posted on July 12, 2001 10:30:39 AM newGreat, now I am getting winners who would rather not go through with the transaction because it just is not worth it. What is that supposed to mean?
doninpa,
I'm sorry to check back in this afternoon and find your situation getting a bit more frustrating.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Possibly some buyers new to your auctions who have gotten frightened by the situation.
If he was this threatening with you, no telling how threatening he might have gotten with your winning bidders. He might have threatened to follow THEM around as well & make their lives a nightmare.
I KNOW it's frustrating, but I'd seriously consider letting these people off the hook. They are genuinely caught in something not of their making.
BUT, again, I recommend turning this to you advantage:
Dear Buyer,
I'm sorry this unhappy buyer has evidently placed you in an uncomfortable position. I have worked hard to build a reputation on ebay as an honest seller of integrity.
I believe my goals of excellent customer service are shown by the large percentage of repeat business I have. This is not easily obtained in such a highly competitive selling arena as CDs.
However, if you wish, I understand your concern and will be willing to allow you not to complete payment on this item. I will file with ebay to receive back my final value fees using the "buyer/seller agree not to continue" format which allows both of us to walk away.
I do hope, in the future, you shop my auctions again and allow me the opportunity to show you the excellent customer service I offer.
Please let me know of your final decision.
Regards
Give them one more chance to rethink backing out but also give them the opportunity to do so. Who knows...you might get outstanding feedback inspite of all of this from those you allowed to back away w/o consequence.
posted on July 12, 2001 10:42:13 AM new
Wait 'til your loon gets NARU'd & his negs get converted to neutrals!! That oughtta really twist his shorts in a knot!
I'm kidding of course, but wouldn't it be gratifying to send him a Thank-You note for committing such clear-cut auction interference which ultimately will result in the conversion of his negs to neutrals??
posted on July 12, 2001 10:43:01 AM neweventer ditto the others, your letters are always so perfectly worded! I have also made use of your "soothing words". Thanks for continuing to post them.
I learn so much from you on this message board. I just wanted to say thanks for your sound, reasonable & professional approach to selling and the resulatant customer service you offer. Truly, you're a pro!
posted on July 12, 2001 02:41:49 PM new
doninpa -- I had something similar happen to me about two years ago. In my situation, some fruit loop was going around bidding on featured Dutch auctions just to be able to get the e-mail addresses of the winning bidders (this was when they sent everybody the same EOA and all the bidders' addresses were included).
After the auctions were over, he took it upon himself to e-mail all the winning bidders and say a bunch of things that were completely untrue. He said things like I was participating in credit card fraud (I didn't even accept credit cards as payment back then) and that eBay had me under investigation, and a bunch of other bologna.
Fortunately some of my bidders were repeat customers, and they knew better. They helped me forward their letters to Safe Harbor, and by looking at the items the guy had bid on, the sellers all worked together to get the guy kicked off.
What I did to reassure my bidders was to send them an e-mail much like you did, telling them what was going on. Most of them wrote me back, understanding. But some of them were hesitant to complete the transaction, which I couldn't really blame them for. In my case, what I did was to offer to pre-ship their items, then when they received it, they could send their payment. (My stuff was low-dollar, so this was feasible.)
A handful of people still wanted to void the transaction, which was fine. The rest of them were thrilled with their items (and the fast shipping!), and everything I pre-shipped was paid for promptly. The goofball who sent the letters was NARU'ed within days.
Hang in there -- just keep doing what you normally do. The bidders who actually take time to read your letter (and his) and compare the two, will be able to see who is the most believable. Your feedback will speak for itself (as will his).
As someone else mentioned, it is a good idea to run Private auctions for awhile, until the guy gets bored and sees he can't e-mail your bidders anymore. Block his bids, if you haven't already. And if he does register using another ID and bid on your auctions, let eBay know immediately. Once a bidder is blocked, the screen they receive when trying to place a bid specifically says they are NOT to use another ID to get around being blocked. (I don't have the exact wording, but it says something to that effect.)
Hang in there.
(typo)
[ edited by thedewey on Jul 12, 2001 02:49 PM ]
If you do end up running Private auctions for a few weeks, you should still be able to view the bidders email addys via MY eBay. At least that's how I was told it used to work?
If you spot any newly registered users with WebTV addys, or that end in .edu, simply cancel their bid, and put them on your Bidder Block list. If that seems too harsh, then you could pull their contact info & verify it before you cancel their bids.
My guess is this pin head will be NARU in less than 24 hours, and will be looking for a new email addy & ID.
posted on July 12, 2001 03:20:31 PM new
You can quote a postal employee of 25 years if you like. Priority mail is not handled any differently than any other mail - just faster. I have seen MANY heavy priority pieces thrown on top of one marked fragile. Those heavy boxes of books (what few truly heavy ones there are) are hard to "toss" and more likely to be placed
posted on July 12, 2001 05:43:35 PM new
Still no response from safeharbor, although I am still having winners email about their reluctance to deal with me. I have been emailing a link to my feedback and his feedback, and then they comeback and say "I can't believe what a jerk he is and wow you have a lot of feedback". I guess it is a problem for some people to check that out themselves, oh well no one has flat out refused to deal with me yet, that is a good thing. Everytime I get frustrated, I just come back here and reread the comments and it calms me down. The people here are the best. Thanks to everyone for the fantastic help and suggestions. It is now time to go to bed, I got about 3 hours of sleep last night, and ebay is just not worth it so much anymore.
posted on July 13, 2001 07:03:16 AM new
You poor thing to be threatened like this.
First save ALL his emails. And forward to safeharbor. But be sure to save them all. Second, your note was great and you did nothing wrong. I ship Cds and ship first class but in a bubble mailer with padding and never had one break yet.
Hang in there and again you have done nothing wrong. He's immature and just trying to scare you - and getting joy from it!
posted on July 16, 2001 12:09:38 PM new
In case anyone was interested, I finally heard back from safeharbor. They say there is nothing they can do about his threatening email, I have to deal with his ISP for that, but the emails he is sending my winners, they would send him a warning for those. woo hoo, that'll show him, while he is happy bidding on other auctions, I am still emailing winners who are leary to do business with me. eBay sure know how to take care of those who pay the bills.
posted on July 16, 2001 12:20:00 PM new
I think eBay has to sit down and rethink how they treat their sellers. It sounds like they are more interested in the buyer. You will probably have to report this buyer to [email protected] and let them take it from there. Of course, as I said earlier webtv will not tell you the outcome of their investigation.
I sure am sorry about your transaction but I hope you can put this behind you and rebuild. Take Care
posted on July 16, 2001 01:25:31 PM new
Negs no longer convert to neutrals when a buyer or seller is Naru'd. Secondly. I've had two books ---out of over 3000 that arrived damaged in bubble mailers shipped media mail ---both appeared as if they'd been caught in machinery of some sort. In both cases the PO paid the insurance claim and no mention was made about using boxes. I now use upic for all of my shipping insurance.
I do agree that a two dollar handling charge on a pair of cds stuffed into a bubblemailer is a bit on the high side. For that price I would have expected it to be shipped 1st class. That in NO WAY excuses what this jerk is doing.
Personally I'm not convinced that the cd's were even damaged---the jerk could just be scamming you for ten dollars.
posted on July 25, 2001 06:40:30 AM new
Just when I thought it was all over, I received an email this morning from my cyber-stalker:
You have until the 29th to either send me $10 of undamaged merchandise or a refund.
And dont think the suspension of my id will stop me. I will make your next set of auctions very difficult.
Have a nice week!
I checked his ID and sure enough he was NARU, I don't know if it was my complaining or others (he has other negs in his feedback), but I see I am going to pay a price for this. Isn't this technically called EXTORTION?
posted on July 25, 2001 06:44:17 AM new
Hi doninpa,
Sorry to hear this is still going on.
Yep, it's extortion. Off it should go directly to SafeHarbor w/full headers.
Unfortunately, it's going to mean you have to watch YOUR next set of auctions more closely and take a look at any "new/shaded" bidders.
Don't think for a moment that sending this jerk the $10 would end it...it's obvious he likes to bully & he'll just continue to do it until someone else catches his attention.
posted on July 25, 2001 07:08:48 AM new
Eventer, good to hear from a voice of reason. Never got a word from webtv, guess I will try again with the new email. I knew I should have gone to private auctions, of course I thought he was done with me since he had a couple of other bad feedback, I assumed he had other fish to harass. I have 140 auctions going, so I guess I will be sending out the revised "I have a wacko spamming my winners email"
I sent it off to safeharbor, I know they can do nothing, but it should at least be on record. I did reply to him stating that I was still waiting for him to send the damaged merchandise back for a full refund, as is my policy.
I am really tired of playing this game.
posted on July 25, 2001 08:14:44 AM new
As I stated earlier you probably will never hear from webtv, but that doesn't mean they won't do anything. They handle their abuse cases privately and if they feel that it is against their rules they will stop their webtv service. Will changing your email address help any? Try and get some of your buyers to report them to webtv. It wouldn't hurt but it might help. Good Luck
posted on July 25, 2001 08:18:54 AM new
I forgot one thing. He can also get other email addresses besides webtv. Hotmail, Yahoo offers emails to anyone free so watching the email address won't work.
posted on July 25, 2001 09:52:09 AM new
To hell with this moron's getting new ID's. You have his name, you have his address. Send him a note that you are going to make the rest of his life a living hell. Sue him in small claims court(you lost money because he is harrassing your customers), he won't show up and you'll get the judgement. He won't pay and you can nuke his credit rating. If he is a college student, contact the dean and have his internet priviledges revoked, that will ruin researching ability. Hell why stop at getting him kicked off ebay. And you can turn your judgement over to a collection agency who will hound him for the rest of his life.
If you're feeling especially playful, there are alot of other things you can do with a Name and Address......
posted on July 25, 2001 10:39:25 AM new
Contact the guy's local police department. If they fail to take action and he is across state lines, you can contact the FBI. Using email to threaten and harass people is not taken lightly by the feds regardless. These threats do not have to be physical in nature. Make sure you collect as many of the emails you and your customers receive as possible with full headers.
posted on July 25, 2001 11:04:48 AM new
I absolutely agree with Mark and Mballai. Time to go on the offensive. Contacting the college and the FBI are great ideas. Do not be a "good" victim!
Forward the info to Safeharbor with the emphasis on the SPAM part of it (eBay's little hot button thrown back in their faces). Ask them to check out any new bidders to see if there is a connection with this wacko. Just don't expect much from them.
Better to hit him where it will really hurt: his education and career will be in jeopardy via actions from the Dean and the FBI. Too bad you have to teach him what his parents obviously did not.
posted on July 25, 2001 11:25:47 AM new
For awhile, until this cools down, you might want to offer your buyers their choice of shipping on your CDs: give them the choice of Priority, First Class or Media Mail. If they make the wrong choice, then they are the ones who did it, not you. I sell magazines and I always let my buyers choose Priority or Bound Printed Matter.
Is it just me or does it seem like these nutty buyers are coming out of the woodwork? So many threads lately here and other places about crazy buyers - almost like Auction Rage!!
posted on July 25, 2001 12:25:33 PM new
I agree it's time to go on the offensive w/this brat.
I wouldn't just send him a note. I'd send it certified, return receipt and put the jerk on notice. You may even wish to get some legal advice on the best way to word your letter to him.
Better yet, get someone w/the Sircam virus to send it to the little cyber punk & hope it eats his system.
