What's the deal with beantownbilliards on ebay? Anyone on az associated with them? If so, please contact me ASAP. I ordered a Sterling case from them way back on 20 Nov and no contact from them whatsoever. I have sent numerous messages inquiring about the order and its like they don't exist lol. Had to open a case with ebay resolution center on them and still no contact lol. Im a resonable person and if there is a problem then tell me about it and i will work with you, but to totally ignore me chances my wrath lol.
ebay beantownbilliards?
- Thread starter Jcat
- Start date
They have a pretty positive feedback ratio (97%), but out of 16 total negative feedback posts this year, a pretty good number of those all fall within this November.
I don't know how seasoned you are with eBay, but checking feedback and total sales on the the seller, and the buyers, are pretty sure-fire ways in creating a solid discern for who to buy from. The amount of negative feedback posts before November 20 would have alarmed me enough.
On another note, if you're still looking- JoeRackEm...solid seller, gave me a tracking number less than a day after I bought a case from him/her/they. It arrived in perfect condition, so well-protected I thought it was ridiculous. 7 business days via UPS ground during the Holiday time's crazy shipping madness.
I don't know how seasoned you are with eBay, but checking feedback and total sales on the the seller, and the buyers, are pretty sure-fire ways in creating a solid discern for who to buy from. The amount of negative feedback posts before November 20 would have alarmed me enough.
On another note, if you're still looking- JoeRackEm...solid seller, gave me a tracking number less than a day after I bought a case from him/her/they. It arrived in perfect condition, so well-protected I thought it was ridiculous. 7 business days via UPS ground during the Holiday time's crazy shipping madness.
I tried to buy a 4x8 wave case from beantownbilliards earlier this year in early August. I searched all over the internet for retailers and everyone else was on back order for the tan/brown case I wanted. Anyhow, beantown had it listed on ebay so I figure if it's listed, it is on hand ready to ship.
So I bought it and heard nothing for 2 weeks and I contacted them.... Eventually they said the case wasn't in stock and would be 3 to 4 weeks before it was delivered, then there was some excuse about it getting held up in customs and something about taking longer than expected since it was coming from overseas.
They gave me the option to wait for it, exchange for a different color that was in stock, or a refund. I took the refund and my money was returned promptly. I thought I gave them neutral feedback but I don't see it listed on the 'my ebay' section.
I will have to add them to my permanently banned list. You can delete sellers by searching for cues or cases for example. Then on the results page click on the 'sellers' tab on the left then 'specify sellers'. On the pop up box just click the top box and change 'include' to 'exclude' and fill in the seller name and ok. Then it will refresh the search results and at the top it will show 'cue results -seller's name. Now make sure you save your search after adding all the names to your list. Next time you just click on 'saved searches' and click the search that has the deleted sellers names and you won't have to see the sellers that flood the cue or case section or whatever you search for.
I have 8 or 9 sellers on the cue search banned and it takes no time for me to search through that sections to see if anything of interest is up for sale. I tend to search 24 or more hours into the future and now it takes approxiamately 8 or 10 pages instead of 24 or more that it use to do.
Sorry to run on and on about ebay searching but it just makes it a lot easier to buy when I don't have to sort through tons of sellers that don't sell what I'm interested in.
Good luck with beantownbilliards!
Michael
So I bought it and heard nothing for 2 weeks and I contacted them.... Eventually they said the case wasn't in stock and would be 3 to 4 weeks before it was delivered, then there was some excuse about it getting held up in customs and something about taking longer than expected since it was coming from overseas.
They gave me the option to wait for it, exchange for a different color that was in stock, or a refund. I took the refund and my money was returned promptly. I thought I gave them neutral feedback but I don't see it listed on the 'my ebay' section.
I will have to add them to my permanently banned list. You can delete sellers by searching for cues or cases for example. Then on the results page click on the 'sellers' tab on the left then 'specify sellers'. On the pop up box just click the top box and change 'include' to 'exclude' and fill in the seller name and ok. Then it will refresh the search results and at the top it will show 'cue results -seller's name. Now make sure you save your search after adding all the names to your list. Next time you just click on 'saved searches' and click the search that has the deleted sellers names and you won't have to see the sellers that flood the cue or case section or whatever you search for.
I have 8 or 9 sellers on the cue search banned and it takes no time for me to search through that sections to see if anything of interest is up for sale. I tend to search 24 or more hours into the future and now it takes approxiamately 8 or 10 pages instead of 24 or more that it use to do.
Sorry to run on and on about ebay searching but it just makes it a lot easier to buy when I don't have to sort through tons of sellers that don't sell what I'm interested in.
Good luck with beantownbilliards!
Michael
JC,
Not having good luck lately? *
If they're in New Hampshire, then check out this page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Derry-NH/Beantown-Billiards/157979812517?filter=2
What's odd is, there were many posts to facebook and nothing was posted after November 19. The phone number is listed in the facebook page and the man's name is Troy Bergeron. It's worth a call.
I don't know him but I'm thinking something unfortunate may have happened to him.
Chris
* Inside joke. FedEx lost a shipment I sent to him recently - flat disappeared here in California!
Not having good luck lately? *
If they're in New Hampshire, then check out this page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Derry-NH/Beantown-Billiards/157979812517?filter=2
What's odd is, there were many posts to facebook and nothing was posted after November 19. The phone number is listed in the facebook page and the man's name is Troy Bergeron. It's worth a call.
I don't know him but I'm thinking something unfortunate may have happened to him.
Chris
* Inside joke. FedEx lost a shipment I sent to him recently - flat disappeared here in California!
Last edited:
OK, after reading these posts im going to expedite my resolution case with ebay and try to get my money back. Thanks for the deleting certain sellers tip on EBAY,
definitely gonna do that. Ya, seems like something maybe did happen and hope beantown is ok, but i need that 4x8 case. Have had a set of Aramith pro's on order for 4
weeks with Mercantila, and they have sent me the 3 ball carom set TWICE now. Their customer support is almost nonexistent. Had to return a sneaky predator several
months ago due to the unilock locking lol. My luck is like that, but with all the hairy close calls i have had in my life, I always figured that I used all my good luck just
staying alive lol, so thats not a bad trade off.
BTW TATE, that new xpro shaft allowed me to beat an APA 9 and an 8 the other night cause i'm playing several balls better with it!
definitely gonna do that. Ya, seems like something maybe did happen and hope beantown is ok, but i need that 4x8 case. Have had a set of Aramith pro's on order for 4
weeks with Mercantila, and they have sent me the 3 ball carom set TWICE now. Their customer support is almost nonexistent. Had to return a sneaky predator several
months ago due to the unilock locking lol. My luck is like that, but with all the hairy close calls i have had in my life, I always figured that I used all my good luck just
staying alive lol, so thats not a bad trade off.
BTW TATE, that new xpro shaft allowed me to beat an APA 9 and an 8 the other night cause i'm playing several balls better with it!
that's why i do my online shopping with people on az. either az'rs that have ebay stores or straight from az. every now and again i'll get stuff from pooldawg or other az sponsors.
call it a cheap lesson
Ebay
Not ALL but a lot of those ebay & Amazon cowboys are fly by night operations regardless of what their feedback ratings are. We are in the process of launching an ecomerce business and I have done a lot of research on different products across the net. Those guys on there drive the value of merchandise down as they accept such little profits just to make a sale. What is good about the billiard industry is the distributors & manufaturers make a set MAP for their accounts to keep the product value on the level, which is GOOD for the industry.
In my OPINION the best way to purchase billird products is through an Authorized dealer who has an actual website like Billiards Warehouse, Pool Dawg, Pool Cue Guru, etc. Find one you like with good service & stick with them. After all they are likely players in the Billiard Industry to provide products & service to Pool Players, not an ebay cowboy just out to make a quick buck.
Not ALL but a lot of those ebay & Amazon cowboys are fly by night operations regardless of what their feedback ratings are. We are in the process of launching an ecomerce business and I have done a lot of research on different products across the net. Those guys on there drive the value of merchandise down as they accept such little profits just to make a sale. What is good about the billiard industry is the distributors & manufaturers make a set MAP for their accounts to keep the product value on the level, which is GOOD for the industry.
In my OPINION the best way to purchase billird products is through an Authorized dealer who has an actual website like Billiards Warehouse, Pool Dawg, Pool Cue Guru, etc. Find one you like with good service & stick with them. After all they are likely players in the Billiard Industry to provide products & service to Pool Players, not an ebay cowboy just out to make a quick buck.
Good to hear it. The only way I can beat an APA 9 with one is to goose him with it everytime he's shooting!
Ebay is the killer of the real brick and morter stores. Most sellers on there dont stock a thing they post pics from the web, sell the item get your money then find it from a suppler and get it to you..........at this time of year alot of stock is gone. ....G/L
Boy, you would think so, wouldn't you?
Is everything listed for sale on your online store in-stock and ready to ship?
Online stores and Ebay are not killers of traditional retail. Traditional retail does not want to ACT LIKE traditional retail and actually stock anything.
Any brick and mortar store can EASILY beat Ebay, can easily beat any online store.
How? By having their own online store AND by staying on top of other ones.
NO online store has ANY advantage over a brick and mortar store. ANY physical business can order from any supplier at the same or better prices that any "online" store.
So why don't the physical businesses set up a computer and tell all their customers to look all over the web and when they find what they want the physical business will order it, get it, inspect it, and have it waiting for the customer?
IN fact that is EXACTLY what retailers in OTHER fields are doing. And lest people forget it's exactly what retail looked like 100 years ago. I guess no one but me watched Little House on the Prairie and saw that Mr. Olsen's general store was a place where you could look though all the catalogs and order whatever you liked and it would come through Mr. Olsen.
When I went to to the ICCS in Sarasota Florida I found a WONDERFUL bookstore full of used books. This place had all their books online and they had all the major online booksellers bookmarked. When someone came in to inquire about a book they would give the customer their price and the prices of any other copies immediately available online. They told the customer WHERE online the books were and offered to order the copies online for the customer if they liked.
I was amazed to stumble into this shop where the owner was using the vast world to his advantage rather than grumbling and moaning. It was great to see how they handled the internet. Instead of seeing it as something that kills their business they figured out how to use it to ENHANCE the conversation with their customers and build even more loyalty.
Too bad that the billiard industry is still so far behind every other one. Regarding Beantown Billiards, if an Ebay seller does not respond in a day then cancel the transaction and move on. If something happened to them then they have more important things to deal with. The only value to Ebay is convenience. What Ebay should have is some sort of "ready to ship" indicator that the seller checks to indicate that the item is ready to go.
You know what's truly funny about Ebay? This really does crack me up.
There are sellers on Ebay who drop ship and others who buy closeouts and sell the items one-by-one. So far so good right?
But then there are another class of sellers on Ebay who put up auctions for things that the people in the group above are selling WHILE the other auctions are running and for more money. So, if you go and buy Widget for $10 from a seller in group 2 they will then immediately go and buy that Widget from a seller in Group 1 for $8 and direct the shipment of the item to you. This is crazy to me but Ebay enables it just by the nature of it's existence. I often wonder how many listings would be be gone if this practice were stopped? I don't think anyone really understands the sheer volume of visitors to Ebay everyday that enables this to even function as a viable way to make money.
So anyway, sellers, how much do you stock?
i really like your idea of a "ready to ship" indicator. Cancelling an order on ebay is not really easy or fast at all. The sellers have so many days to respond
and ship an item. Dont like it? Then open a resolution case and the seller has 7 days to even respond to the resolution.
and ship an item. Dont like it? Then open a resolution case and the seller has 7 days to even respond to the resolution.
I agree. Both sellers and buyers have found that Ebay isn't the best place to shop or sell any more. They are the 800lb gorilla on the block though and it's tough to ignore the amount of traffic they get.
I would try another route and just contact your credit card company if you paid by CC.
As others have mentioned JoeRackEm is a stellar supplier. He is one of our customers and is a great one. Once you get your other one resolved feel confident shopping with him.
Speaking strictly billiards stores - the advantage to a b/m store is usually the ability to walk in and leave with the product you want with the ongoing service/support (or lack therof) they offer customers. The down side is billiard stores are far and few between, not open 24/7 and may not stock or even offer the item you want (or be willing to source it). Online stores bring shopping convenience and typically lower prices plus you can almost always find what you're looking for at 3am in your pjs so shopping online does have some advantages.
Case in point - last Sunday I ordered a Bunn coffeemaker from Amazon. $94 with free shipping that was delivered Thursday. Cheapest price from several local stores was $110 (plus tax around $10). No gas used, no standing in line, no traffic or time spent driving to the store, finding parking, etc. Not saying don't shop and support b/m stores but at times going to better known online stores is the better choice. As for eBay you take your chances.
Last edited:
On ebay if I see someone with less than 99.5% positive I pass them up.
No, but.
A) I don't claim that it is, and it is generally understood by the public that on web sites such as mine, everything that is displayed is not always in stock. That is why I provide an 800 number and email contact info on every page. Especially this time of year a large portion of my day is spent answering phone calls about stock status. People understand that if they want to be sure of delivery they need to check first.
B) I have never sold anything on eBay that wasn't in stock. It is generally understood by the public that on eBay, if something is up for sale, be it a fixed price sale or auction, that it IS in stock. Furthermore, eBay's policy dictates this. From this page:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html
You must ensure the items you are offering are in stock for the duration of the listing and are delivered to the buyer, unless the buyer doesn't meet the terms of your listing.
If you run into an inventory problem that's beyond your control, you're still responsible for letting the buyer know when the item will be available or issuing a refund for the full amount immediately.
You're not allowed to:
List an item that may be out of stock at the time of purchase.
List an item that you're simultaneously selling outside of eBay.
Offer an item that may not be what's delivered to the buyer.
And if you go out of stock on an eBay item you can cancel a listing with some limitations which is the better choice then playing the we'll ship it later game..
You're right. I should have ammended my statement to say that no online store SHOULD have an advantage over any brick-and -mortar store.
For example. All the B/M stores in your area SHOULD have websites where they carry every coffee maker known to man. When you go to their online stores then they should offer a price match to you AND the option for you to pick it up in the store OR send it to your house, with the option to return it to the store or send it back via shipper if not happy.
In other words the BM stores COULD be augmented by the same convenience and service that you got from the webstores. There is no reason for them to lose the sale.
Best Buy offers in-store pick up on all the items on their website. When you go to their website you can see how many of an item is in-stock and where and reserve it or you can elect to have it sent to your house or you can have it sent from one store to another. Imagine if they expanded this to ALL brands of electronics and offered you things that aren't even available in their stores.
In fact I am not entirely sure of it but I think Wal-Mart is doing something like this. Didn't we have a thread a while back about Schon cues being on sale at Wal-Mart.com? I am fairly sure they aren't stocking $1000 cues.
Anyway, I still think that BM stores need to get on board with using the web to their advantage rather than complaining about it.
I have an internet connected computer in my shop for people to use, maybe 1 in 100 does so. The walk-in business and those who shop on the internet are by-in-large 2 separate groups of people. It's an interesting dynamic for sure, one that I don't think exists as much in mainstream venues such as coffee shops and book stores.