The book was paid for through my Pay-Pal account immediately as required by the listing on the 9th of Dec. With the expedited shipping, it arrived damaged on the 17th. I do not know if it was damaged before shipping or during, as the packaging left plenty of room for the book to bounce around inside the box.

I contacted the seller that day requesting information on returning the item for a replacement. I got no response. I sent another email on the 21st. After yet again not getting a response, I went ahead and gave the damaged book to my girlfriend and explained that I was already attempting to contact the seller for a replacement. She said that the she could live with the minor damage, and decided to keep the book.

On the 26th, after still not getting a response to either of my previous e-mails, I decided to leave a negative feedback for this seller, as the packaging sucked, and the customer service was non-existent. I stated in the feedback that, "I bet I get a response now.", and I did. Exactly the response that I expected; A retaliatory negative feedback stating that, "I WOULD LIKE TO WORK OUT THIS TRANSACTION. BUYER HASTY TO LEAVE NEGATIVE". Hasty? How many e-mails over how much time with no response was I supposed to send? It only took two days after leaving the negative feedback for Bestsellerbookdeals to get a response. So I guess now you know what it takes to trigger their "customer service", and what it entails.

I then sent two more e-mails on the 28th to express my full displeasure with this seller.

Here's the first one:

Dear bestsellerbookdeals,

I paid for the item through pay-pal immediately after the purchase on the 9th. I received the damaged book and sent my first e-mail on the 17th. I sent another e-mail on the 21st, as I still had not heard from you. I left a negative feedback for you on the 26th. A full 17 days after my immediate payment, and 9 days after my first attempt at contact with you. Not exactly what I would call "Hasty".

Only after I left a negative feedback for your crappy packaging and non-existent customer service did I hear from you. Not through an e-mail apologizing for the damaged goods or the lousy customer service, but through a retaliatory negative feedback calling me "Hasty" when I gave you what any normal person would consider more than adequate time to correct your errors.

And here is the second one:

Dear bestsellerbookdeals,

I held-up my end of the bargain, and you did not. You deserved the negative, and I'll have to live with yours. I always knew it would be some as***le seller that waits to see what feedback they receive before leaving one for a prompt payment that would earn me my first negative. Using the feedback system to hold their customers hostage.



Congratulations as***le.

- magman454

In order to comply with E-Bay's policy on profanity in public areas, some of the letters have been replaced with ***. While there was profanity in the last one, I don't think that anyone would consider these e-mails "Laced with profanity", as Bestsellerbookdeals contends. Besides, for the benefit of anyone who has seen the movie From The Hip, I rest my case.

This seller seems to have few problems, but it would appear that if you are one of the few, you are not going to receive any customer service until you leave a negative feedback for them. At that point, they will leave a negative feedback for you. If you agree to "work it out" and withdraw your negative feedback, they will withdraw theirs. They are basically abusing the feedback system. Holding your deserved positive feedback rating hostage until they get a positive from you, weather they deserve it or not, and the way that E-bay has set the system up, there is nothing that can be done about it.

If they truly wish to "WORK OUT THIS TRANSACTION", as they claimed in their negative feedback to me, then why have I still not yet received an e-mail from them to tell me how they wish to do so?

Check their feedback. You will see that they have a few feedback postings that say: