General Forum

David's (switzr1) request to block certain sellers on ebay has gotten me thinking about who he might want to block. And since I knew how, that meant I was blocking a seller. In fact, I have 2 sellers that I block consistently. This brought me to thinking that maybe we should share our experiences (and keep it all within this thread) so that we can reference it when attempting to make a transaction.

Since there really are no rules to the Internet, I would like to make a couple regarding this thread. Let's keep it family friendly, and let's stick to only facts.

My 2 sellers that I will not deal with on ebay:

deans_cards - This self-appointed "expert" on grading "grades" his cards and then jacks up the price. He has quite the selection of vintage, but his prices are so far out of line with the rest of the hobby, all it does is clog up my searches (and subsequently, the main page). I was attempting to find a good example of that but it looks like he is actually doing better. Ok, found a great example - he has a 1973 Topps baseball card #453 (Checklist #4) - Beckett BV is $3. They are asking $37. Yes, $37 for a $3 card. This used to be the norm for all their stuff, and they usually list 10 to 20 of the same card at the same time.

mom_and_pop_card_shop - If you ever want a good laugh, read theor feedback, especially the negative ones (and there are PLENTY of them). Even better are their personal attacks on the people who leave the negative feedback. Calling your customers morons and idiots is never a good business practice, and I'll never put myself in that position to potentially be called names by them.

typically i run into the people that dont pay afterwards and don't respond to email,, normally they have less than 30 stars, but no one like you have.. i just like to see whats out there, whats available-- totally agree on the Deans Card though..way overpriced

In addition to blocking sellers, would love to know some buyers worthy of being blocked as well.  The other end of the spectrum is the folks that buy good cards expecting mint and the ones who don't read descriptions.  Wasn't aware of Deans Cards, those folks are living in "la-la" land!

Like George Costanza said, "If my mom and pop had a store, I wouldn't shop there."

At the moment, all I can do is pile on to the Dean's Cards thing. I found their outrageousness all by myself, just astounded at their prices. Somehow Dean has created this image as an expert. If I recall correctly, they also give a "grade" to the cards they sell. If one doesn't read carefully, you might even think it's from a legitimate grading service, and not just Dean sitting in his basement. Stay away. 

I think I've bought from Mom and Pop without trouble, but not enough to have a real opinion. 

I've been fairly lucky in the 15 years or so I've been on eBay, nearly only buying. Out of something like 2,500 transactions only had to leave negatives 4 times. One guy sent a Jordan in a PWE with nothing to protect it, not even a sheet of paper, it got wet and was ruined. After contacting him about it, he got an attitude, and I ended up cussing him out.

Had a few other sellers make pretty bad mistakes, but an apology, and trying to make things right go a long ways.

I been trying to stay off there lately to save money, because if I go on, I'm going to buy something I shouldn't. So not going to be able to check for names, but there are a few I try to avoid. One is a well known seller, that loves to overcharge, but has quite a few cards I want at times.

Well I did sneak on there for just a minute. Checked the Dean guy's listings, 23 bucks for an '89 Fleer MJ All-Star? Gonna try to be nice, and keep what I'm thinking to myself. Got the whole set for less than 3 bucks less than a year ago.

I do agree. 

Deans Cards greatly over-rates their card conditions and are way overpriced for the conditions advertised--much less the conditions received.  I did get a good deal from them once a few years ago when they were offering 1962 Topps baseball in lower grade for $0.50 each, but I haven't seen anything close since.  They are professional however.

Mom and Pop card shop is very unprofessional.  He sent me the wrong order and then was rude about it--blaming me for his mistake.  I ended up leaving him negative feedback, but he was able to have it removed because I had mentioned how his conduct would affect my feedback rating through messages during the resolution process.  As a rule of thumb, don't talk about feedback at all to a seller as a buyer.  Unfortunately, that's the way it has to be on Ebay, and the only way that it will stick.  Sellers can have it removed otherwise by making a call to Ebay.  The worst part of this transaction was that a couple weeks later he sent me a printed picture of himself sitting indian style on his bed without a shirt and flipping me the bird.  He used the same return address and all.

burbanksportscards - uses stock scans and refuses to provide scans of actual card you want to buy; and I quote "we don't have the time or manpower to provide scans of each card."

4_sharp_cornerz - never sent card, never responded to messages, ebay had to refund my money. Was known as recycletel when I had the problem. Shortly after my problem they changed their ID. Has changed their ebay ID six times.