Bad E-bay experience 4 years ago...Now what?

[GoofItUp]

More than 4 years ago I made a purchase off of ebay. It was my 2nd purchase from ebay ever. I actually bought 2 items (separate auctions) from the same seller and asked if he would wait to see if I won the second auction and combine shipping. He said he would, so after I won the 2nd auction I sent him a MO for the amount of both auctions. The whole transaction took maybe 1.5 weeks. Before he received my MO he let me know he was cancelling the auction and left very rude feedback and e-mails. He did send my MO back. I was completely stunned and decided that would end my ebaying days right there. I didn't even bother to leave him feedback because I never wanted to deal with this jerk again.

Fast forward to today....FOUR YEARS LATER. I found something on ebay that I would like to buy. I've also considered selling on ebay. However, my username has 1 positive and 2 very rude negative feedbacks attached. I thought I would set up a new account, but as you skilled ebayers know, I was not able to do that. So, are my ebaying days done forever? I don't even want to bid on anything under that username for fear the seller will freak out based on my 66% negative feedback. (I would if I was a seller!) What would you do? Give up ebaying forever? Hold a garage sale instead?

One more thing....the seller that was rude to me has negative comments from 17 other buyers in his feedback about rudeness. He responds by calling the 'dum dum' and 'nerd'.

 

[ontariodisneywoman]

Ebay information from their site:
" New User and Changed User ID Icons
When a user modifies their User ID:

The change will appear immediately, even for listings in which the user is participating at that time.
eBay will automatically attach the user's feedback profile and other important account information to the new User ID. "


Try changing your name and when you are interested in bidding on an item send the seller a message prior to bidding to let them know that you intend to complete the transaction. The fact that the negative feedback is prior to the twelve month period may make a differnce to those looking at your profile.

I find that correspondence between buyer and seller means alot.

Good luck changing that feedback profile. It takes a while but don't give up.

 

[pjlla]

YOu could also try selling a few items. You could earn some positive feedback that way. Some people (like me) just look at total feedback..... I rarely look at specifics, like whether the feedback is for buying or selling..................P

 

[Az Pirates]

Are you thinking about doing paypal at all?
I sell on e-bay occasionally, although I'm much more proficient at the buying side of it
I wouldn't have a problem selling to someone whose negs were from so long ago - especially if the communication was good and they paid right away with paypal.
You might want to e-mail the seller through the ask a question link and explain that you are a serious bidder to reassure them a little.

You can definitely overcome a couple of negs!

 

[GoofItUp]

I'll have to check in to PayPal. I've never used it before, but that's a good idea.

Thanks for the suggestions.