Archive for the ‘unhappy buyer’ Category

Dear eBay Queen:

I purchased a pair of Converse tennis shoes for my son.  When I received them, I realized that they were not a men’s size 8, but a women’s size 8.   They were listed by the seller in the men’s category and a size 8.  I contacted the seller and asked to return them, as they were not what I expected.  I didn’t hear back from the seller for several days, when she finally responded she sent this email:

“Hi, it’s pretty clear these are a size 8, it says so in the shoe! I don’t understand why you want to return these, as they are as described.  Go ahead and send them back, but I am not going to be happy about this.”

• I mailed the shoes January 16^th with a delivery confirmation.
• I show she received the shoes back on the 20^th of January.
• I emailed on the 22^nd.  No answer.
• I emailed again on the 27^th and 31^st.  No answer.
• I opened a claim on February 3^rd.  She finally responded with this.

“What is your problem lady? Don’t you know what patience are? You’ll get your money, when I’m ready to send it back.  Thanks a lot for wearing the shoe for a month before sending them back. I can’t wait to leave you negative feedback.”

What is she talking about?  I received the shoes on 3 days before I sent them back, and there was a weekend in those 3 days!  I’m not the best eBayer, but even I know that a seller can’t leave negative feedback for a buyer anymore!  What would you do in a situation like this?

Randy, Ottawa, Ks

Dear Randy:

I would ignore all communication outside of the PayPal with this Seller.  Has the seller responded to your PayPal claim?  They only have  a few days to respond to the claim and then you will be able to close the case in your favor.  Have you entered in your delivery confirmation # on the PayPal site so that PayPal knows your seller has received your item back?  If not, make sure you do that immediately.

I am really sorry that you’ve been treated this way.  The good news is that you will receive your money back through PayPal, and you won’t receive any kind of strike or negative feedback from this seller.   The seller however, will have a ding against their account for having a case and not responding before it was closed.

Dear eBay Queen:

I have been selling on eBay for years just here and there. I decided to come back and try to sell full time due to my husband losing his job. I’ve posted about 100 items, and my fees are over $80. I opened a store in the hopes that would help offset some of the fees.

I haven’t had any big ticket items because I just don’t have the money to buy anything that has a high return. I’ve been selling stuff around the house, but I’m not making any money. It’s all going for fees. Can you help me understand how to go about making money? I thought I was making a little profit, but I found out that I wasn’t it. I’ve put all this work into listing and I’ve got nothing to show for it. What do I need to do?

Jan

Dear Jan:

Sometimes it takes a little help to get your selling off to the right start. Are you posting 100 items a month?  If so, a store is probably not the right way to go.  Non store owners get 50 free listings a month.  Sometimes eBay even runs 2 or 3 promotional specials each month, that will give you even more free auction listings.

I have also found that for the most part items do not get multiple bids like they used to, so you need to set your start price high enough to cover your expenses and make a profit. I used to start all my items at 99 cents to reduce fees and entice bidding.  Back then I almost never took a loss, but in today’s economy it is pretty risky to do.

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Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul, Kansas.

Dear eBay Queen:

I was in my local thrift store and found a few little things to sell on eBay.  When I went to check out a volunteer, was processing some new stuff that had been dropped off.  We struck up a conversation, and he showed me the rhinestone costume jewelry he was pricing.  The jewelry was in a large plastic grocery bag. I’m not sure why I did this, but I asked how much it would be if I bought it all, and he offered all of it to me at a price I could not refuse (24.99).

Now I have no idea how to sell these! I’ve gone through the bag, and have noticed that some pieces are marked, and others are not.  Some of the names are: Monet, Haskell, Trifari , Juliana and Eisenberg.  A couple of the pieces are marked Sterling.  I have a total of 19.5 pounds and maybe 112 individual pieces. How should I sell this?  The jewelry is beautiful.  I hope I did a good job.

Sonja L.

Dear Sonja:

WOW! I’m just a little bit jealous! There are several ways to sell this. Your first option is to sell it in a lot.  There are many sellers that choose to get the big bucks by selling it in a lot.  I’ve seen some lots go for $200 to $1400.00 when being sold in all together.  Your other option is to sell it by the piece.  Some Juliana and Eisenberg pieces can sell for upwards of $100.00 to 800.00 each!

The way I think I would go, is selling most of it by the piece.  I would invest in a good costume jewelry book or at least check one out at the library.  When you look through the book, try to get the costume jewelry “lingo” down.  The prices in the book are just a guide, and not what the current market will bear.  Since you don’t have a lot of money in the pieces I would start them between $9.99 and 14.99 each and see where the auction takes you.

Dear eBay Queen:

I think I need to vent to someone who understands.  I’ve mailed off 214 packages in the last month, of those 214 packages only 142 have been delivered!  These were all sent First Class Mail. I have buyers complaining left and right. Most of my buyers are being extremely patient, but I’m not sure how long I can hold them off.

There are AT LEAST 18 packages that I know of, most of whom are going to first-time buyers.  I shipped these within hours of their payment, and they still haven’t gotten their stuff. I went to my local PO twice and they keep showing they are at the “Processing Facility”.

It really ticks  me off that I had to spend three hours last night checking these things on the USPS website to make sure they have arrived.  With customer service like this, it’s no wonder the USPS is flippin’ broke. I’m so TIRED of tap dancing with my buyers, I’m not even a good dancer!  I am just watching and waiting to see my DSR ratings go down.  Not to mention the new negatives and/or neutrals that I will receive.  To top those off, you know I’ll lose my Top Rated Seller status along with it!

If I get through this without a negative or ding’d DSR, it will be a miracle!  Do you have any advice for me?

Mail King

Dear King:

This is totally unacceptable! I would contact your post master immediately, ask if you can meet with them and go over the tracking for the missing packages.  Hopefully they will be able to help you figure out what exactly is going on.  If your post master doesn’t seem too interested in helping you, I would contact the customer service number for the post office: 800-275-8777 or 877-876-8777.

Once you contact the post office, I would email the customers that have not received their items.  Let them know what is going on, and that you are on top of the situation.  Ask if they will be patient for the next week, and if they still haven’t received the items you will refund their money.

I am really sorry this has happened.  Let me know how this turns out.

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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? Email: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen:

I had an eBayer buy 13 books from me with my combined shipping rates posted in my listings.  I shipped the items the next day.  After the buyer left me feedback, I received 13 1 star scores in my DSRs, thereby trashing my account for an entire year and preventing me from becoming a TOP SELLER according to eBay’s rules. After doing a little research, I found out the buyer is another book seller on eBay, A TOP RATED SELLER who DOES NOT POST HIS COMBINED SHIPPING RATES in his listing!!

I thought maybe the DSR scores he left were a mistake. I emailed him to ask if he was happy with the sale. He emailed me back, and said “everything was fine.”

I went above and beyond what I said I would offer in my listing.  I told him I would ship media mail, but I sent the books priority shipping with insurance and tracking.  I called eBay customer support because I read on the feedback information page that “We also have safeguards in place to protect sellers against unfair negative or neutral feedback.”

Could you help me figure out what I am suppose to learn from this? Do you think this seller/buyer did this to prevent me from being a Top Seller?  Why did they buy the items if they were only going to ding my stars?

Bookish

Dear Bookish:

I do understand your frustration, and if this had happened to me I would be livid! I wish I had some really good advice for you.  In a situation like this I would contact the Dean of eBay Education, Jim Griffith griff@eBay.com and let him know what happened.  He will look into it.  If he sees any improprieties he will take action.

This is a really tough situation. I know how important it is to be a Top Rated seller to many people who sell on eBay.  I’ve read lots of articles and believe that most buyers do not understand the Top Rated Seller Program.  eBay has done it’s marketing to the sellers on it’s importance, but not to it’s buyers.  Buyers want their items fast and at a good price, they are not looking for a Top Rated Seller badge.  I know this doesn’t help much.  I hope that Griff is able to help you and the ones will be removed from your Detailed Seller Ratings.

Dear eBay Queen:

I’ve been selling for a year or so. People tell me it is good for your business to sell worldwide. I’ve sold a few things without a problem to other countries, but I am wondering if I should continue to do so.  I was sitting at Starbucks the other day and overheard these 2 women talking about eBay.  They were discussing selling internationally and talked about all the risks.  I butted in on the conversation, and here’s some of the information I learned from them.

1.      Germany, France, Italy, and Israel are high risk and up to 50% of our packages have issues in these countries.

2.      Always ship with tracking

3.      Be prepared to eat 5% of your orders when the buyers file claims because the customs agent stole it.

What do you think of this advice? Is it more of a risk than its worth to sell internationally?? 

Sharon R.

Dear Sharon:

I am not a huge international seller.  I do sell a few things here and there, but most of my products are bulky and heavy, which makes them pretty expensive to ship over seas.

I have heard the same thing about shipping to Germany, France and Italy.  I don’t know what it is about shipping to those countries, but they do seem to have some issues with customs and delivery.  You can easily alleviate this problem by selecting to NOT ship to those countries.

Never ship any package without tracking.  When I ship overseas, I always include insurance.  I am unsure about statement #3.   I do know that if you add insurance to all of your overseas shipments, you will not be “eating” any of your orders.

There is a risk in selling anywhere, but if you have the goods that international buyers want, I say go for it!

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