As a Seller on HipStamp, if you have had an issue with a specific buyer, you do have the option to block the buyer from bidding on, and purchasing items from you. While we do not currently offer a technical feature, such as a list to add a buyer's username to, you can send a message to the buyer requesting that they no longer purchase from you. However, this is not simply an unenforceable request.
Once you have asked that a buyer no longer purchases from you, if they were to make an additional purchase, you would be able to cancel the purchase per our terms and conditions, and the sale would be null and void. More importantly, if this were to happen, contact us, and we will follow-up with the buyer and take appropriate action with regards to their account.
That being said, in relation to the number of sales we have on HipStamp, this is a very rare issue, and the current system does work to address specific cases on an as-needed basis. If you're having an issue with a specific buyer, please reach out to our Support Team and we'll handle it accordingly.
You just won't give up. I just contact support and they take care of the problem, what could be easier. The unwanted customers never orders again from me.
Relax and you will live longer. Have A Great Weekend John
Do you have that many customers that need to be blocked George? If you do then your doing something wrong. I only had one customer last year and none this year.
Perhaps the point being missed here is that generally you want to block someone because they stole something from you. It might be just your time, it might be stamps, it might be excessive non delivery claims. The degree of criminality is not as important as the fact that they took something from you, especially now that Paypal doe not refund your fees when you issue refunds.
When I was doing a lot of shows you had to deal with people stealing things - whether by switching or losing sleeves, dropping things into their briefcases or bags, whatever. The problem was these people included "upstanding citizens" - a doctor, a lawyer, stockbroker, etc. And they were people who bought expensive items so the stealing was obviously just a game to them. You could either watch them like a hawk or if another dealer noticed them they would come over and stand next to the individual while talking to you. Often this worked and the culprit would suddenly notice "something" must have fallen into his briefcase and return it.....no one ever got security involved because they did spend money - substantial amounts of it.....and "proof" that it was intentional wasn't really possible (or would be extremely uncomfortable.)
When I had my brick and mortar (mainly antiques and ephemera) it was a lot easier. If it was one of the items placed by the front door in hopes it would disappear I didn't really care. If it was a tourist it depended - it was never something worth enough to call the police (item placement was the key here) I would usually stop the customer at the door and say "Did you want this?). Sometimes I just let it go, especially if the shop was busy.
If it was a local I would usually just make them not want to come back rather than creating a fuss. I could make that work, believe me...I had a frequent customer who either bought or took small items every time he came in -- he was always excited about what he bought and one day I said to him "I am so glad that I have a lot of stuff you find interesting, I just wish you would pay for more of it". His response floored me - he told me that was on days he had forgotten his money and he didn't want the items to disappear and he pulled a list of items out of his shirt pocket that totaled around $18 - he said he was going to pay me when it reached $20. He gave me a $20 bill and said he would start another list next time with a $2.00 credit on it. I let him keep his own tab - it was a small town.
What does this have to do with a blocked bidders list? I guess that I feel that we should have the ability to prevent known thieves from stealing from us, whatever the amount. I have no idea why we can't do that and Hipstamp is not going to reimburse us for our losses or lost Paypal fees so we just have to consider it the cost of doing business, much like the examples above. But I don't think it should be that way - we used to have it, the other site has it and it just irks me that we are told to just accept the losses....
If the buyer is a thief why do you just want to just pass that buyer off on another seller instead of getting them banned? That is ALL a blocked bidder list can do. Hipstamp staff are the ONLY ones who can block and remove those problem buyers from the site.
Anyone that has ever had a brick and mortar store should know that their loses from theft was far greater then what the average mail order seller would ever have. Both the PO and Paypal have given us the tools to use that should make non-delivery almost a non-issue unless you don't use tracking or customs forms.
Carol,
As far as Paypal no longer refunding the fees for handling the transaction,should Paypal have to refund for the fees for processing the payment and then having to also process the refund when it may not be Paypal's problem as to WHY the refund is made? If the seller sent the wrong item or a damaged item should Paypal really be held liable to refund the processing fees? Or did Paypal process the payment in good faith and they should be paid for that?
As far as Paypal no longer refunding the fees for handling the transaction,should Paypal have to refund for the fees for processing the payment and then having to also process the refund when it may not be Paypal's problem as to WHY the refund is made? If the seller sent the wrong item or a damaged item should Paypal really be held liable to refund the processing fees? Or did Paypal process the payment in good faith and they should be paid for that? "
I don't disagree with that - it is just a change to their GT&C and makes sense from a business standpoint - but it does add to "overhead" cost that has to be accounted for.. Tracking is not a reasonable option on items under a certain amount (my own threshold of pain varies depending on who is purchasing - a -0- feedback buyer with a $40 order is going to be tracked at my expense - the mail system has proven to be very competent delivering to known customers ( 2 losses since 1985 with probably over 10,000 mailings) - not so lucky with low feedback customers.
And yes, losses (and overhead) are much less online than a brick and mortar ($1000 per month to open the door). But the volume is also proportionately less. I think from a profit/risk standpoint wholesale to dealers is the way to go. When I had my storefront I sold almost as much in casual sales to stamp dealers on either a walk in basis (which I could have done out of my house) or at irregular get-togethers at someone else's house a few times a year as I did in the store with all of it's overhead and wasted time. Big mistake.
I just meant to post my thoughts - none of us are going to change our minds on the issue and that wasn't my intnet. Should have said so ...
But I think you may be also missing a point in that a block bidder list can not be preemptive in almost all cases. It can only be used as a reaction to a buyer. And the biggest unseen problem with it would be that many sellers would use the block bidder list INSTEAD of reporting the problems buyers to begin with. And as long as you have a lot of sellers that would do it that way the problem would continue to be there unless and until enough sellers did report that buyer. With sellers that used the block bidder list as the default position instead of using the report button, they could continue on with their bad behavior for far longer with many more sellers instead of being dealt with earlier to resolve the problem.
This topic has been exhausted and Mark has made the site policies fairly clear folks. I just wanted to say it works for both buyers and sellers. A private collector contacted me to view his pristine mint never hinged set of US Columbians. I inquired why he was missing the three dollar issue, he frowns back and said a dealer swiped it. Leave accurate and fair feedback and play by the rules.
Disagree 100%. It's not a site policy as such. Mark has simply stated how it is addressed at the moment. He has not said that a more elegant software solution will not be developed.
On a different site, on which I am the auctioneer, we do not have a block bidder option for sellers, and we do not have block sellers for buyers option either. We rely on people to report problem buyers and sellers. If the complaints/disputes are founded, then appropriate action is taken against the offending party. Usually, that means loss of access to the sales area. Sanctions could be less or greater than that, depending on the severity of the incident. That way, everyone on the site is protected from the bad apples.
In this regard, I agree with what Michael D has stated. We don't want these types of people hanging around to defraud/cheat others. Let management kicked their butts off the site. That way no one else has to deal with them.
So a customer sent me this afternoon a terse, actually a really nasty stupid email demanding to know where his $5.70 order was from 3/11/19.
Not appreciating this I told him exactly this, verbatim, did your manners go on vacation?
I am under no obligation to do this but your full refund is being sent out now, Please until you learn to use manners and talk to me appropriately please do not come back again. Mark's way of handling this? send me an email threatening me with tossing me from the site for .....oh this is funny, hate speech. mark doesn't back his sellers (who pay the freight here). he could easily put up the block option and this guy would have been sent packing, no need to involve staff. Mark talks out of both sides of his mouth, that's a character problem , owner or not and the block option, well that is a much easier fix.
David, this is a fantastic reason why i think tracking is necessary...As i have been into stamps over half a century i have seen it all.... I feel you have been ripped off as he should have complained less than a week after shipment...NOT AFTER NEARLY 2 MONTHS...OIO
A well-placed nuke should do the trick. Or a system where you get 3 nukes but only 2 shields. One time I got an ultimatum, "I have not yet contacted Hipstamp, but if I don't receive this before xxx then I will get Hip to sort it out." Jerk, why be such an, you knpw...I first made a snarky return message like should I change my name and leave town and was accused of being childish. What, me worry? Hip support told me to ask to wait for a few more days and then refund his money. Turns out the material showed up the day of the deadline. Another customer just asked if his order had been sent, it had been around two weeks now. I just refunded the money. The guy contacted me a week later, saying that he found where he did receive it, but it had gotten buried under various stuff, and returned my refund. I had a boss once that told me "if you wanna play, you gotta pay". Sad, though, that the customer is always right, even when not right. There's no recourse for sellers short of spending more money to get the customer their stuff. If I buy something for $20 or so and it doesn't arrive, I just don't say anything but quit buying from that seller, that way if it does show up and eventually it always does, I don't wind up being a jerk. Comes with old age I guess. I am so nieve I thought ebay's "money back" guarantee is something that ebay pays as it's cost of doing business. I invoked that privilege one time and found out that the seller is made to pay.. I guess ebay just has a really good software program and just sits back and lets the money roll in, no dickering, the problem is automatically taken care of.I feel so sorry for them! They can hardly keep their business afloat, the same for Paypal. Don't forget these guys when Christmas comes around. Send them a card with postage-dueMaybe there should be a Paypal Day. The business about paypal no longer refunding the fees on a return is in my opinion a slap on the face. "Why should they have to pay for a refund when it isn't their fault? " Because they would go out of business? That's a laugh.
"I am so nieve I thought ebay's "money back" guarantee is something that ebay pays as it's cost of doing business. I invoked that privilege one time and found out that the seller is made to pay."
Not always. A customer to whom I had solid a comic book opened a dispute on me. I was able to convince ebay that the customer was wrong. I got my comic returned and ebay refunded the buyer out of ebay's pocket.
Some sellers have a tendency to forget that they are dealing with a 3rd party shipper and some of the sellers problems are self induced due to not being aware of how the system works.
How many of you are aware of the fact that some of the so called theft by the buyers is the fact that a number of those letters and packages are actually ending up in what they use to call the dead letter office or as it is now called the mail recovery center due to usually 3 factors on the outside of the letter or package. Their is often NO return address and the address that the letter or package is going to can no longer be read due to labels getting damaged or falling off,handwriting that can not be figured out or unreadable address for whatever reason whether the inks bleed or the item got caught in the sorting machines and damaged the address.
Back in 2006 the number of first class letters and parcels that went through there was over 90,000,000 letters and parcels. (Yes that reads million,that is NOT a typo)
When they can't deliver it that way it gets sent to the mail recovery center where they are the ONLY ones who legally can open first class letters and packages without a warrant. They will check to see if they can figure out either where it's to go or to be to able to return it to the sender. But they can't do so if there is no other information within the envelope or parcel because some people think it's a real good idea NOT to include an invoice or some form of correspondence as to where it's suppose to go.
If they still can't figure it out then after a period of time they are allowed to sell off any valuables via auction and so can customs from confiscated items. How do you think they get the stuff to auction off? And that is TOTALLY out of the buyers hands. When that type of stuff happens you CAN NOT blame the buyer for not getting the letter or package.
Michael D, you are correct, but you left out one very important thing:
Lazy sellers not wanting to spend a penny printing out a packing slip, and taking an extra moment to insert it in the envelope because it might cost another 15 cents in postage for the next ounce, again, are their own worst enemies. But, of course they blame PayPal when they have to refund the payment due to non-delivery.
For me it's the assumption that the buyer is a crook just because he or she didn't get their package without any proof that the buyer did get the package. The people that handle the mail are just as human. How many times do they have articles about postal carriers that have not delivered years worth of mail but just horded it somewhere. How many times have we heard of a letter that was missed and delivered years later? Never mind how many letters and packages are stolen off of porches or taken out of mail boxes also.?
Yet some of the same sellers will scream bloody murder when the shoe on the other foot and the buyer does some of the same thing to them.
Comments
Once you have asked that a buyer no longer purchases from you, if they were to make an additional purchase, you would be able to cancel the purchase per our terms and conditions, and the sale would be null and void. More importantly, if this were to happen, contact us, and we will follow-up with the buyer and take appropriate action with regards to their account.
That being said, in relation to the number of sales we have on HipStamp, this is a very rare issue, and the current system does work to address specific cases on an as-needed basis. If you're having an issue with a specific buyer, please reach out to our Support Team and we'll handle it accordingly.
So Mark, is that meant as it reads, that you will be offering this feature?
You just won't give up. I just contact support and they take care of the problem, what could be easier. The unwanted customers never orders again from me.
Relax and you will live longer.
Have A Great Weekend
John
When I was doing a lot of shows you had to deal with people stealing things - whether by switching or losing sleeves, dropping things into their briefcases or bags, whatever. The problem was these people included "upstanding citizens" - a doctor, a lawyer, stockbroker, etc. And they were people who bought expensive items so the stealing was obviously just a game to them. You could either watch them like a hawk or if another dealer noticed them they would come over and stand next to the individual while talking to you. Often this worked and the culprit would suddenly notice "something" must have fallen into his briefcase and return it.....no one ever got security involved because they did spend money - substantial amounts of it.....and "proof" that it was intentional wasn't really possible (or would be extremely uncomfortable.)
When I had my brick and mortar (mainly antiques and ephemera) it was a lot easier. If it was one of the items placed by the front door in hopes it would disappear I didn't really care. If it was a tourist it depended - it was never something worth enough to call the police (item placement was the key here) I would usually stop the customer at the door and say "Did you want this?). Sometimes I just let it go, especially if the shop was busy.
If it was a local I would usually just make them not want to come back rather than creating a fuss. I could make that work, believe me...I had a frequent customer who either bought or took small items every time he came in -- he was always excited about what he bought and one day I said to him "I am so glad that I have a lot of stuff you find interesting, I just wish you would pay for more of it". His response floored me - he told me that was on days he had forgotten his money and he didn't want the items to disappear and he pulled a list of items out of his shirt pocket that totaled around $18 - he said he was going to pay me when it reached $20. He gave me a $20 bill and said he would start another list next time with a $2.00 credit on it. I let him keep his own tab - it was a small town.
What does this have to do with a blocked bidders list? I guess that I feel that we should have the ability to prevent known thieves from stealing from us, whatever the amount. I have no idea why we can't do that and Hipstamp is not going to reimburse us for our losses or lost Paypal fees so we just have to consider it the cost of doing business, much like the examples above. But I don't think it should be that way - we used to have it, the other site has it and it just irks me that we are told to just accept the losses....
Anyone that has ever had a brick and mortar store should know that their loses from theft was far greater then what the average mail order seller would ever have. Both the PO and Paypal have given us the tools to use that should make non-delivery almost a non-issue unless you don't use tracking or customs forms.
Carol,
As far as Paypal no longer refunding the fees for handling the transaction,should Paypal have to refund for the fees for processing the payment and then having to also process the refund when it may not be Paypal's problem as to WHY the refund is made? If the seller sent the wrong item or a damaged item should Paypal really be held liable to refund the processing fees? Or did Paypal process the payment in good faith and they should be paid for that?
As far as Paypal no longer refunding the fees for handling the transaction,should Paypal have to refund for the fees for processing the payment and then having to also process the refund when it may not be Paypal's problem as to WHY the refund is made? If the seller sent the wrong item or a damaged item should Paypal really be held liable to refund the processing fees? Or did Paypal process the payment in good faith and they should be paid for that? "
I don't disagree with that - it is just a change to their GT&C and makes sense from a business standpoint - but it does add to "overhead" cost that has to be accounted for.. Tracking is not a reasonable option on items under a certain amount (my own threshold of pain varies depending on who is purchasing - a -0- feedback buyer with a $40 order is going to be tracked at my expense - the mail system has proven to be very competent delivering to known customers ( 2 losses since 1985 with probably over 10,000 mailings) - not so lucky with low feedback customers.
And yes, losses (and overhead) are much less online than a brick and mortar ($1000 per month to open the door). But the volume is also proportionately less. I think from a profit/risk standpoint wholesale to dealers is the way to go. When I had my storefront I sold almost as much in casual sales to stamp dealers on either a walk in basis (which I could have done out of my house) or at irregular get-togethers at someone else's house a few times a year as I did in the store with all of it's overhead and wasted time. Big mistake.
I just meant to post my thoughts - none of us are going to change our minds on the issue and that wasn't my intnet. Should have said so ...
But I think you may be also missing a point in that a block bidder list can not be preemptive in almost all cases. It can only be used as a reaction to a buyer. And the biggest unseen problem with it would be that many sellers would use the block bidder list INSTEAD of reporting the problems buyers to begin with. And as long as you have a lot of sellers that would do it that way the problem would continue to be there unless and until enough sellers did report that buyer. With sellers that used the block bidder list as the default position instead of using the report button, they could continue on with their bad behavior for far longer with many more sellers instead of being dealt with earlier to resolve the problem.
In this regard, I agree with what Michael D has stated. We don't want these types of people hanging around to defraud/cheat others. Let management kicked their butts off the site. That way no one else has to deal with them.
Not appreciating this I told him exactly this, verbatim, did your manners go on vacation?
I am under no obligation to do this but your full refund is being sent out now,
Please until you learn to use manners and talk to me appropriately please do not come back again.
Mark's way of handling this? send me an email threatening me with tossing me from the site for .....oh this is funny, hate speech. mark doesn't back his sellers (who pay the freight here). he could easily put up the block option and this guy would have been sent packing, no need to involve staff. Mark talks out of both sides of his mouth, that's a character problem , owner or not and the block option, well that is a much easier fix.
Kitty
One time I got an ultimatum, "I have not yet contacted Hipstamp, but if I don't receive this before xxx then I will get Hip to sort it out." Jerk, why be such an, you knpw...I first made a snarky return message like should I change my name and leave town and was accused of being childish. What, me worry?
Hip support told me to ask to wait for a few more days and then refund his money. Turns out the material showed up the day of the deadline. Another customer just asked if his order had been sent, it had been around two weeks now. I just refunded the money. The guy contacted me a week later, saying that he found where he did receive it, but it had gotten buried under various stuff, and returned my refund.
I had a boss once that told me "if you wanna play, you gotta pay". Sad, though, that the customer is always right, even when not right. There's no recourse for sellers short of spending more money to get the customer their stuff. If I buy something for $20 or so and it doesn't arrive, I just don't say anything but quit buying from that seller, that way if it does show up and eventually it always does, I don't wind up being a jerk. Comes with old age I guess.
I am so nieve I thought ebay's "money back" guarantee is something that ebay pays as it's cost of doing business. I invoked that privilege one time and found out that the seller is made to pay.. I guess ebay just has a really good software program and just sits back and lets the money roll in, no dickering, the problem is automatically taken care of.I feel so sorry for them! They can hardly keep their business afloat, the same for Paypal. Don't forget these guys when Christmas comes around. Send them a card with postage-dueMaybe there should be a Paypal Day.
The business about paypal no longer refunding the fees on a return is in my opinion a slap on the face. "Why should they have to pay for a refund when it isn't their fault? " Because they would go out of business? That's a laugh.
Not always. A customer to whom I had solid a comic book opened a dispute on me. I was able to convince ebay that the customer was wrong. I got my comic returned and ebay refunded the buyer out of ebay's pocket.
Back in 2006 the number of first class letters and parcels that went through there was over 90,000,000 letters and parcels. (Yes that reads million,that is NOT a typo)
When they can't deliver it that way it gets sent to the mail recovery center where they are the ONLY ones who legally can open first class letters and packages without a warrant. They will check to see if they can figure out either where it's to go or to be to able to return it to the sender. But they can't do so if there is no other information within the envelope or parcel because some people think it's a real good idea NOT to include an invoice or some form of correspondence as to where it's suppose to go.
If they still can't figure it out then after a period of time they are allowed to sell off any valuables via auction and so can customs from confiscated items. How do you think they get the stuff to auction off? And that is TOTALLY out of the buyers hands. When that type of stuff happens you CAN NOT blame the buyer for not getting the letter or package.
Lazy sellers not wanting to spend a penny printing out a packing slip, and taking an extra moment to insert it in the envelope because it might cost another 15 cents in postage for the next ounce, again, are their own worst enemies. But, of course they blame PayPal when they have to refund the payment due to non-delivery.
For me it's the assumption that the buyer is a crook just because he or she didn't get their package without any proof that the buyer did get the package. The people that handle the mail are just as human. How many times do they have articles about postal carriers that have not delivered years worth of mail but just horded it somewhere. How many times have we heard of a letter that was missed and delivered years later? Never mind how many letters and packages are stolen off of porches or taken out of mail boxes also.?
Yet some of the same sellers will scream bloody murder when the shoe on the other foot and the buyer does some of the same thing to them.