posted on July 11, 2001 06:11:47 PM new
It was a normal transaction, he won 2 CD's from me, I state in my auction $2.50 for first CD, $1.00 each additional. Total of entire deal $10.00. I shipped them media mail in a bubble mailer, which apparently is the problem. Today I notice I have 2 negative FB's from him for smashed CD's and overcharged shipping. I than get an email explaining the smashed CD's and that I should have sent them priority. I did not respond to him, but I did respond to his feedback with "he did not ask for refund, did not give me a chance to resolve". While I was then writing an email in response to his first, I get this email from him which scares me, any suggestions? I did send it to safeharbor. HELP
I didnt ask for a refund because I figured youd have the decency to
offer a resolution. Instead, you ignored my email and sent NO REPLY.
Only an idiot or a greedy selller sends plastic cases MEDIA MAIL , which
is the new name for BOOK RATE!
The postal clerk is supposed to ask you if it's books which means you
lied. Im reporting you to the usps.
I am also warning your bidders that their video tapes and cds will also
be thrown around with heavy boxes filled with books!
All to save the extra $1 it would have cost for 1st class!!!!!
I have also written ebay to find out why the negative I left you does
not show in your feedback stats.
I will make your ebay life a living hell! And feel free to forward this
email to safeharbor. I can register 1,000 times with 1,000 ids and i
have access to numerous computers at my college with different browsers!
It was your idiocy sending it bookrate that caused the cds to be smashed
and I want my $10 back or replacements!
I will return the cds and 30 or so plastic case fragments.
You have been warned!!!!!!!
posted on July 11, 2001 06:26:10 PM new
Sorry to hear you've ran across such a lunatic. There's not much you can do besides forwarding the email [with full headers expanded] to SH and pray he goes away.
If he does indeed target all your auctions, you may have to start up with a new ID.
posted on July 11, 2001 06:30:20 PM new
Forward all to ebay! CD's are included in Media mail. According to the 2001 Mailers guide to Postal Regulations it includes, "books, films, music, record, plays, tests, charts, and so forth." So you were not in the wrong. It does need to be packaged well, but all carriers have damaged packages at times. Ask for proof of his emails. Be professional, do not let your temper go. He has already made himself look like a loose connon, do not do the same. Media rate is one of the services that came out of the old "book rate". the other being "Library". But "Book Rate" was just what everybody called it because originaly that is what made up the vast majority of it's bulk. The real name was "Special Standard".
posted on July 11, 2001 06:32:24 PM new
From the USPS website:
"Media Mail (formerly Special Standard Mail): For books, records, tapes, sheet music, educational material, film, and computer media weighing up to 70 pounds. Discounted rates are available for bulk quantities of Media Mail. Quick Service Guide 730, Media Mail (PDF or HTML) gives basic eligibility and rate information for single-piece and Presorted Media Mail, including instructions and diagrams for sorting the mail."
(If I post the specific URL, everyone will have to scroll sideways to read the rest of the thread, as the URL is wicked long.)
You may want to send him the media mail info. Or maybe let him report you and feel stupid
I personally would not refund if he already negged me. Did he indicate if the CDs are damaged or just the cases? If just the cases were smashed, you could just send new cases.
posted on July 11, 2001 06:41:14 PM new
I know he is wrong about the book rate thing, I have sent 100's without a problem, none broken that I know of either. He did say one of the CD's got scatched up. I did have in my description that one of the cases already had a crack in it, it could have just got alot worse. He has 9 feedbacks and has been registered for only 2 months and already has a deadbeat negative from someone else. i am just hoping he leaves my auctions alone, I don't know if I can prevent that at all.
posted on July 11, 2001 07:13:57 PM new
Good luck with this person. I ship hundreds of CDs every month and a large percentage go by Media Mail. I haven't had any problems with it at all.
posted on July 11, 2001 07:31:13 PM new
The real problem here is that he expects to be treated bad so he negged you before even trying to work anything out.
It is a self-fulfilling attitude.
Now what possible reason do you have to try to accomadate him at all?
With a little luck he will
1) Forget all about it since his emotional maturity of 6 years old makes it hard to maintain a tantrum.
2) Progress to physical threats that would allow you to give him some some real problems with law enforcement.
posted on July 11, 2001 07:44:11 PM new
He is obviously a total JERK! However, I'm not a great fan of shipping CDs or just about anything that CAN be broken in bubble mailers. Media Mail is of course perfectly wonderful for CDs; I just like tried & true BOXES!
Not only do boxes protect the item better...they also give the illusion of protection for your buyers! Like a nice restaruant meal, presentation can effect happiness??!! I sell items which are already packaged in very sturdy cardboard mailing boxes -- I still bubble-wrap them and ship them in an additional sturdy box! Do they really need it? Probably NOT! Do the buyers love it? YES! My feedback and email feedback is overwhelmingly HAPPY!HAPPY (getting a wee bet deep, hee,hee!)!
posted on July 11, 2001 08:03:18 PM new
he can not contact any bidders unless the ID is their email addy....or unless they have something for sale and he sends a question for seller for one of his items.......but he is all hot air......
posted on July 11, 2001 08:31:31 PM new
kiawok
sweet deal, i did not know that. i thought you could only conatact sellers or bidder who bid on your auctions.........sweet now i can get back to selling to losing bidders on auctions of items like i have to sell.....
posted on July 11, 2001 08:50:35 PM new
This guy is a nut job. I could not hold back any longer and had to email him, I did it calmly. Here is my email to him, followed by his response:
I arrived home today after being away for a couple days and read your email.
I was a little upset, but like my auction says guaranteed or your money
back, so I was about to paypal you your money back and apologize, but I
checked my feedback to see how high it was getting and lo and behold you
left 2 negatives. Thanks for giving me a chance to work this out with you.
Your first auction ended on the 13th and I let you go to the 29th until you
paid, I was understanding. It would have been no big deal to refund your
money or send another set of CD's. Although you seem to think you know more
about this than I do (I have been selling on eBay for over 4 years with over
3,000 positive feedback, you have been on for less than 2 months with a
feedback of 9 and one neg already to your credit), you need to learn a few
things, patience being the first. 2nd, the Post Office no longer has a
"book rate", they changed it to "media mail" this year and it includes
books, videos, CD's, albums, CD-ROMS, cassettes and other forms of media.
Here is a cut and paste from the USPS rate page: "The Media Mail rate is for
books, computer software; or records, tapes, sheet music; or medical
material to doctors, hospitals, medical schools". I have mailed 1,000's
this way with no problems.
3rd, I never said priority rate, shipping for 1 CD was $2.50, $1.00 for each
additional, no where did I say you get a free upgrade in shipping.
Here is his response (I don't believe I will email him again, although it is very difficult to let go):
I guess 4 years isnt long enough for you to realize that media mail (yes
it is the same as book rate) is thrown around and handled like #*!@.
I have bought over 50 cds with my girlfriends id and they were ALL sent
priority or first class.
You save about .70 by not sending it first class and i lose $10 because
of it.
You are so cheap it's sad.
Its all nickels and dimes with you and that attitude cost me $10. THE
CDS WOULDNT HAVE BEEN SMASHED IF YOU SPENT 70 FREAKIN CENTS OF THE EXTRA
"HANDLING" FEE FOR THE 2ND CD ON FIRST CLASS!
You are the cheapest seller on ebay and i will let all your bidders know
you are sending their items the slowest and most carelessly handled way.
And lets see ebay stop me!
Like I said, it takes 5 minutes to register
Take responsibilty for your mistakes!
I knew you overcharged me but I never imagined you would send them BOOK
RATE, which is what media mail still is.
Im also going to find out why you can receive a
negative and not have it show in your profile.
The bottom line is IT WAS YOUR MISTAKE!
I sent you enough to send it first class and still make a dollar off it.
Instead you reimbursed yourself for ALL your fees and I got junk because
of it.
And no you never intended to send any money back. You are full of it!
You ad says "not responsible for damage if not insured" so you clear yourself. Of
course you dont mention it will spend 8 days being thrown around with
boxes filled with books!
From now on I will never bid on an item in which the actual method of
shipping isnt clearly stated. Oh and why dont you mention the method?
Got something to hide?
posted on July 11, 2001 08:57:49 PM new
First, I do not condone the buyer's actions. Totally inappropriate.
HOWEVER....
A Bubble mailer IS NOT sufficient protection for a CD. Do a test: pack one up, lay it on the floor, take a box with a 5 pound book in it and drop the book end first onto the middle of the CD mailer from about 5 feet up.
I dont sell CDs, but you betcha they would go in a cardboard mailer.
posted on July 11, 2001 09:04:04 PM new
Wow, this guy is scary and I am sorry you are dealing with him.
I think from your replies you are trying to reason with him and that is adding fuel to his fire.
There is nothing you are going to be able to do to satisfy him.
What I would do, but I know not necessarily you, is I would refund all his money to him, with a little note saying something about sorry you missed his first email about the damage.
Yes, this is giving in to him. But maybe it would get him to go away and not fool with your other auctions. That would be my main object at this time, is to get this guy to go away. Maybe this might not work, but maybe it will. Certainly worth the refund money to me to try it.
It is useless to try to reason with these kind of people.
posted on July 11, 2001 09:21:20 PM new
Eventer, yes he had emailed me saying they arrived smashed and yada, yada, yada. This email came in the afternoon, and I of course didn't check my email until much later, which he took for an ignore and left the negs.
IT DOES NOT MATTER NOW, I HAD 80 AUCTIONS END TONIGHT AND HE HAS EMAILED EVERYONE OF THE WINNERS....WHAT THE HELL DO I DO, HERE IS WHAT HE IS EMAILING (THANKS TO A WINNER):
I am writing to warn you.
XXXX charged me $3.50 for shipping 2 cds.
They however, sent them media mail for $1.33, which is basically for heavy boxes of books.
I received the cds 8 days later SMASHED TO BITS!
No refund or replacement was offered and i received an email detailing every fee and material expense Tina was subjected to and why my cds were sent the most careless way to reimburse themselves the expense that every ebay seller incurs.
Your item will be shipped the same way.
Good Luck!
[ edited by doninpa on Jul 11, 2001 09:26 PM ]
posted on July 11, 2001 09:23:06 PM new
Do not worry about any feedback. I read peoples feed back aa the time and when ever somebody comes off like such an idiot as this guy I just disregard.
Secondly refund his money it will give you that many $ in peace of mind. He will think he got such a big victory, but he is a very little person.
Trust me, Prioity mail is'nt handled great either. I have been in mail order\shipping related businesses for many years. No carrier that handles millions of pieces uses kid gloves. Damaged proguct is a cost of doing business. Not a pleasant one but...
Move on, forget about him. If he does not move on contact ebay again & then the police. Save ALL emails.
Get a good nights sleep, if you do not you let him win, he wants you to worry.
posted on July 11, 2001 09:32:33 PM new
Media mail does get knocked around -- the only mistake that you made if -- one was made at all -- was to overlook that media mail requires a strong box especially if the package goes any distance.
posted on July 11, 2001 09:34:54 PM new
Of course the handful that emailed me so far want to know whats going on, and its real fun to explain over and over. I am starting to get confused.
Have that kind winning bidder forward the email with full headers to ebay Safeharbor as soon as possible. They DO pay attention to this type of stuff.
I had someone try to interfere w/an auction once by emailing bidders & they hammered the person but the winning bidder needs to forward the email to them.
You need to contact SH & let them know what's going on. Have your winning bidder use the number SH will put in the reply to you as your case number. And send ALL the correspondence you've received from him along w/full headers.
Eventer is correct, eBay will send this jerk in to never never land, but, seeing as he has already stated that he's going to make this his mission in life, you might want to consider running Private auctions for the next few weeks?
posted on July 11, 2001 09:50:18 PM new
I asked everyone who mentioned the letter to please forward to safeharbor, I guess I'll see if that works. I have been wanting to take some time off, now would be as good as any. I listed about 100 auctions tonight, any chance of getting listing fees back from eBay if I end them? OK that made me laugh. I guess I'll be up all night putting out fires, wouldn't be able to sleep now anyway, just glad there is someone to talk with (AW folks, I mean)
posted on July 11, 2001 09:53:27 PM new
And turn this to your advantage immediately with your winning bidders. Consider sending something like the following:
Dear Winning Bidder,
Congratulations on your winning bid and hope you will enjoy your new CD(s).
Sadly, you may have been contacted by a former customer who received some damaged CDs but left negative feedback before I was able to offer him a refund. If you received such an email, please be aware that he has directly violated ebay's rules in doing so. Ebay has been notified and his actions will be investigated. If you received such an email, please let me know so I can forward this information on to ebay.
It is my goal for all my customers to receive their CDs safely while paying the lowest shipping costs possible. I believe my shipping charges for CDs are among the lowest on ebay and it is rare for the CDs to be damaged in shipping.
Please rest assured, should you receive a damaged CD, I'll be glad to work with you.
(then go on to include your regular EOA stuff).
Take his power away from him w/your buyers. They are probably blown out of the water & don't know what to think. So seize the opportunity to turn it to your advantage.
And like kiawok said, you might have to run some private for a while until this nutcase moves on to the next seller who irritates him.
Sorry.
edited to add: Don't let him scare you off ebay..then HE wins!
posted on July 11, 2001 10:00:07 PM new
Eventer..that was beautiful. I already sent out my EOA's, but another email would not hurt, my customers expect nothing but the best from me. Luckily quite a few are repeat customers, so that must mean something. I will get busy on that letter right now. Thanks.
posted on July 11, 2001 10:14:13 PM new
Another avenue that could well put the brakes on his computer fun. He mentions college Internet access. If his email address allows you to identify the college contact them immediately. With some of the past problems that have been directly traced back to school computer labs I’m sure they would take action.
posted on July 11, 2001 10:14:17 PM new
Hope it helps some. And you might consider "beefing" up your auction TOS or description, emphasizing your customer service goals & refund policies.
posted on July 11, 2001 10:32:04 PM neweventer That letter is perfectly worded. I think it will take care of the situation very nicely for doninpa.
Is there a better place to get help than from the people on AW.......I don't think so.
Jane
Edited to add.
Great idea wynter, that should do it.
[ edited by mcjane on Jul 11, 2001 10:37 PM ]
!
