Blocking specific sellers

Is it possible to have a block specific sellers option and if possible to have it permanently save our selections?
I collect early British Commonwealth and trawling through the listings is extremely tedious currently. Certain sellers continue to relist thousands of items at once of which I am not and never will be interested in, having to skip page after page after page is turning me off this website , at least at bidstart i could block that person.
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  • Forgive me for butting in here, but sometimes people forget that this is not their website. They are guests and users here. nothing more. As such, they don't make demands. They politely make requests. If things don't move along to one's liking, that's too bad. The choice is to be patient, or leave. If you want the "perfect" website, you can always create your own.
  • edited January 2017 7 LikesVote Down
    Why do I want to block specific sellers @ various times?
    1. Too many one of one more stamps.
    2. Pricing consistently not competitive.
    3. Items in incorrect catagory or format,
    4. Bad experiences with seller.
    5. Form of payment not accepted.
    6. Too many missing images.
    7. Shipping charges not competitive.
    8. I do not want to purchase from a seller in that location.
  • edited December 2017 7 LikesVote Down
    I disagree with you Michael.

    Whether I am a buyer or a seller, I should have the ability to block another person. This in no way impacts on my sales, or on the other person's sales. In BidStart, we had the option to block someone. I have been with StampWants/BidStart since 2005, and we had this feature then. I actually used it twice in that timeframe, once to block a buyer that I had a bad experience with, and once to block a seller that I did not want to have business with.

    My blocking someone does not impact on sales, since I do not want to deal with that person for whatever reason. It simply removes their items from my view. And since there are thousands of buyers on the site, how can one or two people wanting to remove a certain person from view justify reducing the monthly fees?

    There is not a way without programming it into the system, to filter someone out of a general search. What are you going to put in the search criteria box? USA 255 except for StampSeller25?
  • Once again it pops up; no images. I want your money but don't have the time to scan a pic. I have a big store don't have time..blah blah...All listing should have a pic plane and simple..Come on..hipstamp..
  • So I log in today and page 1 of British Commonwealth is full of listings by one of the infamous sellers I would like to block , CPAPhil. Page 2 the same, 3,4,5 etc etc. I reach page 53 and I've had a guts full, his listings just keep going and going making it nigh on impossible to check what other sellers have actually listed in the last 24 hours.

    Seriously is it that hard to create a feature that will help both seller and buyer block people they do not want to ever deal with , especially when they are listing 13,000 plus items of complete and utter overpriced junk like CPAPhil does.

    Sorry for naming and shaming, but it's now getting to the point where a simply implemented feature is being ignored to the detriment of the site for no logical reason.

    My wants list stands at 10,382 individual requirements, all pre 1936 mint British Empire, however I will also buy others that interest me. That's a lot of potential sales that I am unable to find, without having to search either individually or by some other obscure method that I have been unable to fathom as of yet.

    British Commonwealth is already a complete and utter shambles when it comes to the amount of items "dumped" there in order to over inflate the amount of items listed, when they are heavily duplicated elsewhere. If i want to search for Canada I can go to the Canada category like every other site , but here the 150,000 plus listings are duplicated, same goes for Australia and just about every other item will be duplicated somewhere whether it be Caribbean or Africa etc.

    And don't even get me started on the rediculous amount of French Colonies listed in BC.

    This is bordering on Poppe stamps levels of absurdness!

  • Michael

    Again you have missed the point entirely. There are numerous sellers that I want nothing at all to do with due to a vast range of reasons as I've stated over and over. The filtering system , whichever way you do it, does not rid the listings from these sellers , yes you can filter them slightly but they will always have numerous items represented there.

    I can also use the year functions since my collected years are specific to 1840-1936, this again only works if a seller includes the date within his listings.

    I even just tried to filter your stores listings, guess what you don't list using the year of issue , so straight away that filter is missing or any general searches would eliminate all your listings.

    I did also notice you are selling 3 very crude Nandgaon forgeries on page 1 of your Indian items, there are also 2 Charkhari that are also forgeries, I would recommend relisting them stating that.

    Anyway , back to the topic in hand, I will be over the moon if this feature ever gets implemented, until then I'll continue to mainly buy elsewhere, where searching for needed items isn't a massively time consuming chore.
  • If they still have high shipping and no scan, all the new listings in the world won't matter. Anyway, that is just one example of why someone would want to block a seller. There are other dealers, including some who buy expensive color display ads in Linn's, who have atrocious listing habits, and who I wish would flake-off and die. Failing that, I'd like to block them from my search results.
  • Amen, bruduh.

    There are just certain sellers that I would simply never buy from. ever. There are many fish in the sea and there are many sellers on HS. Eagerly awaiting an "ignore" button to put to use some day.
  • This requested feature has been fading into the background and I believe it merits consideration!

    I rely on the ability to exclude certain sellers from my ebay search results and think buyers on HipStamp would be well-served if a similar feature was implemented here.

    There is nothing more frustrating than having to wade through numerous listings from sellers posting poor quality material or with a history of asking outrageous prices for their items or shipping & handling.
  • So, the most requested feature, to block buyers and sellers, that is now a year old, is not even under active development ???
  • I don't think that there are many buyers or sellers who don't want to have the ability to BLOCK unwanted sellers or buyers. That was the original impetus of the thread and everyone is pretty much in agreement we want that ability as we had on Bidstart .and Stampwants.

    The issue of paying a fee to list more than a certain number of any one catalog number is what is being argued here. "I think a fee after a certain number of listings of the same cheap stamp would be in order and would be better for both buyer and seller." - John Talman.

    That would make it impossible to list perfins, fancy or letter and number cancels, CDS town cancels, DPO cancels, precancels, different grades of MNH, MH and used stamps, postal history, first day covers from different cachet makers, position plate number blocks, plate number singles, mail early blocks, zip blocks, and all the other iterations that one catalog number might be listed under. Who would be responsible for policing why someone has 200 listings of #903 and who would determine what is "junk"?
  • As someone who uses Hipstamps (as a buyer) on a daily basis I am generally prepared to trawl through any number of repeat listings to try and find a specific stamp and have dealt with sellers to find stamps I need if I feel they may a stamp variety I am chasing that may not have appeared in their multi-listing. I have no problem with wading through multiple listings of the same stamp in the hope of finding a stamp that I need. I may only spend a couple of hundred dollars a month on Hipstamps but it is certainly more than I spend anywhere else these days.

    My feeling is that sellers have every right to display all their wares, even if it means I have to spend a little extra time in the search. What would be fantastic is if every dealer listed only the stamps that I need! That would be the ultimate Hipstamp experience..
  • Over a year ago Carol said "I don't think that there are many buyers or sellers who don't want to have the ability to BLOCK unwanted sellers or buyers. That was the original impetus of the thread and everyone is pretty much in agreement we want that ability as we had on Bidstart .and Stampwants." Has there been any progress along these lines? Regarding dealers wishing the ability to block a bidder inwhich they may have had repeated difficulties, are we left to an unenforceable request asking "please don't buy here". Should such an unwanted patron persist, is there a means of not following through without negative consequences? Can a buyer so inclined, hang the threat of negative feedback over us to perform? Is it too much to poll the 850 + sellers whether they would wish a blocking mechanism or is it incumbent on those sellers to independently submit such a request so as to generate enough interest for the site to take action? As previously mentioned, this ability is, and has been generally available on most sites. Is this request even in line for consideration/action? Any updates that I've missed?
  • Admin.....what say you?
  • Dave,
    My list of reasons why I want the ability to block sellers from 2017, is similar to yours and many other Hipstamp buyers.
    January 2017 edited January 2017 6 Likes
    Why do I want to block specific sellers @ various times?
    1. Too many one of one more stamps.
    2. Pricing consistently not competitive.
    3. Items in incorrect catagory or format,
    4. Bad experiences with seller.
    5. Form of payment not accepted.
    6. Too many missing images.
    7. Shipping charges not competitive.
    8. I do not want to purchase from a seller in that location.

    I've been told about the browsing only one item per seller, and a similar feature of one item per seller per catalogue#. I found those tedious way to avoid a sellers listing.
    I have suggested a NEXT SELLER PLEASE feature; see the thread https://www.hipstamp.com/forums/discussion/1732/next-seller-please#latest
    There was little interest; probably due to my poor presentation of the feature . The thread was then allowed to change subject.
    Today I still strongly feel we buyers need a BLOCK SELLER feature.
  • Greetings all!

    I have been with this thread since the beginning and find much valuable information provided by you all.

    However, this thread is about blocking buyers and sellers!

    If you want to talk about postal procedures, please open a new thread! If you want to talk about the advantages of using various catalogs, please open a new thread!

    As long as we talk about anything else but blocking buyers and sellers, we will see no action on our requests.

    As far as my input here, we need to be able to block buyers and sellers. We have all our reasons, and our ability to block a select group of people will not affect either our personal bottom line, or HipStamps’ bottom line.
  • I agree that blocking certain stores would be helpful when searching. There is one store that seems to have almost every stamp that I'm looking for, but there are virtually zero pictures of these items, and the shipping charge is outrageous. Since it is highly unlikely that I would purchase anything from this seller, I would like to be able to block those. Especially since you have to hold the cursor over the non-picture to see who the seller is, and I do have some sellers that I love that don't show their items.
  • Just for the record,
    just how difficult would it be to code to block certain sellers?
    Time consuming? expensive? Both? I would have no idea myself.
    I don't see it as a negative, in any way, rather, a positive for sales.
    Most collectors, intermediate and above, would appreciate to drill down to specifics, I would think.
    The quicker one can isolate the parameters, the more attractive the site becomes.
  • Good point Michael G.
  • Okay,

    I've read this and find a lot of value in most of this. Here is the question David & I have concerning a blocking feature. While we do not list 100's of the same stamp ( no problems here with those who do, free country & all) , our desire for the blocking option is this : What if you have a rude customer, and you don't feel like dealing with them again? Listen, a few dollars lost blocking some clown with an attitude is not going to make or break me any day of the week. we are full time philatelists that pay the bills selling stamps,

    How about the fun one who leaves you negative feedback after stating in their feedback that you sold them nice material, packaged it well and here's the chaser " but $2.25 for a .50 letter is to high". and that's why you got the neutral/negative feedback. I'm sorry, I assume everyone is carrying the level of education I am, or at least expect them to be a savvy enough buyer to read the shipping costs. I ask them why did you leave me a neutral or negative feedback when you knew what the costs were? Clearly stated costs? (which I make no apologies for). Like I said above, I (we) are busy, really busy. To be able to block this person so they no longer have to endure such outrageous shipping would spare me a lot of wasted emailing time, if you don't like it buy elsewhere, period.

    How about this one? The foreign buyer who 3 times has not received his stamps? Paypal buyer protection is an even bigger joke than getting as sensible answer from the staff here, Gibbons had their issues but they at least gave us the option to just plain block the foreign scammer. this year we have had 26 buyers oversea's email for refunds or free stamps because they "Did not receive their stamps" Several hundred dollars lost and the best I got from Justin was a sort of " Take it on the chin champ, make it up on the next sale, seriously? That is a very avoidable unthought through response that could easily be resolved with a block buyer option. Two of these we had blocked on Bid Start & Gibbons, who all of a sudden when this morphed into it's latest incarnation bought from us and you guessed it, we got burned, and they know how to play the game, just tell pay pal you didn't get what you ordered and they will reach into your bank account and give away your money. Now if you are trying to be all things to everyone, then the block option will not suit your good business paradigm. The "your just a guest here" paradigm falls apart quickly as well because without the seller, you get no fees, you make no money and then you go away.

    These are really good reasons to have a block option, I know (from experience on these forum discussions) that while my comments will draw ire from most if not all, and that the thread wasn't exactly related to the reasons for blocking buyer I suggested I do think administration, if it ever see's itself realistically competing in the big Ebay league it might want to consider these if for no other reason craps & giggles..............just thinking

    Kitty Rueppel APS #317258
  • The fact that this issue of blocking capability has stubbornly persisted, suggests it is more than a minor inconvenience, or a particular pet peeve of a few, but one impacting a fair number of dealer's decisions regarding their potential customer base, their tolerance of "difficult" buyers, or their willingness to risk listing costlier items. The bias of PayPal in dispute resolution and the less-than-secure (accountability) nature of some international postal travels are well understood by seasoned dealers; either by direct experience or by the common laments that echo in discussion groups. Personally, I find fatalistic responses such as "that's just the cost of doing business" or "maybe you should find another venue" particularly cavalier and disgusting because they project their mindset upon others and presume their attitude should prevail. That withstanding, to the point of blocking, that capability has been demonstrated in past and present internet sites. Further, HipStamp administration has been made aware of this ongoing desire and has chosen against instituting the function at this time for whatever reasons, which is their prerogative. Additionally, they have offered a less-direct mechanism for buyer control; one articulated in earlier posts. We can hope for relief in this area, however this matter ultimately isn't subject to a democratic mandate of the participants. Caveat venditor.
  • And once again two of the most annoying sellers list their wares together and I am forced to sift through the first 66 pages of british commonwealth before I come across a different vendor....its getting rediculous that we cannot block vendors whom we will never ever purchase from.



  • Please. Please provide a method of blocking buyers. Please.
  • Where do you put in the listing that you will not ship to a specific country? Also, as Steven asks, is the old Bidstart function for blocking a buyer ever going to be reinstated?
  • I am wondering why this has not been addressed.
    Any ideas?
  • I'm also stumped at the delay on this request.
  • "One thing I would personally like to improve, is making sure our members are more aware of the features we are releasing."

    I wasn't even aware of the improvements you had made in June, as they are not something I normally use. So I appreciate your very well-written explanation of what you have added to improve the functionality here!

    Yes!-- send out a newsletter about what you're doing to make Hipstamp better and better! Don't be shy about tooting your own horn!! :smiley:
  • I think you are right, we the sellers/owners of the stores here, had a huge learning curve to master before we could sit down and say, hey I like this that or the other. And yes, when the stores transferred we all had little problems pop up. I finally stopped listing here and went through and am still going through each and every listing to make sure all is right. It was/is a trip, but we all learn!

    And BTW, I was one of the first to ask about blocking buyers. So this is a feature we have wanted since we all started to list here.

    I can understand your frustration in wading through all those stamps. I wonder why that seller doesn't use the "quantity" column? Just a rambling thought.
  • Michael
    The initial request was made by me 11 months ago and it was not for blocking buyers, there is a separate thread for that, it was specific to blocking sellers, and at the time was roundly dismissed by Mark.
    You see it does not matter how many custom categories you'd like to have, if it's impossible to find any of your listings then why bother?
    Currently, as it stands, sellers are able to list 1000's of items at once and drown out anything else in a category, filtering them is impossible due to losing other listings you might be interested in , and if it's the usual suspects then you'd never buy from them in the first place. You yourself could list 50 items that I could be interested in and 2 minutes later another seller that I would like to block could list 5000 items and hey presto your items are now on page 100 and something!
    Mark has come up with alternative ways to search in a post above, however, it only works if the seller has provided all the detailing when the listing is made, a lot do not.
    Then you have other sellers wanting ridiculous flat rate amounts for postage, others want extra per item shipped, others do not ship outside the US ( for some strange reason they think the world ends after the 50 states), others list items so far overpriced I would never buy from them, the list goes on and on.
    This feature gives buyers the best option to actually find items they are interested in, thus improving sales!
    You asked for custom categories in August 2016, the same time as this request was made, this has received 57 comments and 1.5k views, custom categories has received 19 comments and 419 views. Which do you think is the more popular request? Now I'm not denigrating your feature request as you have with this one, however, it will not matter one iota how many items you list if people do not buy them or cannot find them, you just end up paying listing fees.
    I used to purchase almost exclusively on bidstart, the features available made it easy to find items and prices were reasonable. Since hipstamp came into fruition my purchasing is now mainly elsewhere. I spend around a $1000 a month on average on stamps and this place is seeing around 10% of that, because I really cannot be bothered wading through tens of thousands of utter crap listed by clueless sellers that have started to list here.
    How many other buyers are doing the same?

  • ...mmmm smell the Java :wink:
    mug
    (a gift for Mark)
This discussion has been closed.