eBay My World: broadwaymargaret( 139)

I am an honest person. My very first buying experience changed me from a naive buyer to a cautious buyer. I promise to be an honest seller. Re my user ID, broadwaymargaret; my name is Margaret; I live on Broadway St.- quite innocent, you see!

I will be selling everything but the kitchen sink! That's what it seems like when I scan over all the things I have to sell. If I can find a quality item at a bargain price, can sell it for a profit and it is still a bargain for the buyer, you'll find it on my site. I get most of my items at thrift stores, estate sales, and yard sales. I'm also selling some of my personal items, some that I have had for many years. You'll mostly find that I have vintage and antique items for sale.

Things I buy for myself are vintage and antique things. I've been an antique collector for over 25 years. I love old wood, especially walnut, pine and cherry. I also love old blue stoneware, graniteware, and porcelain.

I collect stoneware, graniteware, and yes, furniture!!! - mainly circa 1850.

English

Thrift stores, antique stores, estates sales, and yard sales. I also like to refinish wooden furniture. My one hobby vice is the online game - Zuma.

Runaway Jury, Don't Say a Word, and anyone that involves thinking and figuring out.

Idol, Decorating Cents, Medical Mystery, Monk.

April 19, 2008, is my 1st day as a seller. With my less than 100% feedback (as a buyer), I could have easily opened a separate e-Bay account for selling, but I decided to display my feedback as a Badge of Courage & Honesty. My very 1st buy last June turned into a nightmare. Hopefully, my story will help other buyers by serving as a guide. I bought 3 items from a seller, whose feedback I did not research thoroughly. If I had I would have noticed that the seller had sold the same antique(?) wooden black egg holder to others for varying prices. (I've counted 9 just looking every couple months, selling from $0.99 to $61.00!) When I opened my old(?)egg holder, I smelled paint! Closer examination told me, an antique collector of more than 25 yrs., that my approximately 100 yr. old egg holder was not old!! (I later checked with 4 different antique dealers, each said the same thing - It's not old. One dealer said that it was as old as it took for the boat to get here from China.) (see below)

I know I went against e-Bay rules by immediately leaving negative feedback, but I didn't want any other buyer to be deceived by this seller. Of course, the seller left negative feedback for me. We e-mailed back-and-forth, but could not settle our differences. The seller told me that all egg holders were bought at once from the same dealer at an antique show. (Come-on, how many antique egg holders can one dealer have, all with the exact same description??) The seller e-mailed me the negative feedback withdrawal form and told me that if I agreed to it, she would refund my full purchase price & that I could keep the holder for free. An e-Bay Live Help rep told me that that offer - is kind of a bribe. While paging thru the negative feedback withdrawal form to see what it entailed, all of a sudden, a page appeared that said I had agreed to the feedback withdrawal! I immediately contacted e-Bay and was told nothing could be done to undo the withdrawal. So, you ask where (see below)

did my negative feedback come from? - well, the seller insisted that I had filed a PayPal claim about the two other items that I had purchased from her, so the seller left me negative feedback for one of those items (I had left positive feedback for both). Clearly, stated in black-n-white on the PayPal claim was the egg holder, no other item. To wrap up my story, my goal was to have this seller stop selling the egg holder (and other questionable items) as an antique, but I was not successful. PayPal is only concerned about getting a refund for the buyer. PayPal is not concerned about the validity of the description. Based on the support(???) I received from e-Bay, my perspective is that it is not concerned about the validity of the description, especially regarding a seller, whose sales' volume is great. Due to privacy concerns, e-Bay told me that details of any action taken could not be divulged to me. I saw nothing happen! (see below)

In conclusion, PLEASE research thoroughly a seller's feedback, paying close attention to: the number of negatives and feedback withdrawals; the seller's store name (does it include the word - woodworking???); the seller's buying history, such as purchasing plain (unpainted) wooden things for inexpensive prices; and the seller's history, such as selling painted wooden things for hundreds of dollars??? I'll end my story with one last piece of advice, don't bid if an antique seems suspicious and you truly want an antique. Here is what WhatsItWorthToYou.com had to say about the egg holder auctioned in Jan/Feb: I also reviewed the seller and their feedbacks plus number of sales. Additionally I read how they describe their primitives - all of this leads me to think this piece is questionable. The only way I would purchase it is if the seller gave a full refund if piece is found to be a less than antique primitive.