posted on January 13, 2001 11:12:13 AM new
Ok, first off - let me say that I have had probably a hundred transactions with Canadian bidders and I've never had a problem until now. I have nothing against Canadians - I just happen to have a problem with this ONE bidder who happens to be in Canada. So this is NOT a Canadian-bashing thread!
Here's the deal.
Auction ended 12/30. Bidder wins 2 auctions. I email them my EOA email. Stated in my email: "This total is for U.S. residents only. If you do not live in the U.S. please email me your address so I can get you a correct total".
I ask all buyers for their email address anyways in my EOA email. Most of them email me their address, some never email at all and just send payment. This guy never emails me at all. 12 days later I receive their payment. I send them the "Thanks, received your payment" email. Still no problem.
Today I go to mail out the package (put postage on it using my Stamps.com) and I have no emails from him in my computer. I look on the envelope he sent me - the address is not legible. So, I email him that I am ready to ship his item but I need his address. The address on the envelope is not legible.
He responds with a Canadian address. First I've heard he lived in Canada!!
I quickly get the item weighed and check out rates for this package to Canada. The cheapest I can ship it out to Canada is $5 more than he paid already.
He responds:
I am sure that I contacted you on with the full information when the bid was won. Also, if you had noticed, the Money Order you recieved was from a canadian bank. I am QUITE sure there is enough postage funds given to cover the basic postage for a parcel post delivery of the items. You could also send the package POSTAGE due.
Trust me, I have done a fair amount of business with US Ebay vendors, and have NEVER had a complaint. (Mind you, he has all of 11 feedbacks)
I will pass on your message to XXXXX and hopefully this miscommunication on BOTH parts will be resolved quickly and to mutual satisfaction.
Should you not be willing, please refund the $$$ and we can both take this to EBAY management.
Ok, so here we go - a "threat" to report me to ebay. For what???
I tell him I have absolutely NO emails from his email address that he bid from in my computer and that he needs to send me the $5 extra for shipping to Canada.
He responds:
So much for good faith. I am extremely disappointed. Your money will be in expressmail on MONDAY, as Canadian post offices are not open during the weekend.
I have just gone and confirmed I have NO bids on any of your future items, and will guarantee that we wont have this problem again in the future.
Good faith?? Good faith means I'm supposed to eat $5 shipping because he failed to tell me he lived in Canada and failed to send me the correct shipping???
[ edited by ExecutiveGirl on Jan 13, 2001 11:13 AM ]
posted on January 13, 2001 11:32:59 AM new
I am a Canadian resident. When I bid on items, I always check first if they ship to Canada, and when I get the EOA, I always email them back to confirm the amount for shipping to Canada, unless it was clearly stated. (Which it usually isn't).
It sounds like this guy is newbie (with 11 feedbacks). He has to expect a few inconveniences, since most sellers are in the US. I think he's being a bit unreasonable.
Maybe next time he'll know to confirm the price before sending payment, and neatly print his address, or like me, print the EOA (unless I pay by PayPal).
You were just the lucky one to teach him his lesson. Incidentally, it is quite expensive to send a letter by ExpressPost. Depending where you live it will cost him at least $7.25 CDN (approx. $4.85 US).
When ever I have a dispute or problem arise, I say to myself "what a moronic idiot, how stupid can you be?" But when I email them I am extra polite, and even play dumb, like I don't understand how angry they are, rather than snapping back at them. You can't always fight fire with fire.
In any case, you had every right to ask for the money, although it's not going to make you very popular with this bidder, as you noticed.
posted on January 13, 2001 11:41:34 AM newDear EG:
My intuition (which is really good) tells me that this buyer tried to pull a fast one and get US shipping for an international package. He didn't give you his address in his e-mail (that's a basic which he should know if he's done a "fair amount" of Ebaying) and the return address was illegible (on purpose?).
BUT, here's why it may be YOUR BAD, as my teenagers would say: You sent the "thanks for your payment" e-mail before you checked or confirmed his address. He could argue that you accepted the total at that point.
I'm not saying he's right.....your EOA clearly stated the total was for US buyers only. But, then we all know buyers don't read..... But, let's admit at least that you didn't read his envelope very well either--Canadian postmark, Canadian money order, etc. It would have been more intriguing if he had crossed the border and gotten a US money order and mailed it from the US. THEN, we'd have a fun fight on our hands.
I'm glad you stood up for yourself and asked for the extra money. He can get snippy all he wants. Fair is fair.
posted on January 13, 2001 11:43:55 AM new
"I look on the envelope he sent me - the address is not legible. So, I email him that I am ready to ship his item but I need his address. The address on the envelope is not legible.
He responds with a Canadian address. First I've heard he lived in Canada!! "
Maybe I'm missing something here but you had the envelope in your hand. Regardless of whether he had an "X" in the return address area, did you not bother to notice the postmark and stamp. Both are significantly different from their US counterpart.
I think I would have also noticed that, even though the street address may have been unreadable, there was a 6 character postal code.
posted on January 13, 2001 11:46:57 AM new
By the way, while Canadian government run post offices in very small towns and rural areas are closed on weekends, in most towns and all cities, postal outlets are franchised and open 6 or even 7 days a week.
Bill
typo
[ edited by cdnbooks on Jan 13, 2001 11:48 AM ]
posted on January 13, 2001 11:53:46 AM new
True - I did not notice the Canadian postmark or the tiny little Canada stamp - (Smaller than a US stamp with a fox on it and says "canada" in little letters) but I get hundreds of payments in every week. I don't look at all of the postmarks on every envelope. I don't look at the envelopes at all. I just staple them to the back of the invoices to be shipped.
Do you all really inspect everything about the envelopes you receive payments in?
posted on January 13, 2001 12:10:52 PM new
Well, I do since actually receiving a payment is still a novelty for me. (Are my deadbeat bidders reading this?)
But, I notice this stuff because I enter their address in my Auction Manager Post Sale Management checklist. (AW: blatant plug...send commission checks to my address of record.)
This is, of course, after I have printed it out and filed it in the appropriate color-coded folder. I realize I need help.......
posted on January 13, 2001 12:11:01 PM new
Ok, update.
This morning when I asked him for his email address, it was like this:
His Name
His address #1
Calgary AB
Zip
Canada
Easy to identify it's from Canada, right?
Well, he also forwarded me the email he sent me before, from a TOTALLY different email address, TO a totally different MAILING address and it looked like this:
His Name
12345 His Street
Calgary, Alberta ZIP
Now - for starters - this is the FIRST time I've ever received a Canadian address in this format. It's written out like a US address. Second, I never would have known Alberta was in Canada. Third, he emailed this to me from a DIFFERENT email address - nothing like the email he was registered with through ebay - (in which I expect all correspondence to come from and the address I send all emails to).
So he had emailed me previously from an entirely different email address, to be mailed to an entirely different address than he sent me today, and he used a US address format.
It just looks to me like he was trying to trick me into thinking I was shipping to a US address.
Which, by the way - he just emailed me AGAIN and said he now wants me to ship his item to a US address!
reddeer: You really need to get over yourself. Perhaps you should read my first paragraph of this thread over and over until it sinks in.
posted on January 13, 2001 12:17:45 PM newcdnbooks:
give me an..."r"
give me a ..."u"
give me an..."d"
give me a...."e"
What do you have?
RUDE
I was not being rude, just discussing a problem I have with a Canadian bidder.
I just knew somehow that a few "certain someone's" (and you know who you are) would actually defend this kind of behavior - simply because the bidder was from Canada.
posted on January 13, 2001 12:19:44 PM new
What????
"this is the FIRST time I've ever received a Canadian address in this format"
Sorry but that is the standard Canadian format. You mean Americans use it too?
Except we don't have a 5 digit ZIP.
We have a Postal Code of 6 chatacters: LNL NLN (N is a number and L is a letter)
And while perhaps you don't know the provinces of Canada (actually most of us often forget about Alberta ), surely you didn't think that there was a state in the United States of America named Alberta?
It appears that this nice Canadian bidder is going to simplify your life for you by having it shipped to a US address.
posted on January 13, 2001 12:21:50 PM new
"I don't look at the envelopes at all. I just staple them to the back of the invoices to be shipped.
Do you all really inspect everything about the envelopes you receive payments in?"
When there's a problem with an address I sure do. I always verify that the addresses match between email and mailing. Saves a lot of trouble that way.
"this is the FIRST time I've ever received a Canadian address in this format. It's written out like a US address. Second, I never would have known Alberta was in Canada."
You hadn't heard of Alberta so otherwise you would have thought Alberta was a new US state you hadn't heard of when making out the shipment?
posted on January 13, 2001 12:24:48 PM new
And you know who you are ..........
I think you're missing the BIG picture here?
I sell to all points on the globe, and I too am a Power Seller, and I've never had this happen to me.
Why? Because I insist on the high bidders
Name
Address
ZIP/Postal Code
Country
before I package the item up for shipment. If I don't get it within a few days of the auction ending, I simply inform them the item will not be processed for shipment until I do. I also make it VERY clear in my EOA email that the shipping price is for NA only, and all other shipments must be taken to the PO before I can send them the total.
There's some helpful advice, if that's what you were looking for?
posted on January 13, 2001 12:24:58 PM newReddeer:
Sorry, didn't mean to tax your comprehension skills.
You copy & pasted the WRONG format.
He sent me originally his CANADIAN address in a US format - like THIS:
His Name
12345 His Street
Calgary, Alberta ZIP
And NO WHERE, did it say CANADA.
You know what's funny? An AMERICAN can have a civil conversation about something (like selling to Canada) until Canadians enter the conversation. Honestly! How do you all communicate over there????? LOL!
posted on January 13, 2001 12:37:03 PM new
Do you get the feeling that everyone giving you a hard time on this topic is a Canuck?
I do.
To all Canadians, if you can, try and count how many times you've come across a post (rant - whatever) having to do with Canadians either sending enough shipping for US delivery only or bidding on items that are only offered in the US. (Let's say in a week to make it easier)
Then, try and count how many times(ever) you've come across posts regarding the same instances from people living in other countries.
What do you get? If you need it explained to you, you must be Canadian.
But, let's admit at least that you didn't read his envelope very well either--Canadian postmark, Canadian money order, etc. It would have been more intriguing if he had crossed the border and gotten a US money order and mailed it from the US. THEN, we'd have a fun fight on our hands.
