Archive for November, 2010

Dear eBay Queen:

I really messed up! I have never bought or sold on eBay before; why I thought I could do this, I have no idea!  I was going to get married October of this year, but my fiancé backed out because he decided that he needed to have several women besides me.  I thought I should get rid of all of this stuff that reminds me of my mistake.  I started with my wedding dress.  I know I should have started with something smaller, but looking at that thing hanging on my bathroom door has been making me crazy.   I listed my wedding dress, put lots of photos and what I believe is a good description, but I put it on for the wrong price! 

I bought a designer St Pucchi wedding dress.  The price I paid for the dress was $5420.00, but on eBay I put the Buy it now price as $4080, and the starting bid at $100. I did not know that I had to keep track of the bidding and all, and since no one bid on it, the dress sold today for $100. I was devastated because I love the dress SO much and I feel as if it was too cheap because of what I paid for it.  What should I do? 

From now on, I will get help with all the items I sell, as this was my first time and I got it wrong. What should I do?  Do I have to sell it for this price? 

Ashley T

Dear Ashley;

I am so sorry this happened.  I think you might have confused your starting price with a reserve price.  It is against eBay rules to refuse to sell/send your item once your buyer has won and paid for it.  Here is a link to the rule http://pages.ebay.in/help/policies/non-selling-seller.html  or here http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html .

I completely understand why you would not want to sell your item for this price.  In this situation you have a couple of options.

• Contact your buyer to let them know you are a first time seller and were confused about the start price, buy it now price and reserve price.  See if they will let you out of the sale.  A little warning: by doing this, they could report you as a non selling seller.
• Contact eBay and let them know what happened.  There is a small chance they might help because you are new.  A fast way to get help is emailing griff@eBay.com.

Dear eBay Queen:

I buy old plumbing fixtures and renovate houses with my purchases.  I’m more than a little upset.  I bought a bunch of antique plumbing supplies off of eBay.  The seller said he was shipping 2 parcels at a cost of $70.00.  This fee was the advertised flat rate fee.   Today, I received one box with my items and noticed he only paid $10.80 for postage, and the other box was only $19.90.  Why would he tell me it was $70.00?   Isn’t this against eBay rules?

The items that I purchased are not as advertised.  I bought some vintage faucets and plumbing supplies. The seller said they were in good condition, and upon inspection one is a lot worse than pictured.  Despite the defects, I cleaned it up anyway and installed it.  It leaks, and is totally not what the seller represented it as.

I’m pretty upset about this shipping issue, and I’m not sure what to do with the items that are not what the seller advertised.  Do you have any advice for me?

 Victorian Plumber

Dear Plumber;

In this situation I would email your seller to let them know the items are not what you expected.  Wait for them to respond.  If they offer a refund once they are returned, follow through and return the faucets.  If the seller does not respond, or doesn’t offer a resolution to the problem I would open a dispute against them.  By opening the dispute you will involve eBay and PayPal.  The seller will have to respond to you. 

When it comes to the overage in shipping, there are a couple ways of looking at that: 

• ·         The shipping cost was listed upfront, and you agreed to it when you purchased the item.
• ·         The seller listed a flat rate of $70.00 to all buyers.  You could live closer to the seller than a buyer in California, where it would cost more to send.

I do agree you were overcharged for shipping, and are owed a refund.  I am just giving you a couple of different ways to look at the situation.  If the seller is willing to resolve this, I would mention to them how unhappy you are with the shipping charges.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 160507106609 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Beatles are on I-Tunes and now they can be on your tree! Check out this set of 4 vintage Glass Beatles ornaments SOLD $910.00    http://cgi.ebay.com/COMPLETE-SET-4-VINTAGE-ITALIAN-GLASS-BEATLES-ORNAMENTS-/160507106609

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen:

I have a small eBay problem.  I’ve been selling on the internet for 4 years, and it has always been my policy to not accept refunds. I recently sold a card from a card game called Yugi-Oh!.  The buyer paid me $5.00 for the card (including shipping).  He emailed me after he received it and claimed it was fake. 

He was very nice, and asked if he could exchange it or get a refund.  His email was very nice.  He told me “he understands that I didn’t do this on purpose”.  I didn’t know it was fake.  I don’t know what to do; I no longer have the $5.00 in my PayPal because I spent it.  I’m not sure how to give his money back without any money in there.  What should I do? I said no refunds, but I had no idea the card was fake!  I never even said whether it was real or fake anyway, I just listed the picture and the name of the card.  It was only $5.00, and I doubt he will take any legal action, I do want to solve this but I’m  stumped here, what should I do?

Tom P, Gardner, KS

Dear Tom:

I have never heard of a fake Yugi-Oh! card.  I did a little research and found out they are quite prevalent.  Here are couple of websites to help with identifying faux trading cards. http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Counterfeit  and http://www.yugiohcardmaker.net/ .

In a situation like this, I would ask the buyer to return the item for a refund.  I understand your PayPal account does not have the $5.00 in it; you could refund your buyer with an e-check, or add money to your PayPal account now so the money will be there when it is time to refund him.

One of the things you should keep in mind, even if you have a “no refund” policy, is the fact your buyer could still file a claim against you, and PayPal will take the money out of your account without your approval.

Dear eBay Queen:

I sell and collect My Little Ponies. I recently received a negative because a scammer wanted a refund and to keep the item. I was pretty miffed and I blocked the buyer.  Due to eBay's current policy for seller protection and their "Buyer is always right, even when scamming for free stuff" policy, I have started to screen my buyers more carefully.  I am considering canceling bids from buyers that have a habit of leaving a lot of negatives for sellers, or leaving them for unjust reasons. 

Recently I had a buyer that slipped through my usual net and is starting to worry me with negotiations for lower shipping for the ponies after the auction had ended. Luckily, we were able to resolve it, but that kind of thing, (people not getting their way) ends in a negative feedback more often than not.

What are your thoughts on preemptively preventing proven problem buyers from bidding on your items? It makes me feel a little like a jerk and like I am limiting my auctions.  A couple of weeks ago, another buyer slipped through. She bid on 2 of my ponies.  She lost the bid on one and won the other one that she really didn’t want. She sent me 4 or 5 emails complaining about how she lost the bid.  She ended up leaving me a negative for the pony she did get stating that she did not know the pony had orange in her hair.  (The auction had four photos of the pony with the orange hair and even listed out the colors of the pony in the auction).

PonyGRRL

Dear PonyGRRL:

I completely understand your apprehension with buyers who are quick to leave negative feedback.   I believe it is certainly within your right to block buyers that you believe are quick to leave negative feedback.   I would say if you have the time and means to check out each buyer and their feedback they have left, then go for it. 

I really believe eBay needs to do something about buyers who try to re-negotiate the sale after the fact.  It is this very thing that I think is driving some sellers away. 

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 350407805064 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Remember when cars had hood ornaments?  Check out this LV A Ronson Uncle Sam Hood Ornament Radiator Cap SOLD $1,550.00  http://cgi.ebay.com/LV-ARonson-UNCLE-SAM-Hood-Ornament-Radiator-Cap-RAREST-/350407805064    

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen:

I am an established eBay seller with over 2000 sales under my belt.  I have this buyer from Canada who expected next day delivery from the USA.  I could have arranged this, had he told me BEFORE I shipped it, and had he been willing to pay for the overnight shipping.

The buyer keeps emailing me, asking where the item is.  I mailed it 2 days ago, and I have provided him with the customs tracking information, yet he still persists in emailing asking where his item is.  Today he emailed me asking how long it takes to mail something, and tells me I should know that “First Class Mail to Canada takes around 5 days.”

I’m not sure what to do.  It states up front in my listing and again when he paid for the item how long it would take to get to him.  I’m getting a bit fed up with his emails. What can I do once the item has been sent?

Have you had any experience with international buyers that have unreasonable expectations?  Do you have any ideas what more I can do to put an end to all of his emails? I have 100% positive feedback, and I am an honest seller. I am really worried about what kind of feedback he is going to leave me.

Joy; Williamsburg, KS

Dear Joy:

I have had my fair share of unreasonable international buyers. How long has this buyer been on eBay? He sounds like he may be new.

You definitely did the right thing by letting your buyers know up front how fast you ship.  If he didn't stipulate that he needed the item next day, this is his fault.  If this were my transaction, I would write him one more time and explain these points:

·         The date the item was shipped

·         You did not receive communication before you shipped, or the appropriate funds to send the item overnight.

·         Apologize the item won’t arrive when they wanted it to, and that there was a lack of communication.  Let him know had you know before hand, you would have made sure it was shipped overnight.

The only other thing you could do is request their contact information and give them a call to explain it to him on the phone.  Good luck with this!

Dear eBay Queen:

I sold a used laptop on eBay a couple of days ago. The winning bidder has a -1 feedback (I wish I had noted this before the auction ended. I would have cancelled their bid). The buyer sent me a message right away saying that he would only pick up and pay cash. The listing clearly said that pick up was not available.  I wrote back to him saying that pick up was not an option as advertised, and I would appreciate if he used PayPal.

I don't allow pick ups any longer because I had a bad experience with other people wanting to pick up their items.  I’ve had people repeatedly calling to ask for directions while on their way to my place, some people turning up in the middle of the night and some buyers trying to haggle down the price.

My buyer still hasn’t paid, and I don’t know what to do next. I know I can go through eBay's dispute process but that means I could possibly not sell my laptop before Thanksgiving and I need cash now.

Any ideas what should I do?

LapTop; Topeka, KS

Dear Top:

I completely understand why you do not want someone to do a pick up.  I have not ever allowed anyone to pick up items at my house.  I always meet them at a public place like McDonald’s. 

You could open a dispute against this buyer, and since they did not pay, you would win.  The dispute could be settled within 7 days; you could relist your item and quite possibly have your money before Thanksgiving.  If this were my transaction, I would consider meeting the buyer at a public place (with a friend) and taking the cash.  I understand you have had problems in the past, I think that was because they were coming to where you live as opposed to meeting you.  If you meet at some place like McDonalds, they will be able to check out how the laptop works and you’ll receive your money without having to pay PayPal fees. 

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 190462914899 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Are you crafty? How about making a few wreaths? Thanksgiving Pilgrim Wreath SOLD $289.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/RESERVED-CUST-ORDER-SUZANNE-Thanksgiving-Wreath-2-/190462914899   

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com