and they can do whatever they want with it. They can take it and wipe their butt with it if they want. They haven’t received any compensation for it, so it’s theirs.

To be fair to OP, I don’t think she meant any ill will here. She seems honestly disappointed and just wanted the card(s). But just take it as a lesson learned: you are entitled to nothing, not just in this hobby, but in life in general. Take your lumps and move on.

Exactly! The kicker in this situation is op was watching an expired separate listing. I can understand the confusion as webinterpret isn’t ubiquitous. It’s still new for me and I don’t fully understand everything.

Also I think people forget sellers are buyers first. You can’t sell something without buying it. EddieMurphybigbrain.jpg

[smpratte]

@azulryu

@smpratte

You either didn’t read my response or just want to grind your axe about an unrelated topic.

I’m going to elaborate further in hopes to educate people who have never sold on eBay:

First, combined shipping isn’t something eBay offers. It’s entirely a perk I offer After purchases are made. Also, Most sellers use gsp, which is much more expensive. I don’t use gsp. Which is perk number 2.

This person already has 2 perks that most international sellers don’t offer, but that’s not enough, they are frustrated about a price on an item they didn’t actually buy…

If anything this thread is exactly why people fully automate and use gsp.

I read your response and found nothing wrong with it until you made the insinuation that the question was asked as if it were coming from an absurd sense of entitlement. Some other people read into that much as well. I don’t think it’s absurd to expect a response, but some people aren’t used to doing business on Ebay. I was mostly explaining the situation from their perspective prior to the knowledge they would have received here. As for you, it’s understandable why you don’t always provide responses - hell I’ve seen the shit you get almost every day. A load of unsolicited messages and things that don’t even PERTAIN to what you’re selling. And some of the messages you get are just plain stupid. It must be tiring at times to choose when and when not to respond.

I think it’s reasonable to be frustrated by the seller’s situation when they don’t get a response. I also think it’s reasonable for sellers to not provide a response because they’re free to run their business however they want.

Goldcrest isn’t demanding justice or asking for the price to be lowered back on the item. She wanted to know initially why combined shipping didn’t seem like an option. This isn’t entitlement. This is genuine confusion mixed with some understandable frustrations that I think we all go through to some degree.

The expectation that sellers should respond to every message is entitlement. You genuinely underestimate how many messages sellers receive. And how many of them are unrelated or completely ridiculous. I don’t have the time in life to respond to all the messages I receive, hence why I have a patreon. It’s literally impossible.

[pichufan]

@smpratte

First, combined shipping isn’t something eBay offers. They actively discourage combined shipping. It’s entirely a perk I offer After purchases are made. Also, Most sellers use gsp, which is much more expensive. I don’t use gsp. Which is perk number 2.

I don’t know if that’s just a disconnect between eBay US and eBay UK (where OP is based), but on eBay UK you can and frequently do buy and sell using combined shipping. It’s something you can request on eBay’s website after adding items to your basket.

I think this is where the confusion in this thread has come from. OP is in the UK and saw a listing which mentioned that the seller offers combined shipping. OP went through the eBay route of requesting combined shipping and was told the seller doesn’t offer it so reached out to the seller.

I don’t think there’s any entitlement here as you put it, I think it’s just a case of eBay’s platform offering different services in different countries. Listing an item with combined shipping mentioned in the description is going to confuse UK buyers if they can’t subsequently request combined shipping through the usual eBay route.

I don’t know if you can access this on the US website, but on eBay UK you can configure combined shipping on eBay’s Combined Payments and Postage Discounts page.

Interestingly if you do use GSP in the UK you can no longer offer combined shipping to international buyers.

[somepokemonguy]

@smpratte

@Cerulean

You’re only entitled to it as a buyer when you click “confirm purchase.” Anything short of that, and the buyer is no different than a different potential buyer who just adds the item to their cart and lets it sit there for three months without ever actually making the purchase.

I’ll use myself as an example.

Last month, I saw a card up for sale for $40 (which was probably right around market value for a near-mint ungraded copy; maybe $5-10 below, but whatever). However, the card was on a white background, so I asked the seller for photos of the card on a darker background to make sure they weren’t trying to hide anything (taking photos of a raw card on a white background is always a bad idea, in my opinion, particularly for a new seller [as this person was]). He said sure and sent me photos of the card on a black background and it looked great. I went to purchase the card, and I saw he raised the price to $200.

Disappointing? Yes. But if I would have just bought the card without asking questions first, I wouldn’t have been in that position. Asking questions about the card isn’t wrong, but don’t get all bent out of shape if the seller then delists the item or increases the price before you buy it. Ultimately, until you press “confirm purchase,” it is their card and they can do whatever they want with it. They can take it and wipe their butt with it if they want. They haven’t received any compensation for it, so it’s theirs.

To be fair to OP, I don’t think she meant any ill will here. She seems honestly disappointed and just wanted the card(s). But just take it as a lesson learned: you are entitled to nothing, not just in this hobby, but in life in general. Take your lumps and move on.

Exactly! The kicker in this situation is op was watching an expired separate listing. I can understand the confusion as webinterpret isn’t ubiquitous. It’s still new for me and I don’t fully understand everything.

Also I think people forget sellers are buyers first. You can’t sell something without buying it. Eddie Murphy big brain.jpg

Agreed @Cerulean that’s why I said he should be entitled to it (assuming he clicks buy) but at the end of the day he never purchased it so the seller is entitled to do whatever they want. Also, clearly the listing wasn’t correct as @smpratte just said so it’s just an unfortunate situation but not unique to just this one circumstance of buying on the internet. And don’t get me started on raw cards being photographed over white backgrounds lol. I turn into fucking Sherlock Holmes with my magnifying glass zooming in on every pixel of the photo lol.