You can't post feedback about a non-eBay transaction. If you buy X on eBay and buy Y and Z along with it, but those items weren't listed, you're on your own and you cannot post feedback about a transaction that didn't transpire through eBay. If you buy blue zoas that were auctioned, and then order "other stuff" on the side, but you don't get exactly what you were expecting - but the blue zoas were exactly as advertised, there's no cause for bad feedback, and a seller would have cause to complain. Then the feedback could be mutually withdrawn after the dust settled.
You obviously don't know how eBay works very well.
Yep people sell dry goods all the time. I have NO problem with this - they aren't living things, they are merchandise. Quit comparing guns and butter, please.
Yep there are lots of bad brick and mortar places, as well as dot-coms. We've been over that ad-nauseum too. The law of the jungle usually prevails and sooner or later those bad shops, both real and virtual, go bust.
Just in the last few weeks I
saw a locally based eBay seller
suddenly depart from eBay, and I'd bet it wasn't his idea either but if you're going to sell stuff, you'd better ship it after it's paid for. This guy was selling literally thousands of items - dry goods, not just limited to pet stuff... but I guess enough people complained and it *appears* that he was shut down.
Same happens in the real world. Screw enough people and they catch on.
Now, now Eddie you are almost implying that ALL brick and mortar stores are out to screw newbs. I don't think it's so much that they see a newb coming and get out the big net, but newbs don't educate themselves, and not all LFS owners/workers are of the same opinion, OR not everyone has their skills up to date.
I don't sell undergravel filters because in my opinion they are antiquated and inefficient. However I have customers who have used them for 40 years and swear by them. Who are you or I to say they're wrong? Healthy, breeding fish for many years on end sounds like a "success" to me.
When people are busy slamming LFS for the stupid purchases they were encouraged to make, I have NEVER EVER heard anybody admit something like this:
"Well, the LFS suggested a Euroreef skimmer for my 120-gallon system but that seemed really expensive so I bought a Sea Clone instead."
It happens EVERY day.
I don't carry "bargain basement" substandard equipment, but I can tell you there are plenty who won't spend the money rightly the first time, go out and cut corners and then ***** about it later.
Mitch is right - many *advanced* hobbyists look for bargains online for the high end equipment, but the majority don't.
I also agree with both gentlemen that it's BOTH the $4 bottle of fish food AND the newb dropping hundreds or thousands on a new system, that keep the brick and mortar going.
Not too many people discover the hobby through a website - they see it in somebody's home, office or a fish store, and they don't run to the internet first to get their setup.
Selling the rare and unusal on eBay is nice, but who will support the trade with the 95% of brown corals that arrive every week?
How many complete novices are going to want to drop hundreds on Acanthastea when they don't know if they can keep a mushroom or button polyp alive? Who do they call when they have questions or need their water tested because they aren't sure they are testing it correctly, or whether their cheap test kit they bought instead of a good one, is still accurate?
Deviating I supposed from the already-hijacked intent of this thread, but I think I've made my point. Keep plugging away, Eddie... by the time you get it figured out I'll be retired anyway.
Jenn
