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considering how ebay ties certain incentives to feedback, there is a tremendous pressure for a seller to not receive anything but straight 5 star feedback. I have known of instances where a ticked off customer has bought multiple items from the seller, refused to pay and left negative feedback for every single item. while it can be straightened out, it is also be time consuming, frustrating and can be a serious hit to a business. I can easily see why any store dealing in lots of small orders would institute such a policy as simple self protection, ebays policy's almost make it a requirement for shops like that.

I haven't bought from them, but I did ask about an out of stock HOB and I got a response back within a couple of hours, so no complaints there.

I have noticed more shops are doing better communication wise then they used to. I was actually banned by one seller a while back because I had the audacity to ask if a certain article was in that issue of a magazine.

Isengard wrote:

they are slow because they have tons of orders and lots of emails to reply to.

you got your gak. as long as it shows up and is in decent condition you really have nothing to complain about.

good for them to slam the door. buyers have too much power as it is and this is coming from someone who buys stuff all the time on ebay.

KB, I ALWAYS pay for stuff as soon as I place the order, always have. What I was trying to say, if I pay for something, I would at least like some confirmation that I'm actually getting it (a tracking number), which Hoard doesn't do. Even though I paid him $4.50 for shipping, and the package had a tracking number on it, He neglected to give it to me.

You are still complaining about how he did business with you last time, and at the same time you are complaining that he will not do business with you again now.

Why should he risk getting another neutral or negative feedback, knowing that you are already a customer that is not happy with the way he does business?

Just as a customer has the option of refusing to buy from certain sellers, a shop has every right to refuse to do business with you.

I really don't see what the big deal is there.

d-usa wrote:You are still complaining about how he did business with you last time, and at the same time you are complaining that he will not do business with you again now.

Why should he risk getting another neutral or negative feedback, knowing that you are already a customer that is not happy with the way he does business?

Just as a customer has the option of refusing to buy from certain sellers, a shop has every right to refuse to do business with you.

I really don't see what the big deal is there.

The fact that rather than facing the music and acting on criticism that this seller would rather push away anybody who doesn't like their service?

pretre wrote:

baritowned wrote:I'm sorry, but what he is doing is like Wal-mart turning someone away because they don't agree with how wally world does business with the chinese.

No, it is like Wal-mart turning away someone who complains about their service. Most business, internet and B&M, have the right to refuse service to anyone.

So long as the discrimination is not based on race/gender etc.

As for Hoard I'm really not happy to hear how they are gaming the system. We all do business with places we're not 100% happy with, maybe they're convenient, maybe their prices trump the bad service, whatever.

I've used them before but this policy would make me think twice.

BlapBlapBlap wrote:

d-usa wrote:You are still complaining about how he did business with you last time, and at the same time you are complaining that he will not do business with you again now.

Why should he risk getting another neutral or negative feedback, knowing that you are already a customer that is not happy with the way he does business?

Just as a customer has the option of refusing to buy from certain sellers, a shop has every right to refuse to do business with you.

I really don't see what the big deal is there.

The fact that rather than facing the music and acting on criticism that this seller would rather push away anybody who doesn't like their service?

Face the music? It was (based on this thread) an aberration. The feedback was posted. That's all the music he has to face (bad press).

Bottom line is:

In the U.S. sellers have the right to refuse service for any reason.

If they do not want to sell something to you, they do not have to. End of story.

I've bought from them over 50 times and only had a problem on one order.

I would advise them to everyone

I have used them, I got fast shipping myself and had zero issue. I have to say i plan to use them again.

I don't think I've ever used them, it been so long since I've gotten anything on ebay that my history is gone.

I've never had a problem with them. I usually get my stuff within 10 days.

It seems a bit rash to ban a customer for leaving a neutral feedback, though. I could stop buying from them as a show of solidarity for the OP of this thread, but I won't.

always gotten great service from Horde o Bitz.

cant say that about others I have bought from.

Isengard wrote:Interesting, I think E-Bay in some ways gives the seller too much power. It seems that a lot of people selling on there seem to think that they can take money and then act in an amateurish way that is verging on illegal. For example huge delays in shipping, etc. My £, $ or whatever is the same if I give it to a shop, Amazon or an E-Bay trader. I expect the same kind of service, which includes getting communications and not waiting too long. Some E-Bay sellers think that a curt e-mail saying they're having some issues is acceptable as an excuse for not meeting their own deadlines. If you complain they get 21 days to even respond to the e-mail before E-Bay takes any further action. IMHO if you cannot run a competent business, answer all your mails and ship reasonably fast then you should accept criticism. I don't know this specific company and I don't have any idea if they are good or not, I'm talking generalities. For me the bottom line is an E-Bay seller takes my money, therefore they should quickly supply the goods and respond to any queries. Being on E-Bay is not an excuse for shoddy service or attitude.

Definitely agree. Some sellers think you are uppity if you have the audacity to want to know what the status is on your item. I don't mind shipping delays, but I don't want to have to "guess" that there might be a delay. It takes *minutes* to create a new message template as a seller in ebay, or to tweak an existing template. Include field definitions in the template to automatically list buyer name and the items won by them. It then takes *seconds* to select a batch of buyers and send them the same "We apologize, but order volume has delayed the shipping of your item," message to a batch of people.

Sellers who claim they are "too busy because we have so many orders" are either just lazy, and don't want to do their due diligence in customer service, or cheap and don't want to pay someone else to do it for them.

Skriker


Automatically Appended Next Post:

kb305 wrote:youre getting things at a huge discount most of the time which is why people shop on ebay in the first place. if you cant handle waiting a few weeks to get your stuff then i think you should just go into GW and pay full retail. also alot of people auction snipe. and iv heard stories of people getting an item, complaining to ebay that they didnt recieve it and ebay will always take the buyers side. so basically they get something for free at the sellers expense.

So what? I get a big discount buying from Amazon, but through Prime get free 2 day shipping on my order as well, and also pretty much 24/7 ability to check on my order after I make it.

What exactly does auction sniping have to do with it? The final bidder is the final bidder whether you were bidding for days or the auction or the last 10 seconds. Also as for people claiming they never received an item this falls into two categories: 1) The seller needs to insure their packages to protect themself and also needs to use at least some kind of minimal delivery confirmation service. If you pay your postage online through ebay and paypal you get the delivery confirmation for free. 2) Sometimes packages don't arrive and if a seller refuses to allow me to insure a package that is important to me then they *are* responsible for its loss. Again I fail to see what this has to do with sellers providing poor customer service? Because some buyers suck then sellers are allowed to treat all customers poorly? Hardly.

Skriker

My experience with HOB:

I've ordered from them maybe six or seven times. I had problems on two of the orders. In one, one of the bits was defective (clipped too deeply into the sprue and damaged the bit) and the other, they flat out forgot to include an item in the shipment.

Both times, it took forever for someone to reply to the e-mail, and then a long time for them to make it right. But, they DID eventually make it right, which is what counts.

My take? Great prices, decent inventory, but sometimes lacking in the quality control and communication departments. Overall, though, I am satisfied and will continue doing business with them.

Xenocidal Maniac wrote:My experience with HOB:

I've ordered from them maybe six or seven times. I had problems on two of the orders. In one, one of the bits was defective (clipped too deeply into the sprue and damaged the bit) and the other, they flat out forgot to include an item in the shipment.

Both times, it took forever for someone to reply to the e-mail, and then a long time for them to make it right. But, they DID eventually make it right, which is what counts.

My take? Great prices, decent inventory, but sometimes lacking in the quality control and communication departments. Overall, though, I am satisfied and will continue doing business with them.

This isn't Hoard O Bitz

I've ordered from them AT LEAST a dozen times with kit bashing tyranids / various necron parts and have never been disappointed.

Probably my favorite, most reliable bitz vendor i've dealt with

BlapBlapBlap wrote:

This isn't Hoard O Bitz

I am a bit confused by that commit. Hoard O Bitz is both the topic of the thread and what Xenocidal Maniac spoke of.

Skriker wrote:

So what? I get a big discount buying from Amazon, but through Prime get free 2 day shipping on my order as well, and also pretty much 24/7 ability to check on my order after I make it.

What exactly does auction sniping have to do with it? The final bidder is the final bidder whether you were bidding for days or the auction or the last 10 seconds. Also as for people claiming they never received an item this falls into two categories: 1) The seller needs to insure their packages to protect themself and also needs to use at least some kind of minimal delivery confirmation service. If you pay your postage online through ebay and paypal you get the delivery confirmation for free. 2) Sometimes packages don't arrive and if a seller refuses to allow me to insure a package that is important to me then they *are* responsible for its loss. Again I fail to see what this has to do with sellers providing poor customer service? Because some buyers suck then sellers are allowed to treat all customers poorly? Hardly.

Skriker

I absolutely agree. If you went into a cheap shop and because they were cheaper they ignored you or refused to help you find an item or started chatting on their mobile while you were stood waiting you would not put up with it. Poor communication and slow shipping is not good enough just because its an auction site. It might be if you are a one-off seller just clearing a few items from the attic, then you might have an excuse for waiting til saturday to get down the post-office or whatever but if you are running an E-Bay shop as far as I am concerned I expect you to offer a proper service, the price you charge is up to you. Being rude, unhelpful etc just because you are cheap is not acceptable. Luckily it only happened to me once on E-Bay, the guy just never sent the stuff (I always pay immediately) and then he sent some excuses about a family illness and stopped responding to mails. I did not believe him and a simple glance at the public activity on his account showed he was still buying and selling stuff happily. Took about 3 months all told to get my money back. That's 3 months in his account gaining interest and not in mine, never got any compensation for that.

Skriker wrote:Definitely agree. Some sellers think you are uppity if you have the audacity to want to know what the status is on your item. I don't mind shipping delays, but I don't want to have to "guess" that there might be a delay. It takes *minutes* to create a new message template as a seller in ebay, or to tweak an existing template. Include field definitions in the template to automatically list buyer name and the items won by them. It then takes *seconds* to select a batch of buyers and send them the same "We apologize, but order volume has delayed the shipping of your item," message to a batch of people.

Sellers who claim they are "too busy because we have so many orders" are either just lazy, and don't want to do their due diligence in customer service, or cheap and don't want to pay someone else to do it for them.

Skriker

Sorry, but I disagree. This guy is doing immense volume on tiny things sometimes costing less than a dollar. If every punk kid who ordered something called him six times a day wondering where the order is no one would get through. He posts a UPS tracking number within a day or two of your order. If you want to know the order status click on the link and you can see exactly which depot the box is sitting in.

I bought some things from them a while back when I first started looking into bits, your right, the shipping was kind of slow and they can block people. Bits World is very competent and I usually receive my items within a week. Whatever rating you give them they probably deserve, as long as the rating is honest. And if they don''t allow people from buying their products just out of fear of a bad rating, they lose customers.

http://stores.ebay.com/Bits-World?_rdc=1

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

HOARD O BITS HAS BLOCKED ME FROM ACCESSING THEIR SITE.

Unreal. I placed an order with them last week. I try to access the page today from my home computer to check my order status, and it says "unauthorized site access". I try accessing the site from another computer with no HOB cookies on it and no login record, and, wouldn't you know, I get right in.

I guess they didn't like me complaining about THEM NOT SHIPPING MY PRODUCTS TO ME ON ONE OCCASION AND SHIPPING DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS TO ME ON ANOTHER. I ordered from them once again because although it did take them a long time, they did end up correcting the problems. But now it looks like they no longer wish to do business with me because I made perfectly reasonable requests. I didn't harass them. I wasn't rude. And my problems were legitimate and documented. I even sent pictures of the defective product.

I completely and utterly rescind my endorsement of this company that I wrote above. What childish, ridiculous, unprofessional JERKS.

Unreal. I've never even heard of such a thing. Are they in high school? Total joke. Avoid HOB like the plague.

Kevlar wrote:
Sorry, but I disagree. This guy is doing immense volume on tiny things sometimes costing less than a dollar. If every punk kid who ordered something called him six times a day wondering where the order is no one would get through. He posts a UPS tracking number within a day or two of your order. If you want to know the order status click on the link and you can see exactly which depot the box is sitting in.

You actually got a tracking number from him? I've made two orders through him (one for $25, the other for $40) and never got a tracking number. At all.

Xenocidal Maniac wrote:ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

HOARD O BITS HAS BLOCKED ME FROM ACCESSING THEIR SITE.

Unreal. I placed an order with them last week. I try to access the page today from my home computer to check my order status, and it says "unauthorized site access". I try accessing the site from another computer with no HOB cookies on it and no login record, and, wouldn't you know, I get right in.

I guess they didn't like me complaining about THEM NOT SHIPPING MY PRODUCTS TO ME ON ONE OCCASION AND SHIPPING DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS TO ME ON ANOTHER. I ordered from them once again because although it did take them a long time, they did end up correcting the problems. But now it looks like they no longer wish to do business with me because I made perfectly reasonable requests. I didn't harass them. I wasn't rude. And my problems were legitimate and documented. I even sent pictures of the defective product.

I completely and utterly rescind my endorsement of this company that I wrote above. What childish, ridiculous, unprofessional JERKS.

Unreal. I've never even heard of such a thing. Are they in high school? Total joke. Avoid HOB like the plague.

He banned you for what you said on here? Wow, that's excellent business. I'm kicking myself for opening a can of worms, but if that's how he is going to act, then he will probably start losing business...

How can they make money if people cant get to their site lol

Hunterindarkness wrote:

BlapBlapBlap wrote:This isn't Hoard O Bitz

I am a bit confused by that commit. Hoard O Bitz is both the topic of the thread and what Xenocidal Maniac spoke of.

My bad

Kevlar wrote:Sorry, but I disagree. This guy is doing immense volume on tiny things sometimes costing less than a dollar. If every punk kid who ordered something called him six times a day wondering where the order is no one would get through. He posts a UPS tracking number within a day or two of your order. If you want to know the order status click on the link and you can see exactly which depot the box is sitting in.

You are welcome to disagree, but this isn't about punk kids calling six times a day wondering where their order is. This is about simple customer service and keeping your customers informed about their order. A simple method of sending "delayed shipping" notices keeps people from calling six times a day wondering where their order is. The fact is that ebay provides simple, fast and easy to use tools to cover this kind of communication for ALL sellers. It is just that some are too lazy to use it. I clearly state in all of my listings how soon after payment an item should ship. If I am not going to get it shipped in that time frame I send a notice to the seller apologizing for the delay and letting them know when the item will go out. It is just good business and smart business to keep your customers happy and not wondering whether they will ever get the item the bought or not.

Yes once you get a tracking number you can track the package, but this does *nothing* for you before the package is shipped and going days and days without receiving a shipping notice or any other information tends to annoy many buyers in whatever market you are selling in.

Skriker

Xenocidal Maniac wrote:ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

HOARD O BITS HAS BLOCKED ME FROM ACCESSING THEIR SITE.

Just wondering, how would try know how to block you?

Hunterindarkness wrote:

Xenocidal Maniac wrote:ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

HOARD O BITS HAS BLOCKED ME FROM ACCESSING THEIR SITE.

Just wondering, how would try know how to block you?

I have two computers that I have used to access the HOB site. I have an account with HOB, and I was automatically logged in to the site under my username on both computers.

I tried to check the site to check on the status of an order I placed on Friday, and I couldn't access the page. I just got a message saying "unauthorized site access". I thought maybe the site was down or something. Then I read this thread, and I thought - "wait a minute... maybe he has banned me". I tried accessing the site from my wife's computer, and no problems!! Then I tried logging in with my username and password. As soon as I did - "UNAUTHORIZED SITE ACCESS"

I am assuming that he banned me because he screwed up on two of my orders, and I "had the nerve" to request that he fix the problems. As I mentioned in my post above, their customer service and quality control isn't great, but I was willing to overlook it and continue doing business with them. But, it seems that they view me as a "problem customer" or something and have blocked me.

This is beyond the pale. I've never even heard of something so ridiculous. I wasn't a jerk to them, didn't harass them, nothing. I politely asked that they fix their mistakes. That's it. And they reward my loyalty by banning me! Nuts.

If you give a seller negative feedback without contacting them and allowing them to try and rectify a problem, then i do not blame them for blocking you.

DeathReaper wrote:If you give a seller negative feedback without contacting them and allowing them to try and rectify a problem, then i do not blame them for blocking you.

K, I don't think you read what I wrote, buddy.

I didn't order from them from ebay. I ordered directly from their website. I never left negative feedback in any kind of public forum for them. In fact, I endorsed them in this very thread. I simply e-mailed them privately asking them to fix the two mistakes they made. I was rewarded by being banned.