I know others complain about the shipping cost being high when you have to buy from multiple dealers. But I've always enjoyed the task of getting the most cards from the fewest number of buyers. It's like trying to fit a bunch of puzzle pieces together. I've generally been a satisfied customer.
Until now.
A recent Sportlots purchase has soured me a bit.
Here's the order info. I bought and paid on October 28 and the dealer marked the cards as shipped on October 30. Two days...not too bad.
I expected to have the cards by November 3 or 4. But they never showed. The 5th or 6th? Nope. It wasn't until the 10th that they package finally arrived.
And this time it wasn't the fault of the post office.
It was a lying Sportlots dealer. Take a look at the postage label.
The cards were mailed on November 7th, not October 30 as the dealer told Sportlots. Eight days after he said the cards were sent, they finally were heading my way.
Very disappointing.
Why did the dealer lie? Simple. A seller has ten days to fill and order and mark it as shipped. If they go past the ten days they are removed from Sportlots.
And how does Sportlots know if any order is actually shipped?
They don't. It's the honor system.
And bbvern05 was not honorable.
What can I do about it?
Not much. I left neutral feedback and commented on the difference between the shipping dates. Otherwise, I'll avoid this seller on future orders.
I frequent Sportlots at least once a year to pick up those singles that I NEED to complete sets and others that I really can't live without. I like the challenge of keeping shipping as low as possible as well, yet maxing out my cards.
ReplyDeleteSorry to learn about the less than honorable seller.
You should be able to send that scan to Sportlots customer care to show that he didn't mail it when he said he did. I would think they would be proactive and remove him because of his actions.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be bad apples in the bunch, but from experience on a frequent level through Sportlots, which ironically I was just on earlier this morning, this is a rare case. I have a much bigger issue with sellers on eBay insisting they need to ship everything in a bubble mailer and add tracking for a $3 ticket to send one card. While its nice, my $1 card costs $4 with the shipping. If I'm lucky enough, I can get it through Sportlots and shipped much cheaper. Especially when its trying to find cheaper new release base and parallels.
ReplyDeleteI would also offer that Just Commons has a flat shipping rate and specializes in base and parallel cards, and anything over $10 ships free and quickly. They have helped me cross off several checklists recently!
ReplyDeleteI've started using Justcommons more often, but they don't have as wide a selection as Sportlots.
DeleteI don't understand the whole "challenge" thing. I want to shop and buy the cards I want and not have to spend time searching for deals on shipping. I'm finding out I'm an odd bird in this area, but I don't get it. Also, Sportlots needs to get pictures, I can't shop without pictures.
ReplyDeleteI generally stick with eBay (if I need a team set or something specific) and COMC because I want to see pictures of what I'm buying. I occasionally still go to Beckett if I'm looking for something obscure and can't find it anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteSportlots needs to improve their website to get me to take another look, but the whole searching for shipping deals aspect is still going to be a turnoff (much like with Beckett.)
I'll have to try Just Commons next time I have some money available to work on my baseball card wantlists.
i've had similar experiences there, although i have bought from bbvern before without issue that i recall.
ReplyDeletei did message a seller once after a couple weeks passed with no cards arriving. he responded that he thought he had shipped the card, but he realized that he hadn't. i eventually received it, but come on.
i recently ordered a card that turned out to be mis-identified by the seller (he listed the card as a parallel, but it wasn't). he said to return the card for a full refund. i asked if the refund would include my return postage since it was his mistake. he didn't commit to that. i returned the card and he adjusted the order, but did not refund any of my money. sportlots does not make it easy once the seller has adjusted an order, and my subsequent inquiry went without response. i won't be buying from tigerfan anymore, that's for sure.