Went to a auction today in Northern Illinois. 

Red Flag #1: They had 17 units advertised and upon arrival they said it was up to 20.  I have been to many auctions and the number of units always goes down, never seen one go up. 

Go to enough auctions and it won't be the LAST one you'll see either.

Red Flag #2:  They cut the lock on the first unit.  First time I have actually seen them cut a lock at any auction but actually liked that.  Gave a sense that everything was on the up and up. 

IMO that doesn't matter. Think about it. The prop mgrs have all the time in the world.
They can cut off original locks (which most do anyway) and put their own on and then use a key to take them off at
auction time. The fact they are cutting a lock off at the auction doesn't necessarily mean it was the original owner's lock.

Red Flag #3:  EVERY unit had antiques.  Every door they opened had old items. 

Yep, and later they announced they were all the same owner. They could have done  that in the beginning.

Red Flag #4:  If it had a shelf it had something sitting on it.  Labels always faced front letting you know exactly what it was.

Pretty much a dead give-away.

Red Flag #5:  No Dust.  Not one piece of furniture had a speck of dust on it.

Red Flag #6:  Not a single tote or trash bag.  Not a single article of clothing. 

They weren't terribly smart about the setup were they.

Needless to say one person bought two units and when it came time to pay he demanded his money back.  They actually gave it to him and just resold the units.  I talked to a few people and each one said they found nothing great.

Icing on the cake.  A few people who live in the neighborhood were there and they said the storage facility was built 3 months ago.

Why do you say this? I think it's a perfectly acceptable charge. There's the cost of the box, packing materials, printed label, the labor to put it all together, then of course the time to go to the post office.

Anyone willing to share how they stay on top of shipping charges? 

Thanks

Got a 10x10 for $600 had tools and hunting/fishing gear and mini safe, want to post pics 2marrow to see if people think I overpaid

they were shooting today . does anyone know when the show premiers?

As you can see they are not the usual books found in a locker. 

While I do agree with you that eBay could do much better by their sellers, to me it sounds like you're making some assumption over what 'might' happen and that you're being a bit oversensitive in the area of how things are worded.

Hence the word "speculation" I would be the first to be thankful if I was wrong about them taking html pics out of the picture...and also the first to say "I told you so".

Regarding being "oversensitive" to how thing are worded: A statement such as "you should" is a command. A statement like "we recommend" gives a person a choice. Either has the potential of getting the same result...perhaps one more than the other (my opinion)

As to the feedback, even though I am a seller on eBay, I think that it's the seller that should be required to leave feedback first. I say this because the buyer buys, the seller gets paid, and then the seller ships. Now the seller is done and should leave feedback. After the buyer receives the item they should leave feedback based on how fast the order was processed, shipped, and if it is as described.


According to your philosophy on feedback (if I read you correctly) I am leaving feedback for the buyer having paid for the item. I can somewhat see that approach but I can't totally buy into it. Yes, the seller theoretically would leave feedback based on speed of order completion, shipping and if it was as described, but that doesn't always happen...not every buyer falls into a mold like that.


When the seller waits for the buyer to leave feedback first, it's for no other reason than to manipulate the buyer into leaving better feedback than they otherwise might. This strong-arm tactic was the very basis as to why we can no longer leave negative or neutral feedback.

That sounds like a condemnation of me personally...or at least of my approach but I won't take it personally. As to your assertion that "this strong-arm tactic" was the basis as to why we can no longer leave negative or neutral feedback, I didn't realize what power I had. Unless of course I was not the only one who felt this way. Getting negative feedback recanted by eBay is like pulling teeth and when it comes right down to it, we are always dealing with a single person at the other end of a communication with them and whether that person can be swayed or not.

It once took me a month and many emails and phone conversations to get eBay to yank some folks who had stolen my pictures and text for their own listings as another example.  On the other hand a couple of years ago the person I talked to about the same situation shut the offender down in a flash.