If I’ve related this story before, forgive me – but my God, yes, people who’ve sent me vicious emails after I’ve won something ‘from them’ on eBay!
I see the same names frequently on the stuff I like to look at, mostly music memorabilia. There’s no comraderie, is there – I admit, I will react to some of these names the same way, I’m sure, Blofield or Goldfinger does when he sees James Bond. (Usually when I know it’s someone who NEVER wins, but drives the price up for everyone else, if that makes any sense.)
Anyway, the story: The guy who sent me not one, but two nasty emails after I’d won a valuable record on eBay – the guy, as far as I can tell, wasn’t even in the auction! I was rather excited to win it, as it was a lot of money and soul searching, but it had also much sentimental meaning – the auction ended in the middle of the night, so I had to put on eBay’s proxy bidder and hope for the best. I was so excited over breakfast when I discovered I’d won, and then thought, hmmm, who is this other email from?
Hmmmm…I see from the name it’s one of these guys I see in auctions for this particular genre quite a bit – and he stands out because having looked at his bid history before, this guy is dropping up to $3,000 a week on eBay stuff. Now, what could he possibly have to say to me?
Well, first the guy called me names for spending so much money on the record; he said he had won three copies himself as far less prices. Errr, that’s nice, I think…
The email was extremely abusive, so I reported him to eBay.
Two days later, I had another email from him, again calling me names, telling me I ought to be angry at myself for spending so much money on the record, and how dare I report him, that he was the chairman of a huge company, blah blah blah. He also threatened to come after me and harm me physically. So a second letter to eBay, and I blocked his email, so I don’t know if he ever wrote again. I did find out from the seller that the guy not only sent him abusive email, too, but offered to buy the record out from under me.
Oh, and he’s still on eBay, so I don’t know how many threats it takes to get yourself banned.
I can’t imagine what he would have done had he learnt I had the record autographed nicely by the artist who recorded it.
Another time I won a rare rock poster, and was sent almost at once a letter from one of the other bidders telling me about how his little boy was dying, and how badly his little boy wanted that poster (which I won for about $10), and would I please, please sell it to him. I didn’t even answer this guy – and no, I wasn’t being heartless; I know him, and he buys this stuff on eBay to turn around and sell it for outrageous prices. He hasn’t a small wee ill child.
And another time (last one, I promise!) I won an acetate, only to receive a letter from someone who hadn’t been in the auction again – different guy this time, also someone who puts insanely high maxes on items so that you can’t outbid him. This backfired on him once when he came up against someone else with the same strategy, and one of them ended up with a $20 record for over $2500. I understand about the ‘max from hell’ but crikey, be careful.
Anyway, he wrote to me absolutely begging me to sell the acetate to him, because he knew in his heart that he was a much much bigger fan of the artist that I was, and that he deserved the acetate – he also told me that if I didn’t sell it to him, he would write to the seller and offer twice what I won the record for. That one almost got ugly, as the seller wrote to me, and told me he was considering it.
Sometimes when I win clothes, I will get a PLEASE SELL IT TO ME INSTEAD!!! email from someone, and I do actually understand the disappointment; I feel that way when I’m outbid. I usually write as nice as note as I can, saying I understand – I’ve actually got to know people that way, and visited them in the States and Europe! (And yes, I take the item I’ve won so they can try it on, borrow it, etc!)
I think only once, as a seller, did I have a letter from someone insisting I sell an item to them, that someone else has just won. I tell them politely, that I am sorry, but it was the only one of that item I had…and that something nicer will come along; it always does.
But, yeesh…I can understand the disappointment, but come on…hate mail? Crikey.
