Monday, April 2, 2007

Auction problems #2

Mail not arrived-I had one bidder in the Philippines convince me to send his parcel at the cheapest possible rate, rather than registering it. Surprise, after a month the bidder reports that the parcel never arrived. I am out the postage and the contents-a Bahamas $1 P27 (1968) # N372700, a Great Britain 10/- P373c # 94 w 609239, a Great Britain British Military authority 1/- K, a Hong Kong $5 P181c 938894 CD, and a Philippines 100 Pesos P139 A091870.

removal of items- I had 2 of my items removed from the auction listings, because of hate/discrimination. The items were from Iraq, issued during the time that Saddad was in power. However, one was the type of money that was accepted by the Kurdish areas up to the time of Saddam’s removal, and the other was the next issue. Neither have any hate messages, hateful pictures, reasons for anyone to hate the pictures (nothing with Saddam’s picture, and only the legal tender and authorizing signature text).

I mentioned that if they were hateful or discriminatory because they were issued early in Saddam’s period, than any money issued by the Confederate States in the US, anything issued by Great Britain before 1832, any issues of any other nation that owned slaves, issues of any country involved in a war, should be banned for the same reason. I also mentioned that at the period that these bills were issued Saddam was a great ally of the US. SO far I have got about 15 “thanks for the receipt of your email. We will consider the contents and get back to you after a few days” messages, but nothing with any information as to why the items were hateful or discriminatory.

I don’t like having such a message sent to me. After all, I have been a student of history for many years. I would like to know why my items were removed. Could it possibly be related to complaint 1 above?

I am still very positive about the total auction experience. However, there are auction problems, and they do bother me.

Auction problems #2

Mail not arrived-I had one bidder in the Philippines convince me to send his parcel at the cheapest possible rate, rather than registering it. Surprise, after a month the bidder reports that the parcel never arrived. I am out the postage and the contents-a Bahamas $1 P27 (1968) # N372700, a Great Britain 10/- P373c # 94 w 609239, a Great Britain British Military authority 1/- K, a Hong Kong $5 P181c 938894 CD, and a Philippines 100 Pesos P139 A091870.

removal of items- I had 2 of my items removed from the auction listings, because of hate/discrimination. The items were from Iraq, issued during the time that Saddad was in power. However, one was the type of money that was accepted by the Kurdish areas up to the time of Saddam’s removal, and the other was the next issue. Neither have any hate messages, hateful pictures, reasons for anyone to hate the pictures (nothing with Saddam’s picture, and only the legal tender and authorizing signature text).

I mentioned that if they were hateful or discriminatory because they were issued early in Saddam’s period, than any money issued by the Confederate States in the US, anything issued by Great Britain before 1832, any issues of any other nation that owned slaves, issues of any country involved in a war, should be banned for the same reason. I also mentioned that at the period that these bills were issued Saddam was a great ally of the US. SO far I have got about 15 “thanks for the receipt of your email. We will consider the contents and get back to you after a few days” messages, but nothing with any information as to why the items were hateful or discriminatory.

I don’t like having such a message sent to me. After all, I have been a student of history for many years. I would like to know why my items were removed. Could it possibly be related to complaint 1 above?

I am still very positive about the total auction experience. However, there are auction problems, and they do bother me.

Auction unpleasantness- part 1

It has been very interesting for me to see the less pleasant side of web auctions. I have run into a few bad experiences, and a fee auction problems.

Item not shipped/ payment never received/ non-paying bidder- I had a $66 order for paper money from Australia. The bidder charged me with not shipping the items. I agreed that I had not shipped the items, and said that was because the money order that he had sent had never been received. He kept asking me to cancel the sale, which I refused- he had these pieces on hold for almost a month. At this point I sent a non-payment email. I was accused of cashing the money order. I said I did not receive it, I did not cash it, did you know that you can get a refund for your uncashed money order, and could I have some information about the money order. The bidder then said that it would take months to get a refund of the money order. I contacted his post office, and they told me that money orders could be refunded within a month. I then contacted the bidder, asking for details about the money order. The bidder refused to give me any information (like a registered letter, money orders have serial numbers, and that number can be traced, and whether the money order has been issued or cashed is easily available). He then gave me my first negative feedback. I decided to let the negative feedback stand, but with the reasons for it published with the feedback. The buyer has gone private with his 1047 positive feedbacks, and a few negative feedbacks, and now some unpaid item strikes. I will keep my lumps, but if he lists his feedback again, it will show a warning to others.

This was the biggest auction problem.