Yesterday I received a cone of “reeled silk” from India that I had purchased on eBay awhile back, and the first thing B. said when I opened it was, “Are you sure that’s real silk?” I thought “yes” initially, because reeled silk is quite glossy, but then I got to wondering. So I looked at the inside of the cone, and it read “filament rayon”! I then did a burn test on it, and whatever it is, it ain’t silk. It’s some sort of cellulose fiber, so probably rayon.
So I did the obvious thing, which was to write an incensed message to the seller demanding my money + shipping back. If they don’t refund it I’ll leave negative feedback, that’s easy. But if they do refund it, what to do then? I feel an obligation to the eBay community (particularly inexperienced buyers who can’t tell the difference between rayon and silk) to do something about it, but I don’t feel I should leave negative feedback for a seller who did return my money.
So I am thinking I will leave neutral feedback advising that the seller is selling fake goods and a link to a place where they can learn about burn tests. And THEN mention that they refunded my money.
But I am curious what other people think. What would you do?
Before anyone says anything negative about eBay, however, I should say that I have had quite a few good deals from reputable sellers off eBay (it’s how I found my current silk supplier), and in 200+ transactions have only had two bad ones: a woman who was selling acrylic scarves as cashmere and this seller. That’s a pretty good ratio, so I’m still happy with eBay. In this case the seller has only a few feedback ratings, so I knew I was taking a chance, but I’m always curious about new silk sources so I gave it a try.
No progress the last few days – between B. needing to go to urgent care on Monday and various other things, I haven’t had any chance to weave! I’m hoping to get some more time to weave on Thursday morning, but this is going to be a busy week, so I may not be able to finish up the yardage this weekend, as planned. I have a guild meeting on Thursday and tonight I’m going down to Santa Cruz to pick up a new saddle for the used bike I bought. So it’s been a busy week.
Peg wrote in her blog about a blah day she’d had, and linked to an interesting article about inspiration and burnout. I won’t repeat the article, because what it suggests pretty much covers the advice I’d give, but Peg also asked about how to survive the inevitable down days. My answer (from a LOT of down days due to undiagnosed bipolar disorder, back in the day), is just to take care of yourself on down days. Don’t expect yourself to be productive (whatever form that takes for you), don’t berate yourself for not being “up”, and instead consciously focus on taking care of yourself – a hot bath, a cup of hot chocolate (my favorite “cure”), a walk somewhere beautiful, etc. Whatever relaxes you and whatever you find enjoyable.
In my experience, 90% of the suffering in a “down” day is self-imposed, by expecting yourself to be as productive/happy as you would be on a regular day. It’s OK to take a day off.
(If this keeps recurring, of course, get yourself checked out for clinical depression or other medical issues.)
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ice cream…………….chocolate cookie dough ice cream………….
feed back on rayon yarn. I taught at a technical college (textiles) and had students from India. They did not always know the difference between rayon and silk or seem to think it was important (many long discussions), it seemed to be a cultural thing. You might want to put it as”mislabeled as silk” as the seller might not have know or thought it important.
Teresa
Since I don’t have many down/sick days, I enjoy them when they happen. Feel what you are feeling, don’t try to ignore it. Most times, if you just acknowledge you are having a crummy day, it helps lighten the whole experience.
If they lied about fiber content, they don’t deserve anything but negative feedback, even if they do return your money. Sorry, I’m a hardliner on this one!
Teresa is correct. I learned where I visited India that they call anything that looks silky “silk.” If you want real silk, you have to ask for “natural silk.” Poly, rayon, probably tencel, and silk are all called silk, but asking for natural silk brought out only the real thing. So your cone of yarn would be called silk there. The problem is mis-communication, not fraud. Now that you know, you can be more specific in the future.