A Cantankerous eBay Seller

Kintarō Hattori

Just a quick/weird one for you folks,

I've been a customer of an eBay clothes seller in Germany for almost 10 years. I've bought dozens of items and spent at least €2000 with them. Typically a skirt from them would auction anywhere from €40/70 and I've bought various designs over time.

Recently I emailed them asking if I could buy one directly from them as the colour I was after never gets put on their eBay site (they have a website). So baring that it never appears on eBay and that I have bought several over the years I emailed them. They replied back giving me a price of €135 which was 18% less than the list price. I think the most I've ever paid was €75 so I mentioned this and offered €75. They replied back in a strange manner and I left it for a few days.
I replied to them today and it seems that I've insulted them with my offer and as a result they've stopped me from bidding on any of their eBay items. A little taken aback I wrote them an email which contained an apology and which outlined that it must be a cultural misunderstanding. Based on my history of purchases I didn't think that my offer was unreasonable. I've been a good eBay customer, always paid straight away and never caused any hassle.

The long and short of it is that they remain insulted and I cannot place any bids. Is it possible to open any sort of dialogue with eBay to be allowed bid? I hadn't circumvented eBay as the colour in choice has never been offered and as I mentioned they have a retail site anyway.

Nody

They have the right to say who can and can not bid on their auctions; Ebay will not change that. I guess you could a new account for bidding but I'd guess they would simply cancel your order once they notice the ship to address.

Kintarō Hattori

Nody wrote: »

They have the right to say who can and can not bid on their auctions; Ebay will not change that. I guess you could a new account for bidding but I'd guess they would simply cancel your order once they notice the ship to address.

I was thinking as much and yep had thought about adding a new account. I can just get stuff sent to home instead of work and use my missus' card (which comes from my account anyway). A shame that someone can be so silly about it.

Mick Murdock

Strange one alright.. I have banned a few people from my store because they were seriously messing me around but their response sounds way OTT.

Tbh, I wouldn't want to buy from them again!

Kintarō Hattori

Mick Murdock wrote: »

Strange one alright.. I have banned a few people from my store because they were seriously messing me around but their response sounds way OTT.

Tbh, I wouldn't want to buy from them again!

You're right, it really does seem like an over reaction and by principle I generally don't want to deal with someone as stroppy as that but the quality of their items is good and they are reliable.

Still, maybe it's a sign that it's time to shop around.

wmpdd3

The only reason I can see is that he must consider the ebay items as 'sale items and the other items in his shop as full price items.

So would it be like asking a shop to reduce a shirt to sale price for you.

Can't think of anything else you can do other than buy from a different account.

recipio

Generally I've found retailers are keen to sell from their shop website to avoid ebay fees.
They are pretty thin skinned to take offence from a good customer. Its got to be a cultural or communication problem ?

Kintarō Hattori

recipio wrote: »

Generally I've found retailers are keen to sell from their shop website to avoid ebay fees.
They are pretty thin skinned to take offence from a good customer. Its got to be a cultural or communication problem ?

That's all I can imagine it to be. The item I was after they've sold at auction several times, though never in the colour I asked for. Well regardless now they have blocked me so I'll look at other sellers and worst comes to worst just setup a new account to buy from them.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

rubadub

wmpdd3 wrote: »

The only reason I can see is that he must consider the ebay items as 'sale items and the other items in his shop as full price items.

So would it be like asking a shop to reduce a shirt to sale price for you.

But I wouldn't expect to be barred from a shop just for haggling, esp. a shop where I am a known and presumably valued customer.

Can only find this about haggling in germany

http://www.tammyandchrisonthemove.com/how-not-to-haggle-a-day-at-the-otovalo-market/

I grew up in Germany, where everything has fixed prices. You might be able to negotiate a price with service providers, such as carpenters, but when you go to the market or a shop this is not really possible.

Flippyfloppy

Simply, they didn't want to risk bad feedback from you because they had to say no to your offer of 75!

Larry Wildman

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I was thinking as much and yep had thought about adding a new account. I can just get stuff sent to home instead of work and use my missus' card (which comes from my account anyway). A shame that someone can be so silly about it.

You're thinking of using your missus' card and you've bought skirts in the past...what gives?

rubadub

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

Simply, they didn't want to risk bad feedback from you because they had to say no to your offer of 75!

I can't see this being the case. You can't just go leaving random negative feedback. He would have to buy something again and then could possibly leave negative feedback, but as it would have nothing to do with the sale it could be removed. And people reading it would think the buyer was the oddball bringing up off topic reviews.

Some amazon reviews are like that, I remember seeing one giving a Jaws special edition negative reviews since they liked sharks and thought it gave them a bad name!

Beano

Is it really that much of an overreaction though? They offered you a decent discount on the price on their website and then you offer them pretty much half that again. I can see how they might perceive that as a little bit insulting and hence they now consider you a time-waster. Its clear they use their ebay store to clear off old stock and dont want the prices they offer there to drag down the prices in their webshop.

Kintarō Hattori

Larry Wildman wrote: »

You're thinking of using your missus' card and you've bought skirts in the past...what gives?

I've bought clothes for her for years. Her card is actually paid for from my account. She's a named user on my credit card- so she gets issued a car as well.

Beano wrote: »

Is it really that much of an overreaction though? They offered you a decent discount on the price on their website and then you offer them pretty much half that again. I can see how they might perceive that as a little bit insulting and hence they now consider you a time-waster. Its clear they use their ebay store to clear off old stock and dont want the prices they offer there to drag down the prices in their webshop.

I don't see it that way. I've bought from them for years and based the price I thought was fair at the upper end of what I've paid in the past. I don't see how that can be insulting- it's simply working off of past information. The fact of the matter is I've spent thousands with them and bought everything via auction and always left them positive feedback. I wanted to get something which never came to auction, offered what I thought was a fair price and voila I can no longer bid.

I'm not overly fussed about it now to be fair. As someone who's been in retail all their life I was surprised at what I deem to be pretty awful customer service. I've spent a lot with them buying through auction and never having any issues. I asked for something that didn't come up on auction, offered a fair price based on history and got barred from any future purchases. That's a pretty big tantrum on their part.