posted on January 16, 2001 12:26:45 PM
Actually whenever I send a followup, I do a FW: of the LAST followup (which contains a FW: of the previous...all the way back to the first EOA notice!)
But what irritates me to NO END is when they then respond (or after the initial EOA notice).. "Thanks, can you please let me know your mailing address and my total I owe you"? (When it's as little as 10 lines below the last line they copied back to me!!!)
posted on January 16, 2001 01:29:31 PM
Thanks mrlatenite. I was beginning to think I was the only one who could see the string of e-mail info, including my full address, and the total due, including the shipping.
After about 3 back-and-forths about why I don't accpt PayPal (as stated in the auction in the first place), I'll almost always get "What was your address again?".
posted on January 16, 2001 01:39:24 PM
Ryinn, I think you and some other posters are sending too many emails. If filing a NPBA doesn't get a reponse, then there doesn't seem to be any reason to email again. They, either, can't pay or don't want to pay.
I keep my emailing simple.
Usually within 24 hours after an auction ends, I send my EOA.
I ask that they repsond to my EOA, but I don't bother resending it if they don't respond. I've found that about 1/3 don't respond, they just send their payment. The non-responding bidders pay just as well and just as fast as those that do respond. So, I figure sending a follow-up EOA is just extra work for me and might irritate the bidder.
After about 14 days, if I haven't received payment or a reasonable excuse, then I send a What's-the-delay? email. Only 6.8% of my bidders get this.
7-14 days after that, if they still haven't paid, then I file a NPBA. 2.5% of my bidders get that.
7-14 days after that, if they still haven't paid, then I file a FVF and write them off as a deadbeat. 1.9% of my bidders are deadbeats.
posted on January 16, 2001 03:37:34 PM
One problem lately is that both internet email AND of course USPS mail is not reliable.
I have 7 emails addresses on 7 different domains (incl. email,yahoo,hotmail,msn,mailandnews) and I ALWAYS cc: myself (to my primary or secondary) on every email I send. Oddly enough about 1 out of 25 emails doesn't seem to get back to me.
So I always want to give the buyer the benefit of the doubt, ESPECIALLY if they've replied at least once. The never-replies I never get lenient.
Plus lately I've been having tons of payments postmarked up to 12 days BEFORE the day I get them. It's ridiculous! Seems to mainly be the entire east cost, and a handful from the west coast. But I'm in the middle of the country and the post office can't get payments to me in 4 days anymore...
So I want to be 100% sure before I ask for final free credit or neg someone that it really isn't the post office.
(This is the ONLY reason I wish I could make myself still take epayments...but their risks entirely outweigh the post office's slowness)
posted on January 16, 2001 03:57:01 PM
ryinn: I'm late to this party, but this part of your posting is key:
"In any event, I am glad to have heard from half of the missing buyers, but they all seem to think I am a horrible person for asking for my late payment!"
The entity asking for payment isn't you; it's the business identified by your eBay userid. This is an important distinction and once you internalize it, I think you will find it easier to deal with deadbeats.
You must never take anything personally that is hurled in your direction in e-mail, or, for that matter, on this board where inexperienced people dispense advice freely with nary a second thought. These deadbeats don't know you and you should not let them get to you. I know, easier said than done.
My eBay id is my business name. I'm about to change the corresponding e-mail address to: [email protected]. Why? Because it has my first name on it now and soon there will be three of us using that e-mail address. Think about doing that for your eBay business. It puts a remove between you and the abusive ones.
posted on January 16, 2001 04:14:32 PM
SLAM DUNKEM WITH A NEG AND MOVE ON a perfect feedback score is a feedback score that shows the seller is afraid to post a neg.which is not good. there are way to many freaks and deadbeats in this world for anyone to have a perfect score JMO
