There IS Natural Justice!

[Anonymous]

I can sympathise with people selling on Flea Bay who have to deal with joke bidders, check bouncers and other scum who make their lives difficult. But by the same token, I work hard enough at my job that the sellers (already skating on the B&M expenses pipe shops have) who require paypal to avoid putting any effort into the process beside just listing stuff and mailing it rub me the wrong way. Especially when they have internet sales sites, DO take personal checks &/or money orders at them, and are only using Flea Bay to offload what they can't otherwise move.

Well, once upon a time a well-known and well-liked (even by me) dealer in second-hand pipes bought a beautiful old English briar from the ca. 1910---1930 era on Flea Bay for $19.95 + $6.50 p/h. It was a small (as you'd expect) Lovat with a non-original but period-correct replacement stem in mint condition that only needed the tenon shortened to fit and an engraved 14k gold band by a maker I'd long searched for unsuccessfully. He did a nice job of refurbishing it and listed it on his site @ $50.00 And when that didn't flush, he dumped it at Flea Bay @ 99 cents.

Yak gets excited by a pipe maybe once a year (if that), but this one went straight to the watch list and, this morning, he bid on it. Nada. No paypal, no bid. So solly.

Curious (because he'd bought a pipe from the guy before with a personal check), Yak emails him at his website to enquire. No sales job, no pleading, no "look -- I've got 300+ positive feedbacks with nary a black mark." Just WTF ? No dice. HIS life is easier with paypal, so the onus is on the Yakster to open a paypal account if he wants to buy from him. (Also nada. He will NOT do that. Too many horror stories).

So it closes a few minutes ago. Even leaving international postage he originally paid for it and the value of the time he put into it out, for less than he originally paid for it. And with gold where it's at today, probably for less than what the band on it is worth as scrap.

Schadenfreude is not cool, but natural justice is.

I didn't need a group three Lovat anyhow.

:face:

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Ebay started using Paypal in 2008 as the exclusive payment method allowed there.

This way, they (the powers that be, i'll leave it at that) can track how much you make per year selling on eBay.
I realize this is gross, not profit - but it's still a tracking method none the less.

That is about the time I quit selling on eBay - I was a Power Seller.
Their fees (and Paypal's) kept going up and finally I said 'To hell with it'....

I still buy & sell stuff occasionally, but not like I used to.

 

[LL]

423,000 hits:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1152&bih=749&q=paypal+horror+stories&aq=f&aqi=g1g-v3g-m1&aql=f&oq=

:affraid:

 

[Anonymous]

Fleabay is supposedly paypal only. Which hasn't stopped me from picking up the occasional Indian artifact or old postage stamp for my collections of there. Or, only very rarely has.

It is kind of ironic in light of the This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private on banknotes, but the weasels have probably got that detour paved. Or nobody's figured it's worth the hassle and expense of fighting it. Getting the Treasury Dept. sparring with the IRS over it would be fun though . . .

For anybody wanting a textbook case study subject on how the complete abdication of responsibility for upholding ethical values in a public venue results in greed shitting the bed, Fleabay it is.

:face:

 

[BriarBlues]

Good Evening All

I can understand were Yak is coming from 100%. The seller is obviously only interested in selling the easiest way possible and for a possible good profit. It appears this seller was not interested in trying to fight with E-Bay and its Pay Pal only policy. Appears to me that this seller was not even willing to chance getting their account suspended by E-Bay for offering a “non approved” payment method.

I’d bet that this sellers non E-Bay web site has the same “lack of customer service”.

Well some may think that, but as I am the seller of the pipe that Yak was interested in, I’d have to disagree.

In many ways as a seller that uses E-Bay, your hands are tied. Pay Pal is just one way. We are also “limited” in how we can filter out potential non paying bidders or problem bidders, or those that only get an account to bid on many things to cause grief.

On the Briar Blues website, we accept checks, money orders, cash and Pay Pal.

As far as skating on the B &M’s, maybe some are, BUT some of us are not, as not only does Briar Blues have a website, but we also have full show room retail area. We also have a full office and photographing area. Plus we use 1/3 of our 2 car garage for cleaning and polishing pipes. Unlike every other tobacco / cigar / pipe retailers in this province, Briar Blues is the ONLY one in which clients may visit and may enjoy a bowl while they browse and chat!

Briar Blues is based in Canada. We ship ALL US bound packages from within the US. We hand clear each and every package through US customs. We do NOT ship to the US from Canada and thus place the owness of potential duties that might be levied onto the backs of the buyers.

Briar Blues also charges ( I believe ) the lowest commission fees at only 25%. That means our clients garner 75% of the selling price of their items. FWIW our clients set the prices on the items we sell for them. In other words our clients have complete control over the items they send.

We believe that we do a pretty decent job for our clients. We believe we go over and above as far as customer service. We DO the best we can within the rules that we MUST play by.

I apologize to Yak for not being able to fulfill his needs.

I apologize to the members here, for having to read the above.

Sincerely
Michael J. Glukler

 

[Harlock999]

I've purchased from Mike at BriarBlues, and I could not have been more pleased with the service. Communication was excellent, and the pipe was just as advertised. I would not hesitate to deal with them again.

 

[LL]

Mike --

I think it is PayPal's heavy handedness and aspirations to monopoly that get people riled, not the merchants who are forced to use them.

Your rep is golden with everyone I've ever talked to.

 

[Anonymous]

One of my favorite pipes came from you, Mike, and I'd have no hesitation to buy another from you in the future. You're one of the good guys.

I was careful to NOT identify you (I thought) as the seller involved.

I in no way dumped on you, or on BB.

When you're on Flea Bay, you tend to catch Flea Bay flack generalised from experiences with others there.

:face:

 

[BriarBlues]

Dear Yak et all

Thank You for the kind words.

I know that the pipe and transaction that did not take place bothers you. BUT it bothers me a whole lot more!!!

For me persoanlly, selling pipes brings me great pleasure. Very similar to the incredible joy a stand up comic gets from doing a routine that brings the house to unbridled fits of laughter. Or a parent that sees the gleam in a childs eye on Christmas morning when they open a package and find the one thing they wanted more than anything else.

Knowing that due to the "rules" I was unable to fullfill that pleasure for you bugs the hell out of me.

In the last E-Bay forray we offered another pipe. An Ib Loran. I paid $60.00 for the pipe and it sold for $10.50. BUT I am tickled pink, beacuse the buyer really wants the pipe very badly! Yes, I lost $50.00, plus the time to bring it back to sellable condition, but it was more than worth it, to me. I know the pipe is going to a place in which it will be cherished very much.

Sure we all get lumped into a group, when we use E-Bay, but we are all not the same.

Regards
Michael J. Glukler