posted on October 29, 2000 05:46:33 AM
I have a buyer that won two auctions for a total of $25.98 on 10/15/00. As these items are quiet heavy I sent a request for address so I could figure proper shipping cost.
I get no response so on 10/22/00 I send a 2nd request for address.
On 10/23/00 I get the following: hello, send my money order already
I then email and ask how they could send money if they didn't know how much to send and again ask for their address. Finally the address is sent. The sender is Spanish and lives in NYC.
Total cost of bids, shipping and insurance is $37.88. I send the totals to the winner. That afternoon I receive the m.o. for $12.99 which is the price for one of the auctions won.
Since then I have sent several email to this winner without a response. Safeharbor suggested I send the EOA using a Spanish translator from the following URL http://babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dyn I sent the translation and still no response.
I have tried every way I know of to be fair to this bidder. They have a positive feedback of 45 and no negative feedback.
Apparently there is a language barrier. What else can I do??? I am open to suggestions.
posted on October 29, 2000 06:20:23 AM
Well, Spanish speaking people know math too, so he/she should know they owe more than 12.99.
It seems to me that you will have to be extra patient with the bidder and just hope it all works out. The bidder's feedback suggests that he/she will come through.
Perhaps it's already being resolved and he simply is not prompt at sending emails?
Some transactions (language barrier aside) just don't go very smoothly. I hope it works out well for you.
posted on October 29, 2000 06:30:11 AM
Do you have anyone who could act as an interpreter for you? Try sending an email, translated of course, explaining that they owe you an additional $24.89 and that you cannot ship until you receive that amount. Include a deadline, after which you will return the original money order and the item will no longer be available, and require an email response within 3 days. Follow through as appropriate.
Your local school system probably has someone who could interpret.
always pickersangel everywhere
posted on October 29, 2000 06:51:07 AM
You need to learn spanish!
Postage: franqueo
dinero: money
Insurance: seguros
Winning bid: oferta final (final offer is the best I can do)
Auction: subasta
Total: total (real hard one)
Forget: olvidar (olvido' with an accent over the o is the "you forgot" form of the verb)
El total es $37.88
(oferta final, seguros, y franqueo)
Usted me mando' $12.99 (oferta final de una subasta #123456, pero Usted olvido' el dinero para seguro y franqueo)
Usted me debe $24.89 (la oferta final para #45677889, con seguros y franqueo para las dos).
Just put it into receipt format with the spanish words - arithmetic style, with each line item being one of the parts of the total, draw a line under it, and insert the total. When you put it all into a paragraph it confuses the heck out of people, but arithmetic they can understand.
posted on October 29, 2000 07:29:42 AM
The translation was sent on 10/24/00 and I haven't received a reply.
I hope the bidder will send the remainder even if they don't reply.
If they don't I will return the m.o. and send an email explaining why.
I don't think they even realize that they won two auctions as they sent payment for only one. The writing on the m.o. and envelope looks like someone from grade school wrote it.
abacaxi As I am sixty years old and I don't think this problem will arise very often i'll pass on learning Spanish. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Thanks again for the suggestions everone. It's surely appreciated.
