One Strike and You're Out
Written: Aug 01 '01 (Updated Aug 02 '01)
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The Bottom Line
If you're looking to sell, steer clear, find another option, unless you're selling at really high prices or actually enjoy not being able to communicate with your customers.
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| Full Review |
Ok, so maybe I got a little pampered by Ebay, or maybe I just had a bad experience, I'll admit that, but Half.com produced an absolute nightmare for me, and here is my story.
I started selling on Half.com about 4 months ago, after finding out that I could fetch in general a much better price for my items than on ebay or any other online store. But of course like all online auction and selling sites, things change. Sometimes you get so caught up in the thrill of the ability to sell a product so quickly, that you throw caution to the wind and forget that you're actually losing money in the process, albeit in small amounts. Maybe that's just me, but I don't like hidden costs, I'm much more likely to give business to a site if they come right out and tell me their policies, processes, etc. Seeing as they're affiliated with Ebay I would have thought Half.com would have done the same. But no, that would make things too easy. My first few transactions went fine, I managed to rack up about 60 bucks on a couple games I had bought new and decided I didn't want to play anymore, and managed to lose less than $20 each in the process, which is typical for selling a used item. Little did I know though, when Half.com finally managed to be bothered to give me an account statement, that they had also sucked $10 out of my profits. Ok so I should have known better, when I first posted my items for sale I searched and searched and searched to find what the hidden costs could be, and the only smidgen of a mention about any fees for selling was that magic word "commission", but no mention of what that commission would be. I'm not faulting them for being so adept with sly wording, but I really do wish they had just come out and told me, "We're going to take 15% of your profits, live with it."
Ok so now comes the real nightmare. Seller and buyer communication, or rather the lack of it. As astounding as it may be, not every nameless, faceless personage online is trustworthy. This is why Ebay and just about every other online auction or selling site makes it possible for you to communicate with those that you sell to directly through email. Whether it be to request payment, request the status of your shipment, ask the buyer if they were satisfied with the purchase, request feedback whether it be positive or negative, or just overall develop a trusting relationship between buyer and seller. What this communication helps protect is not only your reputation, but also your wallet. Say you send a used item to the buyer, test it thoroughly before sending, as well as inspect it for quality, and assume everything is going great with the sale since you've received no emails indicating otherwise. Then one day you log on your account and find horrors of all horrors, negative feedback. Well this is what happened to me, and yes I admit I have a big ego as a seller, I always try to deliver the best product, have a polite business, and never ever ever try and rip anyone off. You know, the old "do onto others as you'd like them to do onto you." Negative feedback was something I'd never ever gotten, up until now, with a couple years of selling history. So to me, this was a big deal. Well the only way for the buyer and seller to communicate AT ALL is to go to your "recent transactions" and click "post a message". But this is only available to the buyer at first, unless they have a complaint. Now the guy had posted there AND left negative feedback, first of all this is a big no no. You never ever post negative feedback without first talking to the seller and trying to resolve the issue. But of course seeing as how difficult it is to communicate at all over Half.com I can't fault him for his first reaction being to post negative feedback, assuming it was a legit complaint. He claimed that the game didn't work at all, and I was absolutely positive that it not only worked but also was in great condition, so I merely posted a message to him to try testing it again, and let me know. Anyways, the damage was already done in the feedback area, and I quickly found out there was no way to even post an explanation of the transaction in the feedback area for the seller, so you're basically left defenseless and open to any schmoe that decides he wants to lower your seller rating.
Ok now I'm going to see it from the buyer's point of view. I'm going to assume that he actually had a valid complaint; perhaps it got damaged in shipping or something. Well after the complaint is issued, the buyer gets 48 hours to respond to the seller, otherwise the issue is assumed as being resolved, and that nice little "post a comment" button disappears. Honestly, most people don't get to check their email every 48 hours, I was hoping for a response, I was hoping we could resolve the issue to his and my satisfaction, but no, Half.com does not make that possible. Not only that, you can't edit your comment. I had attempted at leaving my email address just to make it a little easier on him to communicate with me, well somehow it got cut off and there was no way for me to correct it, or to post again to try and make it right. So basically we were just both out of luck. End of story, I lose, he loses. Another thing I hated was that with all the people I did send to, I had no way of knowing if they were satisfied with the product when it arrived unless they decided to complain and/or compliment. Unless the buyer is nice enough to take the initiative and put your mind at ease, then once again, you're out of luck. Most times I like requesting feedback, just to make me feel maybe my selling is actually worth something more than money, well that's not possible either at Half.com. The farthest your communication goes with the buyer is sending them the product, and crossing your fingers that everything goes ok. Basically one strike, one negative feedback, and you're out of the game, whether you deserved it or not.
Don't get me wrong, Half.com is a great place to buy from, they have one of the largest selection of products I've ever seen for a site of that nature, plus the $5 off coupon isn't all that bad either. I've managed to buy plenty of products at a great price off of them, but I don't think I'll ever be able to bring myself to sell again, not unless they make more communication available. The only real complaint I have about the buying aspect is something that is typical of all online bidding and selling sites, the fact that with shipping you end up spending the same amount that you would if you had just ran out to the store and bought it. This is kind of inevitable though, and one of those hit and miss things you just have to watch out for.
Well for now, I think I'll just stick to ebay, until they decide to bestow their nicest features onto Half.com too.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
jewelsweb
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Location: California, USA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
A computer-addicted girl who enjoys saving money and buying quality products.
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