Posts Tagged ‘eBay Problem’

Dear eBay Queen:

I had a buyer purchase some earrings on January 30.  She complained my shipping costs were too high.  In the name of customer service I decided to lower the charges by $1.00.  The buyer finally paid on February 6th. I shipped on February 7th and made a label through PayPal.

This week the buyer e-mails me and says "I never received the earrings! What the heck is going on?”  I looked at tracking and saw that it was delivered on Feb.11th. I emailed the buyer to let them know, and they emailed back with their address, and asking me to confirm the address I sent it too.  I realize after looking at the PayPal page, that I shipped to the WRONG address and to the WRONG STATE.

In my defense, it said confirmed address and verified buyer too. I tried to figure out what to do on PayPal, but it looks like now it is up to the buyer to file a claim. Please give me your advice what to do. I don't want to receive negative feedback, and I don’t really think I should refund her money. It is only $15, so I will if I have to, but I don’t want too!

Blue’s Gifts –n- More

Dear Blue:

The first thing I would do is go to the eBay item and check her address out there.  Does it match the one listed in PayPal?  If the PayPal address and the eBay address to do not match the address your buyer gave you, I would call the buyer and let them know.  If you do not feel comfortable calling them, you can email them, but it usually saves some time talking to them on the phone.

I’m guessing your buyer has moved, and did not update their contact information.  You are right that this is not your fault, but the buyer could still leave you negative feedback.  In this particular situation I would work with your buyer to get the item back.  I would call the post office in the town your item was delivered and speak to the carrier about the item.  I have had an item returned to the carrier and returned to me once by doing this.

If your buyer does file a claim, you can always point out that you sent the item to the confirmed address.  I don’t know if this will help you win the case, but it should.

If for some reason it ends up that this was not the buyers address and the mistake is yours you will need to refund the buyer.

Dear eBay Queen:

I had a brand new grandbaby born two weeks ago.  I went shopping on eBay for some cute clothes for her.  Anything that was in her size that I liked, and was listed at .99 I would bid $2.01. I bid $2.01 because I figured people would bid $1.99.  I won some and I lost some.

I did win the cutest handmade outfit.  I won the bid for .99 and $3.95 shipping.  I paid for the item via PayPal and waited for the item to get to me. A few hours later I received an email from the seller telling me I owed her another $2.50 and she even sent me an invoice for it on PayPal. She told me the fees and shipping was more than I paid.  She added a little blurb about how she was selling items to make a profit not a loss and she was not giving this away for free.  I wrote her back refusing to pay the extra I told her I
paid everything the listing told me too and if the shipping was more she should have figured that out before listing the item. I also suggested she should not list items for .99 if she is not willing to sell them for that price. I told her I was sorry and that I am also a seller so I feel her pain but I have taken a loss on items along the way too. She sent me the outfit and it is much nicer than I thought. Now I feel bad.

Should I send her the extra money?

Grandma Jenny

Dear Grandma:

Congratulations on your new granddaughter! You are right, it is the sellers responsibility to make sure the shipping is correct and to make sure their profit margin is what it is supposed to be. They also have to realize that if they list an item for 99 cents and it is not bid up at least a few dollars they are not going to make any profit.  On the same note: if they don't price the shipping correctly they could easily lose money. I would not feel bad about the purchase, you did everything a buyer is supposed to do (bid on the item, won and paid promptly).

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 220730555241 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Did you ever save any Matchbooks? Check out this 9500+ Rare Vintage Matchbook Collection SOLD $3560.00 Chek it out HERE.  

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 took one of your eBay classes last year. You discussed doing research to see how much an item was worth before listing it on eBay. In doing this, I’ve discovered quite a few people are SO negative when they list their items on eBay.

I recently purchased a large lot of plastic toy animals. They appear to be from a circus or jungle toy set. While researching to see if I should list them all together in a lot, or separately, I came across a toy seller that put the following in their auctions:

NOTE: I will unfortunately not be able to continue offering individual figures at low cost for the collectors looking to fulfill their sets due to forthcoming changes wrought by eBay management and being implemented at the end of March 2010.

Once again their insatiable greed and determination to drive the small sellers out of the market have prevailed and due to significant 666.6% cost increases (Biblical prophetic irony?) in listing fees for store items (from .03cents per listing per month to .20 cents per listing per month.) This will no longer be cost effective as many of the items I sell are $1 – $10.00 each, and this increase is in addition to the basic store charge fee of 15.95/month and 12% final selling fees. Of course we store sellers can keep our 3 cent listing fees – IF we want to pay a $299.95/month store fee. To those loyal patrons whom I have so enjoyed meeting and had hopes of continuing a bright future of service in offering many store listings, for I sincerely regret that the management of eBay has undermined any such hopes for myself and many other eBay store operators who will be forced into facing radical reduction of inventory or closure.

eBay was the place where dreams of finding that treasure from the past for sale by average sellers like myself was possible. But even though many of my patron buyers purchase multiple items and as a collector & seller I use these funds to buy from other eBay sellers, all of which eBay receives a percentage of, though I am willing to devote my time & work in listing such items for the fellow collectors, it is not worth eBay’s time or trouble to maintain such listings for such low dollar amounts. To anyone considering establishing an eBay store I would strongly advise against it. eBay defines the word Anti-Trust by their every action as it has taken a year and half of very hard work to set a store in place just to have them yank the rug from under the feet of all sellers like myself. I wonder what excuse they will give their stockholders should there be a mass exodus / closing of stores like mine. What do you, the buyers, think this will do towards increasing the prices of sellers and the selection of items listed? Talk about kicking a Country in the teeth when it’s already down economically.

Do you know why a seller would do this?

Janelle; Olathe, KS

Dear Janelle:

To me this is VERY unprofessional. I don’t disagree with every point the seller made, but I would never tell my buyers those things. The changes eBay has made over the last 4-5 years have hit some sellers where it hurts. If this seller’s business is taking a hit like he says it is, then why tell his customers? I have found the more willing you are to adapt and modify with these eBay changes, the more successful you will be in the end.

Dear eBay Queen;

I read your article from September 23rd, and I have a problem with what you told J Banks. I don’t understand why you want us, the buyers, to educate the idiot sellers that can’t seem to do anything right. So she’s a new seller, so she had a death in her family, in real life does any of this matter? People expect to receive what they paid for quickly. Is it too much these days for a seller to do what they are paid to do? SEND THE ITEM?

Mad; Gardner, KS

Dear Mad:

I understand as a buyer you want your item as fast as possible without hassle. I think it is important to realize that eBay has created a lot of small business people. Some of which have more knowledge than others on running a successful business. Your opinions will seem callused and pretty offensive to most readers. I hope this was because of a bad day, and not your outlook on life.
In life just like on eBay I feel it’s important to remember the Golden Rule.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 110588160179 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Like Halloween? Check out this Vintage Child’s Halloween Pumpkin Tea Set SOLD $915.99 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110588160179

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 .