[Heathkit] Digital SB-303?

[Donald Spoon]

My wife's first purchase on EBay was a special pillow that arrived 
poorly packaged with some external damage to the box.  The product was 
OK, but she was incensed and wanted to provide appropriate "feedback" on 
the packaging.  She did, and the seller (one of those with LOTS of 
sales) immediately went on a Flame War against her!  He did a second 
"feedback" on her calling her temperamental, overly picky, and advised 
other sellers NOT to do any business with her!  It was intimidating at 
first, but she had made other purchases by the time all this happened 
and got good feedback from them, so it didn't cause any problems that 
she could see.

The point here is that the "Big Sellers" know how to intimidate people 
into giving them good marks.  I would suspect that this seller is 
probably a master of  it!  That can explain the high "positive" reports 
in the face of well-known shoddy salesmanship.

-Don Spoon-
K0APK

 
Chris Kepus wrote:
> John and all,
>
> After more than a dozen years of buying and selling on eBay, I remained as
> dumbfounded as anyone about Martyn's success.  Like many others in the ham
> community, I have heard many 1st hand stories about Martyn's infamous
> selling tactics and the buyer disappointment and anger that comes with
> receiving something that is quite different than what was in the picture or
> description.
>
> Having said that, and *assuming* the stories are true (feeling some
> uneasiness using the "A" word), how does a seller who operates like that
> amass a 99.6% positive feedback on 14,823 feedbacks!!??  What does that say
> about buyers? Does everyone who buys from him have such low expectations
> that just getting the item is good enough to leave positive feedback?  
>
> I have never bought anything from him, mostly because of the aforementioned
> stories, so I am out on a limb saying anything without personal experience
> one way or the other.
>
> In regard to the "Digital SB-303", the unit sold for $310, a sum well north
> of other SB-303's (granted the other's didn't have the rare, rumored to be
> factory installed, digital readout).
>
> Since it was a private auction, we may never know who may have bought this.
> It would be interesting to hear from the buyer about that which is found
> under the cover.
>
> 73,
> Chris
> W7JPG
>