onsale
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posted on September 23, 2000 12:16:19 PM
Hi, had an auction end 9/16. I immediately sent the customer the EOA notice. I received an email from a DIFFERENT email address (not the one they are registered through with ebay) and it says:
i purchased the widget. please send me the total and i will send you a check.
I did not recognize the email address, I did a search through ebay and it comes up invalid. I emailed them back and asked them what item they were referring to (I sell several hundreds of different widgets so I had no clue what item they were referring to). I also told them that I had just sent out all EOA notices so he might want to check his email, since all my info was already sent out.
2 days later, I get this email, again - from the "other" email address not registered through ebay:
I was wondering exactly where you sent this bill. I can't find it.
I asked them again for the item number so I know exactly what item they are referring to.
He sends me this:
item #1234 (numbers have been changed)
Now, everyone knows that ebay numbers are 9 digits long. I had NO CLUE what this person was talking about. I emailed him back and told him that was an invalid number and that ebay item numbers are 9 digits long and to please provide me with the ebay item number.
Today I get this email:
I forwarded the ebay item number to you on Sep. 21 as you can see below. yet you still emailed me on Sep 21 asking for the ebay item number. Now, frankley I have never had this much trouble buying something from anyone on ebay before. I understand you are busy with all your other sales, but this is bordering rediculous. I don't know maybe this item number is not the one you are looking for.It would have been much more informative if you took the time to write exactly what the problem is. Nontheless, I am sure it is the seller's responsibility to provide the buyer with the adequate information about the sale anyway. I did my best to make this thing work. If you can't find it or if it is not worth your time to look into this further, that is fine, just let me know and I will retract my bid. I don't want to cause you too much trouble.
This person is a newbie with no feedback. (Yet they say that haven't had any problems with any OTHER transactions!) I again, wrote to this person stating that they never gave me ebay's item number and that they are 9 digits long. I also told them AGAIN to check their email address they are registered through with ebay - and that I only send EOA notices to the email addresses that my customers are registered with through ebay.
What more could I do? This person is definitely CLUELESS!
[ edited by onsale on Sep 23, 2000 12:18 PM ]
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Libra63
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posted on September 23, 2000 12:29:07 PM
If it was me and if there was a next bidder I would just forget about the winning bidder and sell to the next high bidder. Either he isn't reading your emails or just doesn't care. I bet on the second one. Just my opinion. Good Luck
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nokternl
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posted on September 23, 2000 12:33:13 PM
You might want to explain to him that what you are doing is just a security precaution because in the past people have been known to try to get what others have bid on and won. You could also explain that what you are doing is to protect him, the buyer, against this type of thing happening. Explain your situation (his email coming from an address other than that of the high bidder) and you just want to make sure that the right person gets the item.
John
[ edited by nokternl on Sep 23, 2000 12:33 PM ]
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twinsoft
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posted on September 23, 2000 12:40:27 PM
I think part of the problem is that the seller doesn't know which item the customer is referring to?
You may want to request the user's eBay user ID.
"Hello, please send your registered eBay user ID or registered email address so I can check my records."
Then you can search your records or do a bidder search at eBay to see what they've bid on recently.
I agree with the post above, I would deal only through their eBay email address.
Clueless is right. Sounds like a fruitcake.
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onsale
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posted on September 23, 2000 05:06:31 PM
Twinsoft:
I'm not having problems identifying who he is (anymore) - the thing is, he refuses to check his email that he's registered with through ebay. If he would, he would see all the info he needs to complete the transaction.
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pickersangel
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posted on September 23, 2000 05:53:09 PM
Sounds to me like there's more than just a clueless customer going on here. I still haven't figured out how the seller figured out who this buyer is, since he (as I read it) never provided a valid item# by which to identify the transaction as there are "lots of widgets that have been sold". Was there only one EOA that went unanswered, so it was assumed that this is the same person? Either the seller in this case is being set up for a complaint/negative feedback, or this is a troll post. Something just doesn't add up.
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jwoodcrafts
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posted on September 23, 2000 05:55:04 PM
Well, if you have identified the buyer and know for sure who it is, then just all the info to the email that he is using. Then see where it goes from there. 
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."---Mark Twain
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macandjan
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posted on September 23, 2000 06:02:54 PM
I had a customer who sent a partial # like that. He was too clueless to open the message and see the whole number - he just looked at the subject column in his in box and it was set too narrow to show the whole number.
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onsale
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posted on September 23, 2000 06:39:38 PM
I found out who the customer was because the 4-digit number he gave me (that he thought was the item number) was the part number in the description. I told him to check his other email - I even gave him the email address he is registered with through ebay - and told him to check that. I only send my EOA emails to the email addresses that my high bidders are registered with through ebay.
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pickersangel
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posted on September 23, 2000 07:11:51 PM
Sounds to me like this person is being intentionally obtuse, like s/he is looking for a reason to ding you with a neg. You could always report them to Ebay for having invalid contact info, since they won't respond to email to their registered address. If they don't respond to Ebay, either, they'll be suspended.
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nomorefees
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posted on September 23, 2000 07:51:29 PM
I've been selling on ebay for a little more than a year and this type of thing happens every now and again. Many times people have moved on to a new email address and haven't updated their ebay account. You'll know this because your end of auction email comes back undeliverable. In that case I would get file a NPB/FVC selecting both parties agreed ( you get your credit immediately) and pursue the sale. You won't pay fee's on it! But it sounds like you're email didn't get returned undelivered so be VERY VERY PLAIN...
Please send me the item number or ebay ID one more time PLEASE!
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onsale
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posted on September 23, 2000 07:56:18 PM
nomorefees:
I finally figured out the item number and the high bidder's ID. The problem is, the high bidder refuses to check the email address they are registered with through ebay. They want me to send them my EOA/payment mailing information to another email address that is NOT registered through with ebay. I won't do that. I only send that info to the email addresses that my high bidders are registered with through ebay. For some reason, this guy won't do that. And the email I sent to the high bidder's registered email address - did NOT bounce back as undeliverable. Went through just fine.
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pickersangel
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posted on September 23, 2000 08:10:50 PM
There is the possibility that your buyer is not able to access that email account any longer, even though it's still a working address. Reporting the situation to Safe Harbor will take care of your problem, if in fact, he isn't able to respond to their email checking out his contact information. If he really wants the item, and is the actual bidder, it makes no sense for him to "refuse" to get the info from his other email account if he is able.
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kellyb1
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posted on September 23, 2000 09:11:45 PM
When this happens to me I send a friendly email stating, "Hi I checked your email addy with all of my closed auctions, and I don't have you as a winner.
If you won an item under a different email, please use that email to contact me, as it is the only way that I can verify the identity of the winner.
It sounds fishy that the user doesn't want to check the registered email. That is a violation of ebay rules.
Kelly
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ubiedaman
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posted on September 23, 2000 09:18:26 PM
From a VERY recent experience of a similar nature, you MAY want to do some serious checking on this "buyer"...take a look at "Seller List", and "Bidder LIst"...make sure they all seem kosher.
We recently had an experience where we shut down a shiller who was selling $1500-$2000 items because he didn't want to pay $6.50 for a postcard...ya never know!!!
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
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onsale
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posted on September 24, 2000 09:17:29 AM
I did check out this person's bids, they only bid on 4 things in the past 30 days, and won all 4 of them. Still 0 feedback.
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RainyBear
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posted on September 24, 2000 09:34:31 AM
Maybe the guy doesn't remember which email address he used to register at eBay, and/or isn't aware that eBay requires him to maintain a valid contact address.
Despite the cluelessness, I'd work with him through the address from which he has written to you -- copying all correspondence to the address listed with eBay. He's obviously interested in your widget, and just needs a little help with the process.
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onsale
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posted on September 24, 2000 09:44:38 AM
Rainybear - I have told him over and over to check his other email address that he is registered with through ebay - I even told him what email address that is! I will *not* forward my information and EOA email to an email address that is UNREGISTERED with ebay.
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mballai
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posted on September 24, 2000 10:47:32 AM
I frequently use my Yahoo email to communicate with my bidders and sellers and it always replies to my main Earthlink account. I have had people use three or four email addresses--very annoying if the name was very different.
If you can't get a clear answer from a bidder and the item is inexpensive, just move on.
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onsale
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posted on September 25, 2000 01:16:55 PM
Just got another email from this "clueless" customer.
ok, I understand what happened now. I hope my last email didn't come across too bad. Chill out life is too short you'll get your check ---oops money order.
Well, at least they say the money is on the way - but "chill out"? Geez!
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