I’m mainly a buyer on eBay. However, I have sold a few items here and there. I’ve run into a couple of sellers that are really angering me. My partner and I are debating what I should do in these situations. We were trying to find the answer on the internet when we found you. We are wondering how you would handle this.

 

I was notified yesterday that a juicer I bought from a seller in Atlanta, Georgia, was damaged in a flood in the woman’s basement. After the seller notified me, she refunded my money. I’m not happy about this. So her basement flooded! Can’t she send me another one? Go to the store and get one? I don’t understand why her problem is becoming mine. I want my item! I really feel like I should leave negative feedback, because I didn’t get it.

 

 

1.     Two weeks ago I received a box that had been “opened during mailing”. I contacted my post office, and the seller. The post office told me that some how the package was opened during its trek between Oregon and Massachusetts. Insurance was not purchased on the package, and the post office will not refund my money even though one of their machines opened my package. The seller told me they were sorry, and refunded my money but not the shipping. They asked me to cancel the transaction through eBay. 

 

Why would I cancel the transaction? How is this my fault? It seems to me this is a postal and seller issue. To me, this is one example of where I might as well leave negative feedback, regardless of the underlying reason for failure to complete the transaction.  

 

Is negative feedback appropriate in these situations? What do you think?

 

Simon & David

 

 

 

I understand your frustration. I would say that both of these sellers have done exactly what they are supposed to do. They gave you a refund immediately when they realized they could not provide the product, or it did not arrive.

 

In these types of situations I try to remember the Golden Rule Do unto others as you would want them to do to you. To help understand how the seller is feeling, try to put yourself in the sellers’ position. Would your eBay sales be the first thing on your mind if your basement was flooded and you lost your inventory? How would you feel if on top of all that you’ve lost (inventory, personal effects, etc); your buyer gave you a negative? This same thinking should apply to the second question also. It’s not the seller’s fault that a post office machine opened the packaging and your item was lost.

 

I believe negative feedback should only be used when a seller’s actions are out of line. In both of these cases, the seller did the right thing and tried to make a bad situation right again. If these were my transactions, I would leave glowing positive feedback for both sellers because they did their best to take a bad situation, and make it right again.

 

 

I have a problem, and I am not sure what to do. I’ve looked in eBay Help but couldn’t find the answer to this. I have several college textbooks as a fixed price listing. One of them sold last night. Normally with these types of sales I received payment instantly because the buyer needed it yesterday. I didn’t receive payment and two days later I receive an email from buyer saying his instructor had changed the book, and he doesn’t want to purchase it. How do I (or buyer) cancel this transaction? The best I could figure is to just ignore this, and relist the book. Thanks for your help.

 

Steven J.

 

In order to cancel the transaction, you’ll need to file a non-paying bidder. Go to: http://resolutioncenter.ebay.com/ . Choose “I want to cancel a transaction.” Follow the instructions eBay has for you. eBay will send the buyer an email to see if they want to cancel. Once the buyer cancels the transaction, your final value fees will be refunded.  You will not receive a refund for the listing fees. For more information on how to cancelation process works go here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/cancel-transaction-process.html

 

 

 

I am having a real problem with this Detail Seller Rating plan eBay has put into effect. When accused of a crime, we have the right to confront our accuser. With Detailed Seller Ratings, though not really being accused of a crime, (I suppose buyers think handling fees are criminal), we don’t get a chance to defend ourselves.

 

Over the weekend, someone must have left a very low rating. My 30-day average of 4.9 for Shipping and Handling Charges  dropped to 4.47! My Search Standing went from Raised to Lowered. This happened in just a day or two, because I had checked late last week. Only positive FB comments have been left, and I haven’t heard complaints from any buyers. So I have to just wonder who decided to do a kamikaze run on my DSRs. These buyers can just slide in, ding my stars and disappear. No opportunity to give my side of the story. 

 

How should I handle this? Is there any way to bring my scores up?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to start my Christmas shopping early. I do most of it on eBay. Last week I was shopping for a vintage movie poster to put in my husband’s home theater he has been working on all summer. The poster is about 1.5 pounds and of course, will ship easily in a shipping tube or USPS triangle box. The auction states it will be shipped in a mailing tube, and the seller says shipping will be $35 next day air. I really don’t need this shipped next day air. 

 

I emailed this to the seller”

 I receive this email back:

 

 Is this guy rude or what? What should I do about this? I don’t mind buying the poster but I don’t want to be taken advantage of like that.

 

Wow! That guy’s a real jerk! Normally, I would tell you not to purchase anything from him and just move on to the next seller; but since he gave you ammunition by saying; “Geez lady, do you think I’m going to sell that poster so cheap and not get my money back some how?” He is admitting to breaking the rules. I would go back to the auction and at the bottom of the page it reads: “Report this item” Click on that link and follow the instructions to report him for Fee Avoidance. I would also include a copy of his email as proof to what he is doing along with the headers.

 

I’m sorry you ran into such a tyrant. I hope the rest of your Christmas shopping is very pleasant!

 

 

 

 

I am a small seller, still love the fun of eBay, but I just don’t understand some sellers and how they run their listings! Why would a seller put something up for a Buy It Now of $1.00? Don’t the fees between eBay and PayPal eat almost the entire dollar up?

 

 

 

 

I sell handmade jewelry on eBay and Etsy. I make the jewelry myself, and do not understand what to do about the message I received from a buyer. She purchased a beautiful bracelet and earring set from me on eBay. The set was new, and I included 5 photos of the set in my eBay listing. I woke up this morning to this eBay message.

 

“I received the earrings and bracelet set. It seems very small, and when you compare it to the picture. You realize it’s not as big or chunky as it looks in the photos right? Can you explain to me what you did? Are you sure that you sent me the correct item?   I mean it looks the same, but when I look at the photo it’s HUGE. You had to of enlarged or stretched the photo, which makes bracelet and earrings appear larger. I was disappointed with the size. I’m not sure what to do at this point.”

 

I sold the jewelry for 89.00 + shipping. In my auction, I listed the size of the bracelet and said the earrings were 1” long and the dangling bead was about the size of a nickel.  I also didn’t stretch the photos out. They were 500×500.  Don’t you think I was clear? My friend says I should just give her a discount. Please tell me what to do about this.

 

Meghan; Lawrence

 

I don’t think this buyer has much experience purchasing jewelry off of the internet. I know in a time like this her lack of experience doesn’t really make a difference. Many times it’s easy to just blame the buyer for not asking questions about the size or simply reading the eBay ad to see what size the items are. I’ve had this happen to me, and I like to include a ruler, quarter or a crayon to show the size or color of an item. 

 

 

As for the picture being enlarged or stretched: if you had stretched the picture, everything in the picture would look stretched. Even if it is the photo quality or the buyer didn’t read the auction you still are stuck with the buyer being unhappy.  As an eBay seller you don’t want an unhappy buyer as this can translate to lower DSR Scores and negative feedback.

 

If this were my auction, I would email the buyer and let her know that you are sorry she is unhappy with the size of the item.  Let her know that you would be happy to refund her money once the item is returned to you. I would also (nicely) point out that you listed the size of the items in the description and completely understand how that can be overlooked. Once she sends the item back refund her money.