Message Board


Message Board > Malarkey > Beware: certain Amazon sellers bribing

November 3, 2012, 14:01
Zomg
None
641 posts
I would like to share with all of you the horrible experience I had from an Amazon seller (you know, just a seller, some guy/group of people selling their product).

I bought a game from the guy. It took over half a month for the game to arrive from UK to here. Wtf? That's our neighboring country. That duration time is unacceptable. I've had packets coming in from Texas that took less time (4 days! Granted, it was priority shipping but still).

That's not the only bad part. I left a somewhat neutral feedback for him but I also mentioned that the delivery was rather slow. Was I too harsh? I stated a fact. I just wrote "delivery slow". I don't think that was too harsh.

So what does the guy do? He sends me an e-mail telling me he sent my account some money and is asking to reconsider my feedback and make it 'positive' instead of 'negative'. This is called bribery/feedback manipulation and it is firmly against Amazon's policy, not to mention the law. So now I reported the guy.

What do you guys think? 15+ days too long for a small packet? The guy sucks?

In any case, I just wanted to warn you guys about this because there are some (and I don't know what amount of) sellers out there that bribe their customers into leaving only positive feedback for them so that other buyers are fooled into thinking that the seller is reliable. I hope that they are in the minority.

Regards

[Edited on November 3, 2012 by Zomg]
____________
#
November 3, 2012, 15:41
DTM
Earthling!
821 posts

> In any case, I just wanted to warn you guys about this

Your concern for others' well being is admirable :-)

But really, it's the law of survival. Just because he doesn't mold himself to your liking, you are reporting him? Maybe he just has his own personality, and if you can't deal with it, that's your problem.

His family probably bribes a lot too, so he's used to it and it's second nature to him.

Anyway, maybe you should give the guy some sympathy. Perhaps he lives under a bridge, and his only income is selling second hand SNES games to earn $20 a month to afford a bag of rice husks to feed his 100 starving children. So the sympathetic solution is to refund his bribe, then gently reprimand him and explain to him the error of his ways. (Perhaps you can help him to find Jesus at this point too).
____________
:o
#
November 3, 2012, 16:46
Zomg
None
641 posts
Suuuuuuuure. You don't really believe that yourself do you? If you adhere to a service, you have to follow the rules (yes yes I didn't follow the being-corteous rules here).

Yeah, it's my problem. That's correct. I'm dealing with it by reporting the guy to Amazon. I posted it here so that you guys would watch out with what kind of wolves are out there. Someone who is poor is modest and doesn't even have the money to keep up an internet connection.

This is money we are talking about here. Business. And in business you can't screw up. If I refund his bribe, he'll have my credit card details and that's a clever little trick to get around Amazon's safety systems. You see, when you transfer to him using Amazon, my IDENTITY is kept secret. This includes name etc.

I'm not amused.
____________
#
November 3, 2012, 17:32
PB
Defender of the faith
630 posts

I'm not familiar with Amazon, but in general I think 2 weeks is slow, but not unacceptable. Unless there was an agreement on shipping time which was violated.

If your feedback was only "delivery slow", I suppose you could have specified how long the delivery took. That way people can judge better if that is acceptable to them.

But in any case I agree that bribing is wrong. If the user appears to be screwing up more, I suppose you did the right thing. Or you could have written in your feedback that the user tried to bribe you or something in that area... Anyway as said, I'm not familiar with Amazon...
____________
#
November 3, 2012, 18:12
Zomg
None
641 posts
Yes, I would have written that the user would try to bribe me.
However, I don't want to do that (just yet) because I think it's better that Amazon deals with it. I'm just being prudent.

What surprises me is that he went from 98% positive feedback to 90% in two weeks. Wtf? There seems to be fishy stuff going on. And just for being clear.. one feedback item doesn't cause that because he has thousands of feedback reports.

I saw guys on Youtube (you should look this up by the way) complaining about horrible and most horrible inhuman experiences on eBay where the seller would act like a complete asshole, circumventing eBay rules and what not. I believed what the guy was saying. I mean, I believe there are people like that out there.

On eBay, one of the feedbacks I got when I asked a simple, polite: "Does the box come with the European game version? Thank you" I get a response like: "NO ITS ENGLISH BYE". Okay and then you start to think: "What the fuck? I asked this guy politely and he responds like a 13 year old". That was on eBay, yes. So now before I buy something from a seller, first I check his spelling and grammar errors. If he has any of those, I won't buy from him. Or at least, if he has blatant horrible errors. Other eBay buyer tips include: the buyer must have at least 99.8% positive feedback on a large scale (1000+), must be a 'top rated seller' and 'most valued' feedback from eBay. Then we can say it's more or less safe to buy from that guy. I did and I was not disappointed. The package was very neat, with extra cover and plastics, bubble wrap and what not.

You have to be careful whom you trust (somewhat). Especially on the internet.. and especially if it's about your own funds. =D
____________
#
November 3, 2012, 21:24
DTM
Earthling!
821 posts

Quoting Zomg:
Someone who is poor is modest and doesn't even have the money to keep up an internet connection.

If you run an online business, and it's your only way of earning money, you'll pay for that internet connection at all costs, even if it means going hungry one day a week and going without heating or lighting. Because without it you'll have no income at all.

Maybe this decrease in ratings over the last few weeks is a sign of this guy having a mental breakdown. Maybe you were the straw that broke his back.

Right now, he's probably standing on a chair with a noose around his neck, ready to end it all, so ashamed he can no longer support his family, unable to think of any way out.. And wishing he'd got that package sent off in time (but he had to visit his ill child in hospital, and mislaid the order).. and the bribe was a desperate albeit misguided attempt to save his business.

Perhaps then each of his 100 children will grow up to be drug addicts and serial killers as a result of the trauma of coming home from the work house and finding their dear papa swinging in the hallway.

Maybe one of them will become the next Hitler.

I hope you see what you may have unleashed on the world.
____________
:o
#
November 3, 2012, 21:44
Zomg
None
641 posts
Well well DTM, you are the king of unlikelihood prediction. rofl

I don't know what you are on but maybe you watched too many movies.

You're not funny, DTM.
Tasteless, even.

I don't care though. ;P
____________
#
November 4, 2012, 16:39
DTM
Earthling!
821 posts

I assumed in a lot of your posts you were trolling, so I responded in kind.

I'll just go now... Enjoy the empty room :what:
____________
:o
#
November 4, 2012, 20:43
Zomg
None
641 posts
Looks like you were doing just that, while I wasn't. It seems you are a little bit insane (you use metaphors for virtual environments).

Assumption is poison. Never assume.
____________
#
November 4, 2012, 20:43
Zomg
None
641 posts
I have 256 posts and therefor I am 1337. 8 bit posts. LOL
____________
#
November 6, 2012, 00:44
PB
Defender of the faith
630 posts

Quoting Zomg:
It seems you are a little bit insane


You are being offensive again. If you are not trolling, I strongly advice you to acknowledge that you have an issue and seriously work on it to improve.

Either way, I'm not defending you against moderators if they take measures on this.
____________
#

Message Board > Malarkey > Beware: certain Amazon sellers bribing

Quick reply


You must log in or register to post.
Copyright © 2005 Booleansoup.com
Questions? Comments? Bug reports? Contact us!