Am I on a losing streak with Half?

[yellowperil]

I have sold 100+ items on both eBay and Half.com (eBay about 2 years; Half about 1 year) and my feedback has been all positive. On eBay my seller rating is 50 (51 including a return buyer, no neutrals, no negatives) and I had 15 5/5's and 1 4/5 at Half. I have traded/bought/sold here at AT and never had a problem (haven't made a heatware profile yet though). I consider myself a good seller (ships as soon as payment gets here, packages well, uses printed shipping labels, insures/del. confirms at my expense on expensive items, etc.). Which makes me wonder why suddenly I can't get any order right? I've had four complaints at Half in the past two months (three in the past week).

1) Buyer says she never received DVD. I am confident I shipped DVD. I contact Half and ask them what I should do. They respond in a few days and tell me to wait until the woman files the claim. I do, and she doesn't file the claim. Instead, I get a 1/5 feedback.

2) Last week: buyer rates me in the feedback that the case was cracked, even though it was shipped in mint condition

3) Same week: different buyer says case was completely smashed at the top. I send him a replacement case today and write FRAGILE all over it.

4) Today: buyer says DVD has a long 'gash' on it. I know I would've picked up on it when I inspected it before shipping it. I tell him to return the DVD and I will fully credit him, including return shipping costs.

I'm using the same bubble mailers as I always have. Should I stop selling? I take these negative feedbacks very seriously (translation = anal) and I don't know if it's worth all the aggravation.

 

[d33pt]

screw it man.. ebayers are all lame.. i dont even care what kinda feedback they give me now cause i hardly want to sell things on there anymore.. i just sometimes go on there to unload junk that i know no other idiots would buy.

 

[yellowperil]

The trend continues...

A couple months ago I purchased a Dreamcast from Half. I found that it had occasional spin-up problems and trouble reading discs. Most of the time it worked fine, provided that it wasn't moved around too much. I decided to sell my DC at Half, and listed it in 'good' condition. Here's the item description:

Condition: Good; Notes: Excellent external condition. Bought it used; it has occasional spin-up problems (esp. when disc is first inserted) where it will stop reading the disc and return to the main menu. Most of the time it works fine, but I could not find out what was causing the problem. Sold as-is. Comes with padded carry case made by Sega, Performance memory card, manual, 1 controller, power cord/RCA composite cable, browser software, and demo discs.

Moreover, I uploaded a picture of the unit along with the item description. I sold this for $55 shipped Priority Mail, which I thought was reasonable. The buyer has had it for roughly 1 week, and today I get an e-mail from Half with a buyer complaint:

Subject: My item was not of the promised quality.
Comments: the sega dreamcast doesn't work and if u don't do anything about it im going to SUE!!!!!!!!!

Here's what I wrote back:

First of all, you have no grounds to sue. Read the item description carefully. I accurately described the unit's condition, the order's contents, and I explicitly said 'sold as-is'. That means what it says it means.

Second, I have a suggested solution for you. I have not tried this, but have read that it works. Try placing a disc upside down in the DC and turn it on. Apparently this will re-calibrate the laser and allow it to read discs better.

Again, I think I have been more than fair with my description, and with my pricing. You agreed to the terms when you placed the order. Do not be irrational.

Half's buyer-seller communication system allows too much leverage to the buyer. Granted, there are a lot of unscrupulous sellers out there, but what about a rating system where sellers can give feedback on ignorant buyers?

 

[monto]

most of those buyers sound like immature and ignorant kids, i've bought many an item with cracked cases, you get what you pay for when you choose media rate or whatever shipping terms

don't be dismayed, keep rebuilding that 5.0 half rating instead

 

[mastaki11a]

Don't refund the guys money you obviously sold AS IS and he can't do a thing about it.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

I've bought a lot from half.com, never sold though. I have had a lot of success/luck with it, but then again if I get a cracked jewel case I would still give a "5" based on timely delivery & condition of CD.