Market place ETHICS (not rules) and the lack of!!

It's a shame after reading this thread to hear the variety of problems people have experienced with the marketplace. I can't access it yet but I do sell various items on eBay and *knock on wood* have had only two instances where I've had problems. Both of those instances I was the buyer.

As an ebayer, I always try to notify the buyer/seller when I've received/sent payment, then when I've shipped out/received the items. I'll leave feedback only when the transaction has been completed. I cannot understand why some people would not do others the courtesy of keeping in touch during the transaction. At the very least, you could send one email when all has been said and done....

I also find it disrespectful to make excuses about not wishing to complete a sale. I am much more cooperative when someone requests canceling a sale (whatever the reason) within a day or two than if they just decide to blow it off and not contact me. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt the first or second time there's a problem

 

I know how you feel. In my case, my head arrived as well.. It was also, yellowed, stained and with a small amount of damage .. None of this was disclosed in the sales thread. In fact, the seller went to so far as to say that I should have seen it in the pictures posted and inquired about it. One, you could not see it in the pictures they posted, at all. Two, if there is ANY alteration to the head that alteration should be stated-- plain and simple.

In my case, I did decide to post and I was attacked by everyone who was sticking up for this person because they had had a better experience than I had.

 

It's really not that bad on the marketplace. I've transacted a lot - in fact I'd say the main reason I come on DoA, as opposed to other doll forums or eBay, is because it has the most active marketplace and I can usually find what I want here. So far, I have not had to neg anyone and I only had two transactions I thought were flaky - one case of someone miscalculating a price and having to do some back-and-forth about it, and one case where someone shipped me a doll with totally inadequate packing when I was very new, and I didn't think to neg her because I didn't realize that the doll could have broken as easily as I now know it could have. Oh, and a third transaction where someone insisted they could only take a wire transfer from the USA, even though I explained repeatedly those are harder to get here and would be very hard for me as it would necessitate an in-person visit to my bank (which is not convenient to me) plus a lot of extra fee over just paying with Paypal. By the time I had time to get to my bank, the person just decided not to sell the item to me and didn't even bother to message and tell me so.

I think the trick is to back away fast from anyone who acts flaky during the communications of a transaction, and if you do get stuck in something with one, then give them like two weeks to get it sorted and if they don't, then DON'T hesitate to file that Paypal claim or start a "Problem Transaction" thread in feedback. Most of the big issues I see involve people who are "too nice" and just let someone welsh on promises to pay or ship for weeks or even months before they do something about it. Don't fall for sob stories or excuses.

The vast majority of people I've dealt with on here have been just fine to deal with in every way. I will say that most of them have been sellers. I've sold a relatively few items and already I've run into a few odd buyers, so I can understand some of the frustration that repeat sellers must feel.

 

The marketplace really is great. As the saying goes, a few bad apples can spoil the bushel.... the vast majority of the transactions I've had here have been great. It's just a matter of trying to protect yourself as best as you can as both a buyer and a seller.

 

The marketplace is a really great place. Most of the transactions I've had have been wonderful and with the nicest people I've met. But when one transaction goes wrong, everything seems to hit the fan.

Yup. You post a negative about someone you shouldn't have and you get attacked left and right. Somebody doesn't like you for whatever reasons, and your post opens the flood gates. Its a great opportunity for everybody to chip in and air their grievances against you. Some people in this hobby have been accused of the most absurd things without a shred of proof. If you took a minute to analyze what was being said, you'd see right away that the whole thing was either a lie, heavily embelished, or it simply gathered momentum, and ended up totally different from what it was originally. What can you do? Why would you deal with that? You just keep quiet the next time. As I said, I may not agree with this but I can understand it.

 

Honestly...no matter what the item....If they insisted on wire transfer without giving any other options....I would decline item sale immediately. I like my convenience of paypal....

 

Then I'd get the mods involved to delete those comments. they aren't allowed by people who weren't in on the transaction.

 

Whew, I've just read all the thread, and thought I'd add my two cents:

About the "sob story" posts, I do agree that there seems to be some pressure to explain why you are selling the doll. I sold a head once and felt like I had to explain that I'd tried to bond with the doll for months and just didn't. However, if it was a financial situation or something similar I'd probably just state "I need to pay some unexpected bills" without going into a bunch of detail. I understand some stories are true, but sometimes that may actually hurt your chances of a sale because of all the others that have "cried wolf".

Feedback: I do my best to leave feedback, but sometimes I feel bossy or annoying if I send messages asking for feedback. I did when I was a new buyer and every comment counted, but I'm not as concerned with receiving it now. That being said, I have forgotten to leave it sometimes... but if the person sends me a message asking for feedback, I will definitely leave it. I bought a somewhat high-ticket item right before DoA did the server move, and I didn't properly download my PMs afterward. >_< So when the item showed up, I did not have the seller's DoA username. I did have an email address, so I sent an email to them asking for their username so I could leave them positive feedback and never got a response. I guess it wasn't really a big deal for that seller. *shrug*

Professionalism: I agree that communication is key, since it is a business transaction. While a bit more casual and friendly than going to the store or paying off a car loan, DoA transactions are still business and should be treated as such. I like to keep a friendly demeanor in PMs and other communication, but I try to write in full sentences with proper punctuation and capitalization. That's a bit of a pet peeve of mine, actually, so there's a bit of personal bias there. I enjoy communication that's easy to read. Also, people tend to take the informal nature of these transactions for granted sometimes. I have a doll on layaway now, and before I agreed to the layaway I made certain I would have the money on time every week. I understand that things come up and I'm willing to work with a buyer if they keep up communication. I am flexible and I can take a payment late as long as they PM me and say "something's come up and I don't have the money today, but I can pay on X day". I think some people impulse buy things that are really outside their budget, only to realize it much later. That's what leads to some of those flaky layaway buyers, or some of the people backing out of sales. It's been generally "acceptable" within the community and therefore some buyers think there's nothing wrong with it.

Sales thread questions: I don't mind answering questions about items, or taking more pictures. If people would like to see a certain item on a different one of my dolls to see if it would fit their doll, it doesn't bother me to take more photos. Luckily, so far the people that have decided to decline transactions after further photos have been polite enough to let me know. There are no bad feelings on my part, because the sale had not been agreed upon yet. In one case, the potential buyer asked a question about part of the item I hadn't even noticed (inside seams weren't finished well) then declined the sale. I was grateful, since I was able to avoid a potentially unhappy future buyer by disclosing that information to the person who did eventually buy the dress.

I guess I've been lucky so far. Most of my transactions have gone well, and some have been just outstanding. I've had a few little glitches like slow shipping once or twice. I DID have one less-than-stellar transaction, though...

I bought a head from a seller that was listed as "damaged" because it had been modded somewhat poorly. The only mod disclosed in the sales thread was an obvious eye mod. It was a limited head and I ended up getting it for less than half the going price for an undamaged one. When I received the head, it was apparent that it had more mods than were disclosed. There was some sanding on the nose, lips, and chin that weren't visible in pics or noted in the sales thread. I chose not to make an ordeal of it because I would have bought the head for the same price even if those mods had been noted. I didn't want a refund. However, I felt a little upset because it seemed dishonest not to mention them. I didn't leave a negative feedback or PM the seller because I didn't want to "make waves"... but sometimes I feel a bit guilty that I should have.

 

I agree with Raven but I also hate the sellers that after 10 min from the "info about payment" mail send u another pm telling u that 1- I SOLD THE DOLL TO ANOTHER PERSON 2- I CHANGED MY MIND I DON'T SELL THE DOLL ANYMORE 3- THEY DISAPPEARED so u dunno where to send payment and after a week the doll is again for sale!
And i really can't understand when buyers don't want to take pics of the item on a doll...cause they want to sell it as Mint...ok, but i need to see how it looks on a doll...i don't ask u to use it for hours...just a pic!

 

I think part of the problem is that some of these buyers are kids, no seriously, at least on ebay you have to be an adult to make an account and start selling. I'm not saying all kids are like this.

 

I get annoyed when I'm asking a seller all these questions about something, meanwhile the item is sold D:< Yet they just seem to keep me around for another week >< I mean why tell me prices and shipping when you don't have the item? Why not just say sorry it was sold and go on D:<

Also I get annoyed when I sell something and never hear from the person again >< It drives me nuts wondering if the got it, didn't get it, if something went wrong... I tend to over think ><

Some times I can be unintentionally flaky with things, like feedback. I usually try to think of a good way to word things and think I'll come back to it then forget who I was leaving feedback for ><
So if anyone didn't get feedback from me prod me again o.o

I've also kinda flaked out of buying things and feel terrible >< Recently there was this outfit I really wanted but then I got slapped with a $400 medical bill >< And the outfit being $400... Well that killed that sale pretty fast >.> I still feel terrible.

 

I do get a little frustrated when people don't read the ENTIRE sales post. I understand there is a rush to claim the item, but it shouldn't take more than a minute to read the terms of the post. Just out of curiosity, when this happens to you, do you answer the question or do you redirect the seller with a "Please read my sales post for that information"?

I had a less-than-desirable experience with a buyer (on another forum) about a month ago. She PM'd me about a few items, she was very polite (although she asked questions I'd covered in my post), but she took at least THREE days between each PM! Now, I understand that not everybody owns a computer, and not everybody can check their inbox every hour. I get that. But I think you should at least answer the PM within 24 hours. If you know something will prevent you from doing so, you should PM the seller and explain. I think most sellers would understand an internet access issue and be willing to work around it.

What really made me mad was that she was posting on other forums!! So I know it wasn't some internet access issue; she was just taking her time. It was because of that transaction that I had to change my sale terms to explicitly state that if you do not reply to my PM within 48 hours, the item is put back up for sale.

 

I've had some marketplace issues as well that aren't really related to the rules. I had bought an item and the seller said she would ship it on a particular day. Three weeks pass and it's not here yet, so I ask her to clarify when she shipped it because I was worried it had gotten lost in the mail. She apologized and said she shipped it out a "few days" later than she had intended and that it SHOULD have gotten to me by then. She offers me a refund, but I tell her that I will wait until a month has passed. A week after that, I get the package. It was actually sent out two weeks after the date she had intended to mail it (I checked the date on the customs declaration form she had signed).

I can understand that life gets in the way and you can't always ship things out as fast as you would like... But honestly, I don't understand why some people would blatantly lie about it and act innocent by offering a refund when they know that they sent out the package two weeks late and that it's not lost. =__=

 

I have issues as well. My main issue is when people feel the need to comment in your sales thread. People make comments about price. That has stopped quite a bit with the rules being enforced, but I still get people trying to tell me how to sell my dolls. When people say you need to take pictures or this will never sell or drop other "helpful" hints in the thread itself I find it rather rude. You have a tip, PM it to me, but don't call me out in front of potential customers.

 

I'll comment on this as a buyer and seller~

I know I really like my buyers to keep me updated on when they can buy the item. I do not mind holds, and I don't mind waiting a week... as long as they KNOW they are commiting to that hold!

I know as a buyer, I can pay for things right away, or I am waiting for my payments to be processed. It just depends on how money is with me at the time.


A good way to avoid any bad transactions being a buyer and seller - COMMUNICATION! Send messages back and forth. I know that when I talk to people about the items, I feel better and know they haven't forgotten they or I are/am commiting. =3

 

I'm pretty new here, and have only bought 1 thing off the marketplace so far. The transaction was smooth, I left positive feedback, communication with the seller was great. I just can't belive why people can't be honest and communicate with each other when it's the right thing to do. I was interested in buying a doll from another member who said she really needed the cash. I asked her to e mail me some nude pics of the body and when I got them I didn't like the way the torso was jointed. I did feel kinda guilty about not buying the doll because the seller really needed the money but I was not committed to buy and I let her know within a few hours of her email that the doll was not what I was looking for. So no harm, no foul. She was very professional and so was I. About layaway. I would never ask an individual if I could put an item on layaway unless the seller has a layaway option clearly stated in the item description. I understand that sellers here on DoA are individuals just like me and like me, if they're selling something they probably need the money soon and don't want the hassle of keeping up with layaway payments. It's not like a store or company that has a staff to take care of that kind of thing. Whatever happened to people being honest and considerate and professional I think most people are, for the most part, honest and it sucks that there are a few flakes out there that scare off genuine, honet buyers and sellers from the marketplace.

 

I've sold on DOA for probably two years now, on and off. For the most part, it's pretty ok. I think I'm ok but there is this instant gratification that people have this tendency to forget that not everyone is at the computer 24/7. So, while I think I respond very quickly, it has astounded me over the years that someone will send me something, whether it is a question, a payment or whatever, and expect an answer within hours.

Feedback, I will usually give feedback if feedback is given first. I don't always even know whether or not they GOT the item. So I figure silence = happy. So, if there was a problem, they would tell me. I am always happy to give feedback. As a buyer off DOA (and I do it VERY rarely), I am bad about telling people I received things because I will let things pile up until I am ready to use it.

I think one of the more annoying things that happens to me (which I don't know if this happens to others) are people that come to me and say, "If you took layaway I would totally buy X"... and then I would go, "OK... I'll take layaway." And then, they go... "OMG... I uh... don't have the money, sorry!" I mean, why bother me with that sort of feedback if you aren't really interested? There were other little annoying things that would happen as well, like, "Would you sell to me half price on this?" And I would go... no. I don't understand why people feel like undercutting is appropriate. But I will cut deals every so often... like removing shipping if you buy more than two items or a few bucks here and there... but HALF? Be reasonable. Would you lose $40 on an $80 item randomly? I really doubt it.

No to sob stories. I can top most, seriously.

 

Now I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but what about sellers who tell two different stories? I'm in this quandary right now, and I don't know what I should do.

Seller has a doll head for sale that I would love. (Yeah, like I need another.) She posts a fuzzy photo that is reasonably okay, and I make a move to offer.

She likes the offer, says she'll be back in town on X day and I can pay then.

In the meantime, I discover that the doll has been modded, though not -how-. She's out of town, my money is still safely in my hands, but I'm in the quirk of 'what do I do'? I don't want to be seen as a flake, but I don't like that she didn't tell me outright that the doll is modded, nor does she mention mods done.

Long, now the short:

What do you do as a buyer if the seller posts weak or conflicting information about the doll? I'm afraid to step away because I don't want a scene... but I really don't want a modded head.