It is 4am on another sleepless night.
I have spent the last several months watching a business person make a complete fool of themselves. Why you ask? Well because I am a people watcher and one of my pet peeves is watching someone else build them self up by degrading another person. So this particular situation caught my eye.
Can I do anything about this? No, probably not, but I can give an example.
I am in antiques, so we will use an example from what I might sell.
Lets say one person has an autographed picture of someone famous, and another person does not believe the autograph to be real. So the person who does not believe this to be true, makes a report against the person who has it.
Well, that's good, because really who would want to buy something that is not what it says it is? Not me, and I would certainly want to know if what I thought I had was indeed not what it appeared to be. So.. ok, now the report has been made, there are emails, and verification, and then everything appears to be settled. In the ensuing weeks and months, all is quiet and the person selling the autograph is doing good, and going about their business.
Then all of a sudden, out of the blue this issue pops up again, on this same autograph. The one that has been verified. So what is this seller going to do? To stay professional and keep their reputation intact, they need to address this. So, off go some more emails and then.... poof... silence.
THEN, the bomb... it appears since the person who has done the reporting, based on little to no reasons, is now slamming this other person because they feel this person is being "protected". "protected"? From what you ask? Why does this person have such a stake in something that has already been verified?
So you may ask how I would handle this, or how you your self would handle this, but at this point, I think the best thing to do is let this person, who has NEVER contacted aforementioned seller, hang themselves.
I saw a blog post recently done by a very good friend of mine, Susan Leak, "Are you talking to me, YOU, taking to me"? Found here>>> http://rantsravesrenagade.blogspot.com/2010/01/are-you-talkin-to-me-you-talkin-to-me.html Well you should read it, because they are. All over the internet and it is very easy to track down someones reputation and see what they are saying about people that maybe they should not be saying. very bad for business, very bad.
and here's the thing.... now they know who you are!
Enough said. Here's the deal people, when you try to ruin someone else, you shoot yourself in the foot. It is bad business to talk about another seller in a bad light. If you have an issue, take it up with them in private. If it is not satisfied to your liking, then there is not much you can do about except to move on. Slamming the other person, and insinuating horrible things about them, only makes you look bad, not the person your trying to discredit. It can also lead to lawsuits, based on defamation of character. I don't think any of us wants that. Do you?
3 comments:
You are completely correct and everyone should read this post.
Well said! Respectable dealers will go to the other dealer direct and inquire about the authenticity of an item, not run around saying they KNOW something is a fake when they dont.
Even online there is proper protocol for questions of legitimacy. The first being ask the dealer.
You are handling it the best way Gypsy, let them hang themselves. Having a public showdown with someone like that would only damage your creditability .
Unfortunately I've seen so much of this. Small minded non-professionals on the internet whose only goal is to ruin someone else. As an online seller for more than ten years I've seen this all too much. And I've been on the receiving end a few times as well.
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