The seller had only one feedback, and it was as a buyer. My heart sunk a little.
I've been on card-twitter long enough to see how this usually goes. People are constantly posting awful questions from eBay buyers, refund requests, or instances where they just don't get a card. Naturally, I thought I'd have to join these ranks.
I didn't realize it was a one-feedback seller. I bid on the card without looking to see if it was a reputable ebayer. I can't say I am always diligent about that.
So I prepared myself for the worst. I prepared myself for the card to no show, to have to open a claim, and even if I got my money back it wouldn't be for weeks. But then something happened.
The seller reached out.
He sent me a nice note thanking me for my purchase, and that this was his first sale. He was excited! He even sent me a picture of the outgoing package, addressed to me. Even then, I thought, "is this just part of the scheme?"
But four days later, the card showed up, packed perfectly. I kind of felt bad for my lack of faith. I'm glad I never publicly questioned or reached our with snark asking if he was actually going to ship it. But the guy wanted to make his first sale, and he did. Maybe he's looking for some money for the holidays. Maybe his family needs it. Maybe he just wants to start selling cards.
I'm glad this transaction went smoothly, and I'm glad I didn't put him on blast. A low feedback number isn't always a bad thing. Everyone needs to start from somewhere. I made sure to give him 5 stars and a positive feedback score, and I wish this seller the best.
You have to start somewhere, and he's on his way. I wish I had more faith, but it was a nice reminder that not everyone out this is a scam waiting to happen.
What a fantastic card and story. I'm glad that it worked out for you!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with PKS, great story. Thanks for sharing and restoring a little faith.
ReplyDeleteBTW, congrats on the 1/1. Most excellent!
Congrats on the 1/1, and congrats on having some faith in sellers restored.
ReplyDeleteI suppose new sellers would be smart to start with lower-value items before selling things like autograph 1/1s, but, hey, you probably got a better deal because of it! As you say, everyone's got to start somewhere. The card looks great.
ReplyDeleteI had a pretty good eBay experience yesterday, actually. A relic I bought showed up with some damage. I reached out to the seller who promptly agreed to a partial refund. The damage probably happened in transit and was beyond his control. These things happen. The seller was fair about it and with the partial refund it's a decent price even with a couple creases on the card.
You took the words right off of my keyboard. As I was reading this post, I was thinking two things:
ReplyDelete1. Congratulations on adding this 1/1 autograph to your Tino PC.
2. Everyone has to start somewhere. If this seller continues this kind of customer service, he's going to have plenty of success.
I know that it's probably not a popular opinion, especially not with the Twitter crowd, but I think that the majority of people selling on eBay are still honorable people... and am starting to think that the collectors on Twitter might be the ones causing most of the problems!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the 1/1. I've had some good luck with low feedback sellers recently too.
ReplyDelete