A tale of eBay, Rockler and how I got my Magswitch starter kit.
I took the plunge today! I finally bought a Magswitch featherboard at Rockler. I have been eyeballing them for a long time, but too stingy to let go of $70! I thought I would just get a couple magnetic switches to make up my own. The other option is just making up an expanding rail to fit in the miter slot. Neither have gotten done, but I have been watching eBay for bargains on magnetic switches.
Low and behold, I found one with about 900 pounds pull with a shape that that would easily work for a shop made feather board. The guy was apparently selling some stuff from a machinist's estate. He had over 4,000 sales, but a 99.5% positive. Anyone can run into an unreasonable buyer and get a few negatives, but I have learned the hard way to avoid sellers with less than 99.9% positive.
Most of the items weren't worth shipping alone, but he said he would combine anything that fit in a flat rate box for $12.95. That sounded reasonable enough. I won a few items with no other bidders; a machinist's protractor and the magnetic switch among them.
After a few days, I got a nonpaying bidder case in my inbox. I contacted the seller. He said eBay does it automatically. With the way eBay corporate has pushed the sellers to only take payments through Pay-Pal, raised their prices and generally done about everything they can to push reasonable people away, it did not surprise me to hear that they would start picking on buyers. To make things fair, why not pi$$ o&& everybody involved in a transaction. After all, that is the corporate way in American management, isn't it?
I just ignored the first one. A day later, another. I contacted eBay by email telling them the seller agreed to flat rate box shipping. I received an email telling me to call their customer service line. After another unpaid case, I called eBay. I was told the seller was doing it and he was the only one who could stop it. I always treat others the way I expect to be treated. I do not have the proper temperament to be dealing with a liar as well as an obvious imbecile. I contacted him telling him to remove all the unpaid item cases he filed while I was still bidding his items per the shipping agreement. He made no mention of any time limit in the original contact. All of this happened in a little over a week.
Along comes my regular Rockler email with the usual 20% off coupon. They seem to be in my inbox every week. I haven't been there since the first of the year. I am beginning to lose hope that the coupons will escalate to 30% off ;-)) I was passing within a mile of Rockler today. The temptation was too great! I could resist no longer! ! My will power totally failed me today! ! ! I printed the 20 off, gave up hope of 30 off, gave up hope of finding cheap mag switches and brought home a real, genuine Magswitch reversible featherboard starter kit.
The words "starter kit" sort of scares me. What could, or will, this lead to?
I took the plunge today! I finally bought a Magswitch featherboard at Rockler. I have been eyeballing them for a long time, but too stingy to let go of $70! I thought I would just get a couple magnetic switches to make up my own. The other option is just making up an expanding rail to fit in the miter slot. Neither have gotten done, but I have been watching eBay for bargains on magnetic switches.
Low and behold, I found one with about 900 pounds pull with a shape that that would easily work for a shop made feather board. The guy was apparently selling some stuff from a machinist's estate. He had over 4,000 sales, but a 99.5% positive. Anyone can run into an unreasonable buyer and get a few negatives, but I have learned the hard way to avoid sellers with less than 99.9% positive.
Most of the items weren't worth shipping alone, but he said he would combine anything that fit in a flat rate box for $12.95. That sounded reasonable enough. I won a few items with no other bidders; a machinist's protractor and the magnetic switch among them.
After a few days, I got a nonpaying bidder case in my inbox. I contacted the seller. He said eBay does it automatically. With the way eBay corporate has pushed the sellers to only take payments through Pay-Pal, raised their prices and generally done about everything they can to push reasonable people away, it did not surprise me to hear that they would start picking on buyers. To make things fair, why not pi$$ o&& everybody involved in a transaction. After all, that is the corporate way in American management, isn't it?
I just ignored the first one. A day later, another. I contacted eBay by email telling them the seller agreed to flat rate box shipping. I received an email telling me to call their customer service line. After another unpaid case, I called eBay. I was told the seller was doing it and he was the only one who could stop it. I always treat others the way I expect to be treated. I do not have the proper temperament to be dealing with a liar as well as an obvious imbecile. I contacted him telling him to remove all the unpaid item cases he filed while I was still bidding his items per the shipping agreement. He made no mention of any time limit in the original contact. All of this happened in a little over a week.
Along comes my regular Rockler email with the usual 20% off coupon. They seem to be in my inbox every week. I haven't been there since the first of the year. I am beginning to lose hope that the coupons will escalate to 30% off ;-)) I was passing within a mile of Rockler today. The temptation was too great! I could resist no longer! ! My will power totally failed me today! ! ! I printed the 20 off, gave up hope of 30 off, gave up hope of finding cheap mag switches and brought home a real, genuine Magswitch reversible featherboard starter kit.
The words "starter kit" sort of scares me. What could, or will, this lead to?