What's Up With French Record Buyers?

[Diggin' Dave]

This is really getting out of hand. Over the years I've been having troubles with both buyers and sellers from France, but even when you stop dealing with them they still find ways to irritate. This very friendly message dropped in my inbox today:

'hi can u change and call it just soul and not modern soul you make me waste a lot of time because i search modern soul and not soul music'

This was a question about a copy of Rufus and Roots. It's not that inaccurate to call it modern soul is it? And what's up with that last part of the sentence. I only collect modern, but not soul music? How can you not collect soul if you're collecting modern soul?

I want to conclude by saying sorry to all bonafide French buyers and sellers. There's some very friendly and knowledgeable collectors in France, but somehow I mainly seem to attract less pleasant people to deal with. And as a lot of sellers have stopped shipping to France I have the feeling the problem is pretty widespread. Any similar experiences from you guys?

[Gasher]

tell him to FUCK OFF AND IF YOU SHOUT IT LOUD ENOUGH HE WILL HEAR YOU

You advertise it how you like if you are sellin it

gasher

This is really getting out of hand. Over the years I've been having troubles with both buyers and sellers from France, but even when you stop dealing with them they still find ways to irritate. This very friendly message dropped in my inbox today:

'hi can u change and call it just soul and not modern soul you make me waste a lot of time because i search modern soul and not soul music'

This was a question about a copy of Rufus and Roots. It's not that inaccurate to call it modern soul is it? And what's up with that last part of the sentence. I only collect modern, but not soul music? How can you not collect soul if you're collecting modern soul?

I want to conclude by saying sorry to all bonafide French buyers and sellers. There's some very friendly and knowledgeable collectors in France, but somehow I mainly seem to attract less pleasant people to deal with. And as a lot of sellers have stopped shipping to France I have the feeling the problem is pretty widespread. Any similar experiences from you guys?

[Diggin' Dave]

Think I'll just not answer him and vent my irritations on here. From experience I know you don't want to start discussions with guys like this. With all the hours of football on the telly this week I think I've got better things to do in my free time.

[Jason S]

Without wanting to tar all French with the same brush it seems to be people from that country who are the only ones who think it's ok to bid on stuff on ebay, win it then not pay (even unregistering their paypal accounts in the process) sometimes vanishing without a trace, when I've auctioned stuff. God knows why they bother, probably trying to groom the popsike values so that somewhere down the line they can use it as a way of pricing something up for gemm or whatever. Very frustrating.

[Rob Wigley]

Que ?

But they did put out some rather nice pic cover 45s & EPs !

[Philippe]

somehow I mainly seem to attract less pleasant people to deal with.

It seems so, Dave. But you know there are a******s in every country, don't you ?

If some US dealers don't want to ship to France (and Italy) no more, it's because a lot of dishonest buyers said (lied) they didn't get their records. Unless it comes from stolen parcels ? Frankly I don't know, as where I'm living (a little village) I never had such a problem.

On another side I must say that almost all the misgraded LP's I got from ebay sellers came from England...

[Jordirip]

Stephane (Amer on soul source) is a good guy. I sold him a quite expensive tune and held my breath as I half expected some problems, but he was great, paid straight away and thanked me when it arrived.

Jordi

[Dave Thorley]

I have sold a bunch of boogie stuff in the last month on Ebay, of those that have gone to France 1 in 3 has been a problem, just spent 30mins this morning scanning proof of postage etc to send to guys that say that they haven't recieved stuff.

[Guest chorleybloke]

Que ?

But they did put out some rather nice pic cover 45s & EPs !

Ooh yes indeed, in the 2 years I've been living here I've picked up the Spyder Turner EP (inc "I'm Alive With The Lovin Feeling"), the Linda Jones EP (inc "You Can't Take It") and a "Blues In The Night" 45 on yellow Atlantic, as well as numerous Ben E Kings etc.

Incidentally, out of a batch of 10 records I just auctioned on eBay, 7 paid up within 24 hours (all from UK/US) and the remaining 3 took considerably longer (9 days the worst) with no communication. These 3 were from mainland Europe. A cultural thing maybe?

Cheers

Pete

[Benji]

Incidentally, out of a batch of 10 records I just auctioned on eBay, 7 paid up within 24 hours (all from UK/US) and the remaining 3 took considerably longer (9 days the worst) with no communication. These 3 were from mainland Europe. A cultural thing maybe?

Cheers

Pete

Funny you mention that, I had problems with about 7-8 buyers over the last few months. All these buyers either paid very slowly or not at all. All came from the UK. A cultural thing maybe?

[Diggin' Dave]

It seems so, Dave. But you know there are a******s in every country, don't you ?

If some US dealers don't want to ship to France (and Italy) no more, it's because a lot of dishonest buyers said (lied) they didn't get their records. Unless it comes from stolen parcels ? Frankly I don't know, as where I'm living (a little village) I never had such a problem.

As I said earlier there's more than a few honest and knowledgeable French collectors. I know from experiece that there's a lot of friendly people living in France. I spent many a holiday there and even play football with a team from there whenever I can make it.

But as Mr. Thorley points out: When you're selling boogie records all hell will break loose. Unpaid items, pointless questions, 'I haven't received my record' and in general, anything you don't associate with the term 'smooth transaction'.

[Diggin' Dave]

Funny you mention that, I had problems with about 7-8 buyers over the last few months. All these buyers either paid very slowly or not at all. All came from the UK. A cultural thing maybe?

Oh and don't even get me started about the Germans!

Only kidding mate

[Benji]

Oh and don't even get me started about the Germans!

I'm fine with that, as long as you don't mention the war

[macca]

I think it would probably be prudent to say 'what's up with some French record buyers', that way you don't have to 'concede an apology' at the end of the post. I wonder what US and Japanese dealers have to say about UK buyers on this question. The volume of records flowing from the UK to continental Europe and vice versa' and across the Atlantic will determine the volume of 'bad apples', surely?

[Samson]

I've always had trouble with sending and recieving packages from France (Italy too). i still ship there but it has to be registered.

[Mark Bicknell]

I'm fine with that, as long as you don't mention the war

Let's mention this though lol

[Diggin' Dave]

And to those from Ireland: let's not mention this

[Ian Dewhirst]

I have sold a bunch of boogie stuff in the last month on Ebay, of those that have gone to France 1 in 3 has been a problem, just spent 30mins this morning scanning proof of postage etc to send to guys that say that they haven't recieved stuff.

I'd say 1 in 3 is about right Dave. I've just had yet another Paypal dispute raised by a French Boogie buyer from Lille. This has been going on for ages now and it's getting beyond a joke. I just don't have time to keep dealing with certain French buyers claiming not to have received packages. It's getting so I can almost tell who I'm going to have a problem with before I even mail the packages out!

So, yes, like you I'll have to pull the proof of postage and send off to yet another French buyer who says he hasn't received an item. These guys have been doing it for the last couple of years and some of my French contacts also know that there's a bunch of bad apples over there who are hell bent on ruining things for everyone. A real shame.......

Ian D

[Mike]

posts removed

not a good idea posting a series of jokes up here

espically ones based on nationality that due to language , different sorts of humour, and all that may get misunderstood

ta

mike

[Guest]

posts removed

not a good idea posting a series of jokes up here

espically ones based on nationality that due to language , different sorts of humour, and all that may get misunderstood

ta

mike

Ok Jokes in bad taste mon - Will work on material ! ! Did you think they were funny ? LOL !!!

Edited February 17, 2010 by mossy